Chapter 11

They don’t call me into an office. They corner me in a hallway. It’s mid‑shift, the ER humming with beeping monitors and coffee breath, when I see them: Dr. Halpern—the middle‑aged attending who caught me in the church—and the nurse manager, plus our department chief. They’re blocking the staff lounge door like a wall. “Emily,” Halpern says, in that careful, reasonable tone people use on jumpers. “We need a word.” Every cell in my body wants to turn and run. Instead,...