When You're Gone (Colette) novel Chapter 12

Sophie was reluctant to leave, but she could not convince James to let her stay. She finally accepted his compensation and bought a flight ticket abroad.

Meanwhile, James was shocked by the time of death printed on Colette's death certificate, which stated she had died 16 days ago. But he saw her a week ago!

He vocalized his questions. The stunned staff member at the morgue quickly explained, "Mr. Zeller, the report is created by the most authoritative coroner in our department. His reports are never wrong."

When James finally left the police department, each step he took felt hollow. In disbelief, he thought it was impossible to live with a dead person for a whole week.

However, he thought of the unusual rate at which the corpse decomposed on the day he found it. That gave him a new idea. Perhaps, that body was not Colette's. Or maybe she was dead, but for some reason, she was stuck in this world for a little bit longer.

The idea reminded him of the odd occurrences over the past two weeks. 16 days ago, Colette spammed him with calls, claiming an emergency. But he came home to see Colette seated on the couch, looking fine.

He recalled the calendar on the wall with only seven pages. He stopped receiving messages from Colette since the last day on the calendar.

Besides, he recounted the day he accidentally shoved her onto the ground. When he frantically pulled her up from the floor, her skin felt cold to the touch. She had no pulse.

All the clues pointed to the second possibility.

Something struck him. As he frantically gathered evidence for the incident, he realized that everyone's memories of Colette from the past week seemed to have been mysteriously erased.

Before Sophie boarded her flight, James approached her to ask about Colette. She responded, "Colette? I only met her once. The second time was the day we found her body."