By morning, somebody had copied the partial list without its covering sheet.
The first family arrived holding a name circled in blue. They had been told it meant their mother had been released. At the records table, the marker beside that name meant only that a similar identifier had been found at a junction whose source reading was damaged.
The clerk looked toward Tessa.
“Keep their copy,” Tessa said. “With permission. We need to know what circulated.”
The son folded the page away. “You don’t get to take back the only thing anyone’s told us.”
She left her hands on the table where he could see them. “Then keep it. Let us copy what you received and mark the source. I’m not asking you to give up the search.”
“You’re saying it wasn’t her.”
“I’m saying we haven’t established that.”
