EMPTY GOLD.
006. | ❛ amen. ❜

We were all seated at he dinner table when Alison received a phone call. Only when she hung up did we know what they were talking about.

"Ali, who was that?"

"Lorenzo. He said he'd call with any updates." Alison sat down at the head of the table

"What was it? The update." Spencer asked

"Time of death. Charlotte was killed around 4 am" She poured herself some wine

"Are you okay?"

"Lorenzo says this is good news.They're one step closer to finding her killer. Let's say grace." We all extended our hands to the persons on our right and left. Elena put her hand out for Hanna but she was in a daze.

"Hanna, hand." Elena whispered to her before she got Elena and Jordan's hand. We all put our heads down and closed our eyes to hear Alison words

"Thank you, Heavenly Father for this healing food and these dear friends and thank you to all those who are working tirelessly to seek justice for Charlotte. And thank you for helping the police find Charlotte's killer and anyone who could be protecting him or her." Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Elena all opened their eyes and looked at one another knowing that Alison was referencing to the absent liar.

"Thank you always for your guidance and love. Amen."

"Amen." They all said in unison before diving into the dinner that Alison planned.

______________________

"That was awkward." Elena followed Hanna into the pantry,"Was that speech directed at us?"

"Not at us but... Aria maybe."Elena crossed her arms over her chest

"Why would Ali think that Aria had anything to do with Charlotte's death?"

"Maybe she did. Aria left the hotel the night that she was killed."

"How do you know this?"

"I saw her. She left around 3:00 a.m. and I don't know when she got back."

"Let's just ask her." Elena reverted to the easy way out.

"Well, I tried that. She denied going anywhere but her car."

"Okay, well, there are surveillance cameras, right in the lobby of the hotel?"

"Yeah."

"Your mom's the manager. So maybe you could find a way to get a look at the footage from that night."

"No. I'm don't do stuff like that anymore." Hanna turned away from her but looked back at Elena as she started to talk.

"Hanna, I know it's a lot to ask, okay? But how else are we supposed to make sure that Aria came back before Charlotte died?"

________________________

"Where does Jordan think you are?" Elena asked Hanna once they got into the security room.

"Talking to my mom." Hanna was looking through the footage until she found Aria.

"There she is. It's 3:12."

"What the hell was Ezra doing there?" Emily said with disgust.

"So much for just going to her car."

The door opens revealing Spencer who was serving as lookout, 'Hey, the hallway's clear but there's a cleaning crew down the hall. Okay, hurry."

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"What did I miss?"

"Aria left the hotel with Ezra."

"What?"

"But she didn't come back with him." The video fast forwards to when Aria came back

"It's 4:28."

"What time did Ali say that Charlotte was killed?"

"Close to 4:00. Just because she came back after the time of murder doesn't mean that she had anything to do with it." Spencer was trying to convince Hanna that Aria was just in the wrong plac at the wrong time.

"No, but it doesn't look good." Hanna snapped back

"What do we do? Do we erase the video?"

"We're not in high school, Emily. We're gonna talk to Aria."

"She won't tell us anything."

"Well, she doesn't have a choice this time."

We all ventured to Aria's house waiting for her to come home to explain the situation that makes it look that she killed Charlotte.

"How did you know I was back?"Aria looked suprised

"I saw you visiting Ezra. We know you saw him the night Charlotte died."

"We know you left the hotel for more than five minutes."

"Yeah, and by the time you came back Charlotte was already dead."

"It's time to tell us what really happened that night." Elena told her straight.

Aria Flashback.

"You didn't have to come by." Aria slurred which rubbing her temples

"Well, you said you couldn't sleep."

"Ugh, I can't. I just keep going over what I said to the judge. God, that look on Ali's face." Aria covered her face trying to forget

"Look, what you said was honest and brave. So if your friends are giving you a hard time..."

"No, no, no, no. They're not... at all. They'd actually wish that they'd said the same thing. I mean, that's the crazy part. I-I just thought if one of us had said no then that would just be the end of it."

"Yeah, me too."

"Hey, can we go somewhere? Anywhere but here."

"Of course."

"Mm, why is everything closed?" They walked around the town square

"It's suburban Pennsylvania and about 4:00 a.m."

"Yeah, I want pizza. Doesn't anybody care that I want pizza?"

"You know, I know this little... Bookstore cafe around the corner. It's closed, but I happen to know the owner." Ezra was hinting towards himself.

"No, no, I should go. It's late."

"Is that Alison? Looks like her car." Aria gestured towards the blonde girl entering the church.

"I think that's Charlotte."

"Do we call someone? Do we call the police?" Aria said in a panic about what she was doing out so late.

"No, Aria. She's free now. It's her town now as much as ours."

"Oh, she's free and she's already lurking in the shadows.Why the hell is she not home with Ali?"

"Cause that's the kind of world we live in. People like Nicole disappear and Charlotte gets to walk free." Ezra said with a rage

"Ezra. Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah. You know, it's-it's getting late. You should probably get back to your hotel." He helped Aria into her car as they bid their farewells.

"He told me he went home afterwards. But... I don't know. He-he was so angry." Aria tried to come to terms about Ezra.

"Aria, what is it?"

"I know him. And I know that Ezra can't look me in the eye when he lies. And when he told me he went home, he didn't... Look at me."

Elena sighs, "Well, we have to tell someone. Lorenzo, Ali, anyone. We can't keep this to ourselves."

"No, we don't. Now, this is a giant leap. We're talking about Ezra killing someone. I mean, until we have actual proof we don't tell anyone anything."

Spencer spoke to us with her back turned to us before turning to us in realization"It's not. It's not a giant leap. In fact, I think I told Ezra how to do it. Ezra was on his book tour and we got together for lunch. He was still trying to figure out what he wanted to write next and he said that he was toying around with the idea of a murder mystery. I had just written my paper so I told him about the case in detail."

"Maybe Ezra did do this to protect you." Hanna said

"Protect me? By copying some bizarre murder from the past?" Aria said in disbelief.

"Spencer, this was a public case. You weren't the only two who knew about it." Emily tried to get Spencer to drop her suppose involvement in the murder.

"He saw how upset Aria was in the courtroom. And he's still angry about what happened to Nicole. I mean, who knows what he's capable of now?"

"If he did kill Charlotte and the police find out... It's gonna look like you were involved too. You left the hotel with Ezra and you came back a half hour after Charlotte was killed."

"Nobody can see that security footage." Aria shook her head and looked at Elena who had her lips in a line knowing that she would have to lie to Toby.

_______________________

Upon returning to her home, she came home to a fallen asleep Toby. She tried being as quiet as possible as she got changed and stopped and looked herself in the mirror. Elena wasn't the same person anymore, she had scars of her past tormentor, and after all she's been through she barely recognized the person she has become.

Elena smelled Toby's shirt which she had one and took out the pills she hide in her bag. She went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. She looked at the pill in her hand before swallowing it and jumping into bed. Elena looked at the wall as Toby stirred and wrapped his hand over Elena's side.

"How was dinner?"Toby asked in his drowsy state.

"It was fine." Elena said

"Anything interesting happened today?"

"Can't think of a single thing." Elena lied through her teeth as they both went into a dreamless sleep.