He was still there two hours later.
Not hovering. Not waiting for something. Just present in the way Evan is present — occupying space without demanding that you do anything about it, reading through the secondary patrol reports I'd stacked on the corner of the table, occasionally setting one aside with a quiet efficiency that told me he'd found something worth flagging.
The fire had burned down. I hadn't noticed until I looked up, and the room was colder than it had been.
"You don't have to stay," I said.
"I know." He turned a page. "The eastern watch rotation has a gap between the third and fourth positions. Twelve minutes, the same as the northern pass. That's probably not a coincidence."
I looked at where he was pointing on the report. He was right. Two gaps, same duration, positi
