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hiding spot, Adam watched a group of employees dash into the light rain as they left the Bay Meadow clinic. There were three of them—more than he cared to confront.
    He listened, catching a name. Richard. He waited, hoping the man would linger in the parking lot, but they took off in unison.
    Adam circled back to the front. Only one car remained now, in a spot marked reserved for physicians. Lights still burned inside and the blinds were open. A woman sat at the front desk. A receptionist?
    He narrowed his eyes. The woman wore a white lab coat. A doctor? Or a nurse?
    Headlights swept into the parking lot as a yellow van pulled up in front of the clinic, hospital security.
    Cursing, Adam ducked around the side of the building and watched as a uniformed man climbed out.
    The man rapped loudly on the door. When the woman answered, he smiled and tugged the brim of his hat. "Evening, Dr. Curtis. Working late again?"
    Adam couldn't hear the woman's response as she held the door open. The man had barely stepped in before backing out, this time hauling a metal cabinet on wheels. He loaded the cabinet in the van, then returned to collect her signature.
    Their voices dropped, inaudible. Adam heard a brief guitar riff, laughter, then the man started toward the van. Halfway there he stopped and turned back.
    "Hey Doc! Don't forget to close those blinds. No sense advertising you're here alone."
    "Thanks, Clarence," she called.
    "Yeah, thanks," Adam whispered as he watched the taillights disappear.
    He didn't like what he was about to do, but he was out of viable options. There was a lot hanging in the balance. Lyle had been adamant about not going to a hospital. Short of physically forcing him—or surrendering and letting the cops force him—Adam could do little. He had to make some tough decisions.
    And time was running out. Adam wasn't a doctor, but he knew Lyle had lost a lot of blood, knew he needed treatment.
    Straightening the stolen lab coat, he hurried to the front entrance. Through the window, he watched the woman wrestle with a tangle of cords hanging from the blinds.
    She was teeny, barely over five feet, with a sleek ponytail of hair that was nearly as dark as his own. He frowned, eyeing the stethoscope tucked in her pocket. She looked too young to be a doctor. Too … perky. She was also very pretty, though pretty didn't matter right now. All he wanted was her medical expertise.
    Squaring his shoulders, he stepped up to the door and knocked. "Dr. Curtis."
    Inside, Renata paused, cocked her head.
    She heard the knock, heard someone call her name. She peeked out the blinds she'd just closed, but with the lights on inside, she couldn't see beyond the glass.
    The knocking repeated, more urgent.
    Automatically her hand went to the pager at her waist, sliding it forward. In her dash to close the blinds, she had forgotten to reset the alarm after Clarence left. But no matter. The pager had a red panic button that remotely triggered the alarm. While she had never had to use it, it did make her feel more secure when she stayed late.
    Keeping the security chain in place, she unlocked the door and opened it an inch, before peering out the crack. The man standing on the step was a doctor, but not anyone she recognized.
    She opened the door a little more, to get a better look at him. Immediately her eyes widened in appreciation. Whoever he was, the man was gorgeous. A bit disheveled, but gorgeous all the same.
    "Dr. Curtis?" The man bowed. A polite, disarming gesture.
    "Do I know you?"
    He shook his head. "We've never met. I'm a friend of Richard's. He's mentioned you before."
    Ohmigod. Was this the friend Richard had wanted her to meet?
    "Hold on." She stepped back and quickly smoothed her clothes. Perhaps it was just as well she didn't have time to check her hair and makeup. Ignorance was bliss.
    She released the security chain and opened the door folly. The move earned her a dazzling smile as the man stepped closer, into the spill