The supply camera kept hands.
Faces stayed outside its angle. The strip of old video showed torsos, shelves, and the swinging edge of a door that never closed all the way. Ty watched the first frame appear across the drawer and felt everyone lean toward the missing face.
The Name Office liked missing faces. It could spend them in either direction.
Omina set the hilt between the video and Zunoder.
"We use the hands and leave the face absent."
JJ looked at the ceiling as if asking it for patience.
"I hate that even the camera knows office manners."
The video began at 23:21. A person in overnight scrubs entered the supply room with the night orderly badge clipped to the pocket. Blur swallowed the name. One hand held the yellow sheet folded tight enough to crease the pencil marks. The other pressed against the lower ribs.
The posture made the room smaller. N. Vale was walking like someone trying to finish a shift while keeping pain, fear, or anger under one palm.
