She let that sit.
The hall was quiet.
She looked at the Chief.
"He did not ask anyone else's," she said.
The specific, present, informational delivery of a woman who was not gloating — who was simply providing data she had observed and was offering it to the group as relevant.
The Chief looked at her.
The specific, flat, present, amber-eyed look of a woman who had received a piece of data she had already known and was acknowledging the receipt.
"Then you are ahead," the Chief said.
Flat. The specific, flat, non-bitter, direct acknowledgment of someone who was dealing in facts.
"We all need to be ahead," the Chief said.
She looked at the hall.
"He likes—" She stopped. The specific, one-beat stop of a woman who had been the Chief for six years and was now about to say something the Chief would not typically say and was acknowledging the category revision.
She continued.
