No salutation. No company signature. Just a string of words that feels like a key to a door I’m not sure I want to open.

The subject line lands in my inbox like a stone dropped into still water:

“P.S. The coffee cup? You held it just fine. You just didn’t think you deserved to.” I close the laptop.

There’s a second photograph. Kharlie again, same jacket, same defiant tilt of her chin, but this time she’s holding a handwritten sign:

“To Kharlie Stone, wherever you are—I’ll keep answering. Always.”

The date in the subject line is January 11, 2016.

The email body is short:

There’s no return address. No name. Just a postscript that hits like a second stone: