SYMMETRY ➽ D. HALE [1]

29 ; bad timing

29 ➽ BAD TIMING

The woman at the front desk frowned as Stiles' father entered the station, followed by three teenagers. "It's two in the morning," she stated. The trio had managed to convince Stiles' father that Matt was the real killer. Well, they'd convinced him to at least let them look through the evidence to actually convince him that Matt was behind the killings.

"We should look at the hospital stuff, first, alright?" Stiles suggested to the McCall siblings as his father went to work trying to convince the woman to let him see the evidence.

"Why?" Scott asked.

"All of the Jackson killed all of the victims except for one, remember?" Elise said. "Matt had to kill the woman at the hospital."

"Come on," Mr. Stilinski said after offering the other officer a thankful smile. The trio followed him into the back room, waiting eagerly while he set up the footage from the hospital surveillance cameras. "I don't know, guys," he said as the screen lit up with the image from the security cameras. "There was a six-car pileup that night. The hospital was packed."

"He had to have walked past at least one of the cameras to get to Jessica, though," Elise persisted. Her eyes flicked back to the screen in time to see a familiar figure disappearing down the hall. "Wait! Go back! That was him! "

Mr. Stilinski did as she said and reversed the tapes just slightly, offering a clearer view of Matt. He didn't seem as convinced as the trio, though. "All I see is the back of someone's head."

"The back of Matt's head!" Stiles exclaimed. "I sit behind him in history. He has a very distinct cranium."

When his father's expression didn't shift from the doubtful look he'd been wearing previously, Scott interjected. "Okay, well maybe we can scroll forward. There's bound to be a shot of Matt walking toward one of the cameras, right?"

"Good thinking," Elise agreed as Sheriff Stilinski complied, scrolling forward through a series of videos before being stopped by his son.

"Wait! There he is, again!"

"You mean there's the back of his head again," his father said, doubt in his voice. The video continued for a few more seconds before Matt came to a halt, stopping a nearby nurse to speak to her.

"Wait," Elise breathed. "He's talking to..."

"...Mom," Scott finished for his sister.

"Maybe she can tell us that he was there," Elise suggested. The other three nodded, prompting her to pull her phone free form her pocket and dial her mother's number. She picked up after the first few rings.

"Elise?"

"Hey, Mom! I just had a question," Elise spoke into the phone. Stiles was practically standing on her feet to listen to the conversation, while Scott and Stiles' father stood a normal distance away. Elise shoved him away and sighed, putting her call on speaker so the rest of then could hear clearly.

"Shoot."

"I need to ask you about someone who came into the hospital the other day."

"Honey, do you know how many people I deal with in a day?"

"This one's sixteen," Elise explained. "Dark hair, blue eyes... looks just like your average teenager-"

"He looks evil!" Stiles interrupted, earning a deathly glare from Elise.

"I already talked to the police about this."

"We'll take a picture and send it to you," Scott suggested, raising his own phone and snapping a photograph of the yearbook that lay open on Sheriff Stilinski's desk. "Did you get it?" he asked after pressing the 'send' button.