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over the receiver, she whispered to Maura, a little desperately: “It doesn’t stop ringing. What do I tell them?”
    Maura laid a copy of her statement on Louise’s desk. “Fax them this.”
    “That’s all you want me to do?”
    “Head off any calls from the press. I’ve agreed to talk to Mr. Lukas here, but no one else. No more interviews.”
    Louise’s expression, as she regarded the reporter, was only too easy to read.
I see you chose a good-looking one.
    “We won’t be long,” said Maura. She ushered Lukas into her office and closed the door. Pointed him to the chair.
    “Thank you for talking to me,” he said.
    “You were the only one out there who didn’t irritate me.”
    “That doesn’t mean I’m not irritating.”
    That got a small smile out of her. “This is purely a self-defense strategy,” she said. “Maybe if I talk to you, you’ll become everyone else’s go-to guy. They’ll leave me alone and harass you.”
    “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. They’ll still be chasing you.”
    “There are so many bigger stories you could be writing about, Mr. Lukas. More important stories. Why this one?”
    “Because this one strikes us on a visceral level. It addresses our worst fears. How many of us are terrified of being given up for dead when we aren’t? Of being accidentally buried alive? Which, incidentally,
has
happened a few times in the past.”
    She nodded. “There have been some historically documented cases. But those were prior to the days of embalming.”
    “And waking up in morgues? That’s not merely historical. I found out there’ve been several cases in recent years.”
    She hesitated. “It’s happened.”
    “More often than the public realizes.” He pulled out a notebook and flipped it open. “In 1984, there was a case in New York. A man’s lying on the autopsy table. The pathologist picks up the scalpel and is about to make the first incision when the corpse wakes up and grabs the doctor by the throat. The doctor keels over, dead of a heart attack.” Lukas glanced up. “You’ve heard of that case?”
    “You’re focusing on the most sensationalistic example.”
    “But it’s true. Isn’t it?”
    She sighed. “Yes. I know of that particular case.”
    He flipped to another page in his notebook. “Springfield, Ohio, 1989. A woman in a nursing home is declared dead and transferred to a funeral home. She’s lying on the table, and the mortician is about to embalm her. Then the corpse starts talking.”
    “You seem quite familiar with this subject.”
    “Because it’s fascinating.” He riffled through the pages in his notebook. “Last night, I looked up case after case. A little girl in South Dakota who woke up in her open casket. A man in Des Moines whose chest was actually cut open. Only then does the pathologist suddenly realize the heart is
still beating.
” Lukas looked at her. “These aren’t urban legends. These are documented cases, and there are a number of them.”
    “Look, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, because clearly it has. Corpses have woken up in morgues. Old graves have been dug up, and they’ve found claw marks inside the coffin lids. People are so terrified of the possibility that some casket makers sell coffins equipped with emergency transmitters to call for help. Just in case you’re buried alive.”
    “How reassuring.”
    “So yes, it can happen. I’m sure you’ve heard the theory about Jesus. That the resurrection of Christ wasn’t a true resurrection. It was merely a case of premature burial.”
    “Why is it so hard to determine that someone is dead? Shouldn’t it be obvious?”
    “Sometimes it isn’t. People who are chilled, through exposure or drowning in cold water, can look very dead. Our Jane Doe was found in cold water. And there are certain drugs that can mask vital signs and make it hard to see respirations or detect a pulse.”
    “Romeo and Juliet. The potion that Juliet drank to make her look