Chapter 8 - The Board
The next stage began with a narrower problem. Voss claims his account was misused; Camila refuses the temptation to overstate what the evidence proves. What mattered now was not how dramatic the discovery sounded, but whether it could survive someone else checking it.
The room did not get quieter so much as more careful. Camila Price could feel people deciding where to look, which usually meant anywhere except at Commander Neil Voss.
She asked one question at a time. It irritated Commander Neil Voss, which told her more than shouting would have.
"You can still walk away from this," Commander Neil Voss said.
"I could," Camila Price answered. "But the evidence would still be here when I left."
When Chief Ana Ruiz finally spoke, the voice was low enough that everyone had to pay attention. The point was narrow, factual, and dangerous precisely because it was narrow.
There was a difference between being certain and being able to prove why. She kept returning to that difference whenever the story became personal.
By the end of the review, nobody was relying on memory alone. The paper trail, access history, and witness accounts began to overlap.
A sympathetic colleague suggested she compromise. Camila Price asked what part of the record should be compromised first. The conversation ended there.
She asked one question at a time. It irritated Commander Neil Voss, which told her more than shouting would have.
"You can still walk away from this," Commander Neil Voss said.
"I could," Camila Price answered. "But the evidence would still be here when I left."
Dates lined up badly for Commander Neil Voss. The more the sequence tightened, the less room there was for the explanation he had offered at the beginning.
She thought about Camila must clear her name without relying on the fact that her father is an admiral.. That desire could easily become a weakness if she tried to force the evidence to match it, so she kept writing down what she knew and what she only suspected.
What stayed with her was not the confrontation. It was the moment the story stopped belonging to the loudest person in the room.
Camila Price spent the next hour rebuilding the timeline on paper. She put the first confirmed event at the top, drew a line beneath it, and refused to write a motive where she had only a guess. Chief Ana Ruiz watched her work and finally said, "You know this may get worse before it gets clearer."
"Clear is enough," Camila Price said. "I can work with clear."
The practical consequence came quickly. Voss claims his account was misused; Camila refuses the temptation to overstate what the evidence proves. Camila Price wrote down what had changed and what still had not been answered.
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One witness remembered something differently than Camila Price did. Instead of fighting the discrepancy, she wrote it down. Later, a timestamp explained why both memories could be honest and still incomplete.
Before the chapter of the day could close, one fact shifted the pressure again: The consultant asks for counsel before answering.
