Chapter 9: The Hospital Hall

The doctor took Ada behind a swinging door.

Matteo stood still in the bright hospital hall.

Gina had followed us, though nobody had asked her.

"I should call the family," she said.

"They can hear from us," Matteo replied.

I watched her gaze shift toward the exit.

She had wanted Ada gone before Friday's supper ended.

In my first life Ada died at that table.

I had blamed the knife, not the cup.

The man with the long sleeves had been a distraction.

"Don't go yet," I told Gina.

"Elena, this isn't the time."

"Then why did you come?"

She looked at Matteo for help.

He stayed beside the door Ada had gone through.

"I wanted to see if she was all right," Gina said.

"You were at the house when she fell."

"I meant to come before that."

I stepped close enough to smell her perfume.

"You touched her cup."

Her expression changed for less than a second.

"We all touched the table."

"I saw your thumb."

"Tea stains. You've become a detective now?"

I wanted to drag her back to Ada's kitchen.

I wanted everybody to see the stain I had seen.

Instead I let the hallway hear her answer.

A nurse came through the door with an empty tray.

She stopped when she heard Gina raise her voice.

"This is a hospital," she said.

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