Chapter 1 - the hand inside the coffin)
For three seconds, nobody in the Sterling Memorial Chapel moved.
Jessica could hear the chandelier crystals vibrating above them.
Luke's grip around her wrist was weak, but unmistakably real.
His fingers trembled.
His eyelids opened only halfway.
"Luke."
Jessica said his name softly.
Not because she doubted what she was seeing.
Because she needed him to hear one familiar voice in a room suddenly filled with screaming.
Wendy backed into Frank.
"No."
Her face had lost all its color.
"No, that's impossible."
Jessica looked at her.
That sentence mattered.
Not thank God.
Not my son.
Not call an ambulance.
Impossible.
Jessica stored the word away.
Luke's lips moved.
Nothing came out.
His body jerked once as if he were fighting against an enormous invisible weight.
Jessica turned toward the mourners.
"Call 911."
Three people reached for their phones.
Frank stepped forward.
"Wait."
Jessica's eyes snapped toward him.
Frank stopped.
His composure returned almost immediately.
"This could be a reflex. Postmortem movement happens."
Jessica stared at him.
"Dead people don't grab their wives."
Luke's fingers tightened again.
Wendy pressed a hand to her mouth.
Frank looked toward a man near the chapel doors.
Jessica recognized him.
Dr. Martin Keller.
The physician who had signed Luke's death certificate.
Keller had attended the funeral despite telling Jessica the day before that he was too devastated to speak with her.
Now he stood frozen beside the exit.
Jessica pointed at him.
"You."
Keller did not move.
"You declared my husband dead."
"I did."
"Then explain this."
Keller swallowed.
Luke made a low sound.
Jessica immediately bent over him.
"Stay with me."
His eyes found hers.
Fear lived there.
Luke Sterling, who had stared down hostile investors, corporate raiders, prosecutors and men twice his size without blinking, was terrified.
Jessica had never seen that expression on his face.
His mouth formed one word.
Water.
Jessica grabbed the glass placed beside the guest registry and brought it toward him.
Keller rushed forward.
"No."
Jessica stopped.
"Why not?"
"He could aspirate."
That was medically reasonable.
It was also the first useful thing Keller had said.
Jessica put the glass down.
One of the mourners shouted that paramedics were coming.
Frank moved toward the chapel door.
Jessica noticed.
"Where are you going?"
"To help direct them."
"No."
Frank turned.
Jessica's voice remained calm.
"Stay where I can see you."
Wendy looked outraged.
"How dare you speak to him like that?"
Jessica finally faced her mother-in-law.
Forty-eight hours of grief had hollowed something out of her.
There was no room left for politeness.
"Your supposedly dead son just grabbed my wrist and the first thing your brother tried to do was leave."
Wendy glanced at Frank.
Only once.
But Jessica saw it.
Luke's hand slid from Jessica's wrist.
His eyes closed.
"Luke?"
No response.
Jessica reached toward his neck.
Keller caught her arm.
"Don't."
She looked at his hand touching her.
Keller immediately released her.
Jessica pressed two fingers beneath Luke's jaw.
A pulse.
Slow.
Faint.
But there.
"He's alive."
The chapel erupted again.
Sirens approached outside.
Frank quietly reached into his jacket.
Jessica saw the movement reflected in the polished coffin lid.
He removed his phone.
Typed something.
Put it away.
Less than ten seconds later, Keller's phone vibrated.
The doctor checked the screen.
His face changed.
Jessica saw that too.
Two paramedics entered with emergency equipment and a gurney.
They pushed through the mourners.
The first paramedic leaned over Luke.
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Luke did not respond.
The paramedic checked his pulse and pupils.
"He's alive. Bradycardic. Shallow respiration."
The second paramedic began attaching monitors.
Jessica remained beside the coffin.
Wendy stepped forward.
"I'm his mother. I'll ride with him."
"No."
Everyone looked at Jessica.
She did not raise her voice.
"I am his wife."
Wendy's eyes narrowed.
"You were about to abandon him."
Jessica looked at the waiver lying on the floor.
"No, Wendy. You were trying to erase me before the coffin was closed."
The monitor beeped.
A rhythm appeared.
Slow but steady.
Keller stared at it as if he were witnessing a ghost.
One of the paramedics noticed.
"You the attending physician?"
Keller hesitated.
"I certified him."
The paramedic looked from Keller to Luke.
Then back again.
"You certified this man dead?"
Keller said nothing.
Frank slipped toward the aisle.
Jessica stepped in front of him.
"No one leaves."
Frank's expression hardened.
"You don't have the authority to detain anybody."
"No."
A male voice came from the rear of the chapel.
"But I do."
Detective Nathan Cole entered through the open doors.
Jessica recognized him from Luke's company Christmas gala the previous year.
Former Army investigator.
Now head of financial crimes for the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
And, more importantly, one of Luke's oldest friends.
Cole walked directly toward the coffin.
His eyes met Jessica's.
There was no surprise in them.
That frightened her more than anything else.
"You knew," Jessica whispered.
Cole looked at Luke.
"I knew he believed someone might try to kill him."
Jessica's blood went cold.
"Who?"
Cole looked at Wendy.
Then Frank.
May you like
Then Dr. Keller.
"I was hoping today's funeral would tell us."
