chapter thirty nine
the blonde leading the blind
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All the girls were at Spences, they were just waiting on Hanna. "I passed your mom heading out." Hanna said to Spencer as she entered the kitchen. "Then it's go time." Spencer said as she walked over to her laptop which Emily had opened and then held her hand out towards Hanna for the USB. "Hanna?" she asked, but Josie could tell that Hanna was hesitating.

"Hanna." Spencer said again, making Hanna sigh before she gave her the USB. "How much did Caleb get?" Josie asked while Spencer plugged the USB into her computer. "I don't know." Hanna replied, "He just said that he was up most the night," she added "It's not like we expected decrypting files from A's phone was gonna be easy," Spencer said.

"Is Caleb still asking whose phone it is?" Emily asked Hanna. "Every chance he gets. And I'm still lying to him." Hanna replied, looking at Spencer. "At Least we know that it wasn't Lucas, my money's on Officer Garrett in the greenhouse with the cellphone." Josie said as she looked at her friends.. "But Jenna broke up with Garrett," Emily reminded. "After the greenhouse." Josie replied. "Look, the point is Caleb is still asking about everything and it's not safe for him to know the answers." Hanna said.

"We should tell him to stop." Hanna said, not wanting her boyfriend to be a target of 'A', which Josie understood. "Let's just take a look at this first." Spencer said as something beeped from her computer. "Come closer." Ian said to Alison. "I know you wanna, kiss me," Alison said as she held the camera to Ian as she laughed. "This—This was all Caleb was able to get?" Aria said as another video started playing. "Wait look, that's Alison's bedroom." Josie said as the girls watched as Ian placed a camera on one of Alison's shelves in her room.

"What's Ian doing here?" Spencer asked, confused. "What's he doing with that camera?" Emily asked. "Oh, my God, he's hiding it, he was recording this secretly." Aria said, in shock. "But what is he recording?" Josie asked as the girls watched as Garrett led Jenna into Alison's room. "Hey." Garret said to Ian. "What are Jenna and Garrett doing in Alison's bedroom?" Aria asked.

"NAT club field trip?" Spencer suggested, "Ian and Garrett are the founding members," Spencer said in disgust. "The only one missing is—" Emily started but Garret and Ian started talking on the video. "Where's Jason?" Garrett asked Ian. "He's passed out." Ian replied, "A six pack and some weed will do that to do you." he added,

"So what's with the emergency call?" Jenna asked. "I just left Alison, I tried to get her to hand over our videos but she wasn't going for it." Ian said. "And is that the only thing she wasn't going for?" Jenna said, slightly amused. "Look, shut up, Jenna," Ian snapped. The girls shared looks before they continued watching the videos. "Hey, this is your fault Ian, I knew you'd go too far and those videos will come back to bite us, that's why I bailed on this messed up club" Garret said.

"Oh yeah?" Ian asked, "Well, welcome back, now help me find them before that bitch shows up." Ian said before he and Garrett searched Alison's room. "So Caleb has seen this?" Josie asked, turning to Hanna. "He couldn't have gotten it off that phone without seeing it." Hanna snapped. "Now you know why I'm freaking out." she added, looking at all her friends.

"Yeah, but the closer we get to finding out what really happened—" Spencer started, making Josie sigh. "The closer Caleb gets to the top of A's hit list." Hanna interrupted Spencer, "He, she, it, has messed up with almost all of our relationships,Toby, Ezra, Samara, except for Richie and Josie." Hanna said, making Josie sigh, she didn't know why 'A' hadn't done anything, that fact they haven't doesn't make her feel any better, it makes her anxious. "Look." Aria pointed back to the video, making them turn back to see Garret holding a box. .

"Check this out," Garrett said, a box of Allison's. "What is it?" Jenna asked. "It's just an old box," Ian said, still searching Alison's room as Garrett opened the box. "That's weird," he said. "Wait, that's the exact same box Jason gave me." Aria said, recognising the box on the video. "Caleb's done, I'm telling him today." Hanna stated, as the video came to a stop. "So, what does this mean?" Emily asked. "Well, in case we had any doubts, the NAT club, Jenna included, was in Rosewood." Spencer realized. "In Alison's bedroom" Aria added. "The night Ali was murdered" Josie said, running her hand through her hair.

