Chapter 19: Terry Ives's Twelve Seconds, Decoded

The library was still open when he arrived, which meant El had been sitting for four hours with nothing but a notebook and a decision about whether to trust his arithmetic.

She was in the northeast corner, back to the wall, the notebook open to a page she had not been writing in. The position was not accidental. It had clear sightlines to both the main entrance and the emergency exit, which she had located within the first three minutes, he suspected, out of a reflex so thoroughly trained it had become indistinguishable from instinct.

Holmes sat down across from her without ceremony.