Chapter 1 - THE QUESTION UNDER THE DOOR
Dela stared at the handwritten sentence until the words blurred.
Mrs. Hawthorne, you signed the papers refusing an autopsy for your husband. Why?
Her first reaction was anger.
Her second was fear.
Her third was something colder.
She had never signed an autopsy refusal.
Seven months ago, Elias had died on Interstate 90 after his sedan crossed three lanes of traffic and struck the concrete barrier. The police report had called it a tragic accident. The hospital had recorded blunt-force trauma and internal bleeding.
Dela had been twenty-six weeks pregnant with their first child.
She had arrived at the hospital after midnight and found Elias already gone.
A hospital administrator had brought her a stack of forms.
She remembered signing consent for the release of his body.
She remembered signing paperwork related to insurance.
She remembered crying so hard she could barely see.
But she did not remember refusing an autopsy.
She turned the white sheet over.
Nothing.
She looked again at the medical records.
One page contained a notation she had never noticed.
AUTOPSY DECLINED — NEXT OF KIN.
Her signature appeared beneath it.
Dela's stomach tightened.
The signature looked like hers.
But there was one problem.
She had signed Delilah Hawthorne on every legal document in her life.
The signature here said Dela Hawthorne.
A nickname.
A name she had used only at the Meridian.
She sat down on the edge of her bed.
Her unborn child shifted beneath her ribs.
"Easy," she whispered.
Then someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Dela froze.
She had never told anyone about the envelope.
She moved toward the door and looked through the peephole.
Nobody.
She opened it anyway.
The hallway was empty.
On the floor lay another envelope.
This one was thicker.
Inside was a photograph.
Elias stood outside the Meridian Tower three days before he died.
Beside him stood Augustine Vandermir.
Gus.
Dela turned the photograph over.
There were six words written on the back.
May you like
He came to warn you. You never knew.
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