Tessa waited until the clinic had closed before asking Eli about Bram’s restraint during the raid.
He was washing cups at the sink. The water had gone lukewarm, and the last of the soap floated in a thin ring around his hands. Tessa had stayed to finish a patient’s referral. When Leah locked the front entrance, she called goodnight through the hall and left them alone.
“You said Bram blocked you,” Tessa said. “When you told me about the raid.”
Eli set a cup on the draining board. “He did.”
“Tell me exactly what you remember.”
He wanted to answer with the conclusion: Bram had helped Rusk’s team kill him. The memory was more complicated and less complete than the sentence. He dried his hands and sat at the table where patients usually filled out forms.
“It was a cavern during the raid. Rusk was directing the elite team from the ridge. I had a manifest I wanted to show Venn: the casualty-bag count didn’t match the people listed, and Tessa and I had found restrained people in a hidden chamber.”
“Bram stepped between you and Venn?”
