Page 27

I lead her onto the elevator and we ride up to the fifth floor. We walk down the hall and I gesture her into the viewing room on the left. I look through the glass at the six men standing there waiting. All tall, dark men with short, brown hair and thick arms.

Milo stands in the middle, looking down at the floor.

“Mrs. Nelson, do you recognize any of these men?”

Her head cranes up as she studies the glass.

“It’s a one-way mirror, ma’am,” I tell her. “They can’t see you. It’s all right.”

She grins. “Always wanted to do this. How exciting!”

I smile back before looking into the connecting room again at Milo’s downturn face.

“Oh!” She points at Milo. “Number three.”

I reach out to enable the intercom switch by my head. “Number three, step forward,” I say into it.

I click it off and watch as Milo slides closer to the glass. He looks straight ahead, his dark eyes standing out beneath the bright lights.

I turn away from him. “This is the man you saw last night?” I ask Mrs. Nelson.

“That’s the young man who runs that taco truck, isn’t it?”

My eyes twitch. “I can’t tell you that, ma’am. Now, do you recognize⁠—”

“He’s not in any trouble, is he?”

“Mrs. Nelson, is this the man you saw last night fleeing the Burn Street apartment block or not?”

“Oh, heaven’s no!” she says. “I definitely would have recognized him if it were.”

I flex my jaw and flick on the intercom again. “You can step back, number three,” I spit.

Milo’s eyes shift left and right twice before he eases backward to stand by the wall.

“The man I saw was much shorter,” she adds. “Thinner, too.”

“Would you mind sticking around and working with a sketch artist?” I ask.

“Sure,” she says with a shrug.

“Thank you, Mrs. Nelson.”

She pulls her purse higher up her shoulder and smiles through the glass. “He always gives me extra sauce, you know,” she says with a smile. “Doesn’t even charge me for it.”

I glare at Milo. “Is that right?”

“Such a wonderful young man.”

I clear my throat and gesture to the hallway. “This way, Mrs. Nelson.”

She follows me to the door and I glance back over my shoulder toward the line-up again. Milo Murray seems to have a lot of people fooled, but that’s not surprising. That’s what frauds like him are good at. Ruthless. Charming. There’s a reason everyone is always so surprised when they’re finally unmasked.

But he was so nice. So thoughtful.

He was the perfect gentleman.

I’m not falling for it.