pushed between the wreaths and dropped to her knees before the freshly turned soil. Her icy fingers tightened around the wooden handle of the shovel she held. Droplets of the unseasonably cold rain trickled down her cheeks. Her clothes were soaked through, but she no longer cared.
Nothing mattered to her anymore.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to silence the cries inside her head. Uncertainty shuddered through her, making her hesitate. The sound of her child crying echoed in the deepest recesses of her soul. Melany’s eyes opened abruptly and she jerked with renewed determination.
“I’m coming, baby,” she murmured. Her heart thudded in her chest. “Mommy’s coming.”
She plunged the shovel into the loose, damp soil with a vengeance. The sound of the metal sliding into the soggy earth made her flinch. Gritting her teeth, she flung the scoopful of soil to the side, then sank her shovel into the ground once more. She prayed for God’s forgiveness as she worked harder, faster.
She had to do this.
She had to know.
The shovel struck something solid. Melany sat back on her heels, the shallow, muddy walls of the grave on either side of her. A frown etched her forehead, rivulets of water slipping down the worrisome creases. This wasn’t right. How could this be right?
It couldn’t be.
She tossed the shovel aside, a new surge of hot tears blurring her vision as she summoned her waning resolve. A dozen questions flitted briefly through her mind despite her newly gathered determination. Why was the grave so shallow? Why was there no vault?
Melany almost laughed at the absurdity of it. This was just a dream, she reminded herself. She would wake up at any moment to the agony of not knowing for sure.
“No,” she said aloud, as if saying it out loud would make it so. “This has to be real.” She lifted her face to the rain for one fleeting instant and realized that she couldn’t stop now, even if it was only a dream.
She had to know.
Melany dug furiously with her hands then, pushing aside the shallow, remaining layer of earth. Her breath caught. The small, white casket felt smooth beneath her palms. All of her questions instantly flew from her mind. There was only the reality that she would soon know. A wounded moan tore from her throat as she leaned forward and pressed her cheek to the cold, slick surface. A wave of pain so overpowering she couldn’t breathe for a long moment washed over her.
“Oh, baby, baby, please forgive Mommy,” she mumbled between sobs. The haunting cries grew stronger inside her head, urging her on. She pushed herself up and scrubbed her face with the wet, muddy sleeve of her sweatshirt. Now, she told herself again. She had to know now.
She quickly shoved away more of the concealing mud. Her hands trembling, she released the tiny latches and lifted the small viewing lid with ease. Rain and mud splattered the pristine pink satin and lace interior during the five or so seconds it took Melany’s brain to assimilate what her heart already knew.
Her daughter’s coffin was empty.
Melany sat bolt upright in bed. She gulped in air, filling her starved lungs. “No!” she cried, then buried her face in her hands and forced away the last lingering remnants of the horrifying dream.
Her hair felt damp with sweat…or was it the rain? It was a dream…only a dream. Her baby was gone. A sob rose in her throat, then ripped out of her on a tide of anguish.
Her baby couldn’t be dead. There had to be a mistake. The dreams…the voices…it just couldn’t be.
She plowed her fingers through her sweat-dampened hair. She was losing her mind. She’d lost her baby and now she was losing her mind.
But what if she was right? She’d tried to tell them that her baby couldn’t be dead. It just wasn’t possible…she could feel her.
Melany blinked in the darkness of her room. Everything stilled inside her.
What if she was right?
Melany struggled from the tangled sheets and fumbled for the clothes she’d discarded a few hours ago. All she needed was a flashlight and a shovel and she would end this misery now.
Five minutes later, and armed with the necessary implements, Melany stepped out into the cold night air. She lifted her face to the steady drizzle of rain. Just like in the dream, she thought. But this was real. She took a deep, harsh breath and started toward her car.
“I’m coming, baby,” she murmured. “Mommy’s coming.”
Chapter One
“We haven’t found the body yet.” Supervisory Special Agent Bill Collins cleared his throat. “But, legally speaking, the child is dead.”
Ryan Braxton absorbed the impact of those words as he studied the woman seated at the scarred table on the other side of the two-way mirror. A Memphis police detective stepped into the interrogation room and offered her a cup of coffee. She declined.
“But she doesn’t believe it,” Ryan suggested without looking at the man standing beside him in the tiny viewing room.
“No,” Bill said on a heavy sigh. “She doesn’t believe her daughter is dead or that her body is simply missing.”
“I need more facts.” Ryan looked at his old friend then. Bill’s shoulders sagged in defeat. His suit was travel-rumpled and he looked far older than his fifty years. This case had gotten to him already. Ryan had thought nothing would ever shock him again, but, considering the woman involved, even he found this one unnerving. This was the very reason he’d left the Bureau and started a new career with the Colby Agency. He didn’t want to do these kinds of cases anymore.
“The accident was eight days ago,” Bill began. “Melany was in a coma for forty-eight hours.” He shrugged, a weary gesture. “There was some sort of mix-up with her CT scan. She was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem injury. Death was considered imminent.”
Ryan gritted his teeth to prevent any outward reaction. He was a professional, he wasn’t supposed to let his personal feelings show. Hell, he wasn’t even supposed to be having any personal feelings. He kept his gaze carefully focused on the scene beyond the two-way mirror as Bill continued.
“While Mel was in a coma, her daughter died. A friend—” Bill reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small notebook. He flipped through it until he found the right page, then studied it a moment. “A Rita Grider,” he went on, “made arrangements for the child to be buried in a local cemetery since there was no point in waiting for Mel’s recovery. Hell, she even made tentative arrangements for Mel’s burial right next to her daughter. Then, the next morning, to everyone’s great surprise, Melany woke up.” Bill stared through the glass at the woman seated on the other side. “As you can imagine, she was devastated.”
“You have a copy of the death certificate?” Ryan asked, his voice carefully controlled.
Bill reached into his pocket again and produced a folded document. Ryan took it, opened it and reviewed the appropriate block of information. Immediate cause resulting in death: Cardiac arrest attributed to internal hemorrhaging. He refolded the document and slipped it into his coat pocket.
