“Cradle and Love Lost are at odds, and Tattletale was telling us to help Love Lost. Maybe she’s pulling something,” I said. I made a face. “Things get so much messier when she’s involved.”

“You’re not wrong,” Dragon said.

“Thank you for this,” I said. I’d noticed the light had stopped blinking.

“Again, I’m sorry for the timing. I know you’d rather be at the hospital.”

“No,” I said. I looked out the window. The person in my reflection looked more angry than weary. “I’m so tired of hospitals. A break is good.”

“What’s next?”

“Investigating. We’re not done. The deadline passed, but we still need to figure out who these guys are and how it factors in. Advance Guard’s group is still out for blood, and others are following their path. Turning into vigilantes more than they are heroes.”

“I can try talking to them.”

“If you think that’ll work.”

“Defiant is telling me he might try it. He might be more on their wavelength.”

“Cool,” I said, feeling anything but cool. I was feeling heartsick, if anything. “I’m feeling like we should just cut through this Gordian knot. Screw the secrecy, screw decorum. Just… go after the masterminds.”

“Others have tried. It’s trickier than it might seem.”

I sighed.

“On that subject,” Dragon said. “My apologies for the awkward segue—”

I winced. I knew that Dragon had invited me for a reason. She had something she’d wanted to talk to me about that she couldn’t share over the lines.

“—I’m putting one last thing on that drive,” Dragon finished.

I saw it flash on the screen. One line. Another .fold file. Neatly compressed.

Using the trackball, I navigated to the file. I selected it.

As the pages loaded in, I saw glimpses.

“Ah, you just opened it,” Dragon said. “You can see why I couldn’t risk others seeing.”

Killed brother. Murder charges…

Fallen, with relations to the McVeay…

Blackmail, individual already in compromising position sought counsel, but this message was intercepted…

“She said that if something happened to her, and if it looked like she might not return, then she wanted at least the truncated notes to go to appropriate people. For your team and other things. I tried to find people who would take on these cases and take appropriate steps. Your Dr. Darnall was one.”

“He said no?”

“He said he couldn’t. The team with your friends Weld, Sveta and Vista returned last night, and it doesn’t look like anyone in particular is still looking, or if they are, they aren’t broadcasting it.”

“It’s a bunch of staff that only matter to a narrow selection of people, and a few reformed monsters like Bonesaw and Nilbog. It doesn’t compel people to put themselves out there,” I said.