chapter sixty eight — out of sight, out of mind
[ season three, episode twenty one ]
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Josie had arrived at Spencer's as Emily, so the two of them entered Spencer's house through the kitchen door and ran up the stairs, and into Spencer's room to see her and Aria there, Spencer still in her robe. "Oh, my god. Are you alright?" Emily asked her as she hugged Spencer while Josie took a seat beside Spencer and rubbed her back, worried. "Yeah." Spencer responded. "Thank god Aria got there when she did." Josie said. "Where's Hanna?" Emily asked, pulling back from the hug.

"I don't know. She won't answer any of my texts or calls." Aria explained. "So, who is it? Whos' helping Mona?" Emily asked. "We should wait for Hanna." Spencer said. "No, this is too important to wait, Spence." Josie said, looking at her. "Okay, but you guys need to know that I've been warned not to tell you." Spencer said, looking between the three girls. "What else is new?" Aria asked, not caring. "Wait a minute. You knew who it was before tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah. I've known for a few weeks." Spencer nodded. "Why didn't you tell us any sooner?" Aria asked. "I wanted to be sure. I didn't wanna believe that It could be true, but after tonight happened, I can't keep this to myself anymore." Spencer responded. "Toby is 'A'." Spencer revealed and Josie looked at the others, wide-eyed, in disbelief.

After a while Josue had gotten up and started to pace as Aria looked out Spencer's window. "So, what are we saying? That what Ali wrote in Emily's notebook was true?" she asked as she walked back over to the others. "That Toby's secretly hated us ever since Ali threw that firecracker in his garage?" Aria asked. "Yeah, I guess so." Spencer responded.

"And the whole time that you two were dating, he was just pretending?" Josie asked in disbelief. "Okay, we all know how much Toby loves you. This can't be true." Emily said to Spencer. "If he loved me, he would not have let me sit outside of his loft bawling my eyes out for hours Okay? He wouldn't have taken everything out of 'A's lair when he knew that I had the key. He wouldn't be trying to hurt me– us!" Spencer snapped before letting out a sigh.

"I'm so sorry Spence." Aria said before Spencer started sobbing. "Mona must have something over him." Emily said, trying to be positive. "Trust me, I have tried to come up with every possible explanation as to why he could be doing this, and it all leads back to the same conclusion." Spencer responded. "The Toby, I know, would never do anything to hurt any of us." Emily said, defending him and Josie sighed, now wasn't the time for this. Spencer let out a bitter laugh.

"What's so funny?" Emily asked. "You. You, trying to make sense of this. You need to stop thinking about Toby as the person you thought you knew and start looking at him for who he really is." Spencer responded. "And how do I do that?" Emily asked. "You look at the facts, Emily!" Spencer snapped. "Okay, which are?" Aria asked. "Mona is with the decathlon team in New York City. She couldn't have locked me in the steam room, and that leaves Toby." Spencer explained and Emily shook her head slowly. "The quicker you wrap your mind around this, the better." she added. "Spence," Josie whispered, shaking her head. Toby had been Emily's friend long before he was Spencer's boyfriend.

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Emily had called Josie and Hanna to help her look through Toby's loft. Hanna was currently sitting on the couch, flicking through channels. "Toby's clothes and books are still there." Emily said coming down the stairs from the upstairs as Josie looked through drawers. "It's like he ran out and never looked back. Did you find anything?" she asked. "Nothing." Josie sighed, shutting a drawer as Emily looked at Hanna.

"Hello? Earth to Hanna." Emily said, once she noticed Hanna was more focused on the tv than searching the loft. Emily and Josie looked at the tv, where the news was playing. "Since when do you watch the news?" Emily asked, confused. "What?" Hanna asked, looking away from the tv to her two friends, who were staring at her.

"Oh. No. Uh– I was just– I wanted to check the weather." she answered. "What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be helping me! Only Josie's helping!" Emily snapped. "Look, I looked! I didn't find anything." Hanna responded. "Really? 'Cause I coulda sworn you were sitting in that exact spot 20 minutes ago." Emily said before snatching the remote from Hanna and turning the tv off.

Hanna sighed, getting up from the couch. "Okay, maybe I didn't try hard enough. But the more I think about it, the more I think we should stop searching for him." Hanna admitted and Josie sighed. "Look, If Spencer is right, Toby is dangerous." Josie added. "If he's so dangerous, then how come he's never hurt any of us? I've been alone with him how many times now?" Emily asked.

"No more than I've been alone with Mona." Hanna answered and Emily rolled her eyes. "Wait, did you forget that he tried to kill Spencer last night?" Hanna asked. "She believes he tried to kill her. She didn't see him." Emily responded. "She saw him in her kitchen dressed in a black hoodie, Em," Josie said, crossing her arms. "That doesn't mean he's physically trying to harm any of us." Emily said.

"Lucas was blackmailed into doing things for Mona, remember? Okay we still don't know what part Toby is playing in all this." she added before sitting down. "We told each other everything. He gave me the courage to come out." she said sadly and Josie frowned, before she and Hanna sat on either side of her as Emily picked up a book from the coffee table. "I gave this to him for his birthday last year." she said, opening the book about motorbikes.

