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My attention sharpened. “Explain.”

She laughed once, without humor, and shook her head. “You first.”

I said nothing.

She looked away, then back at me. Her jaw clenched. “That’s what I thought.”

She shifted again, this time not toward the door.

Toward the wall.

Perhaps looking for something she could use as a weapon.

There was nothing within reach.

I had checked.

“You were ordered to report to Central Administrative Review,” I said.

Her face went still, the earlier defiance draining away. “Yes,” she said, the word clipped.

“You acknowledged the order.”

Her eyes flicked to the door again before returning to mine. “Yes.”

“Then fled.”

A humorless smile touched her mouth. “I changed my mind.”

“That is not how mandatory reporting works.”

She let out a short, sharp breath. “Apparently it is if you don’t report.”

I stared at her.

She stared back.

There was something fundamentally irritating about the way she answered questions. There was also something useful.

People constructing lies usually added too much. Talia often did the opposite. She gave the smallest truth available and waited for me to prove I deserved the rest.

I understood the strategy.

I disliked being on the receiving end of it.

I looked at the bag again. “Give it to me.”

She exhaled hard through her nose, then slowly lowered it from her shoulder.

For one moment, I thought she had finally decided to cooperate.

Instead, she threw it at my head.

I caught it.

She ran.

Of course.