When he touched her shoulder, her eyes opened, just slightly, and found his face, and in them he saw not confusion, not the fog of a drunk woman, but something sharp and desperate and entirely lucid.

“She knows about Noah,” Maria whispered.

Behind him, Vanessa’s smile disappeared.

“She’s delirious,” she said, too quickly.

Maria’s lips moved, as though she were trying to say something more, something important, and then her eyes closed again and she went still.

“Call an ambulance,” Daniel ordered, not looking up.

“We can call a private physician,” Vanessa said.

“If an ambulance shows up here, the press could hear about it.