The inside was a message 'To Toby, You will always be my favourite bike – Em' but when they flipped to the first page, they found something in the crease of it. "What's that?" Hanna asked as Emily took it out of the book. "Parking pass." she answered. "To radley. Who's 'E. Lamb'?" Josie asked. "Spencer said that's what Toby called himself to get in and out of Radley." Emily said and Josie and Hanna shared a look. "Look, if you really want to find him, why don't you just start by talking to his parents?" Hanna asked.

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"I told you I was warned. If I rated out 'T', 'A' was gonna take one of my four." Spencer said as the group sat in the Brew. "She's just trying to scare us." Aria said, trying to reassure her. "Well, it's working." Spencer said, putting sugar into her coffee. "And you need to stop looking for Toby. just let it go." Hanna said to Emily and Josie gave her a pointed look as Spencer looked at Emily, shocked.

"You're looking for Toby? Why?" she asked. "It's not that I don't believe what you saw, okay? But he's my friend too, so I need to hear this from him." Emily said, defending her decision. "Okay, I understand that, but I looked for him for weeks. Trust me, he doesn't want to be found." Spencer said before they heard Mona, making them look to see her at the counter.

"How long has she been standing there?" Aria asked and Spencer stood up, "Spencer, wait. What are you doing?" Emily asked as Hanna and Josie stood up and followed Spencer to mona. "Hello. You're not planning on choking me again, are you?" she asked. "No. I just wanted to say thank you for the flowers. The orchids are especially beautiful." Spencer responded, referring to the flowers she had gotten from 'A'.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Might be time to visit your doctor friend again." Mona responded. "Listen to me, Mona, I'm not playing around. Do not hurt my friends, okay? If you so much as touch one hair on their heads, I will make you very sorry. Am I clear?" Spencer asked but Mona just tilted her head. "Looks like someone's been skipping their anger management class. I think I'll take my pumpkin latte... to go." Mona responded before she turned around, but stopped and looked at spencer.

"Oh... but um, a little tip on the orchids, make sure not to leave them in direct sunlight. I did once; they didn't make it through the night." she said but as she went to walk away she stared at something over Spencer's shoulder, making her turn to see Hanna and Josie but Mona looked over their shoulders, and they turned to see Emily and once Emily noticed she looked at them confused before walking off and that sounded like a threat.

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Hanna and Josie were with Aria in Ezra's apartment. Aria was looking after Malcolm, who was playing on Aria's phone. "How long has he been like that for?" Joise asked, laughing as she looked at Malcolm, who had his headphones on and his focus was on the phone. "He's been on a raid for the past hour." Aria laughed as she cut a sandwich.

"God, I still cannot believe that you're babysitting your boyfriend's kid." Hanna said. "Yeah, well, I still can't believe my boyfriend has a kid." Aria answered. "So what's gonna happen if Malcolm and Maggie move here?" Josie asked as Aria looked in the fridge. "What do you mean?" Aria asked. "Well, when they were in Delaware, that was one thing, but if they come here, where does that leave you and Ezra?" Hanna asked as Aria poured a drink.

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out. We always do." she answered. "And you're sure that Maggie's okay with you being part of the equation?" Hanna asked as Aria grabbed some paper towel. "She seems to be." she responded, grabbing the plate with the sandwich and the glass of milk. "I guess she's not who I thought she was." she answered. "There's a lot of that going around." Hanna said as Aria gave the food and drink to Malcolm.

Josie moved to sit on a chair as Hanna sat on the couch before Aria joined them. "You know, I was thinking. If Toby is working with Mona, there had to have been some signs that we missed." Aria said. "Yeah, I always wondered how Toby found Dr. Sullivan after Mona ran her out of town and then he brought her back the exact night that Mona was caught." Hanna said.

"You think that it was planned?" Josie asked, looking at her. "Well, I think that Mona knew we were getting close to where the lair was." Hanna responded. "And bringing Dr. Sullivan back helped Mona because...?" Aria asked. "She diagnosed her with a mental disorder." Hanna said, getting up and walking around. "And that helped ensure that she went to Radley, not jail." Aria said as sirens came from outside, Hanna looked outside and looked a little freaked so Aria and Josie stood up.

"Everything okay?" Aria asked. "What?" Hanna asked, turning around to face them. "Oh. um... yeah." she responded before pulling her phone out of her back pocket. "No, I-I just completely forgot, I'm gonna be late to meet my mom, so I'll call you later, okay?" she said. "Yeah, okay." Aria muttered before Hanna left. They shared a look before Josie sighed. "I should get going as well, I'll check in later. " she said and they hugged before Josie left.

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Richie and Josie were cuddling on her living room couch, making out, when her phone rang, "Don't answer it." Richie muttered, kissing Josie, making her laugh before her phone rang again and Richie groaned as Josie pulled away to grab her phone from her jacket pocket that was on the floor, where Richie had put it earlier.

Hanna Marin
S.O.S.

