18 Seconds; A Novel

Investigative consultant Sherry Moore is blind and stunningly beautiful, with the extraordinary ability to "see" the deceased's last eighteen seconds of memory by touching the corpse. At age five, she was found near death on the steps of a city hospita

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EASTER MORNING, MARCH 27PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA Sherry stepped off the courtesy cart near the hotel kiosk in the ground transportation level of the Pittsburgh International Airport. The customer service agent driving the cart laid Sherry's single bag on the floor and made a noisy three-point turn before he sped away. She braced herself as small feet thundered in her direction. Screaming children circled her in a game of Monkey in the Middle, soon dashing off into the murmuring crowd. She could hear the tinny voice of Elton John on someone's headphones, a couple arguing over who last had the camera, a policeman's radio announcing an accident in short-term parking. A baggage conveyor lurched forward under a dissonant horn and a stampede ensued, someone colliding with her shoulder; she began to reel until sizable hands reached out to steady her. "So sorry, my dear," a nun chortled. "God bless you!" She felt a chill as the doors leading outside opened and closed. She was dressed in black slacks, a smartly cut red wool jacket, and practical shoes. A ruffled man in a long dark trench coat watched her from the opposite side of the kiosk. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, trying to concentrate on the faces around the luggage carousel, but his eyes kept straying back to her. She was exquisite, he thought, simply exquisite, and it took all of his effort to pull his eyes back to the crowd. There were several candidates for his rendezvous at the carousel; one in particular fit the image he'd conjured. She was wearing a khaki safari suit and hiking boots, her long red hair braided into a pigtail. Of the two runner-ups, one was a platinum blond who wore a black jumpsuit and stilettos, and the other had a gray ponytail and wore a purple sweat suit and running shoes. It occurred to him that he could have had young Mr. Torlino research the woman on the Internet, perhaps pull up a picture of her to bring along, but neither he nor Torlino had managed to sleep more than four of the last forty hours, much less surf the Internet. The crowd was tangled around the conveyor, some struggling to extract their bags. He took a moment to steal another glance at the dark-haired beauty by the kiosk. People stopped to talk to her, mostly men who appeared to offer assistance, but she smiled them all away with her magnificent smile. He was ashamed that he wanted to walk over to her and say something trivial, just to see her smile for him. The crowd began to disperse in twos and threes. The safari lady joined a bearded man with a camouflage hat, and they walked off with two netted bags. The woman in stilettos called over a porter for a tapestry steamer that would have held his entire wardrobe. The purple sweat suit collected a husband and three clutching children. He swept the concourse for a single female, checked his watch and then the door. There were two lonely bags circling the carousel, but no more candidates. Something rolled against the side of his foot; he looked down at the back of a child's curly head. A chubby hand reached for a rubber ball, the face nearing the cuffs of his trousers, and he wondered if the child could smell death on his shoes. The man shifted his weight, self-consciously scraping his shoes across the carpet, thumbed another Life Saver from the roll in his pocket, and popped it into his mouth. A heavy woman stepped onto the descending escalator and waved frantically in his direction. She had a blond bouffant and heavy makeup. A shopping bag hung over one arm and a small white dog squirmed in the other. "Yoooo-hooo," she trilled, and he closed his eyes, wondering if his idea hadn't been too desperate. A moment later a dowdy man with a straw hat ran past him to join her. He sighed in relief, turning back to look at the kiosk. Could she have been delayed getting down from her gate? She might have become ill and gone to the ladie