He hadn’t been arrested in Sacramento.

He had lied to Mark to set him up, and now he was running with whatever he had left.

And I knew exactly what he was carrying.

He had the access keys to the physical safe in the clinic.

The safe that held the original, unaltered medical records of my mother.

If he escaped with those, the truth would be lost forever.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out, the screen lighting up my face.

An unknown number was flashing on the screen.

I slid my thumb across the glass to answer it.

“Alana,” a voice whispered.

It wasn’t Vale.

It was a woman’s voice, raspy and weak, coming from a location I didn’t recognize.

My breath caught in my throat.

“Who is this?” I asked, my hand trembling against the receiver.

The line crackled with static.

“Don’t let him get to the safe,” the voice said.

The line went dead.

I stared at the black screen, the sound of the fleeing sedan still echoing in the distance.