“You have to clear the billing hold with the plan administrator.”

I stepped back from the window and walked out through the double glass doors into the parking lot.

At four o’clock that afternoon, Chloe Park’s blue four-door sedan was idling near the hospital’s administrative entrance.

I opened the passenger door, set my suitcase on the floor mat, and pulled my damp coat around my shoulders.

Chloe handed me a paper cup of warm tea and spread three legal folders across her lap.

“Julian filed an emergency ex parte motion with Judge Vance’s former partner at noon,” Chloe said.