Peach froze, and her heartbeat soared with fear. Someone had spotted the broken window. She remembered that she’d left the outer hallway light on, which was stupid, stupid, stupid. She closed the drawer where she was searching and locked the cabinets with soft clicks. Her eyes traveled the room for a hiding place. She dove for the light switch, flicked off the office light, and groped her way to the desk. Finding it, she felt for the doctor’s armchair and nudged it backward. The casters squeaked. Peach folded herself inside the small space under the desk, then pulled the chair as tightly against herself as she could. She held her breath.

She wondered if she’d been dripping on the floor, leaving a trail.

The office door opened, and the overhead lights came on again, harsh and bright. The voices got louder. There were two men. She heard their footsteps. At least one of them had a body odor problem.

‘I’m telling you, the storm broke the window,’ said one.

‘Yeah? Did the storm turn the light on, too?’ The second man had a Spanish accent.

‘They probably forgot.’

The footsteps moved around the office. One of the men came up to the desk; she could see the shadow of his legs. He walked behind the desk; he was next to the chair. If he bent down, he would see her. She could have reached out and pulled up his sock, which had fallen to reveal a bare ankle.

‘Nobody,’ said the first man.

The second man grunted. He was the one who was close to her. ‘Check the drug cabinet.’

‘It’s locked.’

‘The book says always check the closet if there’s an alarm. The combination is 0630.’

The second man moved away from the desk. Peach let out her breath in a slow, silent hiss. She heard the clicking of metal buttons, and the door to the supply closet opened. The floor was concrete; she could hear the difference in the sound of their footsteps.

‘All clear here. Man, he’s got a stash, huh?’

‘He’s a doctor, what do you expect?’

The two men returned to the office and locked the storage closet door.

‘That it?’ said the first man.

‘We have to call Dr Smeltz,’ his colleague replied.

‘He’s not going to be happy coming out in the storm.’

‘He’s not going to be happy seeing his window broken and his lobby looking like it’s in the middle of Crooked Lake.’

‘We hanging around?’ asked the first man.

‘You are. I’ll go to the next call. I’ll swing back and pick you up after the doc arrives.’

The first man muttered unhappily under his breath. Moments later, the office light went off. Peach waited, not moving. She heard footsteps receding in the hallway. The voices continued, muffled and distant, and then they went silent. She heard a door open and close.