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Emily, Spencer and Josie were up in Spencer's room looking at an 'A' message that Spencer had gotten. "When did you get this?" Emily asked. "While you guys were downstairs." Spencer answered, as they looked at the picture of Spencer and Toby kissing with an 'A' message 'I warned you!' it read, causing Josie to shudder, hating how 'A' can see everything all the time, like they–she–he were everywhere.

"So Aria and Hanna haven't seen this?" Emily asked as they heard a car approaching Spencers, making them move to look out her window, to see Toby pulling up, making Josie and Emily turn to Spencer, who moved away from the window. "We thought you were trying to keep your distance." Emily said to Spencer. "I was, okay? I–I am," Spencer stuttered. "It's just that I slipped up last week and I kissed him and now Toby thinks that we're back together and I can't even." she trailed off as her phone went off.

Spencer looked down to see Toby calling before she tried handing the phone to Emily. "Talk to him." she said, making Emily raise her brows. "What do you want me to say?" she asked. "I.. I don't know. That I'm not here." Spencer answered. "No.. That I'm in the shower." she corrected herself. "Don't make me lie to him, Spencer." Emily begged her. "Please." Spencer begged. ""Oh god," Josie muttered as she grabbed the phone from Spencer, knowing Emily couldn't do it.

"I'll do it." she said, making Emily and Spencer share a look before they walked away from the window as Josie walked towards it, seeing Toby outside. She answered it. "Hey," she greeted Toby. "Hey." Toby replied before he looked up towards Spencer's window. "Is Spencer around?" he asked. "Umm.. she's unable to come to the phone right now." she said, trying to act casual. Spencer sent her a look but Josie just waved her off. "I came by to pick the rest of my tools," he said.

"Spencer's dad—" he started but Josie cut him off. "Yeah, I heard." she said. "How's Spencer?" he asked, making Josie shift on her feet. "Okay." she said with a nod, "She misses you." she added, making Spencer throw her head back. "I miss her," he replied. "She's been kind of confusing lately." he said, causing Josie to frown. "The other day, in my truck she said she was close to telling me something, to explain what's been happening." he said.

"Things have changed since then." she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Can you tell me anything?" he asked, making her scratch the bridge of her nose in nervousness. "No, I don't wanna get in between you and Spencer." she said sadly. "I don't think this is about me and her," he replied. "I think it's something else," he added. "Josie...just, please, like just get off." Spencer whispered, making Josie turn to her, before she nodded sadly.

"Spencer's dad is here, you should probably come back later." Josie advised. "When he's not here? Or when Spencer's not here?" he asked and Josie could tell he was hurt but she didn't get a chance to reply as he hung up and walked away. Josie sighed before turning to Spencer and Emily who stood in front of Spencer's closet. Spencer sighed and rested her head against the wall in sadness.

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"And he just drove away?" Aria asked, shocked as the girls sat together on a table. "What else was he supposed to do? I totally shut him down." Spencer asked sadly. "No, you're protecting somebody that you love, It's kind of romantic." Aria corrected her. "No, it's the opposite of romantic," Spencer stated. "It's safe, that's what we all need to be." Hanna said. "Hey, well, at least Toby still wants to talk to you because that was definitely not the case last time I saw Ezra" Aria said, "Which makes me wonder was that the last time I'll ever see him?" Aria asked sadly, causing Josie to frown.

"No it wasn't Aria," she said, trying to assure her friend. "Yeah, but how do I know that?" Aria asked, "He won't see me, he won't talk to me," she listed. "Maybe you just need to give him some time," Emily suggested. "I gave him time." Aria pointed out. "At the play, him sneaking out of the theater? That was time, now I just really want some answers." she said.

"How are you going to do that without your parents knowing? They'd freak and lock you up." Josie asked before taking a sip of her water. "Without A knowing." Hanna added just as Aria's eyes landed on something behind Hanna, making all the girls turn around and realize Aria was looking at Holden. "Huh, the beard." Emily said.

Said, making Hanna turn to her confused.  "The what?" she asked Emily. "Holden, Aria's beard" Emily clarified, "It means he'll go out with her but not really out with her because he's not really interested," Emily started explaining.

"I know what it means, he's gay." Hanna concluded, making Josie laugh as Aria sent Hanna a look. "He's not gay, I've known him since I was five," Aria said, defending Holden. "He might not have known when he was five." Emily said. "Look, has he ever tried to kiss you?" Spencer asked curiously. "No," Aria said, shaking her head. "Gay." Josie, Spencer, Hanna and Emily said in unison with amused smiles on their faces. "Oh my god." Aria said, shaking her head at her friends before standing up and walking over to Holden leaving the girls laughing.

