“Did Ali contact you when she was back in The Preserve?”
There was a loud ding, and Noel glanced at the monitor next to his bed. A heart flashed red, then vanished. “She wrote a letter saying that sending her back to The Preserve was a huge mistake,” he said. “She seemed so worried about her sister going missing and so shocked that they couldn’t find her. I fell for it.”
“And you visited her again, for years.”
“Yeah.” Noel sounded ashamed. “Until Ian Thomas was convicted and Ali came back.”
“Did you meet Tabitha Clark while you visited The Preserve?”
Noel swallowed hard. “I saw Tabitha around, but I didn’t hang out with her except for this one time when Ali was released for a weekend. Her parents didn’t want to see her, so she stayed with Tabitha in New Jersey. I took the train there and went to the movies with them.”
Aria shut her eyes. Last week, she’d found a ticket stub for Spider-Man from a theater in Maplewood, New Jersey, where Tabitha was from. There had been handwriting on the back: Thanks for believing in me. So it was from Ali. “Did you meet anyone else at The Preserve?”
Noel raised his eyes to the ceiling. “A girl named Iris. Super-skinny, really blond.”
That made sense. Last week, Emily had checked Iris out of the hospital for a few days to pump her for information. Iris was the one who’d explained that Ali had a secret boyfriend. When she saw a picture of Noel, she said she was sure it was him.
“How about any guy friends?” Aria asked.
Noel thought for a moment. “I can’t think of a single one. Why?”
“Ali had a boyfriend.”
She waited for the impact, expecting Noel to look shattered and betrayed. But he just blinked. “I never met him.”
“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.