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For a guy who kills people, he dresses pretty well.

When I get stressed, I think the dumbest thoughts.

“This nurse… she was looking for me,” Grubert whispers. “Y-you see, she’s in it. She’s in the game. Knows everything. We do the kidneys together, thick as thieves, right, Nurse?” A bloodied grin spreads over his doughy face. Through the sweaty desperation, I notice he’s missing a few teeth. “Right, Sally? You hear me?”

Sylvie, you sicko.

Oh my God.

He’s never remembered my name before.

Not once, and tonight it’s no different.

I’m just an expendable worm-girl to him and I’m not even on the floor.

Too bad there’s no ignoring what his statement implies.

My shock turns to horror.

He’s trying to implicate me. Trying to make me share whatever nasty, illegal thing he’s gotten himself into.

There are many qualities a good doctor should have. Kindness, patience, a burning desire to uphold their oath.

They should not be felons.

Or criminals.

Or whatever the hell this is turning into.

My mind flails with hypotheticals, most of them wondering how my night is about to end. We’re a million miles from Nonno’s delicious dinner now.

All I can do is shake my head, silently mouthing “no” because I can’t speak through the huge, scarred hand over my face.

I’m frozen as those blue eyes lance through me.

Seriously, I can’t breathe.

I can’t do anything but stay locked in a single brutal thought. It feels like I’m trapped on a plane diving toward a mountain.

This is how it ends.

You’re about to die in a parking garage in Minnesota on a nice summer night.

For a hot second, I see Nonno, anxiously checking the old wooden kitchen clock on the wall over a steaming plate of pasta he’s left for me under a warming plate.

Nonno swearing and racing to call a cab when I don’t answer my phone, keys in hand, ready to come looking for his beloved granddaughter.

His heart rate so high, dangerously elevated as he walks into the hospital. Only to find out—

Oh no.

Nonno collapsing on the waxed marble floor, right in front of the receptionist and a couple cops.

My mind flicks to the night-shift crew, making the rounds with patients, counting down the hours.

Totally removed from my unsolved disappearance happening right under their noses.

I see my old home in Seattle.