Near the bottom hem, the stitching had been torn slightly. A small lump pressed beneath the fabric.
My breath stopped.
Lily had always been clever with clothes. She used to hide emergency cash in jacket seams because she didn’t trust campus lockers. I had teased her for it.
My hands shook as I tore open the seam.
Something small and black dropped into my palm.
A microSD card.
Lily closed her eye.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
I stared at the card.
Her phone had been destroyed.
But not before she saved something.
The nurse whispered, “What is that?”
I didn’t answer.
I slipped the card into my pocket just as Detective Ellison entered the room.
She saw my hand move.
She saw my face.
And she knew.
“What did she give you?” she asked.
I looked at Lily.
Then at the detective.
Before I could speak, every light in the hospital flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the room plunged into darkness.
The machines screamed.
Somewhere down the hallway, someone shouted.
Emergency lights blinked red above the door.
My hand went instinctively to Lily’s bedrail.
Detective Ellison drew her weapon.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Not nurses.
Not doctors.
Heavy.
Measured.
Coming closer.
Ellison moved beside the door and whispered, “Mr. Mercer, stay behind me.”
But the first figure who appeared in the red glow was not Varrick’s guard.
It was a woman.
Young.
Soaked from rain.
Barefoot.
Her dress torn at the shoulder.
Her eyes wild with terror.
She looked straight at Lily and whispered, “You filmed it, didn’t you?”
Then she turned to me.
“I’m the girl from the party,” she said. “And Daniel Mercer…”
Her voice broke.
“…your daughter wasn’t the only one they tried to kill tonight.”
Behind her, in the red-lit hallway, a shadow moved.
Someone raised a gun.