Chapter 5

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 incision would look like.

She turned so sharply that Noah startled on the bed.

"Vivian, where are you going?"

For the first time in her life, she didn't answer him. Her heels hit the floor in fast, hard strokes as she dialed.

"Call the medical examiner's office. I want to reexamine the unidentified body tonight."

She hadn't reached the elevator when the phone rang again.

Ethan's mother.

Vivian stopped, hesitated, and answered. Margaret was crying.

"Vivian, Ethan and I had a terrible fight. Would you come and talk to him? Please?"

Vivian stopped walking altogether.

"What did you say?" She heard how fast her own voice had gone. "Ethan is at your house?"

Ten minutes later, Vivian and Noah let themselves into the Shaw house.

Ethan wasn't there.

Margaret sat alone on the couch, sobbing. A sour smell hung in the room, but Vivian barely registered it as she helped the older woman upright.

"Margaret, where's Ethan?"

Margaret was still crying hard.

"He had a terrible fight with me about Noah going away to school, and then he slammed the door and left. Vivian, he's listened to you since he was a boy. Please talk to him for me."

The tension went out of Vivian's hand.

If Ethan had been standing in this room an hour ago, then the man in the morgue couldn't be him.

She didn't notice the breath she let go.

Margaret rambled on through her tears.

"You know how it is, Vivian. Noah and Ethan's father only just passed. We're not what we were. We can only afford to send one of them away to school..."

The words finally reached Vivian, and a beat later something about them snagged.

"Margaret. What did you just say?"

Noah, silent until now, stepped forward.

"Vivian." He took his mother's weight from her, gently. "Ethan's upset. Why don't you go find him? I haven't seen Mom in so long. Let me stay with her."

Vivian nodded and left, giving mother and son the room.

The moment the door closed behind her, Margaret grabbed Noah's hand, frantic.

"Noah! What are you still doing here? Doesn't your flight leave soon? Hurry--come on, I'll pack your bags."