“Did she ever talk about him?”
“Nope.” He shook his head.
She stared at her hands in her lap. “So last year, when Ian was arrested and they let Ali out, she contacted you again, right?”
“We met once before that press conference.”
“At Keppler Creek?” Iris had told Emily that while Ali was still at The Preserve, she talked on and on about how she was going to have a secret meeting at a park near Delaware.
Noel tilted his head. “No. At my house. She said that everyone would know about her soon enough. And then you guys did. When all of you seemed so friendly with one another, I thought it was great. She seemed really happy, too. A happy ending.”
Aria narrowed her eyes. “Did she tell you she lied to us? Told us she was our Ali?”
“Of course not.” Noel very gingerly sat up in bed, his face contorting. “Like I said, I had no idea until after the fire.”
“What about the kiss?” Ali and Noel had shared a kiss at the Valentine’s Dance the night of the Poconos fire. Ali had acted like Noel had hit on her, not the other way around. Aria had been so mad at Noel, she’d joined Ali and her friends on their trip to the Poconos house.
“I wasn’t helping her in her master plan, I swear,” Noel urged. “She kissed me.”
“And what about telling Agent Fuji I was lying?”
Noel squinted. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw an e-mail exchange between you and Agent Fuji.”
“She let you read her e-mails?”
“No, I read your e-mails.” Aria hated to admit it. “You told Fuji you thought someone had lied to her about Tabitha’s murder. Why did you say that? Were you trying to get her to investigate me?”
Noel stared at her like a third ear had sprouted out of her forehead. “I had exactly one conversation with Agent Fuji where I told her I didn’t know Tabitha and I didn’t know anything. I was the one lying. And why would I want her to investigate you?”
Aria pretended to fix a kink in her pant leg. Could Noel honestly not know about Tabitha? “I’m supposed to believe that someone hacked into your e-mail account and wrote fake messages to Fuji?”
Noel threw up his hands. “I don’t know. And while we’re talking about it, who is this someone who’s hacking into things and stalking you and beating me up? Do you really think Ali’s still alive? Why didn’t you tell me before?”
Aria scoffed. “I didn’t tell you because I was trying to keep you safe.”
“But . . .” Noel looked like he was going to say something else, then shut his mouth tight.
“But what?” Aria asked.
Noel shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it.”
He was breathing hard by now, and his machine started to beep. Aria stared at it, grateful to have something to look at instead of his face.
A nurse swept into the room and checked the monitor. “I think you should probably get going,” she said to Aria.
She ushered Aria toward the door. Aria peeked back at Noel’s drawn expression, but she didn’t wave.
She felt disoriented and dizzy. For so long, Noel had been the only thing in Rosewood that was keeping her going . . . but now he was a stranger. How could she continue on here? How was she going to live in Rosewood, go to Rosewood Day, even enter rooms in her house without a Noel memory rearing its head?
She needed to get out of this place, once and for all. Leave Rosewood behind and never come back. But as she took a few faltering steps, her knees collapsed and her legs felt heavy. Right now, it was a challenge just to get out of the hallway and back to her friends.
2
AN EMPTY ROOM
Spencer, Hanna, and Emily shot to their feet as soon as Aria returned to the waiting room. Aria avoided their gazes and trudged straight to the drinks station, her shoulders hunched.
“What did Noel say?” Spencer asked breathlessly, following her. “Did he see who hurt him?”
“No,” Aria mumbled, grabbing a cup from the stack.
“Are you sure?” Hanna asked. “How well did he know Ali, anyway? Were they friends—or more?”
Aria busied herself at the coffee machine. Her eyes were red, and she kept making little hiccupping sighs like she’d been crying. Spencer hated pushing her for answers, but they needed to know.
Reluctantly, Aria relayed what Noel had told her, including how he’d visited Ali at The Preserve. When she got to the part about Noel not meeting anyone else there except for Tabitha and Iris, Spencer grumbled. “He didn’t see one single guy? Ali never talked about someone she liked?”
Aria shrugged. “I think Ali wanted Noel to think she liked him.”
Emily groaned. “That makes sense. It was her way of keeping him on her side.”
Aria took a sip of coffee. “Noel said he heard a guy’s voice when he was attacked. But that’s it.”
“I wish we could take down Ali and her helper once and for all.” Spencer plopped into a chair.
“Maybe we could go back to The Preserve,” Hanna suggested. “Ask them if there were any guy patients whose names started with N.”
Emily looked unsure. “It seems so risky.”
Hanna furrowed her brow. “You want to give up?”
“Maybe we should,” Spencer said. Just last week, in an attempt to catch Ali and her helper, they’d gone rogue, putting away their phones, which A had hacked dozens of times, and buying burner cells. Then they’d met in a panic room in Spencer’s stepfather’s model home for Who-Is-A brainstorming meetings. They’d created a list of people who might have been helping Ali. They’d drawn lines through each name as they ruled people out. Finally, only Noel remained . . . and they’d thought they were one step ahead of A, until A’s text yesterday included a picture of the suspect list. Spencer had no idea how Ali found the thing, as she’d had it hidden under her bed. Noel as A? Not it! the note had said.
“What about the cops?” Hanna reshaped her auburn ponytail. “Should I hand over Ali’s note from the burn clinic?”
Spencer thought it over. If they showed the cops the note, Ali and Helper A might come after them. If they didn’t, the cops might accuse them of obstructing justice. “What if you handed it over but told them nothing about A?” she suggested. “It’s signed in Kyla’s name, not Ali’s. The cops don’t have to know she’s one and the same. To be honest, we don’t even know for sure.”
“That could work,” Hanna murmured.
“What do we do about our burner phones?” Aria asked. “A hacked them, too. Do we keep them?”
“We might as well use our old phones,” Emily suggested. “No matter what we do, she finds us. Let’s just not make calls or send texts unless we absolutely have to.”
“If we change our passwords on our e-mail daily, that could be okay to use,” Spencer said. “But we shouldn’t discuss anything about Ali or Helper A over e-mail or text.”
“What if we get another A note?” Hanna whispered. “Can we still talk about it?”
Spencer glanced around the room, almost afraid A was listening. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Maybe we could use a code word if we want to meet and talk about Ali. How about . . .” Her gaze clapped on the handsome, silver-haired figure on the TV screen. “Anderson Cooper.”
“Done,” Aria said.
Hanna leaned in closer. “What do you think A’s next move is going to be?”
Spencer’s stomach flipped over. How many times had they wondered that? “It could be anything. A’s still watching us. We just need to keep our eyes and ears open.”