"Ugh," Richie groaned, getting up as well as Josie, who laughed softly. "Don't pout." she said, smiling at him before she stood up, grabbing her keys and jacket as Richie gathered his stuff as well. "What are you doing?" she asked, usually he stayed here when she got and s.o.s. "I'm coming with you." he said and she went to talk but he stopped her.

"End of discussion." he said and she sighed before the both of them got into her car and made their way to Hanna's, where they spotted Aria's car pulling up as well. "Any idea what the s.o.s. Is it about?" she asked Aria, who shook her head before the three of them walked into Hanna's house, who soon showed them the car in her garage, and explained that her mom had run Wilden over.

"I don't understand. I hit that black box like a hundred times, and it didn't even crack." Hanna said, putting the hammer she had in her hands on the kitchen island. "The video just kept playing over and over." she continued. "I don't think that's what matters Hanna, because whoever put the car in your garage, has probably already made copies." Josie said. "Well, it has to be 'A' why would Wilden put his car in there?" Hanna said. "Okay, if 'A' did this, and nobody's seen Wilden, does that mean Wilden's dead and 'A' has his body?" Richie asked, looking between the girls. "I don't know." Hanna responded.

Aria sighed before going to the fridge. "I think that maybe you should tell your mom." Aria advised as she grabbed four bottles of water for each of them. "What?" Hanna asked, shocked. "Han, she can handle a lot more than you think." Josie said as Aria gave everyone a bottle. "Josie, our moms are totally different. Mine hit the accelerator, remember?" Hanna asked. "And besides, I don't want to involve her until we know what we're dealing with." she added.

"She already is involved, Hanna! She is on that video, and it really doesn't look good for her. " Aria exclaimed. "Well if 'A' drove it here, who knows what's next? The cops could be on their way." Hanna said and Josie sighed. "You know what? Just get in your cars. Follow me." Hanna instructed. "Where are we going?" Richie asked, confused.

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Turns out Hanna wanted to put Wilden's car in the lake. So Richie, Josie and Aria followed Hanna, who had driven the car, and they were now pushing it into the lake. It was easier with four people, but still difficult. "I really don't think this is a good idea." Aria groaned."Just keep pushing." Hanna said and the four teens kept pushing the car. "There has to be a better option." Richie grunted. "Well, there isn't!" Hanna responded before Aria stepped back, to see that the car hadn't even touched the water yet.

"I'm serious, Hanna. We really, really need to rethink this." she said, stepping back behind the car, which the others kept pushing and soon enough it was in the water, letting them step back. "Too late." Hanna said, breathing heavily and they watched as the car floated in the water.

"I thought it would sink faster." Richie said, crossing his arms. "Yeah, me too." Hanna responded. "Well, what if it just stays in there like that?" Aria asked, referring to the car that hasn't sunk yet. "It'll sink." Hanna said, hoping but it still hadn't. "They're gonna be looking for his car." Aria pointed out to Hanna. "I know." Hanna responded.

"Look, if they find it and they trace it back to us, we are totally screwed." Aria said. "Yep." Josie sighed before they finally noticed that the car was sinking. "Told you it would sink." Hanna said but then the red light from the top of the car started flashing from under the water. "Crap." Richie sighed, bending down and resting his hands on his knees.

The light eventually turned off, making them all exhale and the bubbles went away, meaning the car had sunk to the bottom of the lake. "We should go. Come on." Josie said and they all made their way to their cars, Aria and Hanna in Aria's and Josie and Richie in Josie's.

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Josie and the girls were at Emily's the next morning. "Wait, you dumped his car in a lake?" Emily asked them, shocked. "I panicked." Hanna defended herself. "You two were supposed to stop her from doing stupid things like this, not help. I'm surprised Rihcie went along with it." Emily said. "We tried!" Aria said, defending her and Josie. "Richie just wanted to help." Josie shrugged.

"I didn't know if it was Wilden or 'A' messing with us, so I just– I had to get rid of it." Hanna explained. "Well, my moneys on 'A'." Aria said and Josie nodded in agreement. "Or Wilden could still be alive and part of the 'A' team." Emily theorized. "I wouldn't be surprised." Josie said, throwing her hands in the air and then letting them drop to her sides.

"Okay, so what is this?" Hanna asked, holding an 'In Loving Memory' card for Toby Cavanaugh that she had found in tiny-mini coffin that had been left in her car after she had been looking for Toby. "Is Toby dead?" Josie asked, looking at emily. "Did I do this? Is this my fault?" Emily asked.

"Don't go there. All right? 'Cause we don't even know if this is true." Aria said, "We do know that Toby was wearing a black hoodie in Spencer's kitchen." Emily responded. "So?" Josie asked. "So either 'A' could have killed him because she knew he was gonna help us–" Emily started.

"Maybe he never was gonna help us." Aria said, cutting Emily off. "And for some reason he just wants us to think that he's dead." she added. "Either way, Spence needs to know about this. Has anyone talked to her?" Josie asked but none of them answered, because none of them knew where she was and no one had spoken to her

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | poor spence in this episode, like for real | countdown till season three is over: three chapters