"Document everything," he said. "Build a counter-narrative."
"Yes."
The line went dead.
Then my phone buzzed. It was Eamon.
"Not a good time," I growled.
"Make time." His voice was sharp. "I've been reviewing footage. I need you to see something."
"What?"
"Not over the phone. Sending a secure link. Watch it. Call me back."
Two minutes later, the link appeared. I opened it.
It was footage from the hotel lobby. Multiple angles stitched together. The fire alarm went off. The crowd surged.
A new angle appeared. It was from a phone held high.
Micah Nakamura positioned himself beside Rune, creating space. A figure I hadn't seen appeared, threading through the crowd from behind. Male. Dark jacket. Face partially obscured.
He reached Micah. He gripped the staffer's shoulder and then gave him a sharp push.
Micah flailed until he fell and his head hit the marble. The dark figure was already disappearing into the crowd.
I paused the video and rewound frame by frame. The moment before he turned, his face briefly caught the light from an overhead fixture. Motion blur obscured his features, but the height and build were right.
I'd seen that movement pattern before.
I called Eamon back.
"You saw it," he said.
"Yes."
"You recognize the build?"
"I think so."
"Think or know?"
I watched it three more times. "I can't prove it's him, but the movement pattern matches."
Eamon spoke slowly. "Soo-jin."
Saying it made it real.
My voice was barely above a whisper. "He made sure someone got hurt."
"Not someone. Micah Nakamura, the man who was helping Rune."
"Making it look like proximity to Rune creates casualties."
I heard Eamon rustling papers. "Then Soo-jin appeared on exterior cameras twenty feet away, establishing his alibi."
I leaned against the corridor wall while staffers swept past me, oblivious to our conversation.
