The girls are falling apart on “Pretty Little Liars.” Episode 9, “March of Crimes” aired on ABC Family on Tuesday, Aug. 5, introducing a whole new set of problems and questions for Aria, Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Alison.

“March of Crimes” kicked off with the girls questioning Alison about her involvement with Noel after the break-in at Hanna’s house. But in usual Alison fashion, she refused to answer any of their questions. The girls were suspicious when Alison left without an explanation of why Noel has been helping her, and the mystery only deepened when Emily ran into him in the street. Hiding behind a street corner, Emily watched as Noel listened to a recording of Alison.

“I can’t keep doing this,” Alison said in the recording. “You have to meet me half way. Its too dangerous and I’m not taking any more chances.”

Noel sped off before Emily could listen to any more of the recording, but it was enough to spark Emily’s interest – and begin a mini investigation into the shady Rosewood teen.

Lt. Tanner has her own investigation going. While the Rosewood police are incompetent, Tanner is refusing to sweep Shana’s murder and Alison’s “kidnapping” under the rug. As part of her latest investigation, Tanner pulls Aria and Ella aside for an interview about Ezra. The questions began innocent as she asked Aria when she met the English teacher, however things took an awkward turn when she began questioning the teen about her intimate relationship with Ezra. And that wasn’t all – she asked Aria if it was possible that Ezra had intimate relationships with other students … like Shana.

Aria managed to get through Tanner’s questioning unscratched, but Alison was left with an uneasy feeling. Pulling Spencer aside, Alison warns her that, “if one of us falls, we all fall … and ‘A’ wins.”

Spencer doesn’t have time for Alison’s antics. Scheduling an appointment with the eye doctor after her accident at the horse stables, Spencer makes a pit stop at Caleb’s before hand. With Hanna spiraling out of control, Spencer warns Caleb that his girlfriend’s a loose cannon and that he’s supplying her with gunpowder. And even though Caleb acted like he didn’t care, Spencer’s words struck a chord with him – especially when she accidentally mentioned Zach.

Back at Rosewood High, Alison confronted Hanna about her odd behavior. Hanna warned Alison that she pulls everyone down and stormed off before Alison could say anything else. But before Alison could leave, Jenna walked into the room. Alison expressed her condolences for Jenna’s loss for Shana … but then asked how she got Shana to turn on her. Jenna’s response was snide, telling Alison that she did nothing because Alison did it all on her own.

Meanwhile, Emily accepted the assistant coach job for the swim team. And the job came with an added perk. With the coach out of his office, Emily was able to sneak in and look up Noel’s locker assignment. Breaking into the boy’s locker room, Emily grabbed his car keys out of the locker and raided his car. Inside the car she discovered photos of Alison when she was supposed to be “dead” and the recording she previously heard.

As Emily made a shocking discovery in Noel’s car, Spencer made a shocking discovery of her own. At the eye doctor’s office, Spencer found Jenna at the counter. But Jenna wasn’t alone – she was with a second Jenna. The pair not only had their hair styled the same, but were wearing exactly the same outfit – red pants, a black shirt, denim jacket and sunglasses.

Spencer thought she was going crazy until she was brought into the exam room and found that someone had switched the letters on the Snellen chart. Instead of all random letters, the chart now spelled out a message: “CAN U C ME YET A.”

Spooked in the office, Spencer gave Emily a call and her friend rushed over. When Emily walked in she discovered that there was no second Jenna – the other girl was none other than Sydney. Sydney came up with a story that she simply just drove Jenna to the office, but Emily wasn’t buying her story.

As the mystery of Jenna and Sydney’s connection deepened, Caleb finally got to the bottom of what had been bothering Hanna. His girlfriend opened up about what a sleaze Zach had been, and Caleb decided to do something about it. Telling Hanna he was going out to grab them food, Caleb instead drove straight to the Brew to confront Zach. Ella’s fiancé tried to play it off as a misunderstanding and a joke, but Caleb wasn’t buying it. And somehow Zach was prepared for the situation. He pulled a note out of his pocket that was supposedly from Hanna. The note read:

“Sorry if I acted shy before. I promise I’ll make up for it. – Hanna”

Caleb knows Hanna better than that though, and punched Zach in the face before storming out of the Brew. When Caleb returned to the house, he confided in Hanna what happened – explaining that they may have a bigger problem because it appears as if “A” got to Zach.

Fortunately Ella didn’t have to wait to see Zach’s fat lip to find out that something was up. Aria decided to confront her mom, and Ella already knew that something was up. Explaining how Zach may have been inappropriate with Hanna, Ella revealed that there had been a previous incident that she had explained away as pre-wedding jitters.

Zach wasn’t the only one who had some explaining to do. Sydney showed up at Emily’s house to tell her side of the story with Jenna. The new Rosewood teen explained that she had previously worked at Jenna’s school for the visually impaired and helped Jenna heal emotionally after Alison visited her. Sydney continued that Jenna had panicked when she heard that Alison was alive, which is why Sydney came to town.

“I didn’t expect to like you,” Sydney told Emily. “I didn’t think you’d be a decent person.”

But Emily wasn’t interested in her sob story. She warned Sydney that she was going to keep the assistant coach job on the swim team – just so she could watch her struggle for breathe under water.

As Emily ended her friendship with Sydney, Spencer was at her lake house to safely store the photos and recording stolen from Noel. But Spencer wasn’t the only one at the lake house. Noel turned out to be hiding under a covered chair and demanded that Spencer give back the items she stole.

Noel revealed that Alison didn’t know he had the photos or recording.

“Our friend likes to throw away people when she’s done with them,” he said to Spencer of Alison.

For him, the photos and recording was “insurance” incase Alison ever turned on him. And he had a feeling that that moment was coming soon – because Alison had sent him into Jenna’s house to steal the photos and recording from her room moments before the explosion happened. Noel said that Alison called him lucky to be alive … but he had a feeling that the explosion was not a coincidence.

Spencer wanted to know why Noel would help her – but Noel wasn’t interested in talking anymore. He wanted the photos and recordings back, but after Spencer injured him with a fire poker he reluctantly agreed to let her hold onto them as her own form of “insurance.”

Episode 9 of “Pretty Little Liars” concluded with Hanna and Aria apologizing to each other. But the big shocker was when Alison and Hanna’s mom received a call to go to the police station. Lt. Tanner revealed that they had caught the person who broke into Hanna’s house – the person who claimed to have kidnapped Alison.

Alison walks into the police station to find Lt. Tanner questioning the man. And that man appeared to know every little piece of information in Alison’s made up kidnapping story.

“Is that the man who kidnapped you?” Hanna’s mom asked a shocked looking Alison.

What did you think of episode 9 of “Pretty Little Liars”? Tweet your thoughts to @AmandaTVScoop

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