chapter seventy three — turn of the shoe
[ season four, episode two ]
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The girls were at the Brew. "When was the last time your mom called you from New York?" Josie asked. "I don't know. The day before yesterday. I haven't really been keeping track." Hanna answered. "Have you checked your phone?" Emily asked. "She called me from the hotel room, Emily, she has no cell." Hanna responded. "Wait, who was that freaky woman at the funeral?" Hanna asked.

"Which one? there were a couple, Han." Josie responded. "The one in the black, with the veil, and she was just diving into that town car." Hanna responded. "Speaking of freaks, where's Melissa?" Emily asked Spencer, who wasn't paying attention, and was making a diagram on the table. "Spencer?" she asked and she looked up. "What?" she asked. "Where's your sister been?" she asked again. "D.C. She's interviewing for an internship." Spencer responded.

"Which one? satan?" Hanna asked. "Wait a second. You think that Melissa was the woman in black?" Aria asked Emily. "Do you?" Emily asked. "I didn't really get a good look at her, I was trying not to wet myself when that new cop made a beeline over for us." Aria responded. "Okay, well, he beeline all he wants. We didn't do anything to Wilden." Hanna responded. "Except for throwing his car into a lake, and leave fingerprints all over it when 'A' pulled it out." Aria reminded her. 

"Spencer, what are you doing with my fries?" Josie asked. "I'm recreating the geography around the lodge to see if it's even possible that the person who jumped out of the plane could rescue you four from a burning building." Spencer responded and Hanna went to grab a mozzarella stick, but Spencer stopped her. "Wait. put down the mozzarella stick." she said, "it's mine." Hanna said. "No, it's not. It's a plane." Spencer said, taking the mozzarella stick, putting it back in the thing of food.

"Spencer, you can stack all the food that you want, it wasn't Alison." Aria said. "Why are you so sure?" Josie asked, looking at her. "Because I went to her funeral twice." Aria responded. "We never saw a body." she pointed out. "Oh god." Aria groaned. "We've been through this." Emily said. "Okay? You two were oxygen-deprived." she said and Josie scoffed. "Spencer wasn't, and she saw her, right?" Hanna asked, looking at Spencer, who didn't answer, just looked at her. "Oh. so now we're the crazy ones." Hanna scoffed. "Gimmie my Mozzarella back." she added, grabbing it from Spencer, but Spencer took it from her. "Okay, it looked a lot like Alison, and I'm not ruling it out." she said.

"So you're saying that you think her mom is laying out all of her old pillows and toys because she's expecting her return?" Aria asked. "It was just one toy. A clown." Emily clarified. "God, Emily, please. Not you too." Aria scoffed. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." Mona said, walking up to them. "So, I've been thinking a lot about the Alison question." she said. "Really? I've been thinking a lot about how you put my mom's phone in Wilden's casket." Hanna remarked, standing up as Josie quietly ate some of her chips. "Nice." Mona responded dryly.

The rest of the girls began getting up as well. "What else do I have to prove to you that we're in this together?" Mona asked. "I gave you that chip from the dash cam, you were all when my computer was hacked." she listed. The girls stood and stared at Mona. "I have cashed in all of my 'get out of hell free' cards, so if you don't believe me and you still think i'm keeping secrets, go out there and search that R.V. for yourself." Mona added. "What?" Mona asked when she saw Spencer raise her brow at her. Spencer shrugged, looking at the girls and then towards mona. "Lead the way. We'll follow." she said.

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"Why are we doing this now?" Emily asked, as the girls stood around in the middle of nowhere, waiting for Mona. they had followed her to where Mona had hidden her R.V. "Because if we wait until later she can get back here before us and purge." Spencer responded. "What was that?" Emily asked, panicked, hearing a sound. "It's an owl or something, do you need to wait in the car?" Josie asked, Emily just sighed as Mona walked over to them.

"I'm just saying I don't even know what we're supposed to be looking for." Emily said as they followed Mona over to where she had hid the R.V. Mona moved the gate and when they looked, there was no R.V. It was gone. "Oh, My god." Mona breathed, shining the flashlight all over the place. "Oh, My god, it's gone." Mona said shakily. "What do you mean, it's gone?" Aria snapped and Mona turned to face them. "This is where I left it." Mona responded.  "I mean, you saw me, Hanna." she said, shining the flashlight at Hanna, who kept quiet. "I haven't been back here since. I swear." she promised but none of the girls were believing it. "Somebody stole it." she said.

