Sarah Chen's follow-up call came on a Thursday evening, three weeks into her renewed investigation, and the careful excitement in her voice told Ivy immediately that the research had turned up something substantial.
"I found someone," Chen said. "A former épée fencer, American, competed internationally in the late nineties. Name's Robert Ashworth — goes by Robby now, coaches at a small club in Pennsylvania. His career ended under circumstances that echo your father's case in some genuinely unsettling ways."
"What happened to him?"
"A disqualification at a critical qualifying match, based on equipment violations that, according to Ashworth himself, never actually occurred. Same era, same broad network of Federation officials overseeing the ruling, though the specific individuals involved
