Devika Shah arrived with mud on her boots and a folding rule in the pocket of her coat.
The officer at the barrier offered to escort her onto the bridge. She looked at the crack in the road, then at the water beneath the near support.
“Not yet,” she said. “I need the maintenance history and a view from below first.”
Kellan introduced Eli and explained what each of them had observed. Devika listened without treating either account as a finished diagnosis. She asked where Eli had stood when he saw the strain and whether the markings he described had changed since traffic stopped.
“They’ve shifted near the curb,” he said. “I can’t resolve the condition of the foundation or the underwater damage from here.”
“Good. Keep that distinction when you show me.”
She borrowed the response officer’s map and walked the perimeter with Kellan. At the north bank, a service path led down toward the water. The first twenty feet were dry. Beyond them, a section of railing leaned outward where the soil had washed away.
“Your team stays behind the marked point,” Devika told the officer. “I want a photograph of the support, not three people crowding the edge to get one.”
