Lisa’s best friend Laurel arrives at Lisa’s house. Laurel and Lisa met when they both worked together at the hospital. After the death of Lisa’s mother, Laurel was there for Lisa when Lisa needed to talk to someone: “Laurel conveyed a sense of unflappable calm that Lisa envied, because her own emotions bubbled right below the surface and were always threatening to overflow” (44).

Lisa asks Laurel to park her SUV in the back so it isn’t visible from the street; Lisa still wants to make sure it appears as if no one is home if anyone drives by. Once they are inside, Lisa makes Laurel some tea and tells her about the previous night: the police that arrived at her house, the boy she found in her yard, and her belief that he is in trouble. Lisa explains that she doesn’t want to call the police or bring Purdue to the hospital, in case the police are really after him. Lisa wants to help Purdue, but she is not sure what to do next. Laurel asks to see him, and quietly goes upstairs. When Laurel comes back downstairs, she suggests Lisa call her twin brother, Noah.