CHAPTER 48 —

The Polaroid lay in the evidence bag like a promise folded into plastic. Nicole watched the seal be pressed down and felt the finality of it the way one feels a book close after a sentence that won’t be unsaid. Julian sat on the other side of the chair, fingers laced, jaw working through a private worry. Harrow and Anders moved with the small, efficient choreography of people who understood chain-of-custody the way others understood prayer.

The man in the suit cleared his ...