to accept that scenario. As a reporter, he prided himself on detecting the truth. Something in Alfred’s manner, when they chatted about kids, would have raised an alarm in Ellis.
Or had his view been skewed by a desire to see only what he wanted?
“Dutch,” he called out. The guy was wandering by with notepad in hand. Seeing Ellis, he strode right over.
“Hey, you missed today’s meeting. Thought you might be out sick.”
Ellis didn’t feel in the best of health, but it wasn’t from a cold.
He skipped past that issue for a vital one. “Your pal in LA—I think you said he was going to send the clips he’d found for me. You mind following up when you have a sec?”
Dutch bit out a laugh. “See that pile there?” He gestured to the mail layered haphazardly on Ellis’s desk. “Might go through it every so often. Here…” From a quick sift through the stack, Dutch handed over a small manila envelope. “I dropped it off for you last week.”
“Guess that’s what I get for giving my secretary time off.” Ellis made the joke not just to keep things light with Dutch, which it did, but also to subdue his own fear. Its slow burn was heating to a blaze. He felt it even before sliding out the clippings as Dutch strolled away, before flipping to the obituary about the Millstones’ late daughter, before staring at her portrait featuring a familiar sailor dress, a ribbon tied in her hair.
Victoria Agnes Millstone, the caption read.
Ellis had easily figured the Millstones were aiming to fill a void. He just hadn’t envisioned their daughter being literally replaced by Ruby, looks and all. Even without the same ribbon and dress, the two virtually could have passed as twins.
Every unnerving aspect had just been magnified tenfold.
Though dreading to share the news—how would he ever explain this?—Ellis slid his phone closer. He was still processing it all as he rang the operator, who put him through to Lily’s line at the Examiner. But it was the chief who picked up. He seemed even more rattled than Ellis.
“Took the day off,” he grumbled, explaining Lily’s absence, and hung up before Ellis could ask anything more.
A day off? The chief didn’t say she was out sick.
After her trip to Jersey, she must have extended her weekend to make up for lost time with her son. Ellis debated on waiting, not wanting to intrude, but for Calvin’s sake—and Ruby’s—he had to make the call.
To connect to the Palmers, he requested their deli. The phone rang only once before the reply came without greeting. “Dr. Mannis?”
“No…Lily, it’s me.”
“Ellis?” She sounded on the brink of tears.
In that instant, any other thought in his head, including his reason for calling, evaporated like mist. “Lily, what is it? What’s happened?”
Her voice trembled as she answered over the line. “Something’s wrong with Samuel.”
Chapter 28
Lily fought back the echoes of her conscience.
This is all your doing. You did this to him.
From the chair beside Samuel’s bed, she peeled away the folded washrag. Heat radiating from his forehead had nearly dried the fabric. His cheeks were red as rose petals, his eyelids puffy and sealed. She dipped and wrung the cloth, for the hundredth time over the past day, in the porcelain basin on the night table.
Your son is going to die. All because of you.
She wanted to scream, to shake Samuel’s bare shoulders until he stirred. She longed to go back and erase the curse she had caused. But all she could do was place the cooled rag across his damp hairline.
On Saturday, she had returned from New Jersey in the late afternoon and immediately phoned Ellis about Sylvia. She had barely finished when her mother beckoned her downstairs to assist with the weekend rush. Samuel chose to stay in their room. Normally, he would have followed her to the deli, a pup at her heels. He relished any opportunity to help. But he was clearly still cross over the postponement of their picnic.
“It’s good for him,” Lily’s mother had assured her and handed over a hunk of Gouda to be wrapped for a customer. “Children need to learn. Plans change. That’s life.”
“You listen to your mother,” Lily’s father said in passing, behind the counter. “It’s easier that way. Believe me.” He added a wink.
Even if Lily disagreed, it had become harder to dispute parenting choices when weekdays required entrusting her son to their guidance. Plus, Samuel’s behavior that night—stubbornly silent, poking at his supper—only reinforced her