Chapter 8

Saturday

"You really don't think it's possible that Don changed those records too?"

Liza was silent as she sipped her coffee.

Apparently she didn't think my question deserved an answer. And she was right. I had already asked it five times in different ways. Don really had adopted me. It made my skin crawl. It made me feel like he owned me. "Can't I get emancipated or something?"

"I don't really understand why you're so fixated on this. It doesn't really matter."

"It matters to me."

She shook her head. "Well, you can't exactly just call up a lawyer and file a suit. You're legally dead now, remember? And if for some reason that wasn't an issue, the stolen identity would be. What we should be focusing on is why Don found it necessary to turn you into a criminal. He left a very clear cyber footprint on the death certificate. It makes it look like you pretended to die and then stole this Sadie Davis person's identity."

"Why would someone assume I did it?"

"Why would anyone in their right mind assume someone else did? Is there anything else you're not telling me? Think, Sadie."

She had gone back to calling me Sadie. I think she was doing it out of spite since I kept refusing to change my name. She thought sleep would have brought sense to me. But the joke was on her because I hadn't slept at all.

"I've told you everything. I think we need to go back to how Mr. Crawford might be involved in this. He seemed like such a nice guy. I thought he cared."

She gave me a sympathetic smile.

Seeing someone smile at me like that made my skin crawl too. It reminded me of the months following my parents' deaths. Everyone had walked on eggshells around me. And I hated it. Stop looking at me like I'm damaged.

"You know I can't do anything without a picture of him. I can't do facial recognition to figure out his real identity if I don't have an image of his face. Are you sure he said he was with the foster care system?"

"I'm positive."

"Well, just because he lied doesn't mean he's necessarily aligned with Don. There could be other reasons."

I stared down into my coffee cup that was still full. I didn't like coffee. It reminded me of being back at the coffee shop with Mr. Crawford. I tried to think of anything that would give me a clue about who he really was. "You know, every time I talked to him, he always said he hoped it would be the last. It was kind of...rude almost."

"Hm." Liza took a sip from her cup. "Maybe he just didn't like you."

"That's not really helpful."

She shrugged. "I doubt you're everyone's cup of tea."

Tea. Now that was something I actually liked. But I didn't say a word. I just kept staring into the coffee cup.

"I think you should talk to that friend of yours and see if you can get him to divulge any information."

I looked back up at Liza. "Who?"

"The one with all the tech."

"Eli? He's bad news. I'm pretty sure he's working for Don too."

"Or maybe he's working with Mr. Crawford," she said.

"We don't know if there's a difference."

"But what if there is?"

"I can't get any information from him. We're...fighting." I almost said we broke up, but we had never technically dated.

"So make up."

"He's not going to tell me anything."

"Then persuade him."

"How?"

She shrugged. "You can start by seducing him."

"I'm not doing that." Just thinking about the way his touch set my skin ablaze made me start to panic.

"Well, figure something out. I did a background check on him and it turned up zilch. No one is that perfect. Whoever created that facade was in a hurry. He'll crack, trust me."

"You act like you've done this before."

"Of course I've never done anything like this! I'm not a crime fighter. And you're the one that's insisting on pretending everything is normal." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "If you're not going to follow any of my advice at least you can go out and get us a new lead. So go be normal and sleep with your boyfriend. I don't have time to babysit you all day. The suns out. You're safe. Go figure something out that I don't already know. And next time our vigilante friend wants to send you here, tell him to ask me in person."

Her chair squeaked on the wood floor as she stormed off.

What the hell was her problem?

***

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was near me before waving my access card in front of the reader. The sound of the door clicking closed behind me made me relax slightly. Ever since I left Liza's apartment I had been on edge. It was weird staring at other pedestrians, searching for my face. I was hoping whenever I did run into Sadie Davis, I'd be able to see the differences instead of the shocking similarities. I needed to not freeze.

Even though my body ached from slamming into a brick wall, I forced myself to take the stairs. I kept hoping the vigilante would contact me about helping me train. I wasn't going to back down from anything he wanted me to do. So I certainly wasn't going to back down from some stairs.

My motivation didn't stop my thighs from protesting though. I was completely spent by the time I reached my floor. As soon as I opened the door my eyes gravitated toward Miles' room like they were magnetized. He claimed he still wrote to Summer Brooks. Now I didn't have any reason to doubt his word. Don had changed my name probably in part to keep me hidden. Maybe that was why we had moved so much too, so that I would never get Miles' letters. But why? Why was Don so hell bent on ruining my life?

My feet paused in front of Miles' door. It was selfish, but I wanted to knock. I wanted him to hold me again. We were just kids when we fell in love. He was supposed to move on. I had been angry at him for the past five years for doing just that. And now I was angry at him for not moving on. How could I walk away knowing that what we had was real? That he still loved me too?

I shook away the thought. I needed to be selfless. He had a life that could still be lived. I wasn't Don. I wasn't hell bent on ruining anyone's life. Especially not Miles'. I would not lead him down a path of darkness and destruction. There was nothing to debate. I turned away from his door and walked down the hall to my dorm room.

Kins had sent me about a hundred texts with varying degrees of her freaking out. If I was going to play all of this off and try to be Sadie Davis again, I'd need to spin a web of lies. It shouldn't be hard. I had always been an expert at make-believe. I put my key into the lock and opened the door.

I thought Kins would launch herself at me. I thought I'd spend the afternoon explaining away my crazy. But all my plans went out the window when I saw who was sitting on my bed.

"Eli?"