Ada's message came through the internal system at two fourteen.
*Roman Ashford in the lobby. No appointment. Says it's important.*
Sera read it at her desk. She set her pen down. She looked at the message for four seconds. Then she picked her pen back up and went back to the document she had been reviewing.
She did not respond.
Ada, who had worked for Sera for two years and understood the precise difference between a non-response that meant *I didn't see it* and one that meant *I saw it and that is my answer*, handled it accordingly.
…
Roman had been standing in the Montague lobby for six minutes when Ada appeared.
He had come without calling ahead. He had known, when he made the decision to come, that this was the wrong approach. He had come anyway because he had spent the night wi
