THE GOODBYE HE MISSED
Like a man deciding each step.
When he pulled up beside her at the garage exit, she rolled her window down.
"The man in Portland," she said. "Ryan Brooks. He's Catherine Brooks's brother. My attorney's brother. He has been coordinating logistics for the property. He is..." she chose the word "nothing else."
Adrian looked at her through his open window.
"I know," he said.
"Do you believe me?"
He looked at her for a long moment. Something moved through his expression that she could not fully read — not doubt, not entirely, but something adjacent to it. Something that had been planted recently and was not yet either confirmed or uprooted.