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"Wait so, Ian, Garret and Jenna were in Alison's room the night she died?" Richie asked as he and Josie cuddled on her living room couch. "Yeah, and it means that Jenna– who had the means to harm Ali, was in town that night, she could have done something with Garret's help." she said, making Richie sigh, frustrated. "So much for trusting cops in this town," he muttered. "Let's not forget Wilden, who's been out to get us since the start, he tried pinning Ali's death on Hanna and then all of us." she said as she sat up. "He's just a small town cop, one day he won't even matter." he said trying to comfort her.

"I know, I know it's just.." she trailed off. "She was my best friend, she's the reason I met the girls and he and every other cop is treating us like we'd hurt her." she whispered as tears welled up in her eyes, making Richie pull her back into his arms and hug her tightly. "Everything's gonna be alright." he whispered over and over as he ran a hand through her hair.

"Sometimes I wonder, if we hadn't all met up that night, would she still be here and i–" she cut herself off as she cried, making Richie tighten his grip on her and kiss the crown of her head. "You can't think like that, okay, it'll only hurt more." he advised while he rested his head on top of hers.

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The girls stood in Aria's room with everything that was in the box Jason gave Aria on top of her bed. "In the video, Garrett looked in the box and saw something weird," Emily said, turning to her friends. "Wouldn't you like to know what it was?" she asked, arms crossed. "No, look, we've already seen what we needed to see." Hanna said. "All of our suspects in the same place, at the same time in Alison's room talking about how much they hated her." she paused. "I don't know why we just don't hand the drive to the police, we should be closing things, not opening." Hanna said as she picked up Alison's doll from the bed, but its neck opened and revealed some little notes hidden inside of it. "You guys, there's something in here." she said, making the girls crowded around her to look as well.

"What the hell are these?" she said as Aria grabbed the notes from the dolls neck and opened one of them while Emily and Spencer took the other ones. "It's my turn to torture you" Aria read out, making Josie let out a breath, anxious. "Okay, that's creepy." Spencer said as Emily picked another note. "You think you're safe on the outside but you're not when I'm on the inside." Emily read out. "Scared yet? You should be, bitch" Spencer read another note as she put it in front of the other girls to see. "Anyone else getting deja vu?" Josie asked as she looked around at her friends before picking up a note.

"Next time it'll be your face, not this pumpkin." she read out, "It looks like it was cut by something." she said as she looked at the old note. "It was," Aria said as she took the note from Josie. "Don't you guys remember?" she asked, looking at her friends and it took a second before it clicked. "Halloween" Spencer said, making Josie confused, since she left early, she had no idea what this note was about.

FLASHBACK

"I've never been this way before." Aria said as she and the girls walked back to the Dilaurentis house after Noel Kahn's Halloween bash. "Back alleys and backyards have always been the best way to my house." Alison mused. "Your sister and Ian are so cute together," Hanna told Spencer, "Do you think they'll get married?" Hanna asked. "I guess so, they seem perfect for each other." Spencer said with a smile on her face. "Yeah, perfectly bored." Alison taunted as the six of them reached her house but it was trashed.

"Ali, someone trashed your porch," Hanna said in shock. "What the hell." Alison said, confused before she walked over to the one intact pumpkin that had a knife stuck to it. Aria went to pull the knife out but Alison pulled it out before Aria could. She read the note attached to the knife.

"What does the note say?" Aria asked as Ali read it to herself. "Who did this?" Hanna asked. "Jason's beer buddies, real funny." Alison lied with a smile on her face. "I better get going," Spencer said as she went to leave. "Yeah, me too," Aria said backed up. "What's the hurry?" Alison asked, "Let's make a night of it." she added.

"It's already been kind of a long night," Emily said. "Look, I'm sorry about the prank," Alison apologised, "I know I took it too far," she added. "let me make it up to you guys," she said.

FLASHBACK OVER

"Next time it'll be your face, not this pumpkin." Aria read the note. "Why did no one ever tell me about this?" Josie asked, confused. "Forgot about it honestly." Aria muttered to her. "That was the note Ali got," Spencer said as Aria turned the note around. "This is an invitation to Noel's Halloween party." she said. "As if my memories of that night could get any scarier." Emily said bitterly.

