Rowan
I knew something was wrong the moment Marybeth asked to meet privately. Not because private meetings were unusual. Lately, they seemed to happen almost daily. The attacks guaranteed that. The investigation guaranteed it even more. No.
What caught my attention was the way she sounded. Careful. Controlled. Too controlled. The sort of tone people used when they were carrying something heavy and hadn't yet decided whether to share the burden. That worried me.
Because Marybeth wasn't easily shaken. And lately, the things that did shake her tended to become my problems shortly afterward. I arrived at her office just after sunset. The building had mostly emptied. A few lights remained on.
Most of the territory had settled into evening. Unfortunately, leadership rarely enjoyed such lu
