Chapter 40: Drainage Improvement

Mara had acquired two orange traffic cones, a yellow vest, and a municipal clipboard. Callum eyed the clipboard. "Which agency are we impersonating?" "Competence." "That's not a city department." "It should be." She set one cone beside the service road and took the other toward the golf course. Afternoon players crossed the clipped green beyond her, heads down against the fog. None spared attention for three people beside an open drainage ditch. Sau-lin stood at the edge of the cypress grove. She had made it six paces past the historical sign before the pull under her left foot stopped her. One hand gripped the signpost. Her body thinned in the fog, though Callum remained less than thirty feet away. He went back to her. "How bad?" "I have had worse mornings here." "That doesn't answer the question." "It describes a broad and competitive field." Her fingers pressed harder into the…