Lydia couldn't shake the bad feeling off of her. She had a very good instincts and her gut feelings were normally right. Something in her gut told her that there was something going on.
She had just finished up looking Jackson over and spent a little time with him before heading back to her house. The car ride home offered her a private chance to really think.
The dead body in the morgue was Laura Hale. As in Derek Hales sister. Lydias older brother Andrew, had been best friends with Derek Hale throughout high school. She faintly remembered meeting Laura a few times back when her brother was friends with Derek.
Lydia had even more questions to ask herself now.
How did she die?
What did Scott McCall have to do with her?
Where was Derek?
And most importantly was he all right?
Lydia always had a soft spot for her brothers friend Derek. He often came off as rough around the edges and a bit stubborn but he wasn't when he was over at their house. He would always wink at her when playing video games with Andrew and stood up for her whenever her brother would tease her.
Lydia was not heartless. In fact she was almost the opposite. Despite all of her nagging logical questions she had to focus on the most important one.
How was Derek? Did he know his sister was dead? If so did he need help with the funeral? Was there anything she could do? Was he going to be alright?
Deciding that tonight she would go out to the old Hale house and see if her brothers old friend was there. She had a brownie mix in the pantry and remembered that he always had a sweet tooth especially for chocolate.
"Martha, Andrew I'm home!" Lydia said shouting as she opened the front door to her house. She dropped off her bag on the dining room table and rifled through the mail. Most of it was bills. She sighed and put them down next to her bag. According to her schedule she wouldn't be allowed to pay them until tomorrow night.
"Lydia! Come on in we were just heavily invested in playing a game of old maid!" Meredith said looking up at her with a friendly smile.
Martha Martinez was a part time nurse who stayed with Andrew while Lydia was at school and her mother was at work or out of town. She was about thirty five and spoke with a heavy Spanish accent. Without Martha there was no way Lydia or her mother would be able to take care of Andrew. Natalie Martin was often out of town on business trips and when she was home she spend most of her time at the law office.
Andrew looked up from his cards and spoke to Martha.
"I had a sister named Lydia once." He said as he moved his wheelchair around to look at Lydia.
Lydia sighed as she picked up some clean laundry that Martha left on the couch. Lydia was so used to her brother forgetting who she was now.
"How was our big guy today?" Lydia asked as she folded a pale pink cable knit sweater.
Martha played her last card winning the game. Getting up she moved the blanket back over Andrew to keep him warm. She wheeled him over to the fireplace right next to the stain glass window. This was his favorite spot in the house.
Martha came back over to Lydia and helped her fold laundry.
"It was a good morning until he saw an old picture of himself. He got very confused and agitated. I put the picture up in your room on the dresser. I got him to calm down a little bit but he was still very anxious and confused."
"Alright. Thank you Martha, I can get the rest you go on home. Mom is getting in from her flight tonight." Lydia said finishing up the rest of the laundry. She put it in a clothes basket and set it on her hip while seeing Martha out the door.
Lydia walked back into the main sitting room and gazed at her older brother. He looked so lost and confused while staring into the fire as if the flames could give him all of the answers he needed.
She shook her head and walked up the stairs to her room to put the clothes away. After putting away the last button down she finally gathered the courage to look at the picture on the dresser.
It was of Andrew on prom night. He stood on the front steps of their large house. His smile reached from ear to ear and he had an arm around his best friend Derek Hale.
"Derek!" Lydia exclaimed, remembering that she needed to check to see how he was doing.
She took hold of the picture and put in one of the many boxes in her parents old room. Lydia refused to get a good look around the room for fear of being overcome with memories. She didn't have time for her own problems. Not when Andrew and Derek needed her. And those brownies were not going to make themselves.
"Andrew do you want to lick the spoon?" Lydia asked her brother who she wheeled into the kitchen. Being in the kitchen was one of her favorite activities to do with her brother. She loved making food and he loved eating it.
Andrew smiled and reached out for the spoon which Lydia gave to him.
She pulled up a chair and sat down after washing her hands.
"Andrew do you remember Derek Hale?" Lydia said looking intently at her brother.
"Derek? Yes we were friends, I think." He said looking down at his lap with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Was there ever anything strange about his family?" Lydia asked again hoping for some answers.
"He had a lot of family. They were all a little odd but that's about it." He said trying very hard to remember his old friend.
"Ok, thank you Drew. I'm proud of you for remembering them." Lydia said leaning forward giving a small smile to her brother.
"When are my parents getting back?" Dew asked while licking the spoon.
Lydia answered the question the same way she had a thousand times every day.
"Dad is out of town for now and Mom is on a business trip."
"But they will be back right? I miss my family." He said slowly as if remembering something from long ago.
"Of course they will be back." And with that Lydia got up and took the brownies out of the beeping oven.
"Andrew I am going out for a little bit ok? I have turned the game on so you can go watch that. If you need anything call me ok? Mom should be home any time now." Lydia said turning off the gas fireplace.
"I'll be fine." Andrew said in between bites of dinner Lydia had fixed him. She smiled and adjusted his blanket again.
Lydia had a hard time remembering where the old Hale house was but after ten minutes of looking she saw the familiar clearing. It looked just as abandoned and ruined as the day it burned down.
"Poor Derek." Lydia thought. "First the boy loses his girlfriend, then his best friend, then almost his whole family, and now his sister."
She was about to walk up to the front door and knock when she saw two bodies to the side of the house.
Lydia walked closer to get a good look and noticed it was Scott McCall and that boy from the waiting room at the hospital.
She gasped and held onto her tray of brownies even tighter.
More questions filled her inquisitive head.
What were they doing here?
What was their connection to Laura Hale?
Where was Derek?
What were they looking at?
Moving to get a better look yet still staying hidden Lydia noticed that they were standing over a hole in the ground.
She could faintly hear the tall scrawny one motion to a plant.
Lydia recognized it to be wolfs bane. This was odd because wolfs bane doesn't normally grow in California. It was located farther north. Unless it was planted there.
The tall one began pulling it up out of the ground and Lydia recognized the long rope attached to it to form a spiral pattern. Her ever so active mind asked even more questions.
Scott looked like he was about to have an allergic reaction and so the two boys ran off into the woods again.
Lydia, deciding it was safe to come out of her hiding place, cautiously walked over to the hole in the ground. What she saw caused her to gasp yet again. It was the other half of Laura Hales body.
Why was Laura Hale buried in Dereks back yard?
How did Scott and his friend know she was here?
Were they involved in her death?
Why was the wolfs bane so important to them?
Why was Scott affected by the plant but not the other boy?
Lydia had so many questions piled up inside of her brain. .
She wasn't sure how to solve half of these questions but one thing was for sure. Scott McCall was acting suspicious and Lydia wanted to know why.
