Matters of the Heart

Chapter 22: Unlocked

Chapter 22:

Unlocked

Emily waited until Ali left and then stared at the phone number she'd gotten from Hanna. Despite the fact that she was trying to process the fact that at least one of her nightmares had been real she'd still had the presence of mind to ask Hanna for Mona's contact information. After finding out that someone had really come after her in Ali's living room, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Sara visiting her in the hospital. She'd assumed she'd dreamed it because of the cocktail of drugs she was on, but now she wasn't so sure. She knew Mona might know Sara's whereabouts on that day. Something Sara had said to her had stuck with her. It was like a song on repeat that she couldn't get out of her head.

"You have no idea who you're up against."

Did that mean Sara did know? Or was it all just a game to her?

Emily dialed Mona's number, expecting to get her voicemail. She was surprised when she picked up.

"Hello, Emily."

"How'd you know it was me?" She felt stupid the second she asked the question. How did Mona know anything?

"Please, I've been hacking your phones since we were in Brownies together. The second you came crashing in to James's motel room like Rosewood's own Avengers I pinged your phones. I can't exactly help you if I don't know where you are or what you're doing." Mona answered in a nonchalant manner. "The bigger question is how you got my number."

"I have my ways." Emily replied coolly.

"Hanna gave it to you, didn't she?"

"I hate you sometimes."

"I know." Her voice sounded chirpy.

There was a pause as Emily considered how to approach the favor she needed. She wasn't sure how much she wanted Mona to know, though at this point she probably knew more than the girls did. Emily was glad that Mona was willing to help them, but she also hated that she was involved at all. The last time Mona had gone toe-to-toe with the devil she'd been kidnapped and held hostage. Emily hadn't realized how much she had actually come to care about Mona until after they thought she'd been killed.

In a strange way, it had been a lot like when Alison disappeared. The girls had only been able to look past Ali's indiscretions when they realized they would never see her again. The pain and the mistakes she'd made fell away over time, and they realized that despite her imperfections they still loved her. They didn't care about her actions anymore. Like with the loss of any loved one, they just wanted one more day, one more hour, one more minute. They just missed her and wanted her back. It was the same with Mona. Emily remembered the way her stomach had churned when they'd walked into a bloodbath at Mona's house. She remembered how hard she'd felt the blow when the police declared that Mona was dead. It was like everything Mona had done to them had fallen by the wayside.

Emily had no interest in reliving that feeling. She'd been through enough death to last a lifetime. She didn't want to go to anymore funerals. She hated that was the first place her mind went to, but she couldn't help but picture the worst case scenario. The more people that were involved in this, the more Emily worried.

Mona interrupted the silence,

"I doubt that you called to ask me how I'm doing or to invite me to brunch. What is it that you need?"

"You said you've been keeping tabs on Sara since she got back in town, right?"

"Down to the exact time she sits down with a newspaper in the bathroom to make her daily morning deposit."