All he’d say was that it wasn’t a factory part.”

“Not a factory part.”

“Then he told me to close the door on my way out.” María pushed herself off the wall.

“I keep thinking about those stairs.

She came down three steps and stopped.

Three steps, and then she pointed.”

Down the hall the elevator opened, and Thomas Miller stepped out in a gray suit, his hair combed wet, a folder under his arm.

Arthur Pendelton walked alongside him with a hand near his elbow, murmuring something close to his ear.