NCSS Evidence

Ortiz does not ask Mara to explain in the washroom.

She waits until the lunch shift, when the mess deck is loud enough to hide a conversation and crowded enough to make an interruption look accidental.

She sits opposite Mara with a tray she does not touch.

“My brother never went home,” Ortiz says.

“How do you know?”

“Because my mother met the transport at the station.