Lizzie’s phone had gone to voicemail because she’d turned it off. What she had shrugged off as a mild case of bronchitis had become walking pneumonia; her doctor had given her a shot, plus pills, cough syrup, and a lecture about not taking adequate care of herself. Her second lecture came from her section chief, who took one look at her when she’d brought him the doctor’s note and then tried to take a case, and banished her from the roster for a week – the same amount of time the doctor’s note recommended she rest.
She’d snarled about it but had gone home, taken a hotter than usual shower, dutifully swallowed the first round of antibiotics and cough syrup, and collapsed into bed. Her body twitched in sleep, warring against the fever the illness had brought with it. But when she drifted in
