Chapter One: The Message After Midnight

It was a selfie stored only on her phone, taken three hours earlier. In its corner was a pair of red sneakers. Their owner was a drunk being observed in the ER. Zhao Kai had been admitted with a burn on his palm and black oil stains around his shoes. He had been shouting that his wife had left with their child and that nobody deserved to live. Shen smelled gasoline. Security found an improvised igniter and a metro map hidden in Zhao's bag. As police led him away, he struggled wildly, his red shoes kicking through the white hospital light. “The message said seven days,” Su whispered. “Why did we find him tonight?” “It didn't tell us to stop him tonight,” Shen said. “It gave us seven days.”