Bram did not return to the shelter by the route he wanted to test.
He asked an independent observer to walk the public streets while he completed an ordinary supply errand. She had accompanied disputed deliveries before and knew the difference between seeing a person twice and proving a pursuit. He gave her the corners, the coat, and the movements he remembered. He did not give her an employer’s name because he did not have one.
“Am I watching you or the building?” she asked.
“Both, if you can separate them.”
“If I can’t, I’ll say so.”
That answer steadied him more than confidence would have. He had once obeyed people whose threats arrived dressed as certainty. They knew where his family lived. They knew what would happen if he refused. Some of what they claimed had been true enough to make every unsupported claim feel equally solid. He would not make an observer inherit that habit merely because fear now served a cause he could defend.
They began with the shelter. The observer saw two men spend time near the notice board and one woman waiting for a clinic contact. None could be identified as the figure from the escort route. Bram carried his supplies toward the public message point, then stopped at a shop where he had a legitimate delivery. Across the road, a man moved from a dry doorway into the rain.
