Vodka Kisses

0205- The Devil You Know

The next day we're bunched around a table reading a picture of the note Hannah took a picture of.

"Is this a suicide note or a confession?" Aria asks.

"It's both." Spencer says and shivers roll down me.

"Emily, how do you have this?" Aria asks.

"I sent it to her." Hannah admits. "I took a picture with my phone before we called the cops." She adds.

"It's weird why would Ian kill himself just as he's about to skip town with Melissa?" Emily asks.

"Good question. Shame we can't ask him." I soo my coffee.

"Maybe he realised he was going to get caught. He couldn't hide forever, even with Melissa and Wren's help." Spencer gives me a side glare.

"He was probably desperate." Aria says.

"Who cares why he did it. The important thing is Ali's killer is dead and we're no longer people of interest." Hannah says and I nod. That's true.

"Why am I not feeling relief right now?" Emily asks.

"I don't know, I feel great." I admit with a shrug.

"Yeah Em come on, for months we've been as welcome in this town as a cold sore. Now people know we've been telling the truth. And Ian is out of our lives for good." Aria says and I nod in her direction.

"Yeah but A isn't." Emily says making us sigh.

"Can we please just slay one dragon at a time?" Spencer asks.

"There's only 24 hours in a day and we've got to sleep within those hours too." I remind Emily.

Spencer clears her throat and I glance around to see Garrett heading towards us.

"Hey." Spencer says.

"Hey." He says back.

"What are you doing here?" Spencer asks.

"I just can't to return some evidence we took from the field hockey office. Hey, um I just want to say sorry that you had to be the ones to find him." Garrett says and I scoff. I'll never get rid of that imagine in my brain.

"Melissa's the one who found him." Spencer tells him.

"I'm sorry." He apologises again. "Then again, could've been worse." He says. Could've been worse? I'm going to have nightmares forever because of how ugly Ian was when he died. I could've possible seen his brain because he just through 'what the fuck, let's blow them out'. That probably wasn't what he thought but still.

"What do you mean?" Aria asks

"Bodies decay. He had been dead for at least a week." Garrett says and I gag.

"Stop I'm going to throw up." I stand up and rush to the bath room stools.

Fucking hell.

I don't throw up but god I feel a mess.

"Grace?" Hannah calls.

"In here." I say pushing open a stool.

"You okay?" She asks and I nod.

"Weak stomach." I lie.

"It's okay. We'll hear about it from A soon." She says and I nod.

"I can't stop seeing him in my brain. It's disgusting and knowing he's a week old. I feel sick. Did I see a brain?" I ask and she lets out a nervous laugh.

"Who knows." She says.

"Let's get to class." She holds out my hand.

I take her hand and follow her to class.