Chapter 3

He turned the photo over. The names on the back had been soaked in blood and smeared into a blur. No one could read them now.

Julian hesitated, then clipped the photo into the case file and jotted down a single line. "Victim's personal property. Details to be verified."

My heart sank.

He didn't recognize our photo.

When Julian got to my hands, he paused and noted quietly, "Thickened knuckles. Rough skin."

After a moment, he said abruptly, "Clara's hands are like this too."

Standing behind him, I gave a bitter little laugh. My hands hadn't always been this rough.

When we first got together, Julian was poor. To help make ends meet so he could focus on his career, I washed dishes at a restaurant at night after finishing my day job.

Back then, it broke his heart to see them. "Once I make something of myself, I'll buy you the best hand cream there is and make your hands soft again." Later, he became a medical examiner, cracked one big case after another, and made a name for himself.

Our life got better and better, and I never had to wash dishes again. But my hands never went back to how they were.

That afternoon, Julian went to the hospital to see Alice like always.

He'd barely arrived when Alice's nurse approached him and whispered, "Mr. Hayes, something's off with Ms. Monroe's latest blood test results. They don't match her previous ones."

He blinked. "Strange how?"

She lowered her voice. "It's just... These aren't the results I'd expect from someone with leukemia.

"I was about to take a closer look, but the doctor took the report away before I could. I saw it clearly, though. Some of the numbers really are off.

"It just seemed odd, so I thought I'd tell you, since you care so much about how Ms. Monroe is doing."

Julian frowned. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

He went into her room, and one look at Alice lying pale and weak in bed made his doubts vanish.

He took her hand, his heart aching for her. "Are you feeling worse again? Just hang in there a little longer. Clara will be back tomorrow. I'll bring her here for the donation as soon as she returns."

Alice threw herself into his arms, crying. "Julian, I knew no one would ever treat me better than you. With you here, I'm not scared of anything."

I watched from beside them, wishing I could expose her for what she was. But I was only a ghost now. All I could do was watch.

When Julian got back to the station, a tech came right over to report. "Of the last three calls on the victim's phone, two came from the same number. We traced it. It belongs to a driver who works for Ms. Monroe."

Julian stopped writing. "One of Alice's people?"

He wrote "Look into it," then crossed it out, like he didn't dare follow that thread.

Back in the morgue, Julian pulled on his gloves and examined my body again, looking for more clues to who I was.

His hand brushed the skin below my ribs and stopped.

There was a scar there, running diagonally from my left ribs down to my lower abdomen. I'd gotten it two years ago.

On a rainy night two years ago, someone had tried to stab him while he was working a case. I'd thrown myself in front of him and taken the knife instead.

Julian sat by my hospital bed, holding my hand, his heart breaking. "Clara, what were you thinking? Was it really worth risking your life for me?"

I touched his face and smiled. "It was worth it!"

He looked into my eyes for a long time before making me a solemn promise. "I swear, from now on, I'll never let anything hurt you again."

But after Alice showed up, he was the one who hurt me, again and again.

Julian's fingertips rested on my side. His voice was so low it was barely audible. "This scar... It looks just like..."

Like Clara's.

I held my breath, waiting for him to say my name.

Just then, his phone rang. "Julian, come quickly. It hurts so much—"

At the sound of Alice gasping in pain, he jolted back to himself as if waking from a dream. He turned without a second thought, soothing her over and over. "Don't be scared. Wait for me."

The door shut. I listened to his footsteps fade. He never did say my name...

He'd been so close to recognizing me, and one call from Alice had stopped him.