EMBER’S POV

The man follows my gaze to the flower, baffled, then sees Daxon and Reyes, who have arrived and are looming with the unmistakable energy of men deciding whether to break someone, and he goes pale and starts to babble.

“I — please — I didn’t — a man gave it to me, I swear, I didn’t take anything, a man in traffic, back there, he just — he handed it to me through the car window, said it was too pretty to throw away, I thought it was odd but it was pretty, so I kept it, I haven’t done anything, please—”

“What man?” I’m closer now, and...