“Thank you very much.”

Harrison walked back to the table and whispered something to Blaire.

“Hey, no secrets!” Kate called over.

Blaire smiled over at her. “Of course not. Why don’t you come sit down, and I’ll make you some breakfast?”

“I can make my own breakfast. Anyway, I’m not hungry.” Kate made herself a cup of coffee and walked over to the table. “Why don’t we go do something fun today? How about the zoo?”

Annabelle’s face lit up. “I love the zoo! Can we go see the monkeys?”

“Um, it’s maybe a little cold for the zoo,” Blaire said. “There’s snow on the ground.”

Kate looked out the window. “I guess you’re right. Well, how about the aquarium?”

“Okay, if you feel like going out.”

“I’d love to join, but I need to go to the hospital,” Harrison said. “I’ll be back early afternoon.” He turned to Blaire. “You’ll be here all day?”

Blaire nodded.

“Great.” Kate exhaled. Now that Simon was gone, it was as if a weight had been lifted. “I’m going to go check my work email, and then we can go.”

She ran upstairs to her office and clicked the mouse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she scanned her emails and saw nothing out of the ordinary. She read through the new ones and was about to get up when she heard the ping of an incoming message. The subject line screamed at her: TIME IS RUNNING OUT. She held her breath as she clicked on the email.

You really loved Jake, didn’t you?

Well, not enough to save him

But don’t worry, you’ll be joining him soon

You can sleep with ten guards outside your room

It won’t save you

This is the last message you’ll get

Because it’s the last day you’re going to live

She tried to yell, but nothing came out. She dialed Blaire’s number on her cell.

“Kate?”

“I’m in my office. Come here,” she panted.

Kate took a picture of the screen while she waited, and then Blaire was next to her.

Blaire leaned toward her and got closer to the screen. She took the mouse. “Um, Kate . . .”

“What?” Kate was staring off into the distance, numb.

“This is from you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Blaire pointed to the From field. “Look. It’s your personal email address. K English thirty-four at gmail dot com.”

Kate shook her head. “I didn’t send this!”

Blaire was quiet, staring at Kate with a look she had never seen before.

“Why would I send this?”

Blaire leaned down farther, to be eye level with her. “You’re under a tremendous amount of stress. You know as well as I do—”

“No!” Kate pushed her away and stood up. “I’m not crazy,” she insisted. But she was starting to wonder.