those clues in place, and once Aria had realized Ian and Ali were together, Spencer was the logical suspect. "After a while, I went outside to look for them," she said. "They weren't anywhere...and I just have this horrible feeling that Spencer..." Wilden sat back. "Spencer and Alison weighed about the same, right?" Aria nodded. "Sure. I guess." "Could you drag someone your size over to a hole and push her in?" "I璉 don't know," Aria stammered. "Maybe? If I was mad enough?" Wilden shook his head. Aria's eyes filled with tears. She recalled how eerily silent it had been that night. Ali had been just a few hundred yards away from them, and they hadn't heard a sound. "Spencer also would've had to calm down enough so she didn't seem suspicious when she returned to you guys," Wilden added. "It takes a pretty damn good actor to pull that off--not a seventh-grade girl. I think whoever did this was obviously nearby, but the whole thing took more time." He raised his eyebrows. "Is this what you Rosewood Day girls do these days? Blame your old friends for murder?" Aria's mouth dropped open, surprised at Wilden's scolding tone. "It's just--" "Spencer Hastings is a competitive, high-strung girl, but she doesn't strike me as a killer," Wilden interrupted. Then, he smiled at Aria sadly. "I get it. This must be tough for you--you just want to figure out what happened to your friend. I didn't know that Alison was secretly with Melissa Hastings's boyfriend, though. That's interesting." Wilden gave Aria a terse nod, stood up, and turned back to the hallway. Aria remained by the vending machines, her eyes on the mint-green linoleum floor. She felt overheated and disoriented, as if she'd spent too much time in a sauna. Maybe she should be ashamed of herself, blaming an old best friend. And the holes Wilden had poked in her theory made a lot of sense. Maybe she'd been foolish to trust A's clues at all. A chill went up Aria's spine. Perhaps A had sent Aria those clues to deliberately throw her off track--and take the heat off the true murderer. And maybe, just maybe, the true murderer was...A.