The key turned inside the steel lockbox with a heavy click.

The administrative desk inside the Cranston Hospital billing department sat behind a tall pane of frosted glass at half past eight in the morning.

An administrator named Mrs.

Gable straightened a stack of blue carbon folders and pulled a yellow ledger sheet to the center of her desk.

“Your corporate health coverage was canceled four days ago, Mrs.

Holloway,” Mrs.

Gable said, pointing a metal pen at the red ink stamped across the top margin.