No. Save your future. This is not saving my future. It is trading your credibility for it. Maya continued.
Let them call me confused. Dana stepped closer. Maya, that statement would damage every part of the case. It may also expose Jasmine to future charges if the agreement is challenged. Maya's eyes moved faster.
Save Jasmine. Dana lowered her voice. I will not help either of you submit a false statement. Jasmine sat beside the bed. I can lose a semester.
Maya looked at her. I can appeal the suspension. I can finish later. What I cannot do is spend the rest of my life knowing I helped them erase what happened to you. Mia's expression changed.
Jasmine placed the unsigned agreement on the table. You taught me to read before I signed anything. You taught me that fear does not make a dishonest document honest. I am not ignoring that because the document was written for me. For several seconds, Maya did not type.
Then she selected, "I wanted to keep you out. You cannot keep me out by letting them use me against you. " Dana moved the agreement aside. There is something else we need to address. Shaw released part of your employment history. If we are going to challenge his version, we need the full truth.
Maya looked toward the television, which was now turned off. Dana continued, "How did you recognize the dispatch code in Ror's report and the format inside Jasmine's agreement? " Maya began typing slowly. "I worked emergency communications. " Jasmine leaned forward. "15 years. " "You were a dispatcher? " she asked. Maya confirmed it.
She explained that she had handled emergency calls for Riverton and coordinated police, fire, and medical units. She learned the codes, unit numbers, response patterns, and voices of the officers who used the radio system. Years earlier, she had found that the response time in an emergency report had been changed after the incident. The official record showed officers arriving sooner than they actually had. Maya accessed archived logs to prove the time had been altered and refused to approve the corrected report.
The department accused her of entering records outside her assigned duties. She was suspended rather than sign a statement accepting responsibility for the false report. She resigned. Jasmine read every sentence in silence. Why did you never tell me?
Maya selected. I did not want my last job to become your first memory of me. Jasmine reached for her mother's hand. It would not have. Dana opened an audio file from the night Ror stopped Maya on East Hollow Road.
The transmission was weak, but the answer through Ror's radio could still be heard beneath the static. The route is clear. A man responded. Dana played the clip again. Maya closed her eyes.
She had heard that voice through headsets for years. The pace was controlled. The final word slightly shortened and the breathing pause appeared in the same place before every instruction. Maya opened her eyes and typed a name. Adrian Cole.
Dana did not react visibly, but Jasmine drew in a sharp breath. Before Dana could ask another question. Eleanor entered carrying a canvas bag and a paper notebook. I heard my name appeared on the access report. She said, "I was in the investigation room because I copied the medication order before someone changed it again. " She removed photographs of the original order, the false authorization, and the computer access history.
I keep paper records when something does not make sense, Eleanor said. Electronic files disappear too easily. The access log showed that Cole had entered the temporary investigation room shortly before the false medication order was created. His credentials also appeared near the time Maya's room number was accessed. Eleanor placed another page on the table.
Someone used Claire Whitmore's administrative account, but the command came from the workstation assigned to the police liaison. Dana's phone rang before anyone could respond. It was the federal detention office. Noah Reed had provided a password and asked them to use it on the encrypted folder recovered from his laptop. Dana entered the password.
A backup video opened. The recording showed Cole standing at the hospital security station shortly before the camera outside room 314 was redirected. He used Claire's account while Todd Keane watched from the other side of the desk. Noah had not erased the evidence. He had preserved it.
Dana closed the laptop. We do not arrest Cole yet. Jasmine looked at her. Why not? Because he can still lead us to Shaw.
If we move now, Shaw destroys whatever remains and leaves Riverton. Dana ordered Maya transferred under a temporary name to another secured room. Only three people would receive the new location. Before midnight, Maya's identification band was replaced. Her communication device was moved and room 314 was left empty.
Dana gave each person a different detail about the transfer. Then she waited to see which version reached the insider. Maya's new wristband identified her as Margaret Lewis. Her medical chart had been moved to an isolated system and the communication device beside her bed was connected to a federal battery unit rather than the hospital network. The room was located in a restricted recovery section on the fourth floor.
No patient name appeared outside the door. Dana had given different transfer details to the three people still under consideration. Eleanor was told that Maya would be moved to a secure clinic after sunrise. Cole was told that Maya would remain in the hospital until 4 in the morning and that a final copy of Dominion Recovery's financial records was hidden inside her communication device. Only Cole received the new room number.
Dana and Eleanor waited in a dark observation room on the other side of the wall. A camera recorded Mia's bed, the doorway, and the document stand beside the communication screen. Jasmine had been moved to a federal office downtown. She had objected until Maya reminded her that the person targeting them had already used her school, her access card, and her name. Shortly after 11:30, someone tested the door handle.
Maya kept her eyes closed. A key card sounded against the electronic lock. The door opened, and Lieutenant Adrien Cole stepped inside. He wore his task force identification on his belt and carried a leather folder under one arm. No nurse or hospital transporter accompanied him.
Cole closed the door quietly. Maya, he said, "We need to move now. " She opened her eyes. Cole approached the bed. Shaw still has people inside St. Catherine.