She Recognized Me on the Autopsy Table

Ethan Shaw had been murdered.The forensic pathologist examining his body was his own wife.In the morgue, Dr. Vivian Sullivan stood beneath the white lights in a spotless lab coat. She was striking even behind her glasses, her brows drawn together as she studied the remains before her."The victim's face has been severely damaged, and both hands and feet were removed," she said. "There was nothing at the scene that could establish his identity?""Nothing," said Daniel Brooks, the junior medical examiner taking notes beside her. He kept his voice down. "If the case weren't such a mess, the department wouldn't have called in Lakeshore University's star professor."Vivian didn't answer. She ran one gloved hand over the body.Ethan's spirit stood beside the table, dazed.He could barely remember the last time Vivian had touched him so gently.In six years of marriage, they'd been intimate only a handful of times. Even then, Vivian had always been drunk. She'd never reached for him

For the first time in months, Vivian went home.The apartment was dark and empty. There was no sign of Ethan anywhere in it.Frowning, she took out her phone and called him.To Ethan's astonishment, someone picked up.The other end was silent.Vivian didn't find that strange. He'd lost his voice six years ago; the few calls they had ever shared were her talking and him listening."Ethan, where are you?" Her voice was flat and cold. "Don't tell me you're hiding because Noah's back."Silence.Vivian sighed and pressed her fingers to her brow, forcing some patience into her voice."I know you've always believed Noah took your chance to study at Curtis. But Curtis admitted him. Your mother had one tuition and two sons, and there's nothing unreasonable about the choice she made."None of it was Noah's fault, either. He's wanted to make peace with you for years, so--"She stopped, and when she spoke again her voice had dropped."Ethan, I've never asked you for anything. I'm askin

Vivian lifted her head.The ringtone was coming from Noah's bag.He had the phone out fast, silenced it, and smiled. The smile didn't sit right. "It's nothing. Someone from the orchestra. It can wait."Vivian frowned. Something about it was wrong, and she was about to say so when her own phone rang.It was Ethan's surgeon."Dr. Sullivan, Mr. Shaw didn't come in for his follow-up again today. He only had his second operation last month and we're concerned about scar-tissue growth. Please bring him in when you can."Vivian's hand closed hard around the phone."I'm sorry--what?" Every muscle in her face reset. "When did Ethan have a second operation?"Now it was the surgeon's turn to pause."Last month. His throat deteriorated very suddenly and the surgery couldn't wait. You... didn't know?"Vivian went still.A second operation.And there it was again: the throat of the unidentified man in the morgue. An old scar, and a thin pink line beneath it.Exactly what a month-old inc

Ten years ago, a video of a teenage boy playing piano in a practice room went viral.You couldn't see his face clearly, but you could hear what was coming out of his hands, and it stopped people cold.The clip tore across the internet, and eventually it reached the president of the Curtis Institute of Music. She shared it herself, called the boy in the video a talent that comes along once in a century, and made a public offer: Curtis would admit him, rules be damned.Everyone believed that boy was Noah Shaw.That video put him inside Curtis. After graduation he became the youngest featured pianist the New York Symphony had ever named, and from there he never came back down.And now somebody had posted the full, uncut version.At the end of it, the boy finished the piece, bounced up to the camera, and laughed. "Why are you filming me?"The face was young and unguarded, and it wasn't Noah's.It was his brother's.The internet detonated.[What is happening? So the genius the Cur

The only sound in the morgue was the hum of the refrigeration.Vivian stood where she was, and something was driving needles into the back of her skull.Ethan had bought Twilight.And Twilight was in the hand of a dismembered man on her table. A ring he'd tracked down, paid for, and meant to give her.Unless--Her mind went blank, and the body came back to her in pieces.The scar on the throat.The mole behind the ear.Twilight.So many coincidences.And every last one of them lined up.Her composure went. She had her phone out and Margaret's number dialed before she'd decided to do it.It rang a long time. When it connected, Vivian didn't wait for her."Margaret, do you know where Ethan is?"There was a pause. Then Margaret started crying like a small child."He's locked himself in his room and he won't come out! What do I do? I never meant to keep him from going away to school, I never meant it--"The wire pulled tight through Vivian went slack.Thank God.He was at