I won’t let them take her to the cemetery looking like this.”
Preston tried to object.
Deborah became hysterical.
Perfectly hysterical.
“Call Mr.
Harlan!
Tell him I want the funeral home to fix her before the burial!”
Ten minutes later, men rolled my coffin out of the house.
Everyone believed they were taking me away to repair the cosmetics on a corpse.
Only my mother knew the corpse was breathing.
1. THE DEAD WOMAN IN ROOM SIX
I woke again beneath fluorescent lights.
No coffin.
No flowers.
No prayers.
A heart monitor beeped beside me.
For a moment, I thought heaven had terrible lighting.
Then a woman in pale-blue scrubs leaned over me.
“Renee?”
I swallowed.
Pain scratched through my throat.
“Where…”
My voice sounded ancient.
“You’re safe.”
My mother appeared behind her.
She gripped the bedrail so tightly her knuckles were white.
I looked at her.
“Preston.”
Her face hardened.
“He thinks you’re underground.”
I stared.
“What?”
The doctor adjusted the IV.
“My name is Dr.
Mara Benson.
I work at this clinic with Mr.
Harlan’s sister.
