“No. Maybe when my shift is over?” She rubbed her arms as if she were cold, although the foyer seemed stuffy to me. “Then again, maybe not. I think summer’s over, isn’t it?”

The man behind me shifted and sighed, and Maggie drew herself up hastily.

“Anyway. How can I help?”

“Oh, yes.” The bouquet crackled inside my fingers. “I suppose I’m early for visiting, but I came on the off-chance . . . I can just leave these flowers if it’s not—”

“What’s the name, please?” Maggie turned to her screen.

“My name?”

“The patient’s name.”

“Oh. Diana Byrne. I don’t know which ward—”

“Diana . . . ?”

“Byrne. B-Y-R-N-E.”

“B . . . Y . . . R . . . N . . . E . . .” Maggie mouthed the letters as she typed, her eyes darting over the computer screen. She frowned, tried again, shook her head. I leaned forward, squashing the flowers against the desk, and the man behind me cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry,” said Maggie. “I can’t find that name in the system.”

She tapped her lips and stared at the screen, as if there were a chance it might solve the conundrum on its own, without further prompting. The man sighed again, and her shoulders dropped.

“Would you mind waiting for just one moment while I serve this gentleman?”

I wanted to say, Listen, no, it’s fine, forget I ever asked, but I was too slow and the man had already taken my place. I shuffled to one side, and as I did so the queue grew by two, and then three.

It was warm in the foyer, and the scent of flowers was edged with decay. The rise and fall of voices in that bright, light space grew strange in my ears, as if everyone had stopped speaking words and begun to buzz instead, like angry bees. I tried to remember when I’d last eaten, but I could only remember Cory opening a bottle of wine last night, when he’d already been painting for a couple of hours and I was half asleep.

I bought a cup of hot chocolate in the hospital café and sat at a corner table. I’d leave just as soon as I felt better. I didn’t want to talk to Maggie Bailey again. I wanted to be back at Byrne Hall with Cory, pretending that this had never happened.

“Phew.” Maggie sighed as she slumped into the chair opposite mine. I swallowed too quickly and scalded the back of my mouth.

“Another shift over,” she said. “Sorry to make you wait like that, but the guy behind you was looking like thunder.”

She swigged an energy drink, and I dabbed at my chocolatey lips.

“Oh no, it’s fine,” I said. “Honestly, this whole thing—it’s just a case of my being stupid. Mrs. Byrne must have gone to another hospital. I should have listened properly; I should have checked before I came.”