Who is Elijah from Wintergirls and what is their importance?

Elijah is the motel worker that found Cassie's dead body. Before Cassie died, she gave Elijah a message to pass on to Lia, saying that Lia had won. Elijah didn't understand what the message meant, but it sounded important enough for him to track Lia down to deliver it. Elijah is a somewhat strange figure in Lia's life, and the reader is never quite sure about the nature of their relationship. In the beginning, it appears that Elijah is romantically interested in Lia, but at the end of the novel, he steals Lia's money and urges her to call her family for help.