Chapter 25 · The Understudy on the Death List

The emergency department did not wake so much as shudder.

Maeve came back to herself beneath fluorescent lights, one palm pressed to the tile, the other curled around an invisible knife. Her throat burned with the taste of theater dust. Somewhere beyond the trauma bay curtains, a monitor shrilled three quick notes and stopped.

Then the department speakers clicked on.

"Code silver. Unidentified male. Room four. Time of death, 00:17."

Maeve lifted her head.

A paramedic pushed through the double doors with a gurney. Rain glazed the man’s black coat. His face was turned away, hidden by a strip of blood-dark fabric tied around his eyes.

No. Not blood. Velvet.

The paramedic stopped beside her. "Nurse Kellan? You’re on the board."

Maeve stared at the gurney.

The man’s fingers hung over the edge. Long fingers. A crescent scar cut across the right knuckle.

Eli’s hand.

The monitor above the bed displayed a patient chart in calm blue letters.

ELI MERCER.

STATUS: DECEASED.

ROLE: KILLER.

CAUSE OF DEATH: PENDING WITNESS.

Maeve’s breath snagged. She reached for the chart, but the screen rippled beneath her fingers like oil on water. The letters rearranged themselves.

ELIAS VALE.

Then—