She looked up. “Why?”
“Because if you’re right—if the targets are the women least likely to be missed—it’s possible no one ever filed a report. No paper trail. No official disappearance. Just… absence.”
The words landed hard.
Her hands curled around the mug, knuckles whitening. “That means the system didn’t fail. It worked exactly the way it was designed to.”
I didn’t argue. Because she was right.
“And it means that even if I get files back, they’ll be incomplete. Or sanitized. Or empty.”
I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine.
She stilled, but she didn’t pull away.
“You’re not wrong,” I said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to find.”
She swallowed. “It means the people who know things are afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Because they’re undocumented. Or using. Or tied to something they don’t want dragged into the light.”
“Yes.”
“And because talking to police has historically made things worse, not better.”
I held her gaze. “You’re not wrong about that either.”
Her shoulders sagged a fraction, like naming it cost her something. “Willie knew something, and he didn’t feel safe sharing it at the docks. I don’t think his putting off talking to us was entirely about being high. And Rosa—even telling us was a calculated risk on her part.”
I squeezed her hand gently. “You did good back there.”
She scoffed softly. “I asked questions. That’s literally my job.”
“You asked them carefully. That’s not nothing.”
Her eyes flicked up, searching my face.
“I thought you were reckless,” I added. “When we first started this.”
Her brows drew together. “You did?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I thought you were smart and angry and used to bulldozing your way through things.”
She snorted. “That’s… not entirely inaccurate.”
“But I was wrong about the dangerous part,” I said. “You’re not reckless. You’re deliberate.”
She stilled.
“You’re measuring consequences,” I continued. “You’re choosing them. That’s not someone chasing danger. That’s someone deciding what they’re willing to pay.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t know how else to do it.”
“I know.” And I did. Because I’d lived that way too.
Silence settled again, this one heavier but steadier.
