Images surged forward, flickering through Becca’s brain like a kind of twisted horror movie: the baby girl she miscarried at twenty-two weeks, her heart and lungs too small and misshapen to sustain her; the other two babies she lost, nothing more than cells and molecules, all her hopes and dreams disappearing into nothingness with the flush of a toilet. She survived all of that. She made it through. Those losses, as painful as they were, led her to Ash, this vibrant, headstrong, stubborn young woman. There was no way she was dead. No way. It simply wasn’t possible.

“We don’t know it’s her,” Becca said, jerking free from Nina’s grasp. She needed to compose herself. They would expect her to fall apart. She couldn’t let that happen.

Christian and Nina exchanged concerned expressions. She glared back at them. “Don’t act like I’m not standing right here! You said you’re not sure. Did you get an official ID? Fingerprints? Anything that confirmed it might be her?” Becca asked.

“No, Becs. I got the call that they’d found the body and I came straight here,” Christian said.

She nodded. She wasn’t going to wait around for answers. “I want to see her. If it’s Ash, I’ll know,” Becca said.

Christian shook his head. “They’re processing the scene. I can call and find out where they’re taking the body… where they’re taking her. Or they can send us a photo to ID,” he said delicately.

That was the last thing Becca wanted. If Ash was dead, she needed to face it head on.

“I’m not going to stand here and argue about this. I’m going, even if I have to go by myself,” Becca said, knowing that she sounded slightly irrational. She fumbled in her purse for her phone to call a car, ignoring their pitying looks.

“Becca, I’m telling you now this is a mistake. If this is Ash, that’s not how you want to remember her.”

A wave of exhaustion gripped Becca, her body still suffering from the aftereffects of the drug. She shook free from it, refusing to give them an excuse to stop her. “I have to know. You understand that don’t you, Nina? If it were one of the twins? If it were Trevor or Ava?”

Becca hadn’t mentioned Nina’s children before. She wanted Nina to think about it, really consider what Becca was going through. Nina took this in, understanding that if the roles were reversed, she would want answers. “I picked up a shift tonight. Give me a few minutes to see if someone can cover it and I’ll drive you,” she said.

“I need to go now,” Becca insisted, already thinking that she’d call an Uber. Whatever it took, she needed answers.

“I’ll take her,” Christian said.