Danielle expected both.

Reform wasn't proof that an institution had become perfect.

It was proof that people had stopped accepting one kind of failure as normal.

CHAPTER 15 — THE SAME SUV

Six months after her arrest, Danielle left another late meeting.

The parking garage was nearly empty.

Her black SUV waited beneath fluorescent lights.

She stopped several feet away.

Same vehicle.

Same woman.

Different memory.

For months, she had felt something whenever she approached it.

Not fear exactly.

A tightening.

A reminder that ownership alone hadn't protected her from being treated as though she didn't belong.

That night the feeling was weaker.

She unlocked the SUV.

Placed her briefcase in the back.

Then stood beside the driver's door.

Her phone rang.

Mark.

"You're still working?"

"So are you."

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because I'm unreasonable."

Danielle laughed.

"At least you're self-aware."

Mark became quieter.

"How was the meeting?"

"Messy."

"Progress?"

"Some."

"Enough?"

"Never."

He laughed.

Danielle looked across the garage.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what you said after Mulligan was fired?"

"I say many brilliant things."

"You said I won."

A pause.

"I remember."

"I hated that."

"I remember that too."

"I think I understand why now."

Mark waited.

Danielle rested one hand on the SUV door.

"Winning would've meant this never happened."

Mark didn't answer.

"What we got was accountability afterward."

"That's still something."

"Yes."

She looked at the faint reflection of herself in the window.

"It is."

They said goodnight.

Danielle got inside.

Before starting the engine, she opened the glove compartment.

Registration.

Insurance.

Everything exactly where it belonged.

She stared at the documents for a moment.

Six months earlier, those papers could have ended the encounter almost immediately.

Mulligan hadn't wanted them.

He had wanted his assumption to be right.