Page 52 of Shadow Burn

“That’s administrative encryption.”

Vivi’s eyes narrowed with interest. “Katherine’s dissertation term.”

“Yeah.” Jasper pulled up a partial contract index.

“Which means whoever buried that Cinder flag either didn’t know her background or thought her position made her manageable.”

Jasper thought of Katherine wrapped in a blanket in the laundry room, pale and shaking the previous night, then negotiating with an Associate Deputy Director before lunch today like she had a blade hidden in every procedure. “Bad read on their part.”

“Very bad.” Vivi stood, but didn’t leave. “Alyssa’s with Katherine in the common room. I asked Alyssa to walk her through it carefully.”

He could see from her expression that there was more. “And?”

“Katherine’s working so she doesn’t have to feel everything.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t in there offering counseling.”

Vivi smiled. “I might have slipped in a suggestion or two.”

Jasper smiled. “Of course you did.”

Alyssa had been targeted not that long ago by a drug cartel. If anyone understood what Katherine was going through, it was her.

Jasper still didn’t like Katherine having to describe what she remembered of the man, but a sketch might help.

The corridor camera showed the two of them emerging from the common room. Alyssa stepped out first, holding a sketchpad, and Katherine followed a moment later with Priss in her arms. Even through the camera feed, Jasper saw the tension in Katherine’s posture. Her shoulders were squared. Her chin was up. She looked like someone walking through a room full of trip wires and refusing to let anyone see her count them.

He was out of his chair before Vivi said anything. “My turn to counsel her.”

Vivi nodded. “She needs you.”

Jasper met up with them halfway down the corridor. Alyssa hailed him, tucking a strand of her long, blond hair behind her ear. Katherine stood beside her, holding Priss. The cheek bandage was gone, and a slim red scratch marred her cheek.

Alyssa smiled as he approached. “We’ve got a working version.”

“Can I see it?”

“It’s the best I could do,” Katherine said. “But it’s not enough.”

“It’s more than enough,” Alyssa said, laying a hand on Katherine’s arm. “You gave me the head shape, eyes, mouth, and the visible part of his cheek structure. That’s substantial considering the mask.”

“It doesn’t feel substantial.”

Alyssa gave her an encouraging smile. “Memory never feels substantial after trauma. It feels like smoke until we give it edges.”

Katherine glanced at her, and gratitude moved across her face.

Jasper kept his attention on Katherine. “Are you okay?”

She hesitated, and that hesitation told him more than any answer could. The sketch wasn’t just evidence to her. It was a door back into the bedroom. “Yes,” she said finally. “But I need you to understand that I might be wrong.”

“That’s why it’s a lead, not a conviction.”

Alyssa’s mouth curved faintly, approving. She turned the sketchpad toward him. She’d drawn him as Katherine remembered him—mostly hidden by the dark ski mask—but what was visible made the back of Jasper’s neck prickle. The mask fit tight against his head, suggesting little hair beneath. His heavy brows pushed out over narrowed eyes that had a flat, watchful quality. His upper lip was thin, the lower one fuller, and his mouth was slightly asymmetrical.

Alyssa had shaded only the visible portions around the mask line, enough to suggest a long face and lean cheek structure.

Jasper looked at the mouth and thought of Katherine saying, I’d know those lips anywhere.