Killer. (Book Six)

Eleven: The Most Decked-Out Baby In Rosewood.

On Wednesday afternoon, Aria stood in the foyer of the new house Byron and Meredith just purchased. She had to admit the place was really charming. It was an old Craftsman-style bungalow on a secluded corner of the street with walnut-colored hardwood floors and quirky brass chandeliers and sconces. As Meredith had promised, there was a little attic bedroom with great light for painting.

The only glitch was that she could see the weather vane on top of Ian's house from her bedroom window. She also had a view of the barren woods where they'd found Ian's apparently fake dead body. The police vehicles and search equipment were gone, but the ground was torn up in spots, and there were lots of boot tracks in the mud. Now that she knew Ian was probably in Rosewood—she couldn't even look into the woods without feeling queasy. And when she'd stood on the front porch earlier, waiting for Meredith to unlock the door, Aria had sworn she'd caught a flash of someone disappearing behind a house at the end of the cul-de-sac. But when she stepped back to get a better look, no one was there.

Byron had sent a moving crew to Ella's house this morning to pick up some things from Aria's bedroom. Last night, Aria had finally called Ella and broken the news that she was going to move in with Byron for a while to get to know Meredith better. Ella paused, probably remembering the time Aria had painted a hateful adulteress A on Meredith's blouse, and then asked if Aria was upset about something. "Of course not!" Aria cried quickly. Ella replied that she'd really like Aria to stay; was there something she could do to make Aria happier? Yeah, you could get rid of Xavier, Aria wished she could suggest.

In the end, Aria backpedaled, telling Ella she'd leave some of her furniture and clothes in her old bedroom and shuttle between Ella's and Byron's houses instead. She didn't want Ella to think that Aria was abandoning her, specifically. Anyway, how difficult could it be to avoid Xavier? Aria would stay at Ella's on the days she was certain he wouldn't be there—like when he was out of town for an art exhibition.

The movers had left the lighter boxes in the front foyer, and Aria was in the process of bringing them upstairs. As she was bending down to pick up a box marked Fragile, Meredith slipped a white envelope into the back pocket of Aria's skinny jeans. "Mail for you," she sang, and then flitted down the hall, dust mop in hand.

Aria pulled out the envelope. Her name was printed on an anonymous green address label. She shuddered, thinking about what Emily had said to Hanna today. A has gotten in touch with us in other ways. She wasn't ready for a new barrage of notes.

Inside, she found an invitation and two orange tickets for a party at a new hotel called the Ridley. A Post-it was attached. Aria, I miss you already! When will you be back with us? Anyway, out of my paintings was chosen to hang in the lobby! Here are two invitations to the opening. Please join Xavier and me there! Love, Ella.

Aria stuffed the papers back in the envelope, her heart sinking. Maybe avoiding Xavier was going to be harder than she thought.

She climbed the stairs and ducked into her small, cozy bedroom. It was the bedroom she'd always wanted, with skylights over her bed, a cushy window seat, and slightly slanted wood floors, the kind where she could place a pencil at one end of the room and it would roll slowly to the other end all on its own. Boxes from her old bedroom were stacked to the ceiling, and Aria's stuffed animal puppets were strewn out on the platform bed her parents had bought for her at a warehouse in Denmark. She'd hung up most of her clothes in an old armoire Byron had bought off Craigslist, putting her T-shirts, bras, undies, and socks in the bottom drawers. She still had to find a place for the boxes of yarn, extra blankets, too-small shoes, and board games from her old closet.

But she didn't feel like doing any of that right now. All she wanted to do was flop down on her bed and puzzle over yesterday's encounter with Jason DiLaurentis. Had he been flirting with her? Why had his mood changed so quickly? Was it because of the Ian Dead Body news report on TV?