Chameleon ✔️

23 genes

To: jtalbotlilley@yorkgeneralhospital.com
From: riverseli@gmail.com
Subject: This is Alyssa

Dr. Talbot-Lilley,

I got your message. If you know anything that could help me... Please.

🦎

To: riverseli@gmail.com
From: jtalbotlilley@yorkgeneralhospital.com
Subject: RE: This is Alyssa

I think it would behoove us to speak in private. Would you be available to visit me at my home this evening?

Regards,
Dr. Joseph I. Talbot-Lilley
Emergency Medicine

🦎

I stare at the Whitney familys' computer monitor, not scared or nervous. I am ready. When I send an affirmative response, Ian sends back an address.

"Hey, I know that road," Eli realizes. "That's the same road Ty Prestridge lives on."

"Is it?" I ask. I can't remember.

"Yeah. I know exactly where that is."

I look at the time; it's almost four thirty. We couldn't go now. Theresa will be home in an hour, and I don't know how long this meeting will take. "What time do your parents go to bed?"

"Around nine, nine thirty. Why?"

"I'll be by to pick you up around nine forty-five, then."

As I type up another e-mail to Ian, I can feel Eli contemplating my offer. So I give him a little push. "I've snuck out before for you. And twice back in."

"Yeah. I know. But I'm already grounded. I'd get grounded twice as long for this."

I imagine going to Ian's house alone, and it makes my hands clam up. "I can't do this alone," I tell him. "I need you."

So at nine forty-five, when I press on the brakes of the Camry on the road right outside of his house, he comes climbing out of his bedroom window onto the first story roof. There's no trellis for him to climb down to the ground on, but he simply jumps. He lands on his feet, but the impact of the landing brings him to his hands and knees. He gets up, rights himself, and joins me in the car.

"You ready?"

He nods. "Let's go."

The drive is barely five minutes. I pull into Ty's neighborhood and slow the car while Eli looks at house addresses. Finally, he points to one.

"32423. It's this one right here."

I follow his finger. It leads my eyes to the house directly across the street from Ty's. I park in the road, unsure if Ian's family knows we're coming. I remember his photo-less office.

"Okay." I take a deep breath. "You ready?"

I walk around to the back door and ring the bell as Ian had instructed I do in his last e-mail. A Range Rover and a Chevy Avalanche are parked beneath the carport. A green eye peers between the curtains, and then the door unlocks and the owner of the green eye is standing before us, still clad in his work clothes despite the hour — a button-down and a tie. His shoes are off, at least, and his socks don't match.

"Good evening, Alyssa." His aura is calm and welcoming.

"Hey." I nod toward Eli. "Uh, he knows."

"Oh. Well, then, good evening, Aspen. And it's nice to see you again, Elijah. How is your sister?"

Eli replies, but his voice is stiff, and I can tell he doesn't know if he should trust Ian. "She's hanging in there."