18 - Her Husband's Secret

ARAH

She held her breath, eyes glued to the screen. The camera was angled low, showing only the bottom half of the coroner’s office door. Shadows moved across the grainy footage, but it was impossible to see a person.

Then a hand appeared—not human. Something with scales and claws. Fire burst from it, and the hand touched the lock until the metal bubbled and deformed.

The video cut out.

Cora cursed, Mabel tried to keep the phone steady, and Tonio leaned in closer while Arah stood frozen. The hand in the video reminded her of the beastly hand Gildeon had in her dream before turning back into a human. Or maybe she was remembering it wrong. That was a dream, after all. But this one wasn’t. How was she supposed to make sense of this?

“Can you play it again?” Arah asked urgently. Mabel replayed the clip. The video quality wasn’t the best, so it was hard for her to make out the details.

“Is there another video?” she asked again, practically snatching the phone from Mabel this time and repla