"Somebody?" Josie asked, crossing her arms. "Let's get out of here." Hanna said and the girls walked away. "That somebody wasn't me!" Mona called out, following them. Aria, Emily and Josie stopped at Josie's car and they watched as Mona passed them. "Wait." Aria stopped Emily as she went to walk away. They watched as Mona walked to her car as Spencer and Hanna passed her, driving off.

They watched Mona get in and started her car, but the lights started flashing and they saw a commotion through the back window of the car. "What's going on?" Aria asked before walking over, the other two following her. As they got closer, Mona tumbled out of the driver's side of the car, panting and breathing heavily. "Oh, my gosh! Mona!" Emily called out as they ran to get Mona. "Mona." Josie said as they got closer. "Are you okay?" Aria asked. "Get up." Josie said as they helped her up, as she coughed. "What happened?" Josie asked but soon enough they noticed that someone was driving Mona's car and was coming towards them. "Oh, my god!" Emily exclaimed, pushing everyone out of the way, but landed on a rock in the process, hurting herself.

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Hanna, Aria and Josie were walking through Rosewood, catching Hanna up on what happened after she had left. "She's a mess, she could barely move. Has this wicked bruise on her shoulder." Aria explained. "She landed on a huge rock." Josie added. "Why didn't she land on Mona?" Hanna asked. "Hanna, the car tried to flatten me, Aria, and Mona. if Emily hadn't jumped in, we would have been roadkill." Josie responded, looking at her.

"Seriously, if 'A's new plan is to try and pick off the tiny ones in the herd—" Aria started. "Okay, we are not a herd." Hanna said, interrupting her. "It's an expression Han." Josie responded. "Yeah, for cows." Hanna said. "Well, I've been crated, so what does that make me?" Aria asked. "My mom didn't even blink when I pulled her phone out. It was like she knew it was stolen and she was just waiting for me to spill." Hanna ranted.

"Well, it's not gonna help you or nor your mom to tell her that 'A' is back." Josie responded. "Yeah, and framing her for a murder." Hanna retorted as the three of them stopped in the middle of the street. "So what am I supposed to do now, nothing? I mean, if Mona didn't put that phone in the casket, then who did? And who sent that tape of us outside of Wilden's car? And who stole Mona's hate-mobile?" Hanna asked. "Melissa? Jenna? Shana?" Hanna kept asking.

"You could always go ask her yourself." Aria joked, looking behind Hanna, making Josie and Hanna follow her line of sight to see Shana sitting outside the Brew. Suddenly Hanna started walking over, causing Aria and Josie to share a look. "Han. I wasn't serious." Aria said as she and Josie followed her. "Hanna." Josie tried. "Hey. You savin' that seat for your gal-pal Jenna?" Hanna asked as she walked up to Shana. "Excuse me?" Shana asked, looking up at them.

"Don't act like you haven't heard that name before. Jen-na." she pronounced like she was talking to an idiot. "Why'd you skip wilden's funeral?" she asked. "Hanna." Aria said but was ignored. "Jenna was there. Why weren't you? You three were all buds, right? Where were you yesterday?" she asked. "I was at swim practice, but I don't recall signing a contract that said I had to report that to you." Shana answered.

"Han, let's go." Josie said, "So swimming laps was more important than saying goodbye to an old friend?" Hanna asked, continuing to interrogate Shana. "What old friend?" Shana asked. "The groggy scumbag you and Jenna scraped off the road the night he was hit by a car." Hanna responded and Josie's eyes widened. "Okay, Hanna, enough, come on." Aria said, grabbing onto Hanna's arm, pulling her away from Shana.

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"So, tackle the last four chapters. We'll go over the historical context on Monday, and for those of you who are ahead, and can't get enough of doomed romance, um, pick up 'east of eden' for extra credit." Mr. Fitz said to the class before the bell rang. Josie packed up her books and stood up from her chair and looked at Spencer, who seemed a little off.

