The morgue was quiet after Ayra left.
Dr. Chen had gone home. The night shift assistant was in the other room, sorting files. I was alone with the body.
I pulled a stool to the table. Sat down. Looked at her face.
Pale. Still. The kind of stillness that came from somewhere deeper than sleep.
I said quietly, "Baby angel."
No response.
I reached out. Touched her hand. Cold. Waxy.
Nothing.
Siver appeared beside me. "She's not there."
"I know."
"Then why are you sitting here?"
"Because someone has to."
I pulled my hand back. Looked at her belly. The roundness. The stillness.
"The baby," I said. "It's still inside her."
Siver followed my gaze. "You think its spirit is trapped."
"I think it never had a chance to leave."
I stood. Walked to the ultrasound machine. Turned it on. The screen flickered. Grey shapes.
I moved the wand over her belly. The same image from earlier. Small. Curled. Motionless.
But this time, I stared longer.
And I felt something.
Cold. Not from the room. From the screen.
A whisper. Not words. Just... presence.
Siver stepped back. "Did you feel that?"
I nodded.
"The baby. It's there. But it's not awake."
"Like the mother?"
"No." I turned off the machine. "The mother is gone. She crossed, or she's waiting somewhere else. But the baby... the baby is stuck."
I looked at the body again.
"It never lived. It never died. It just... is."
Siver was quiet for a moment. "Can you help it?"
"I don't know."
The next morning, Dr. Chen handed me the toxicology report.
The needle mark on Lina's arm contained a high dose of sedatives. Enough to knock her unconscious. Not enough to kill her.
"Death was caused by blunt force trauma," Dr. Chen said. "The fall. She hit her head on the rocks. She was alive when she went off the bridge."
"She was unconscious when they threw her."
"Probably. She wouldn't have felt the fall."
I looked at the report. "The baby?"
"Died after her. Lack of oxygen. But there's no sign of external trauma. The baby was healthy."
I set the report down. "Someone wanted that baby. And they didn't want her."
Dr. Chen nodded slowly. "That's my reading too."
Ayra met me at the bureau.
"I ran her fingerprints," she said. "No match in our system. But I cross-referenced with neighboring cities."
She pulled up a photo on her screen.
A young woman. Dark hair. Smiling. Same face as the body on the table.
"Lina Cortez," Ayra said. "Twenty-four. Migrant worker. Filed a missing person report three months ago in Silver Creek."
"No family in Riverdark?"
"None. She came here looking for work. The trail goes cold after that."
I looked at the photo. "She was healthy. Young. No record. Perfect target."
Ayra frowned. "Target for what?"
I told her about the needle marks. The sedatives. The healthy baby.
"Someone used her," I said. "As a surrogate. Or worse."
Ayra's face went pale. "You think there's a clinic?"
"I think there's something. And I think we need to find it."
The boarding house was three stories of peeling paint and broken steps.
The landlady was a woman named Marta. Grey hair. Grey eyes. Grey apron.
"She left three months ago," Marta said, leaning on the doorframe. "Said she got a good opportunity. Some clinic needed healthy young women. Paid good money."
"You believed her?"
Marta shrugged. "Girls come and go. I don't ask questions."
"Did she ever mention a name? An address?"
Marta thought for a moment. "She had a card. Showed it to me. Said it was her ticket out."
She disappeared into the back room. Came back with a small box of forgotten items.
"Nobody claimed her stuff. I was going to throw it out."
Ayra took the box. Flipped through old receipts. A hairbrush. A faded photograph.
Then a business card.
She held it up.
New Hope Fertility Clinic – Discretion Guaranteed.
An address. Upscale district. Not far from the families' territories.
Ayra looked at me. "This is it."
I took the card. Turned it over. Blank.
"New Hope," I said. "Sounds innocent enough."
Ayra shook her head. "Innocent things don't need to guarantee discretion."
We stood outside the boarding house. The sky was still grey. The air was cold.
Ayra leaned against her car. "We go to the clinic tomorrow. Undercover."
"You think they'll let us in?"
"We'll find a way." She looked at me. "You're good at lying."
"I'm good at telling the truth in a way that sounds like lying."
She almost smiled. "Same thing."
Siver appeared beside me. "She's right. You are good at that."
I ignored him.
Ayra opened her car door. "I'll pick you up at eight."
"Eight is early."
"The clinic opens at nine. I want to watch the place first."
She got in. Drove away.
I stood on the curb, holding the business card.
New Hope.
Someone had promised Lina hope. Instead, they gave her a needle, a fall, and a grave under a bridge.
I pocketed the card.
"We'll find them," I said.
Siver floated beside me. "You're getting attached to this one."
"The ghost?"
"No. The baby."
I started walking.
"Someone has to remember it."
Siver followed. "That's what you tell yourself."
I didn't answer.
The city was grey. The river was black. And somewhere in the dark, a baby's spirit was waiting.
Silent. Still. Trapped.
I was going to find a way to free it.
Even if I had to tear the Veil open myself.