reading the preprinted return address label. Then he handed the envelope to Eli. 'Go ahead, you can keep that if you want.'
Eli glanced at the shaky penmanship on the front of the envelope and the Christmas wreath return address label:
'Do you know where this Evergreen Point Manor is?' Eli asked.
'It's this rest home up in north Seattle,' Larry said. 'Not too far, about a fifteen-minute drive.'
There was a hissing sound, and Larry rushed to the stove to turn down the heat on his potato dish, which was boiling over. Now a burning smell competed with the sickly sweet waft from the roasting rabbit.
'Did you want to keep the card?' Eli asked, pulling out the Christmas card. It had a cheesy painting of a bird on a holly branch on the cover.
'Read what she says, will ya?' Larry replied, tending to his potatoes and cabbage.
Under the preprinted
'Keep it,' Larry said, still toiling over the stove. 'Anyway, if you want the real lowdown on that murder- suicide, Vera's your lady. She was living right next door in Number Ten when it happened.'
Eli politely turned down Larry's second offer to dine with him. Larry cut off a piece of his roasted rabbit, then wrapped it in tinfoil, and stuck it in a plastic store bag for Eli to take home with him. 'I promise you, you haven't tasted anything like this,' Larry said with a wink.
'Well, thanks,' Eli said.
He was glad to breathe fresh air again as he stepped out to the courtyard. Slipping Vera's Christmas card back into the envelope, he folded the envelope and shoved it in his pants pocket. Eli held onto the plastic bag with the roast rabbit part in it. Though tempted to toss it in the Dumpster, he didn't want Larry finding it tomorrow and getting his feelings hurt.
A cool wind came off the lake, and Eli shuddered. He suddenly had a weird feeling. It was the same sensation he sometimes got in his bedroom at night--when he wasn't quite
Glancing around the courtyard, Eli didn't see anyone. He stopped to stare at that alley again. But no one was there.
He still felt a little sick to his stomach, but it wasn't something left over from the smell of that rabbit cooking. It was a feeling of dread he couldn't shake.
Eli nervously patted the envelope in his pocket, and he hurried toward the apartment.
'Eli?' his mom called, when he came in the front door. 'Honey, is that you?'
He didn't even have time to answer or shut the door. She scurried out of the kitchen. 'Oh, thank God,' she said, hugging him. 'You gave me such a scare. Where were you?'
He gently pulled back from her. 'I just went for a short walk, that's all. What's the big deal? Why are you acting so weird?'
She glanced at the plastic bag in his hand, the one holding Larry's roast rabbit section, wrapped in tinfoil. 'What's that?' his mom asked.
'I got some candy at the store,' he lied.
She put her hand on his shoulder. 'Listen, honey, I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. Sit down for a second, okay? I have to tell you something that might help explain why I'm
Eli sat on the stairs, the third from the bottom step, and his mother leaned against the banister. She asked if he remembered the guy she'd almost hit with her car while pulling out of the driveway earlier that afternoon. Eli had barely caught a glimpse of him. His mother gave a long description of the man: medium build, black hair, olive skin, possibly a Latino, one eye had an infection of some kind, and he wore a navy blue T-shirt with a silver number
'No, Mom,' Eli said, shaking his head. 'But y'know, the Seattle Mariners' team colors are navy blue and silver, and 59 is probably a real popular number because of Felix Hernandez. You sure it wasn't two different guys in the same T-shirt?'
His mother just stared at him for a moment. Then she rubbed her forehead. 'Oh, good Lord, you must think your mother's a crazy woman.' She sat beside him on the stairs. 'That didn't occur to me about the shirt. But it did look very much like the same man. And if both guys were one and the same, it means he followed us all the way out to Auburn. He knows where we live. Can you see why I'm a little concerned? I keep thinking about that weird break-in on the Fourth of July.'
'So you figure you got a stalker?' Eli asked.
'It's a possibility,' she said soberly. 'Anyway, do your crazy mother a favor, and keep a lookout for someone fitting that description. If you want to step outside, let me know where you're going and when you'll be back. Let's err on the side of caution for the next few days, okay? Humor me. Maybe I'll give you that cell phone you've been wanting.'
Eli nodded. 'Okay.' He managed to smile at his mother. 'Sorry I took off like that, Mom,' he murmured, patting her shoulder.
She kissed his forehead, then rubbed her hand over his scalp. 'Your hair's starting to grow out again. It looks nice.'
'Well, I'm gonna wash up,' he said, standing. 'What time is Uncle Kyle coming over?'
'I don't know. I haven't heard back from him yet. But I'm hoping we can eat soon. Don't eat too much of that candy and spoil your appetite.'
'I won't,' Eli said. He started up the stairs, but paused on the landing and glanced back at his mother. She moved over to the front door and double-locked it.
He continued up the stairs and stopped in the second-floor hallway. Switching on the bathroom light, Eli stood in the doorway for a few moments. He gazed at the bathtub, the one they'd replaced after that woman had shot herself in the old tub.
Eli retreated to his room, closed the door, then dumped Larry's rabbit-doggie-bag in the trash can. Something shiny on his desk caught his eye--a tiny metal train engine. It looked like a Monopoly token, only his Monopoly set didn't have a train token.
'Who would...' he started to whisper.
He knew the Monopoly tokens had changed over the years. Maybe they had train tokens back in the seventies.
Back when that kid was murdered in this room.
Sydney didn't hear any water churning in the second-floor bathroom as she climbed the stairs. 'Eli, honey, if you're not going to take a shower right now, I might jump in ahead--'
She stopped at the top of the stairs, and set her purse on the half-table in the the hallway.
Eli stood in his bedroom doorway with something shiny in the palm of his hand. 'Hey, Mom, did you leave this on my desk?'
She looked at the Monopoly train token, and shook her head. 'No, honey.'
'Well, it was on my desk,' he said. 'And I didn't put it there. Do you think your stalker guy broke in and set this on there?'
Sydney hesitated before answering him.
