Chapter 45: Anastasia

At 1:50 PM on Saturday, the commercial traffic is sparse. Most of the independent logistics operations cut their gates at noon, leaving the gravel lanes quiet.

I guide my sedan past the municipal water treatment plant and turn onto Basin Lane. The road is unpaved here, a packed stretch of crushed granite and river silt that rings against the undercarriage of my car. On the left, a chain-link fence isolates a lot filled with uniform stacks of timber. A painted steel sign bolted to the mesh reads: Emmet Timber Logistics & Structural Fabrication.

The iron slider gate is closed. Before I can reach for my phone to...