She hates her name.

What was wrong with the name Audrey? It may not have been something Elise would choose now, but she'd been eighteen when her daughter was born, and the name had seemed pretty damn cool.

The call was from Major Coretta Hoffman, head of Homicide. "I want you and Detective Gould to stop by the morgue before coming in this morning," the major said. "We've had another body come to life."

Another body.

The hair on the back of Elise's neck tingled.

Two "awakenings" in a single month. The first had been an accident, a mistaken call in the emergency room, the unfortunate patient an overdosed prostitute with a record who'd come around in the morgue.

She'd heard about it. Read about it.

It wasn't common knowledge, but occasionally people were pronounced dead when they weren't. Not something people liked to think about, but it happened.

But two times? In a month?

Was there a connection? Or was it simply an extremely strange coincidence?

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Elise hung up and made her way back to the kitchen.

"David Gould?" Audrey asked.

"Major Hoffman."

"Oh." Audrey seemed disappointed. "I like your new partner."

"Hmm," Elise said. Audrey was definitely part of a minority. "What makes him so special in your book?"

"He doesn't treat me like a little kid. And he doesn't ask stupid questions like 'How's school?' Or 'Where'd you get that curly hair?' And he doesn't seem like a cop at all." She thought a moment, then added, "He doesn't really even seem like an adult."

Unfortunately, Elise had to agree.

Elise had planned to spend more time with Audrey this spring and summer. Toward that end, she'd hoped an enthused new partner would be sent her way. One who was eager to dive in and give her the assistance she so desperately needed.

A pipe dream.

Her new partner seemed barely able to get his own paperwork done, let alone help Elise with a backlog of reports, filing, and cold cases.