"Spence, you comin'?" she asked. "Uh, yeah. I'll catch up to you guys at lunch." she responded. "Okay, we'll meet you in the courtyard." Mona responded before walking off. The girls shared a look before walking out of the classroom. "Since when was Mona a part of the group?" Richie asked in a whisper as they walked behind the girls. "I have no idea." she whispered in response.

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Josie and Hanna had gone over to Spencer's, only to find out she wasn't home. "Hey, Spence, it's me again. Why haven't you called me back? And where are you on a Saturday morning at ten o'clock? I need to talk to you." Hanna said, talking to Spencer' voicemail. Both Hanna and Josie had tried ringing her, but she wasn't answering either of them. "No answer again?" Josie asked as she leaned on Hanna's car.

Hanna didn't have time to respond, because someone else called out to them. "Hanna? Josie?" they heard, making them turn to see Mrs. DiLaurentis outside the house, she had obviously been planting flowers. "Jesus." Josie muttered before they walked over to her. "I thought that was you two." she said, smiling at both girls. "Hi, Mrs. DiLaurentis." they said in sync. "How are you two doing?" she asked them. "Good." "I'm alright." Hanna and Josie answered.

"You've been doing a lot of work." Hanna observed. "Well, everything I did yesterday was undone by an angry raccoon, or whatever's living under that porch." Mrs. DiLaurentis responded, looking at the bushes. "Can I ask you two something?" she asked as she turned her back to them and pointed to the garden. "If I fill that area in with iceberg roses, will it make the gray shingles look stodgy?" she asked, but the girls weren't paying attention, they were looking at the second level of the house, feeling someone was there.

"Um, I don't... really have an opinion." Hanna responded as Josie shrugged. She had no idea, she nor her mother were one for gardening. "Really?" she asked with a laugh. "God knows Alison would." she said. "I'll clump the whites over here." she explained. "Miss me?" A voice asked in the distance, making them look around. "What was that?" Hanna asked, scared. "That? That was a gift from my late mother-in-law. Come. Meet Tippi." Mrs. DiLaurentis answered.

She led the girls onto the porch of the house, where the girls noticed a bird cage, with a parrot inside. "I can't keep coming back." the parrot said. "It's uncanny, isn't it?" Mrs. DiLaurentis asked as they walked closer. "Careful what you say around her. It may come back to haunt you." she added as the parrot squawked. "Want a sweet potato?" the bird asked, reaping something it had heard. "No, Tippi, we don't." Mrs. DiLaurentis responded as Hanna and Josie stared at the bird. "I'm guessing mother D asked her that fifty times a day." Mrs. DiLaurentis mused.

"Miss me?" the bird asked again. "God, she sounds like Alison." Josie breathed, looking over her shoulder at Mrs. DiLaurentis. "When she went to Georgia, she spent more time with that bird than she did her grandmother." Mrs. DiLaurentis responded, staring at it now as well. "They shared a room." she added. "Don't worry, Sweetie, I don't think she taught her 'Hefty Hanna'." she said to Hanna as Tippi kept chattering.

A little while later, Josie and Hanna were still on the porch of the house, talking to Mrs. DiLaurentis. "Mrs. DiLaurentis, when the police found Ali's–" Hanna started. "The police didn't find her. It was workers tearing down the gazebo." Mrs. DiLaurentis corrected her. "Right, but once the police were called, did you see–" Hanna trailed off and Josie looked at her wide eyed, why the hell was she asking Mrs. DiLaurentis this.

"See what? What was left of her?" she snapped. "The yellow blouse was enough, Hanna." she added and Josie frowned before Mrs. DiLaurentis told them about how Ali had held her breath to get what she wanted. "She practiced that stunt when she was five years old– just to torture me." Mrs. DiLaurentis explained. "We never got invited to Cape May that summer." Josie said.

"I'm not surprised." she said, shaking her head. "All the beer bottles that I found later made me wonder if she was running with an older crowd. Probably a boy." she added before Tippi whistled. "You know anybody who wants a bird?" Mrs. DiLaurentis asked. "I have enough voices in my head." she said, taking the empty glasses and walked away and the two blonds stared at the whistling parrot.

