CHAPTER 3 — Something Wrong
For several minutes, she did exactly what she was supposed to do. She photographed the wedding band, the engagement ring, the pearl earrings, the bouquet, the lace sleeves, the damp hem of the dress where paramedics had moved her through the rain.
Then she touched Madeline’s hand.
Nora froze.
Warm.
Not room temperature.
Not the fading heat of a recent death.
Warm.
Her fingers hovered over Madeline’s wrist.
Nothing.
She tried the neck, just beneath the jaw.
At first, nothing again.
Then—
A flutter.
So faint she thought her own fear had invented it.
Nora leaned closer and held her breath.
There it was again.
A pulse.
Thin. Slow. Almost impossible.
Her mouth went dry.
“No,” she whispered.
She snatched the stethoscope from the wall and pressed it against Madeline’s chest, angling carefully around the lace bodice.
Silence.
Then a sound.
Soft.
Distant.
But real.
A heartbeat.
May you like
Nora stumbled back from the table, then ran to the door.
“Doctor!”
