“I should have done it sooner.”

“Yes.”

She took a breath and folded an empty piece of paper.

There was no request for me to tell her she was brave.

I could acknowledge the act that helped me without becoming the person who decided whether she had suffered enough.

After we finished the first box, she began describing something from the investigation: the route map, the office, what Maeve had said about places without cameras.

I stopped her gently but clearly.