Maura shoved the gurney toward the door but it didn’t budge; in her panic she’d forgotten to unlock the wheels. She stamped down on the release lever and pushed again. This time it rolled, rattling out of the cold room into the warmer loading area.

The woman’s eyes had drifted shut again. Leaning close, Maura could feel no air moving past the lips. Oh Jesus. I can’t lose you now.

She knew nothing about this stranger-not her name, nor her medical history. This woman could be teeming with viruses, yet she sealed her mouth over the woman’s, and almost gagged at the taste of chilled flesh. She delivered three deep breaths, and pressed her fingers to the neck to check for a carotid pulse.

Am I imagining it? Is that my own pulse I feel, throbbing in my fingers?

She grabbed the wall phone and dialed 911.

“Emergency operator.”

“This is Dr. Isles in the medical examiner’s office. I need an ambulance. There’s a woman here, in respiratory arrest-”

“Excuse me, did you say the medical examiner’s office?”

“Yes! I’m at the rear of the building, just inside the loading bay. We’re on Albany Street, right across from the medical center!”

“I’m dispatching an ambulance now.”

Maura hung up. Once again, she quelled her disgust as she pressed her lips to the woman’s. Three more quick breaths, then her fingers were back on the carotid.

A pulse. There was definitely a pulse!

Suddenly she heard a wheeze, a cough. The woman was moving air now, mucus rattling in her throat.

Stay with me. Breathe, lady. Breathe!

A loud whoop announced the arrival of the ambulance. She shoved open the rear doors and stood squinting against flashing lights as the vehicle backed up to the dock. Two EMTs jumped out, hauling their kits.

“She’s in here!” Maura called.