Aria turned the paper back around and saw that the bottom corner was folded so she unfolded the paper and was shocked. "Guys, this notes signed by 'A'" she said out, getting her friends' attention, showing them the note. "'A' was after Alison too, before they were after us" Josie said in shock as she realized.

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"If 'A' was after Alison as well, then what does that mean?" Richie asked that morning as Josie and him stood in Richie's kitchen. Josie had driven over there to pick him up but since she got there early, they decided to make themselves some coffee. "Maybe 'A' and Alison's killer are the same person." Josie said as she bit her lip in thought. "But didn't you guys already think that?" he asked before handing her a cup of coffee. "Yeah but now we know for sure, because if someone was able to write those things and actually scare her, then what would stop them from killing her?" Josie asked rhetorically.

Richie sighed before he walked over to his girlfriend. "You guys will figure this out, I'm sure of it, I mean you and Spencer are like mini nancy drews." he said, making Josie laugh. "But we should get going, I need to talk to the coach before class." he said, making Josie nod as she stood up and grabbed her car keys and the two set off for school.

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"Yeah, okay, bye." Aria said before she hung up and turned to the rest of the group. Apparently Toby had fallen and gotten himself hurt. "Toby's okay." Aria said, making Josie sigh in relief as she rested her head on Richie's shoulder, who was behind her. "Yeah, for now." Hanna said, making Josie give her a look. Aria sighed. "Guys if Jenna really is a part of this do you think she'd actually hurt her own stepbrother?" Aria asked. "Jenna would kill and eat her own mother to get back at us." Hanna said, making Richie give her a weirded out look at her choice of words.

"Maybe she's just trying to scare him." Josie suggested as she shrugged her shoulders. "Or us," Emily added. "Yeah, well, it's working," Hanna said. "But if Jenna and Garrett broke up how could she do this to Toby?" Richie asked, confused. "She must've found a replacement," Aria said in thought, making the girls more worried. "Like who though?" Josie asked, looking at everyone.

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"Your home early." Josie said as she looked at her mother who stood in the kitchen cooking dinner. "Yeah, I've been missing my daughter." she said, making Josie smile. "Have you been able to reach Dad?" she asked, sitting on a stool across from her mother. "He answered once, he's been busy, apparently something happened to your aunt or something, he's been helping her." Jennifer answered as she cut up carrots. "Oh," Josie muttered. "Why do you ask?" her mother asked. "Been wondering about my half-brother." Josie responded, making Jennifer sigh before she walked away for a moment making Josie confused.

"Mom?" she called out just as Jennifer came back with a photo in her hand. "Here." she said, handing it to her. Josie looked at it hesitantly before taking it. It was a photo of her and her dad when she was around three but someone else was with them, a little boy. "Wait... is this–?" Josie began asking but her mother cut her off. "Look at the back." she said

Josie turned it around to see something written on it. "Caleb and Josie, 1997." she whispered in shock, Caleb really was her half-brother. "How long have you had this?" Josie asked, looking up at her mother. "A while, but your dad never told me who the boy really was, he told he was his nephew and it didn't click until your dad told me he had another kid— a son." Jennifer said. "Oh god." Josie uttered as she flipped the picture over, seeing her, her dad and Caleb smiling, it made her heart hurt. "He doesn't even know about any of it and I'm too scared to even talk to him about it, afraid he wouldn't want me as his sister." Josie said as she started crying, making her mother move around the kitchen island to hug her daughter as she cried. "He would be lucky to have you as his sister." Jennifer said, comforting her daughter.

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"Wow, so he's actually your brother." Richie said, looking at the picture as he sat on Josie's bed in her room as she paced around her room. She had called him as soon as she could, she needed someone to talk to, someone who knew everything. "Yeah, he is." she muttered as her phone rang, making her turn to it and pick it up. "Spence?" she asked confused as she looked at Richie as he raised her eyebrow in her direction to which she shrugged her shoulder. "Hanna destroyed the flash drive." Spencer said, making Josie gape, in shock. "Excuse me? She what?" she asked, putting her phone on speaker, so Richie could hear as well.

"Yeah, she put it into a blender, in front of Caleb, but luckily he saved a backup." she said, making Josie sigh in relief, knowing that whatever was on the flash drive was important. "Thank god," she muttered as Richie stood up and side-hugged her. "He's gonna continue working on it, but we can't tell Hanna." Spencer said, making Josie sigh and close her eyes, she hated keeping secrets from her friends. "Alright." Josie said hesitantly while Richie rubbed her back. "He's gonna put it back onto another flash drive, then give it to me so come around mine tomorrow and we'll check it out." Spencer said and Josie nodded. "Yeah I'll be there." she said before hanging up.