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When Hanna and Josie walked into Spencer's house, they spotted Spencer and Aria at the kitchen island. "Thanks for returning our calls." Josie said sarcastically as Hanna held the bird cage with Tippie in it. "Where did you guys get that?" Spencer asked curiously, staring at Tippi. "Mrs. DiLaurentis's porch." Hanna answered. "You stole her bird?" Aria asked, but Josie shook her head. "She gave it to Hanna." she corrected. "And it's not just a bird, okay? It talks." Hanna added. "Turns out, Ali and Tippie were roommates at Ali's grandmothers in Georgia." Josie explained.

"This bird probably knows more about what happened to Ai than any of us do." Hanna remarked and Josie nodded her head in agreement as Tippi squawked. "It talks a lot." she added. "You think it's gonna tell us if Ai's still alive?" Spencer asked, confused. "Wow. I thought that I was losing it." Aria said slowly. "Okay, if you guys would shut up for a minute, maybe it would say something." Hanna said, putting the birdcage on top of the kitchen island, Spencer moving things out of the way.

The four of them stared at Tippi. "Does it take requests?" Spencer asked and Hanna groaned, walking away and sitting on the couch. "Okay, you know what? Ali was hooking up with someone in Cape May that summer, and she was telling her mom that it was us." Hanan explained. "Yeah, we know. Wilden." Aria responded, and Josie sighed. "No, we don't, because Wilden had his own boat, so why would he be staying at Ali's parents' beach house?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"You know what Hanna, Josie? That's a really great question, but we can't ask him because he's dead, alright? And that lake is now a crime scene. The shoreline that we threw the car–" Aria responded. "Okay, Aria, you have to stop, okay? That was weeks ago. And you guys weren't wearing pumps." Spencer said, cutting her off. "The footprints that the police are looking for are high heels." Spencer said, and Josie looked at Hanna. She had explained to Josie about the muddy heels of her moms she had found under the sink.

"Wait. Whose high heels?" Hanna asked, "Well, the cops don't know, but Mona's trying to tell us that they're Alisons's." Aria answered. "Was it... Muddy that night?" Hanna asked but none of them had a chance to respond, because Tippi started talking. "Hey, Board shorts, miss me?" it asked and they all turned to the bird. "Did you just hear that?" Aria asked. "Yeah. I'm standing right next to you." Spencer responded and Aria went to sit by the bird with Josie as Hanna pulled Spencer aside. It wasn't long before Spencer joined them as well, as Tippi started whistling again.

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Josie was washing her face when her phone rang, she looked to see Spencer was calling her, she frowned, picking up the phone. "Spence? What's wrong?" she asked. "Look, I couldn't get a hold of Hanna, but look, it's not a song Tippi's singing. It's a phone number." Spencer explained and Josie's eyes widened. "I'm on my way." she said before hanging up, grabbing a hoodie and leaving.

Soon she, Hanna, and Aria were back at Spencer's. They were ringing the number that Spencer had figured out from Tippi. "It could be a business, but it's Saturday night, they're closed." Aria theorised. "Let's... just let it ring, okay?" Hanna said as Josie crossed her arms. "Where's the area code?" she asked Spencer. "York County." she responded. "Did Ali know anybody from there?" Aria asked. "I don't know. I'm guessing she called her beach hotty," Spencer said. "Board Shorts." Hanna corrected. "Obsessively from Georgia, and that's how Tippi learned this number." Spencer continued to explain.

"Maybe you just dialed the number wrong." Aria said as the line was still ringing. "I didn't!" Spencer said, hanging up. "How do you know? You dialed it, not Tippi." Hanna remarked and Josie sighed. "Okay, let's just go record the bird." she suggested. "You guys, she's been singing this phone number on a loop. I've heard it like twenty times." Spencer responded. "Yeah, so have I, but I want somebody to answer." Hanna said. "So, Aria, let's just go get your phone and we'll record it together." she said, "Okay." Aria said before the girls moved to Spencer's room.

They noticed the silence from the hallway, and they moved into the room, immediately, noticing the bird was gone. "What's going on?" Spencer asked. "Tippi's gone." Aria said, staring at the empty cage, confused. "But how?" Josie asked. "Who opened that cage?" Hanna asked before Spencer picked up a feather from the red leather seat in her bedroom. "Probably the same person who opened the window." she said and the girls stared at the open window.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | tippi the bird is gone....