The sun was starting to set, and the breeze of evening had started blowing in from the east. A blast of captured afternoon heat greeted him as he opened the car door. He started the car and hit the switch to roll down all the windows. “Hey, Mister, hey!” Cole turned to see a heavyset woman in a white uniform running up the walk towards him. “Are you Mrs. Christopher’s husband?” she panted. Cole shut off the engine and got out of the car. “No, is something wrong?” He hadn’t been out of Ellie’s room for more than a minute or two and couldn’t imagine she was having a problem. She had been resting so peacefully. “Well,” the woman hesitated, “it’s the—” “What is it, is she all right? What’s the problem?” “It’s the billing, sir. We haven’t received payment in three months. Are you family? We would really like to get this cleared up.” The woman spoke in rapid bursts almost as if she were reading from note cards. “No, I am not family, just an old friend.
