Still Waters Run Deep

Chapter 22: Foul Play

Chapter 22:

Foul Play

Ali got the call 45 minutes later. She was in the middle of finishing her morning coffee. Lily was upstairs finishing brushing her teeth. They had no clue anything was amiss. Ali jumped when she heard her phone ring. Her blood ran cold when she saw who was calling.

Rosewood PD.

Why the hell was Rosewood PD calling her this early in the morning? She stared at the phone for a few seconds, afraid to answer it. At first she thought that maybe they had caught the boy and they were calling her to tell her. Then she started to worry that maybe the boy was a danger and he was still out there, and oh God, Emily wasn't home. Emily was by herself at school. What if something had happened? What if...

"Mom?" Lily walked into the kitchen. "Are you just going to let that ring? It's really loud." She complained.

Ali shook herself out of her daze and grabbed the phone and answered seconds before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking with Mrs. DiLaurentis-Fields?" An unfamiliar voice on the other end asked.

Ali felt every bone in her body tense up. Her pulse was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. Something was wrong. She tried not to scream. Lily was grabbing some juice out of the fridge a few feet away from her. Ali had to play it cool for her daughter's sake.

"Ye – yeah. This is Alison DiLaurentis-Fields." She held so much pride in her name. She could remember the first time she'd signed her name after she'd gotten married. It was like a dream come true for her. All the little notebooks where she'd practiced scribbling DiLaurentis-Fields had become a reality for her. "Who – who is this?" She could have smacked herself for sounding so upset. Stop stuttering or you're going to scare the shit out of Lily. She cleared her throat. "Who am I speaking with?" She forced her voice to come out stronger than she felt on the inside.

"This is Officer Bartlett with the Rosewood Police Department. There's been a..." He trailed off and there was a weird static on the line as he tried to choose his words carefully, "...a development with your case. It's imperative that you come to the station as soon as you possibly can."

"Okay." Ali looked at Lily. All she wanted to do was scream at the man on the other line, "Why? What's wrong? Is something wrong? Is my wife okay? What's going on?" She felt the phone shaking and it took her a minute to realize the reason it was trembling against her ear was because her hands were quivering. "Can you tell me what this is about?" She felt her voice crack at the end of her sentence.

"No, ma'am. We'll need to discuss everything here."

"Okay," she said again, this time having to fight harder not to scream into his ear, "Just fucking tell me!" She glanced at her watch. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

She cut the line before she completely lost her shit. Her face was rigid and hard. She took a moment to plaster a fake smile on her face before she looked at Lily.

"What was that about?" Lily drank her juice.

"I've got to run an errand," Ali said as casually as someone would speak when ordering food. "I need you to grab your things. I'm going to drop you off at your Grandma's."

Ali knew Pam would be up. She was an early riser. Ali also knew Pam wouldn't have any problem taking Lily to school, not realizing that the school was the last place Lily needed to be. It was the last place either of them needed to be.