Chapter 1

“Mommy, I saw a really white hand when that cloth fell off.”

My fingers dug into my palms as my hands trembled. “Do not look, Baby. Go to the door to skip and count from one to one hundred. Mommy will be there soon.”

She sobbed while counting. “One, two, three.” Every number she said hit me like a hammer.

I tried calling my ex-husband’s older sister, Florence Crumb, who picked up only after the phone rang about nine times. “Dottie? Edie said she brought Dottie back to the wake. I had a little too much to drink just now.”

“Dottie is in the mortuary refrigerator. Wake up, Florence.”

Only the sound of Florence turning over and snoring answered me. She was dead drunk. I shouted her name at least three times, but she did not respond. Florence never drank because of her weak stomach, and she always threw up the moment she consumed alcohol. Edie must have been the one who made her drink.

I called Edie’s number with clenched teeth, and she picked up quickly. I heard a variety show playing on the television in the background.

“Oh, are you talking about Dottie? She’s staying up the night to accompany her father. Kids should learn to honor their elders from a young age.”

“She is not at the wake. You locked her inside the mortuary refrigerator.”

Edie stayed silent for several seconds. “Tsk. That girl has such a big mouth. I told her to stay in there quietly, and I will let her out in the morning. The dead will not bite her, and her dad is in there with her. What are you so worried about?”

The veins on my temple throbbed, and my jaw hurt from clenching my teeth. “Open that door right now, Edie. It is forty degrees Fahrenheit in there, and Dottie might end up spending four hours inside. She is a child, and her organs will fail. I will have it out with you if anything happens to her because of you.”

Edie laughed. It sounded like the canned audience laughter from the variety show, which was fake as hell. “Who are you trying to scare? I have custody of her. Besides, it is the middle of the night, and I am too lazy to make the trip.” She yawned. “Come get her yourself if you insist on letting her out.”

The line went dead.

My arms trembled as I flung the phone at the bed, and it bounced in the air. I decided to call 911. “My daughter has been locked inside the mortuary refrigerator. She is six and wearing a thin dress. It is forty degrees in there, and she has been inside for almost two hours.”

“Stay calm. The mortuary is under the jurisdiction of the suburbs. It will take the police thirty to forty minutes to get there.”

“Forty minutes? She is only wearing a dress.”

“We have already informed the patrolling officers. Please stay calm, Madam Shore.”

After hanging up, I checked the flights right away. The earliest flight was at five thirty in the morning, and it would land at seven. The entire journey to reach her would take at least seven hours. I stared at my phone screen, which displayed the words ‘Tickets unavailable’.

My phone rang again. Dottie had stopped counting, and her voice had changed. “Mommy, my feet hurt, and my shoes are gone. I’m so tired. I want to sleep.”

I jumped and knocked my knee against the corner of the bed, but I did not notice the pain. Getting sleepy in low-temperature conditions was a sign of danger. If she fell asleep, her body temperature would continue dropping.

“Do not fall asleep, Dottie. Stand up. Jump. Jump with all your might.”

There was silence for several seconds. “I can’t jump anymore, Mommy. I don’t have any strength in my legs.”

Dottie’s situation could not be delayed. There was no time. My university mate, Mandy Sussman, lived in the same city, and she was about twenty minutes away from the funeral parlor. It took four rings for her to pick up my call.

“Who’s this calling in the middle of the night?”

“Mandy. My daughter has been locked inside the mortuary refrigerator in South City’s funeral parlor. She will not make it. You are the only person who can reach her within thirty minutes.”

“Funeral parlor?”

“I am begging you.”

“Give me the location. I will head there right away.”

I shared the location with Mandy and ran out of my room barefoot in a hurry without my socks or luggage. All I needed were my phone and car keys. I could not wait for the elevator, and I used the fire escape to run down twelve flights of stairs. When I turned the corner, my arm slammed into the railings. I saw stars from the pain, but I did not stop.

When I reached the underground parking, I started the engine, and my watch vibrated. A notification appeared, informing me that the body temperature of the wearer of the watch I was tracking was now at ninety-four degrees.

The normal body temperature of a human being was ninety-eight point six degrees. My daughter’s body temperature was dropping.