Silas nodded.
Daniel sat beside him.
Ten minutes later, footsteps approached the hallway.
Elena appeared in the doorway.
For a moment, no one moved.
She wore a dark green sweater and held a cardboard document folder against her chest. Her hair was shorter than in the photograph from the hidden room, with a few silver strands near her temples.
Her eyes were exactly like Silas’s.
Not merely the same color.
The same watchfulness.
The same habit of noticing every exit before stepping farther inside.
Elena looked first at Daniel.
Then at Silas.
“Hello,” she said.
Silas’s fingers tightened around the edge of the book.
“Hello.”
She stayed near the doorway.
“May I come in?”
Silas looked at Daniel.
Daniel nodded once.
Silas turned back to her.
“Yes.”
Elena entered and took the chair across from him. She did not reach for him. She did not cry dramatically or speak his name as though it belonged to her.
