Mawra’s expression grew serious, and she looked around the room, dropping her voice.  “Quiet.  Don’t say that too loudly.”

Mona shook her head.  “It wasn’t like that.  He was…helping me.  With research.”

“Okay, good.  Don’t say anything but that.”

“It’s true.”

“I believe you,” the woman whispered.  “But others may not.”

“I don’t care what they think,” she growled, pushing angrily past to the large desk where a nurse was seated behind a computer screen.

“Omar Maher.  I need to know how he is!”

The nurse looked up.  “The doctors are conferring right now.”

“Conferring?!  For how long?!”

Instead of irritation, the nurse beamed up at Mona with empathetic eyes.  “We’re doing all we can.  They’re preparing to take him into surgery.”

“What are they going to do?” Mona stammered.  “What happened to him?”

Behind her, Mawra gripped Mona’s arm and gently turned her around.  “Mona, let her work.  She can’t answer your questions.”

“Well, somebody can!”

“They’re working on him,” reassured her friend.  “Right now.  Bothering the doctors will only delay them.”  She held up her phone.  “I was talking to one of the officers when you came in.  They think Omar may have lost control of his car and hit a wall.  How late were you with him?”

She blinked. “What?”

“I said, how late were you with him?  At his office.”

She tried to think.  “Uh, maybe 2:00 a.m.  I fell asleep on the couch in his office.  He left a note saying he was getting some things from his apartment.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.”

Mawra frowned.  “Was he drinking?”

“What?  No.  He wasn’t drinking!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

The other woman nodded. “Was he still up when you fell asleep?”

“Of course, he was.  How else would he have written a note?”

Mawra touched her arm again.  “Mona, do you think it’s possible he fell asleep—you know, while driving?”

“What?  No!  Of course not!”

“I’m not judging.  I’m only asking.  Trying to understand what happened.  The officer I spoke with was asking the same questions.”

“He would not have fallen asleep.”

“You’re sure?”

Mona opened her mouth to reply and stopped, reflecting.  “Was anyone else involved?”

“It doesn’t look like it.”

“Were there any witnesses?”

“They’re looking.”

Mona’s demeanor slowly began to change.

Was this her fault?  He already told her he’d been working long hours.  And she’d more or less hijacked him from what he was doing.  Was it possible she’d pushed him to exhaustion?

She stepped back with a look of mounting fear.

“Mona, are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” she murmured, backing up and lowering herself into a chair, letting her purse slide to the floor in front of her.

Mona stared at the blue-and-gray carpet, worried at what she might have done.