The Woman From HelixGrid

Ethan stared at the message, then at the digest that had arrived the day before. Nora Vale drafts story headline: "The Unemployed Analyst Who Keeps Beating the Tape." He could avoid her. He could let Marcus frame the narrative first. Or he could sit across from the person most likely to ruin him and learn what she knew. He chose a diner in Long Island City with scratched tabletops and coffee strong enough to remove paint. Nora arrived in a charcoal coat, hair pinned back, no jewelry except a thin watch that looked expensive only if you knew watches. She scanned the room before she sat. Not paranoid. Trained. "You picked somewhere with bad acoustics," she said. "You noticed." "I notice things for a living."