His cell phone rang when he was still in the middle of giving a presentation. Not good, Callum muttered to himself. But his eyes strayed to the clock above the glass door and he gasped. He snatched the cell phone.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen," Callum said before he fled the meeting room. He didn't check the small LCD screen and answered the phone instead.

"Sydney, I'm so sorry. I'll be there in fifteen, okay? I'm about to wrap up"

"Mr. Inkwell, this is the police. I'm afraid I have bad news for you."

Callum froze and he pulled his cell phone from his ear to look at the screen. Yeah, it wasn't Sydney's number. Suddenly his heart beat furiously and his knees threatened to give.

"What bad news?"

"Mr. Inkwell, are you sitting down? You need to sit down."

"Just tell me the goddamned news, damn it." Callum bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Sorry."

"That's all right. Mr. Inkwell, there's been an accident not far from your apartment building."

"My apartment? How do you know where I live?"

"Mr. Inkwell --"

"Callum, please."

"Okay, Callum. I believe you know Sydney Ramsay?"

Callum's heart sank. Sydney. The police must be wrong. It couldn't be Sydney.

"Callum, are you still there?"

"Y-yes."

"Callum, Sydney was hit by a car. If you can come down here to the station or if you have someone to take you?"

"I can go there by myself. Please, tell me what happened."

"We'll tell you when you get here. It's on Second and Main Street."

"All right."

Callum clicked his phone off. He looked up and looked around, taking a deep breath. Suddenly his surroundings looked weird. The gray metallic walls and the glass door panels seemed cold and unfriendly and Callum felt suffocated. He grappled as he slipped his phone into the pocket of his pants, and staggered back to the meeting room.

"Sorry, guys. I think I need to go. There's an emergency."

"What happened?"

"Callum, are you okay? You don't look so great."

Callum couldn't tell who asked those questions, nor did it cross his mind to answer them. He went to the head of the table and gathered his belonging while he kept muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," without knowing exactly why.

Callum had never been to a police station before and found he could easily be lost there in the middle of so many people who were noisy and busy with their own business. He went to the front desk with an officer behind it.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm Callum Inkwell. Someone called me just now."

"A moment, Mr. Inkwell." The officer grabbed a telephone. "Hey, can you get me Detective Gallagher? The man he's waiting for is here." He put the telephone down and switched back to Callum. "Please wait over there." He nodded at some rows of chairs.

"Never mind. I'll wait here." Callum just wanted to know what happened to Sydney and why he didn't wait out here for Callum.

"Mr. Inkwell?" Someone called him and Callum turned around. "Hi. I'm Detective Gallagher. Can you come with me, please?"

Callum opened his mouth but before he could say anything, he found himself led by the tall and lean detective to the back. They stopped in front of a room and the writing on the door made Callum's heart chill.

Morgue.