Standing above the ledge, I understood that survival was proof enough.
I did not throw the ring into the ravine.
Blackthorn had taken enough from me.
Instead, I placed it inside the evidence box Adrian carried and closed the lid.
“What will you do with it?” he asked.
“Keep it where it belongs,” I said.
“In the record of a case that ended.”
We walked back toward the car.
Elias saw me coming and lifted both arms.
Three years earlier, Victor had watched me fall and believed the snow would erase me.
But the snow preserved the marks on my coat.
His phone preserved his voice.
The policy preserved his motive.
The people he underestimated preserved the truth.
And the child he tried to silence was waiting for me in the light.
