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“Watched.”

She pauses only long enough to make a note. “His family?”

“Watched.”

“Understood.” She continues typing.

“My name doesn’t appear on anything. Black Tide doesn’t interfere on paper. Use outside layers where needed.”

Several nods follow.

I turn toward the screen. “Luka.”

“Yes, boss.”

“The man Maggie identified. Scar near the jaw. Italian accent. Baseball cap. He doesn’t disappear from Savannah unless someone helped him. Find that someone.”

“Already working it.”

“Work faster.”

His mouth flattens. “Understood.”

I look back at the room. “Now, Clara.”

The air changes. No one speaks, but they hear the difference. They’ve heard her name in this building before, always carefully, always with the respect given to a dead woman tied to a man no one wants to wound by accident. Today, the name becomes an assignment.

Sasha’s fingers go still against the tablet. “Clara Agapov?”

“Yes.”

Viktor’s full attention moves to me. I feel it from across the room. I ignore him.

“I want every record. Every account, address, known associate, phone number, employer, and lease connected to her life before Savannah.”

Sasha pauses with her stylus over the screen. “Before Savannah?”

“Yes.”

No one asks for clarification.

I continue, my voice lower now. “There’s an unidentified woman tied to Enzo DeLuca. Older. Refined. Likely New York connections. She’s stayed hidden from Roman’s people. Assume money, influence, and legitimate fronts. Assume she uses intermediaries and doesn’t expose herself without a reason.”

A man near the far end of the table reacts, then remembers where he is. Fear isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s the brief realization that a problem is bigger than expected.

“Find the connection between that woman and Clara,” I say. “Don’t force an answer or invent one. I want facts.”

Sasha nods once. “And if we find nothing?”

“Then you keep digging until nothing becomes something.”

Viktor speaks from the door. “Maggie?”

I look at him.

“She’s at the shelter,” he says carefully. “If Clara is connected to this woman, and this woman is connected to Ivy, we should stop assuming Maggie matters only because she witnessed the attack.”

I dislike that Viktor says it, and I dislike it more that he’s right.