"Ms. Reed?" Patricia Alvarez's voice was still in my ear, patient in the particular way of someone who had all the time in the world because she knew she'd already won. "You still there?"
"I'm here." I made myself breathe before I said anything else. "Like I told you, I'm not commenting without my attorney. But I'd ask you to hold the story. Whatever you think you have, you don't have the full picture yet."
"That's what everyone says right before the full picture makes things worse for them." A pause, softer than I expected. "For what it's worth, Ms. Reed, the files I have don't paint you as the villain. Just thought you should know that going in."
She hung up before I could ask what that meant. I lowered the phone slowly, and Noah was watching me with the stillness he wore like armor,
