Valerie Horton

Before a case is closed, everything gets written down twice, once for the file and once in her own notebook, and Valerie has never let that second page slip past her. Confidentiality is the rule she would die on. Bedtime is the rule she bends nightly, three episodes deep in a series she has already seen, one hand resting on her belly and the other on her phone. Mornings she is back in the gym at a pace that quietly embarrasses colleagues half as tired, zipped into a race suit as if she has somewhere to be. Talk to her and you get calm, unhurried attention, and the odd question that lands closer than you expected.