Chapter 6 · Her Death Certificate Has Two Names

The file is thin. Too thin for a life.

I'm standing in the records basement of City General, and the folder in my hands has my sister's name on the tab. Sara Quinn. Date of death, three years ago. Cause of death, blunt force trauma. Signed by a doctor I've never heard of and a coroner who doesn't exist anymore.

And at the bottom, in the box marked "next of kin notified," there are two signatures. Mine. And one that isn't mine.

The handwriting is close. Real close. But I didn't sign this. I was in county lookup the night Sara died. I couldn't have signed anything.

I flip the page. There's a second certificate underneath. Same date. Same cause. Different name.

Sara Voss.

My hands start shaking. I don't stop them.

Voss. Like Elias.

I pull out my phone and take a picture of both certificates. The flash makes the paper look older than it is, like evidence from a crime scene. Which maybe it is. I don't know anymore. The mark on my wrist is cold, the kind of cold that doesn't go away when you rub it.