Haleb - I never stopped loving you

Chapter Five (Caleb)

'Caleb... Are you sure we should be doing this?' Hanna asks, looking back over her shoulder through the doorway of the security room at The Radley. She's keeping watch whilst I run through the CCTV tapes from the night Charlotte was killed to see if anyone left The Radley and came back after 4am. The cops told Ali that was the time that she died, and that the suspected weapon used was long, hollow and metal, which inflicted blunt force trauma onto her spine and broke her neck, before she was thrown off the bell tower.

'Do you want Jordan to find out from A.D or not? Look Han, right now we have almost nothing to go on and nothing to lead us to Charlotte's killer, so it would help if we actually knew who had the opportunity to do it.' I say back, more forcefully than I intended. Hanna looks hurt and turns back to keeping watch. I skip through the day time footage until I get to 3am, and what I see shocks me more than anything I've heard so far.

'What the...? Hanna look at this!' I beckon Hanna over to the computer. She steps back in shock as she looks to the top left corner of the monitor and spots her. Charlotte. At The Radley. That night. I look up at her and we stare at each other. We both know what the other is thinking, because we can both see what she's wearing. A black hoodie.

I plug a USB stick into the hard drive and download the footage onto it. I'm almost done when I hear the voice of the very person I'm trying to avoid at the moment. From what Hanna told me, I can tell she's furious at me.

'Hanna! What the hell do you think you're doing?' I quickly unplug the USB stick as Ashley walks over with her hands on her hips, looking angrier than I've ever seen her before.

'Mom I-' Hanna tries to speak but Ashley just puts her hand up and interrupts.

'I have had enough of your lies young lady. Get out.'

We walk sheepishly out into the corridor and as soon we're out, Hanna gets her phone from her bag and calls the others. I look to her and nod and we walk in silence back to the lobby until Aria picks up.

Later at Ezra's

Hanna, her friends, me, Toby, Mona and Ezra are all sitting around his apartment in silence, trying to get our heads around why Charlotte was at the hotel that night. Hanna and the girls agreed it was better if we told Ezra, Mona and Toby. Now it's 9 against 1 and we need all the brain power we can get. Ultimately, I know it's a good thing that we're all together on this one, but it's mortifying that everyone now knows that Hanna's pregnant with my baby and that I know what they're all thinking.

'Wait, Caleb, did you actually watch all the footage from that night? There might have been something that happened after Charlotte got to The Radley that could help us.' Mona says.

'No, we didn't. I totally forgot that there was more. I turned it off after 3am cos Ashley caught us.' I say, suddenly realising that there might have been more. I grab Ezra's laptop and we all huddle around it whilst I plug in the USB. I skip through till 3am and point out Charlotte to the rest of them and then let it play in fast motion.

'Hold up. Go back a few minutes.' Alison says. I reach for the mouse and scroll back through the frames. 'There, stop.' She points and we all gasp. The time at the bottom of the screen says 5:30am and there she is, standing hoodie and all, in plain sight... Charlotte. She was meant to be dead for 1 and a half hours by now, yet she's standing in the lobby of The Radley.

'So, are we saying that the cops got the time of death wrong?' Emily asks.

'Or that there was no time of death. Because Charlotte might be alive.' Spencer whispers.

A few minutes later

Hanna's pacing up and down the kitchen with her hands pulling at her hair. Most of us are still sitting, unable to move with shock.

'This isn't happening.' Hanna breathes.

'Yes, it is.' Ali snaps back.

'We just need to figure out how to use this to our advantage.' Toby chimes in.

'Wait. I have an idea.' Mona says slowly. She sits up straight and puts her hands on her lap.  'We could send this footage to A.D. If Charlotte is alive, there is no killer to find and he, she, it, bitch, might get off our backs.'

'Mona you are an actual baby genius.' Aria says.

'Okay, so we're agreed? We'll send the footage to A.D and see where to go from there?' Ezra declares. We all nod in agreement and I stand up and put the USB stick in my pocket.

'I'll text them and arrange a place to leave it. But for now I have to go.' I say, walking towards the door. Everyone waves goodbye in silence and Hanna follows me to the door.

'Be careful.' She whispers. She leans in to kiss me and I kiss her back, forgetting about our audience. I pull away and look down as Spencer winks at me and the rest stare. Shit. I feel so awkward.