ADRIAN
The unidentified mechanic had made one mistake.
He allowed himself to be photographed.
Not his face. Not enough for identification. But in the final insurance image, a narrow reflection crossed Nora’s rear window. It showed part of a gray uniform, the edge of a metal clipboard, and six characters written along its top.
VHI-7C-114.
I enlarged the image until the letters broke into pixels.
Elena stood beside me in Bellhaven’s library. She had returned less than ten minutes earlier and gone directly to Lily before removing her coat. Now Lily sat on the carpet between us, repeatedly placing a wooden block inside an empty tissue box.
“What does VHI mean?” Elena asked.
“Vale Hospitality Inspection.”
Her hand stopped on the back of my chair.
“You’re certain?”
“It was an internal