"You okay?" Richie asked slowly as he watched her sit on the end of her bed before he followed suit, sitting next to her. "I hate this, keeping secrets from the girls, lying to Hanna," she said as she put her head in her hands. "I just wish I could tell them everything, but telling them means telling Caleb and I'm not ready for that yet." she said as she moved back and layed on her bed, running a hand down her face in stress.

"Then just wait, wait til this is all over to tell them, they'll understand, you girls have gone through alot together, especially this past year and it'll be okay and Hanna, she'll understand, she has to because she knows, deep down, that this is important to figuring out who's targeting you girls." Richie said. "I know.. I know," she said sadly. Richie sighed and leaned down and kissed the crown of her head, she or the girls didn't deserve this.

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The next day Josie had gotten a text from Spencer saying to come over, that they had the flash drive and to come over. "So, what did you tell him?" Josie asked as she fiddled with her necklace as her, Aria, Emily and Spencer entered Spencer's room. "As little as possible." Spencer replies as she closes her bedroom door. "That Jenna's trying to frame us for Alison's murder. That Garrett's helping her and that despite what the police believe, Ian's confession probably doesn't tell us the whole story." Spencer explained to them as she sat down at her desk and put the flash drive into her computer. "And then I figured the rest was something that all of us needed to talk about." Spencer added.

"All of us except Hanna." Aria said hesitantly, making Spencer turn to her. "I don't feel better about this than any of you, but we did the right thing." Spencer said softly. "Caleb knows what he has to know." Spencer added, making Josie sigh as she rested her hands on the back of Spencer's desk chair. "Maybe what he got won't be any good and we won't have to use him anymore." Emily said with a shrug. "So we're hoping nothing's on here?" Spencer asked as she looked up to Emily but she didn't have a chance to respond when Spencer's computer beeped, making her turn to it and the girls crowded around her.

But the video was frozen on Garret looking into the box. "Dance you little bastards," Spencer said as she clicked her computer frustrated. Soon enough it started. "That's weird." Garrett says confused. "What?" Jenna said, making Garret turn to her. "What's inside it?" Jenna asked before they heard a door open. "Hey. Shh, someone's here." Garret said, shutting the box, going to the door and shutting it as well. "Someone's here." Garrett said, panicking. "Alison?" Jenna asked, worried. "You're going down." Garrett said as he looked at Ian. "No, no, no, we're all going down." Ian said, then he grabs the camera from where he had put it.

"What?" he said, confused and shocked as he stared at Ian. "You taped us doing this? What... What is wrong with you?" Garrett asked in disbelief. "Now we know why he hid the camera." Spencer said, making Josie nodded in agreement but not moving her eyes from the computer. "Hey once you're a member of the club, you're always a member of the club," he said. "Just making sure you're as deep as I am." Ian added just before Garret dove towards Ian, trying to get the camera from him.

"She's coming up stairs!" Jenna said, worried. "Is that Alison about to walk in and find them?" Josie asked lowly. "This could be the last few seconds of her life." Spencer whispered in shock. They watched as the Camera falls to the ground and static cuts the video short. "I'm not sure I want Caleb to get any more." Emily said, worried. "Yeah, but if he does? maybe we really can give this to the police." Spencer said, turning to Emily then back to the computer again. "Maybe everything can finally be over." Spencer said, hopefully. ""Over" over?" Josie asked but Spencer didn't get a chance to reply because they heard a car door close.

The girls shared a look before the four of them went to the window, wondering what's going on. "I thought Toby was getting out of the hospital later today?" Emily asked, confused. "So did I." Spencer said as they all looked outside before they followed Spencer downstairs and outside into her backyard. "Where'd he go?" Aria asked. "What I was wondering." Josie muttered as Emily looked inside the truck before she opened the door to see the keys inside.

"Why would he leave the keys?" Emily asks as she takes them out before she spotted a note with Spencer's name on it before she turned to Spencer and handed her a note, who opened it right away. They watched as Spencer's face fell, making them curious. "Spence, what does it say?" Aria asked curiously. "He's gone." she said, as her voice wavered, making Josie sigh sadly before she walked up to Spencer and pulled her into a hug. 

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapters <3 countdown till season three: eight chapters