Time passed inexorably. It was 6:30 in the morning and Will had done nothing but toss and turn in bed.
His sheets seemed to have thorns.
He had hypothesized to get up several times, but he had neither the strength nor the will so he chose to continue lazing under the covers.
He took a bottle of water that he used to keep on the bedside table and took a few sips.
A sense of malaise gripped him. He had spent the night he needed so much to rest without being able to. He had a headache, nothing new in those days.
He opened the drawer and took two Tylenols hoping to relieve the pain and without realizing it about three quarters of an hour later he was fast asleep.
He woke with a start about an hour later from a sudden noise.
Meggie that morning she was free, she would start the shift in the hospital at 11:30.
She then decided to go see Will. She wanted to take advantage of the fact that they both had to work later that day to have breakfast together and talk for a bit. She was determined to find out what her friend had.
There was never enough time or privacy in the hospital to talk quietly.
Arriving in front of the doctor's house, Lockwood parked and before getting on she bought some nice croissants to have breakfast together.
Before entering the building the infirmity looked around and did not see the doctor's car.
Maybe he was already out, maybe he had some business to do before starting work.
The nurse was tempted to leave, but something prompted her to enter anyway.
It was as if she felt within her that Will was still at home.
She went up the various flights of stairs and when she found herself at the door she started knocking.
A couple of shots waiting for him to open.
She knew that if he had been home by then Halstead would have been up already. He used to wake up early, and when he needed to rest he preferred to go to sleep earlier because she couldn't stay in bed late in the morning.
But there was no answer to her knock.
As she continued to do so, Meggie became more and more energetically aware that the door was not closed tightly. She was only held in place by the internal chain.
Pushing it forward she managed to get a peek inside the apartment from the crack it had created.
Will's shoes, keys, jacket were still there at the entrance left here and there in bulk. That wasn't like Will either. He was a pretty neat guy, he put everything right even when he was exhausted.
Seeing all this she began to worry. She decided to knock harder to be heard. Of one thing she was now sure the doctor was in his house.
Will slowly opened his eyes feeling very dizzy. He had slept for an hour or so and felt worse than when he had fallen asleep. Yes he was woken up with a start on hearing a noise.
When he was lucid enough he realized they were knocking on the door.
It was nine o'clock. It was already late, by then he should have been almost ready to go out and take the subway.
But then who was at the door?