Page 54 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

Was this another delusion? The brain ghost’s next form of torture?

But no, the track was vibrating beneath her hands.

She tried to crawl again but collapsed face down.

What might well be her final thought was how tragic it was going to be that she would die here on the train tracks and have to spend eternity as a ghost in a dismembered body, cut in half by a freight train. Mutilated, possibly unable to ever speak again, just like poor Tim.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The smell was familiar… and unpleasant. It took a few moments for Natalie to wake up enough to identify it.

As she slowly swam up through the murky depths, moving from unconsciousness to consciousness, other things teased her senses. In addition to the antiseptic smell was a steady mechanical beep-beep nearby. And the sounds of people moving around, both close like they were right next to her and at a distance, muffled.

Even before she opened her eyes the answer was clear. One word hit her.

Hospital.

Forcing her eyes open, she winced as the brightness of the overhead lights assaulted her.

“Oh, thank God.” Suddenly Harper was there, in her field of vision, close as she leaned over the rail toward Natalie lying prone in the bed.

Natalie swallowed and realized how raw and dry her throat felt. She glanced around and saw she was surrounded by a curtained enclosure in a small space.

“Harper. Where—” Natalie stopped. Her throat felt like sandpaper and her words came out barely audible in a gravelly whisper.

She clasped a hand to her throat.

Harper reached for her own bottle of water and pressed it to Natalie’s lips. She took a sip and swallowed it painfully, coughing on even that small amount.

“Take it slow. You’re in the ICU in the hospital in Cooperstown. Don’t try to talk. They had you sedated and intubated until just a little while ago. But you’re awake now. Liam will be so happy. He’s been beside himself.”

Natalie had to try to talk, in spite of Harper telling her not to. She had to tell Harper, Liam, everyone, that they hadn’t contained the brain ghost.

It was still out there. Doing harm. To possibly more people than just her. Because now that she’d reached full consciousness, the memories poured into her mind. The mental attack. The painful pounding of her heart. Collapsing and being unable to breathe. Unable to move.

“Get Liam,” she said, glancing wistfully at the bottle of water again. But more than needing something to soothe her throat, she needed to tell Liam what had happened to her.

Harper cringed. “I wish I could get Liam. He was, um, kicked out.”

“Wh-what?”

“They wouldn’t let him in to be with you here in the ICU. Visitors are restricted to immediate family only. He called me to come be with you because, as he put it, he kind of lost it and had been removed from the building. He’s not allowed back in. I’m so sorry. But I’m texting him right now with an update.”

As Harper pulled out her cell, Natalie tried to reason out what had happened. Liam must not have any friends or contacts working in Cooperstown like he did at the hospital in Albany.

This was a good news slash bad news scenario. She must not have been bad enough to be airlifted to Albany, like Alice. But if she had been, Liam would have called in any favors, pulled any strings necessary, to be with her in that hospital.

“How are you here?” Natalie asked, glancing up at Harper when her sluggish brain realized that somehow Harper had been able to bypass the ICU rules.

Harper glanced up from her cell with a small smile. “Well, I can be here, silly, because I’m your sister. Immediate family is allowed.” Then Harper mouthed silently. “I lied.”

Natalie nodded, tears of gratitude in her eyes for Harper’s quick thinking and proficient ability to lie. The only thing worse than waking up in a hospital would be waking up here alone.

Liam might have thought to lie as well if he hadn’t been so crazed, probably because she’d almost been run over by a train.

That thought resurrected another memory. “The train… I couldn’t move.”

Her heart pounded again, hard, just at the thought. The beeps beeped faster.