Chapter 27
The Night of the Accident
Claire stood on the frozen road where Mara died.
Snow fell without touching the ground. The trees were black. Mara's car rested against the trunk of a pine, headlights still on.
Claire remembered arriving after the police. She remembered the red emergency lights. She remembered Daniel asking whether Mara had been alone.
She did not remember the woman standing beside the wreck.
The copy's voice came from the driver's seat.
“What did you forget?”
Claire stepped toward the car.
Mara was inside, alive, one hand pressed to her temple. Blood ran from her hairline.
“Get out,” Claire said.
Mara looked at her through the glass. “You have to leave before they see you.”
“Who?”
Behind Claire, headlights appeared on the road.
The vehicle was Owen Bell's.
Mara unlocked the passenger door. “Take the file.”
Claire climbed inside.
The file was warm. Its cover carried her name.
“Why is my name on it?”
“Because you are the witness.”
“To what?”
Mara turned toward her. “To the fact that I chose this.”
The memory fractured.
Claire saw herself sign a form. Saw Mara place the prescription bottle in her hand. Saw Owen standing behind them.
Then she saw a child in the back seat.
Rowan Vale.
The child held a paper cup marked 4:17.
Claire woke in the gym with her hand clenched around the photograph.
The copy was watching her.
“You remembered the child,” she said.
Claire looked toward Daniel.
He had gone white.
The speaker announced, “Witness confirmation accepted.”
Every door in the school locked at once.