Chapter 10 · The Clinic Tape

The clinic door hung off one hinge.

I pushed it with two fingers and it scraped across tile that hadn't been mopped in years. The smell hit me first. Mildew and something sharper. Antiseptic gone sour. The address from Mom's file had led me here, to the edge of town where the streetlights gave up and the sidewalk cracked into weeds.

I hadn't told Kade I was coming.

"Lena."

I spun. He stood in the doorway, shoulders filling the frame. No jacket. Just a dark shirt with the sleeves pushed up and that look on his face like he'd been tracking me for the last hour.

"You followed me."

"You left your phone on the counter." He stepped inside. Glass crunched under his boot. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" I turned back to the hallway. Three doors. All of them closed. "My mom brought me here when I was a kid. Before she died. There's something in this place."

Kade moved past me, checking the first room. Empty. Just a rusted exam table and a cabinet with the doors torn off. He didn't ask why I thought there'd be answers here. He just kept moving.