Chapter 8: What the Covenant Built and What It Burned

She made coffee while she talked, which I would come to understand was a reliable indicator of the gravity of what followed. Holmes did not make coffee for comfort. She made it because long briefings required fuel and she saw no reason to pretend otherwise.

I sat in the single chair she kept angled toward the case board — a heavy oak thing with arms worn smooth at the ends, which told me I was not the first person to sit in it while she worked — and accepted the mug she handed me without ceremony. It was black and too hot and I drank it anyway.

"Nevada," she said, and turned to face the board.