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All Chapters of She Recognized Me on the Autopsy Table: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

26 Chapters

Chapter 11

Vivian drove back to the office and saw what Daniel had found.It was a pocket watch, half eaten by acid.It was identical to one she'd had made for Ethan."We looked at it," Daniel said carefully. "It's very close to the watch you gave your husband. And there's engraving on the back. Half of it's gone, but you can still read part of a name."Everyone in the building knew Vivian as the cold, rational one. They also knew that in the first years of her marriage she'd done everything for Ethan herself.That watch was a birthday gift she'd commissioned, with both their names inside the case.There were too many coincidences now to keep calling them that."Professor," Daniel said quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss."Vivian's head came up."Sorry for what?" Her face gave away nothing. "That body isn't Ethan. Why would you offer me condolences?"Daniel faltered. "But the watch--""A corroded watch proves what, exactly?" she cut in. "It's a coincidence. DNA is evidence. Did nobody te

Chapter 12

Inside the beautifully wrapped box was a document.A divorce agreement.The words wiped every thought out of Vivian's head.Ethan wanted to divorce her?He loved her. How could he want a divorce?Unless--Something clicked into place. Of course.It was because she'd taken Noah's side one time too many, and Ethan had finally had enough.She picked up her phone, hesitated, and typed.[Noah is only a younger brother to me. Come home.]Once it was sent, the exhaustion caught up with her all at once. She went to the bedroom and dropped straight into sleep.She hadn't been out long when the phone woke her.It was a doctor, and he was rattled."Professor Sullivan--Noah Shaw has attempted suicide again."By the time Vivian got to the hospital, they'd already stabilized him. He lay against the pillows with no color in his face.Something in her chest twisted at the sight.Underneath it was a heavier, more tired feeling she couldn't name.She went to the bed. "Why?" she said qui

Chapter 13

Daniel had worked with Vivian for years. He knew what she'd been to Ethan--distant sometimes, sure, but they'd been married six years, and she'd handled every injury and every appointment herself.He was still hunting for a gentle way to say the rest of it when she spoke first, and her voice was ice."What are you talking about? How could Ethan be dead?"Daniel froze. "But the report--""He just took me out for my birthday. How could he be dead?"Before he could get another word out, she'd hung up.Vivian was already out the door and into her car.Her fingers shook on the wheel, but her mind kept laying out the facts.He'd booked the restaurant. He'd sent the package. Both of those were this week.That body had been dead close to six days.It couldn't be Ethan.It couldn't.She said it to herself all the way to the courier depot."The package that was delivered to me last night--I need to know where it was sent from."She was going to find her husband and prove to every o

Chapter 14

Vivian stopped.On the screen was security footage.She recognized it--the underground parking garage at the airport.The timestamp in the corner read six nights ago.A familiar sedan rolled slowly into frame. The driver's door opened, and Ethan got out.Her breath stopped.Then it hit her.That was the night Noah flew in. Noah had told her Ethan promised to meet him and never showed.So Ethan had gone to the airport after all.Before she could take it any further, the image changed.A man in black and a low cap came out of nowhere, caught Ethan from behind, and drove a knife into his back."No--!"Vivian's hands closed hard on the phone, and she watched.Once. Again.Ten times.The same number of wounds as the body on her table.Ethan folded to the concrete. The man dragged him to the trunk, shut it, and the headlights swung and the car was gone.The recording ended.Vivian couldn't speak at all.Harris let out a breath and put a hand on her shoulder."Let him rest

Chapter 15

There were ragged contusions across the skin of the wrist.To anyone else, unremarkable injuries.To a forensic pathologist with her experience, a signal that could not be misread.Her own words came back to her.The contusions at the wrists are irregular. He fought the restraints. He may also have tried to use something he was carrying to call for help. A phone, for instance.A terrible thought opened up under her feet.She grabbed Detective Harris by the lapels."The footage--what time does it show Ethan being taken?"Harris jumped, but he answered. "Ten p.m. September thirteenth."Ten p.m.Every trace of color left her face.At ten p.m. she'd been up on a mountain, filming a meteor shower for Noah.So the calls he made that night--he was inside the trunk of a car.He was asking her to save him.Vivian couldn't breathe.Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone and scrolled back to that date.A column of red. [ETHAN. ETHAN. ETHAN.]Missed. All of them missed.One.

