Infatuation (PLL Emison AU)

Wrecked

*****

Chapter 29:

Wrecked

From the outside of Toby's house it simply looked like he was having a few buddies over for a cookout. He had the grill set up out back, keeping up appearances. It looked like a precinct gathering, but it was really command central for the trap they were getting ready to set.

Inside, there were a few select people. The previously jailed inmate was at the center of attention. Toby was talking to some of the other officers, briefing them on how they were going to set the plan in motion. They'd already set up surveillance in an old junkyard several miles from where the man would be staying.

The man sat on the couch and dipped biscotti in his hot tea. He put down the book he was reading. He always had his nose buried in a book. He turned his focus to the officers, so he could listen in about the watch he was wearing. It monitored his vitals.

Emily stared at him.

Arrogant prick.

She was sitting in the loveseat on the other side of the room. Duke was next to her. He was stretched out, his head against her lap.

When she looked at the man all she could think about was Alison. She'd fallen prey to some douchebag professor when she was in high school. If not for the fact that Alison went to a different prep school than where the smug bastard taught and the fact that the man who had assaulted Alison had been a college professor it could have been her.

Alison had insisted that she couldn't remember any defining details about the professor and that she didn't know who he was because he wasn't from Rosewood. Emily had searched for seminars for college educators that came to town, but there were too many of them and there were hundreds of attendees, mostly men.

Still, she wanted to know. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind...and a piece of her fist. But as hard as she looked, she'd never find him. Because Alison hadn't been truthful about the man.

He was dead and buried.

But the shady piece of shit sitting on Toby's couch was very much alive...and enjoying a cup of tea. And it pissed her off.

It astounded her that someone who had committed such lewd acts against his teenage student could even get a deal in the first place. He should have spent the rest of his life behind bars. Most prisoners didn't take very kindly to people who victimized children. There was an honor among them. And that honor usually involved shanking.

Maybe they'd get lucky and he'd get abducted and they'd be too late to save him, but early enough to catch the killer.

She reached down and grabbed a scruff of Duke's hair, scratching him. He groaned in satisfaction and dug his head deeper into her lap.

She watched the flurry of activity, but her eyes stayed on the stranger on Toby's couch.

She tore her eyes away when she heard a crash behind her. The noise had everyone on alert.

She spun around and saw one of the officers from the station, Detective Holbrook standing over a flower vase that Spencer had bought for Toby at an art show in pieces on the ground.

Holbrook brought his fist up to his mouth and bit down before folding his arms and looking around with a nervous laugh.

"It was like that when I got here..."

Duke woofed, almost as if he was piping into say I didn't do it.

"Dammit, Gabe." Toby grumbled, grabbing a broom and a dustpan. "That was a gift from my girlfriend."