“You can go,” said the health worker.

Vero half-jumped from her seat and exited right as the hunched man opened the curtains of her booth from the other side. She hurried to the back of the booth to find the door that Jia had mentioned. As her hand touched the door handle, she couldn’t resist the temptation to look back. For a moment, she caught a glimpse of the hunched man’s figure, and before either Vero or he could clearly see each other, she opened the door and ran out of the hall.

*

Henry swept his fingertips over the oak wood desk. The wood was hundreds of years old,...