Her aunt had gone quiet and resigned, half sulking, in the weeks since Zeli and her family had arrived. Nithya didn’t acknowledge it after that first night, but she couldn’t help feeling sorry for her relative. Aunty was a bigot, but she wasn’t evil, and she had no way to escape the situation. At least she hadn’t said anything openly rude or insulting. Not bathing was next to blasphemy. Surely she would appreciate the offer.

The older woman nodded and walked to the bathroom with a straighter back than she’d shown in days. Nithya put an order into the kitchen for their dinner. No cooking or cleaning required—what a luxury! In a day or two, she’d take it all for granted again, but today, she reveled in the freedom.

She sat at the table and looked through the messages that had queued from people with access. America’s East Coast had recovered faster than the West, and Felix Anderson from the USBGA had followed up on her complaint.

I’m compiling this message in the expectation that it will eventually reach you. Luckily, our practice of keeping print copies paid off during the network outage, and I was able to continue investigating the blockages you discovered. I hope you were able to do the same.

Not really. Nithya had spent her time looking at the giant amount of data from the Synaxel report, keeping her focus on Welga’s health. Whether or not Welga found Josephine Lee, she’d need people to craft a solution for her problems.

Nithya continued reading Felix’s message: Your queries define a clear negative space within several funders’ databases. It’s enough evidence for us to convene a grand jury investigation, which can subpoena the hidden information as well as the people who issued the blocks. Our results will remain protected from the public, however, until we can get a court order to release the data. If we go to criminal proceedings, that could take a very long time. I know this came about in relation to a health matter, and I realize these delays won’t help. I hope the patient can find alternate means of treatment and recovery.

Luis sat across from her and arched his brows. “Bad news?”

“Good and bad.”

She forwarded the message so he could read it.

“If I could get a lot more people to look at my results,” Nithya mused, “I might have the leverage to make all the missing information public. The message makes it clear that others are having problems, too. Without that data, neither I nor anyone else will be able to figure out how to help Welga.”

“What are you saying?” Zeli asked, joining them at the table.