The question arrived plain enough for everyone to use.
Why did Bone Half return?
It lay across the hallway floor where Ty had to face it. Zunoder looked comfortable with the wording, which told Ty the question had already been built with room for every ugly answer.
"Conditioning, hunger, supervision, fear cues, duty pressure, and institutional call."
Zunoder spoke like a man sorting clean tools on a clean table. "Pick one if you want mercy. Pick all if you want accuracy."
JJ opened her ledger with one hand. The other still held the broken pencil from the last fight with the record. "You do not get to make a menu out of him."
"I am naming what the witness gave us."
The turned-wristband witness stayed behind the chair with the bracelet facing inward. No legal name. No face. No child. The limits made the room smaller in a way Ty liked, even while they left him exposed where Zunoder wanted him.
