This 'PLL' Who-Killed-Charlotte Theory Is Fascinat

Season 7 of Pretty Little Liars might be its juiciest in years. In addition to plenty of secrets, lies, and cover-ups, the Liars are faced with the emergence of one major Rosewood player — Mary Drake, Jessica DiLaurentis' long absent identical twin and Charlotte's biological mother. The former Radley patient arrived in Rosewood dressed as a dead Jessica in order to drive Alison insane, but in Tuesday's episode "Along Comes Mary," Mary revealed to Alison that she had no intention of letting things get that far, and insisted on taking care of Alison — one of the only family members that Mary has left. Right now, Mary is playing the grieving mother card, but is Mary truly a victim? Maybe not — if Mary was the one who killed Charlotte on Pretty Little Liars.

The Liars are already suspicious of Mary, but not for the possibility she's Charlotte's killer — they believe that Mary could be responsible for those A.D. texts that they have been receiving, and for working with Dr. Rollins. Mary has copped to working with Alison's demented "doctor" husband as a means to an end, but has denied doing anything really wrong. However, something that Mary said in "Along Comes Mary" doesn't quite sit right with her alleged motivations, and it could suggest that maybe, just maybe, Mary isn't telling the Liars the whole truth.

After Alison confronts Mary about why she would let Dr. Rollins put her in a mental institution, Mary insists that she had no intention of hurting Alison — even though she believed that Alison had likely killed her own daughter. Mary tells Alison that, for her, getting her hands on the money that Charlotte left for her was justice enough. That's the part that struck me as, well, odd: if Mary really was so convinced that Alison killed her daughter, wouldn't she want her punished a little bit more? And, more importantly, why wouldn't she want Alison to be prosecuted by the police, who could make sure that she was justly punished for committing murder?

One theory would be because Mary never truly believed that Alison killed Charlotte at all — because Mary herself was in the bell tower that night and murdered Charlotte. We know that Charlotte was meeting someone in the bell tower that night in secret, and that it couldn't be someone Charlotte could be seen talking to. A mysterious Rosewood twin be just the person to meet under those circumstances. Perhaps Mary finally found Charlotte after all of those years, and told her to meet up with her for a reunion at the bell tower — except Mary wasn't so interested in bonding. Mary could have killed Charlotte, knowing that she was the rightful owner of Charlotte's fortune once she died. Teaming up with Dr. Rollins could have been a means to an end, with Mary really calling the shots.

Would Mary really kill her own child?! It's certainly possible — after all, Jessica buried Alison to hide her own secrets. These twins might be serious trouble after all.

Images: Eric McCandless/Freeform; prettylittleliars/Tumblr