Omina asked for five strips of tape.
The Name Office gave her four.
She looked at the empty space where the fifth should have been. "Predictable omission from a room that dislikes witnesses."
Four strips would have been enough for the office: holder, claimant, owner, name. The missing lane was the one that bled.
Omina held her palm out and waited. The clerk in the gray sleeve stared at her hand as if tape could become classified material.
"Witness lane belongs on the drawer with the others."
"Supplies are limited when the request changes the answer."
"Excuses are also limited when I am counting."
The sleeve withdrew behind the counter. JJ dug into her pocket and found a bent roll from the shelter supplies. It had lint stuck to one side and blood on the cardboard center.
"Use ugly tape because clean tape keeps lying."
Omina took it. "Ugly tape has served us well tonight when clean tools failed."
