CHAPTER 5: Foil Warmed in Both Hands

Daniel pushed the food closer.
'Eat first,' he said. 'Questions can wait.'
Something changed in the young man's face. Not relief. Relief was too easy. It was more like the careful lowering of a guard that had been held up for miles.
He took the foil package with both hands. His fingers were scraped near the knuckles. A faint mark crossed his wrist where a watch or hospital band had once been. Daniel noticed details for a living: heat, timing, texture, the moment before something burned. Tonight his instincts kept noticing wounds that had been taught to hide.
Vanessa leaned close enough for only the men to hear. 'You have five minutes, and then I call harbor police.'
The young man gave a faint nod, but his eyes stayed on Daniel.
'Thank you,' he said, with the formality of someone raised to thank servants, not become one.