Chapter 16

Vivian's body couldn't take what her mind was doing to it, and she went down.When she opened her eyes again she was in a hospital room.Noah was leaning over the bed, and his face was full of concern."Vivian, you're awake."He caught her hand, and the relief in his voice sounded real."You have no idea how frightened I was when you collapsed. I thought something was going to happen to you."Vivian looked at him. "Where's Ethan?"The smile stopped dead on Noah's face at his brother's name.Then the tears came, right on cue, and he sniffed."They've moved him to the funeral home. I talked to the police. The man who killed him is Corey Vance--the same fan who took me. He heard somewhere that my brother and I were estranged, and he decided--"His voice dissolved."It's my fault. I'm his brother and I took his dream, and now one of my own fans has killed him. All of it is my fault."He cried beautifully, the way he did everything.Once, Vivian wouldn't have been able to stand

Chapter 17

Noah's smile froze in place.He stared at her, unable to believe it. For as long as he could remember, Vivian had been gentle with him, indulgent with him. It had never once occurred to him that she could talk to him like this."Vivian, what did you just say?"But she didn't want to look at him anymore.She didn't fully understand it herself.There'd been a time she couldn't stop looking at him. She loved his smile. She loved watching him be happy.Now she looked at his face and all she saw was Ethan.She thought: if I hadn't gone up that mountain to film for him, would I have picked up?Or further back--if Noah hadn't asked Ethan to meet his flight, would Ethan ever have been in that garage?Or further back still--if Noah hadn't taken his brother's opportunity ten years ago, he'd never have had a Corey Vance in his life at all, and Ethan might be on a stage in New York right now.Vivian knew perfectly well that none of those questions meant anything.She knew she was pourin

Chapter 18

The first entry was dated more than a decade ago.[A really pretty girl moved in next door today. I watched her from the stairwell. She was wearing a white dress and I couldn't stop looking.]Vivian remembered that dress. It was the week she'd moved in.She turned the page.[The girl next door is apparently brilliant at school. Mom says Noah and I should be more like her. All I want is the piano.][It rained today and the pretty girl gave me an umbrella. I finally worked up the nerve to ask her name. Vivian Sullivan. It sounds clean, the way she does.]Nearly every page after that was one of two things. Vivian, or the piano.Her fingertips shook.She had always known those were the only two things he loved.Only now did she feel how much.Then the entries stopped for a while.She remembered why. His father died that year.When the journal picked up again, the joy came off the page.[Someone filmed me playing in the practice room and put it online. The president of Curtis s

Chapter 19

[Today is our anniversary. Vivian says she has a conference and can't celebrate with me, so I'm flying out to surprise her. She'll be happy, won't she?]Vivian understood what was coming and turned the page.[I found her. She wasn't at any conference. She was watching Noah play.][So the person Vivian loves is my brother. Did I break them apart when I married her? No wonder she's been so cold to me all these years. She's been blaming me the whole time.][But Vivian, do you know something? I never wanted you to marry me. I saved you because I wanted you to live. That's all it was. It was never so that you'd marry me.][Maybe it's too late to say this. I'm going to set you free anyway. I want you to go after the person you actually love, and I want you to do it without feeling guilty about me.]The handwriting was clean, and there was something final in it.It went through her like a shock.So he'd decided that night. That far back, he'd already decided to divorce her.She turne

Chapter 20

For the next several days Vivian shut herself inside the apartment and didn't come out.On the fifth day Tessa had had enough and hauled her out of it."Any longer in there and you're going to grow mold," she said, thoroughly out of patience. "That's it. Get up. You're coming with me. There's a new place I want to try."She picked a bistro Vivian had always liked.Even sitting at the table, Vivian wasn't really there.Then they both heard the young couple at the next table, deep in the gossip of the week."Hey, did you see? That pianist died. Ethan Shaw.""Of course I saw. You know how much I love piano--I was basically a fan of his. I always thought it was a waste, him staying here. He should've gone to Europe or New York.""Except it turns out he was awful. He faked the whole thing about his brother's video, just for the attention. That's such a low move.""Honestly, that's what you get. Karma."They talked about it the way people talk about a plot twist, with none of the f

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