The candidate made it to the final interview. Everything else in the process had been survived — the scheduling, the preparation, the rounds of people deciding whether to keep going — and now there was one conversation left. Near the end of it came the question: "Are you willing to relocate or travel 50% of the time?"
This is a screening question. It is the kind of thing a job posting exists to settle, the kind a recruiter could resolve in the first minute of a first call, before the calendar Tetris and the rehearsed answers. Instead it arrived at the last possible moment, in the room where the decision is actually made.
The interview ended. No offer came.
It is possible the answer was no. It is possible the hesitation was enough. It does not matter — the pattern is legible from the outside. A filter that should have been applied at the door was applied after the candidate had walked the entire building. Some companies just prefer to find out the price of admission after you have already paid.