“The accident scene?” I asked.
“Has been cleaned up.”
Yeah, there was definitely something more going on.
“Sergeant, right before your brother died, he spoke to us.”
“What did he say?” What were the last words my brother would ever speak?
“He told us to get you. To get Tucker.”
He asked for me. Max’s last thought, his last request was of me.
Suddenly I understood the man’s words. That’s him. Of course they knew it was me on sight. I looked exactly like Max. We shared the same face.
“We need you to step in where Maxwell left off. To assume the identity of your brother.”
It was crazy. It would never work. People would know the minute I opened my mouth that I wasn’t Max.
Perhaps the look on my face made the men think I was going to say no.
“This case has been ongoing for over a year. If you don’t help, all the work we’ve done will have been for nothing. These men will walk.”
“Those men killed my brother,” I said. A sense of revenge overcame me.
No one said anything.
No one but me.
“I’ll do it.”
4
Charlotte
If there was one stereotype that I hated above all others it was that all blondes were dumb. Born a natural blonde I fought against the stereotype my entire life. I even considered dying my hair brown, but that would be like admitting defeat or trying to hide who I really am to appease some people with large mouths that had tendencies to act like assholes.
Besides, I was a walking testament that blondes weren’t dumb.
Plus, brown hair would totally wash me out.
Once I was certain Garlic Breath and his friend were gone, I slipped out of my neighbor’s apartment (They needed a class in organization and hoarding) back into the hallway. I could hear the emergency responders clanking up the stairwell and I experienced a moment of panic.
Then I realized I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Well, except for fail to vacate a building that was potentially burning to the ground.
I rushed back into my place just as the door to the stairwell burst open and men filed into the hallway.
I knew what I had to do.
I removed the clip from my hair and shook out the blond strands so they appeared messy and slept on. I never walked around with bed head, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Opening the door to my apartment, I stumbled out into the hallway, faking a yawn and rubbing at my eyes like I was still half asleep.
The men in the hallway all stopped and stared at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to sound tired. In my opinion, I sounded like someone doing a poor imitation of a drunk person.
“What are you doing here, ma’am?”
Great. Not only was I a dumb blonde with uncombed hair today, but I was also a ma’am. I should wander down to the social security office and apply for my senior citizen card while I was at it.
“I live here,” I said, blinking my eyes at them like I was confused. Then I gazed over their fire suits and equipment. “Is there a fire?”
“Didn’t you hear the alarm?” one of the other guys asked, amusement clear in his tone.
“I sleep with headphones and a noise machine,” I said. “A girl has to get her beauty sleep.”
God. I sounded like a complete twit.
“We’re going to have to ask you to vacate the building while we finish searching the area.”
I nodded. “Of course.” I gestured to my apartment. “That one’s mine. There’s no fire in there.”
I pulled the door closed, hoping they didn’t go looking for the noise machine I claimed to sleep with. One of the men held open the door for me and, okay, yeah, I might have peeked at his physique. He was a fireman, a good-looking one at that.
I heard the men laugh as the door closed behind me. I breathed a massive sigh of relief I wasn’t asked more questions. I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell people what happened to me. I wanted to think it through. I wanted to weigh the situation in my mind, think of all the possibilities of what went on tonight.
Downstairs in the lobby, cold air swirled inside from the door leading onto the sidewalk. I slowed my steps. I was supposed to go out there, but I wasn’t wearing any socks or shoes. I’d have frostbite in minutes. New York City in late January could be brutal. The wind, the snow, the low temperatures, and this winter was supposed to be very long and anything but mild.
And if I somehow avoided frostbite, I would get some weird disease walking on the bare sidewalk of the city. My skin crawled just thinking about what could be growing out there.
A few of the people who lived in the building still loitered just inside the door so I took up position beside them. I scanned the faces—not for anyone familiar, but for two men who seemed like they might not belong.