Bethany touched her collarbone now.

She picked up the glass of water, took a single sip, and set it down with a soft click.

Mara sat in the dark of her office. The file had no GPS metadata. No timestamps that weren't deliberately stripped. Forensics had verified that the video was real, unedited, and that Bethany's fingerprints were the only ones on the memory card.

"He said I could walk through, and on the other side, I'd be remembered exactly as I want to be. Not the anxious girl who failed her thesis. Not the daughter who stopped calling. Just… Bethany. The best version. The one I saw in my head when I was twelve and the world still made sense."

Mara didn't turn around. "She said she wanted to be remembered exactly as she wanted to be."

She paused. Adjusted her sleeve.