“Got it,” Alan said. He ushered his son towards the door.
Amber relaxed a little in her chair. It was nice to have someone else taking charge. She had been managing all the details of everything for several days.
“Do you have a handle on all the bills, Amber?” Liz asked as Alan and Joe left.
“Financially?” Amber asked.
“Or otherwise,” Liz said. “Sometimes people get lost just trying to figure out what’s due when. It can be such a mess to transition all that stuff in the…”
“I’m fine,” Amber said, waving her hand. “My cousin was blind, so she had her bank paying most of the bills. When I contacted her lawyer he told me that she had an account that would still have funds until everything is settled. It should be all good.”
“She was a planner, as you said.”
“Right,” Amber said.
There were long gaps in the conversation.
“And you trust the lawyer? Do you want me to vet him through my contacts?”
“I’ll give you the name, but I think he’s trustworthy. He has been around a long time. If you find any red flags, I’d like to know, but I don’t think you will.”
“Fair enough,” Liz said.
Amber sighed. She appreciated the company, but at the same time hoped that they wouldn’t stay long. Looking at the clock, she tried to estimate how much time it would take for Alan to get to the hotel, check in, and then make it back.
“Oh, takeout,” Amber said. “Be right back.” In her bedroom, she had a stash of menus. Evelyn hated anything that wasn’t home cooked, but sometimes Amber got her own food delivered. She brought the menus back and splayed them out. “There’s pizza and Chinese.”
“Anything more local?” Ricky asked. “Is there food particular to the area?”
“There is one place that does barbecue and salad. It might sound strange, but it’s a good combination.”
Liz took the menu when Amber found it in the pile. Based on Amber’s recommendation, she wrote down what they wanted and got up to place the order and call Alan. When she returned, Amber and Ricky had barely spoken.
Amber realized that she had nearly missed her chance.
“Oh, the book.”
When she came back with it, Ricky waved his hand.
“That’s okay. I don’t need it back.”
“I don’t want it,” Amber said.
“Oh. Okay.” Ricky took it. Amber had put it back in the mailing envelope. He set it on the floor, leaning against his chair leg. “Did you read the part that I marked?“
Amber nodded. “It was interesting. Listen, Ricky…”
“No, I understand that you don’t want to be involved.”
Ricky blushed again, looking into his coffee mug instead of meeting her eyes.
“What am I missing?” Liz asked.
“Ricky has been researching the things that attacked us in the hotel.”
“Trying to,” Ricky said.
“And he thinks maybe he found the origin of the things. It’s an account from a hundred years ago.”
“A biologist who lived a bit north of us,” Ricky said. “He found and catalogued these salamanders that seem to have something in common with the things that came after us.”
Liz’s forehead wrinkled as she looked back and forth between them.
“Salamanders?”
“He thought that maybe the characteristics of the things were contagious in a way,” Amber said.
“Ricky did? Or the biologist did?”
“Both,” Ricky said.
“Maybe,” Amber said.
“I was just thinking that maybe if we understood the origin better, we could start to answer some questions,” Ricky said.
“Such as?” Liz asked.
“Like, is this phenomenon new? Why did they attack us? Should we be concerned that they’ll infect the whole world?” Ricky listed.
Liz nodded.
“And I also found someone else who survived an encounter. I asked Amber if she would come interview him with me.”
“Where is he?” Liz asked.
“Up north of us,” Ricky said.
“But Amber lives here,” Liz said. “You wanted her to come all the way back to Maine for an interview?”
Amber stared at Ricky, hoping that he would understand the point of Liz’s rhetorical question—Ricky was being ridiculous.
“I was hoping that she would feel as strongly as I do that this puzzle needs to be solved,” Ricky said.
“Take Alan with you,” Liz said. “He can make the time and he doesn’t have to travel to do it.”
“Okay,” Ricky said.
“Unless you think that Amber brings something to the table that Alan doesn’t. You’re looking for someone who you don’t have to convince that there’s a problem, right?”
“Yes,” Ricky said.
“Then I think Alan is the right person.”
“Okay,” Ricky said. He was back to staring at his coffee.
Amber felt bad for him.
“Tell me what you find out,” Amber said. “In a letter, okay? That way I can read it when I’m ready.”
“Yeah, okay. Yes,” Ricky said.
“Good,” Liz said. “Alan will tell me too. Can we all agree that we’ll compare notes when Amber is ready to talk about this?”
Ricky glanced quickly to Liz and then over to Amber.
Amber was surprised by the question as well.
“Okay, yes. I suppose that would be okay.”
“Great,” Liz said. “And I’ll borrow the book, if that’s okay. I think we should all have all the available information.”
Amber nodded.
“In that case,” Ricky said. “I should tell you about the experiment that my brother and I are doing.”
# # #
The mood was much more casual when Alan and Joe returned with the food. They spread everything out in the living room on the coffee table and Amber told them how her cousin liked the smell of the food just as much as eating it. Evelyn had kept a picture album that her husband had put together. Amber flipped through it, introducing them to her family members through the photographs.
“I like to look at them when they were younger,” Amber said.
“Everyone is so serious,” Ricky said, pointing at one photo. It looked like a big family reunion. Everyone was gathered on the lawn in the back yard of a huge house. The kids were kneeling or sitting on the grass and the adults were standing.
“Just the adults,” Alan said. “The kids look like they were having a good time.”
“That’s the way
