Prologue

      The dream unfolded piece by resistant piece in Serafina Hudson’s sleeping mind.

      She heard disembodied voices overlapping inside a viscous black fog. They murmured words like “death” and “danger” and “serial killer.”

      The mood altered. The voices grew louder. Fear slithered in, making the blackness cold.

      Where was she? Sera wondered. Why couldn’t she see?

      “We look inside too much, Sera. That’s our problem and our burden. It isn’t all about the mind …”

      Andrea’s voice joined the mix. But that was impossible …

      Because corpses couldn’t speak!

      Reality swept in, churning, swirling, spinning the black into blood red. Like the pool of blood her friend and colleague had been lying in on their office floor.

      Sera remembered a slow, painful rise from dark to light. There’d been people everywhere, most of them wearing uniforms, all of them unfamiliar to her. Except for Len, the security guard. And Andrea.

      Click into clinical mode. She was a doctor. She’d seen blood before.

      Just not pooled around a body.

      She swore three times. The hands vanished. Lights flashed red and blue. She’d be fine, a stranger promised. As for Andrea …

      The voices stopped abruptly. The lights blurred. Her mind stuttered then seemed to wink out.

      “Try to remember, Dr. Hudson …”

      The mental prod repeated with an eerie echo. A man’s face, hazy at first, solidified. He had creased, careworn features. He looked sixty and tough, yet she sensed an underlying kindness.

      She also knew a cop when she saw one.

      “I’m sorry your colleague’s dead, Doctor. I wish I could change that, but I can’t. Neither can you.”

      Had she thought the man was kind?

      “You need to concentrate,” he pressed. “We found