Room 414 smelled of iodine and old flowers. Dana, the night nurse, set down the morning chart and stopped cold. Mara was already there, her administrator badge catching the light, her lanyard crooked like she'd dressed in a hurry. In the bed lay Eli Voss, oxygen tube under his nose, eyes half open. "You shouldn't be in here," Dana said. Mara didn't move. "We need to talk before he wakes up."

Dana decided she wanted no part of this. "I'm calling security," she said, reaching for the wall phone. Mara crossed the room in two steps and pressed her hand flat over it. "Please. Five minutes. Then I'll go, and you can pretend you never saw me here."