Column after column of numbers, dates, and names of offshore shell companies.

It was all here—the systematic stripping of the Callahan estate, signed by Victoria and Julian.

I laid down, but sleep did not come easily.

Every hour, I woke up to a dull, cramping sensation in my lower back.

I tried to convince myself it was just stress, or the Braxton-Hicks contractions the doctor had warned me about.

But the pain was different this time; it felt deep and rhythmic.

At eight o’clock the next morning, I got out of bed and dressed in dark, loose-fitting clothes.

I slipped the ledger into a large canvas tote bag.

My hands were shaking as I locked the motel room door.

The morning air in Los Angeles was thick with gray smog and moisture.

I took a rideshare vehicle toward the clinic on Olympic Boulevard.

As the car moved through the heavy morning traffic, I noticed a black SUV two cars behind us.

Every time our driver changed lanes, the SUV changed lanes as well.

A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck.