I didn’t get a great look at the men from upstairs, but I knew if I saw Garlic Breath again I would know him. He wasn’t in sight, not inside and not outside in the crush of people on the sidewalk.
What did that mean?
What are you here for?
You.
His whispered one-word reply caused goose bumps to break out over my arms and legs. Why would he say that? What could he possibly want with me?
“Stupid kids,” someone next to me muttered. “What’s this city coming to?”
“What do you mean?” I asked before I could remind myself he probably hadn’t been talking to me.
“Didn’t you hear?”
I shook my head. “I slept through most of this.” I gestured at the crowd, the officers, and the fire truck parked out at the curb.
The woman on the other side of the man chuckled. “Ah, to be young again. I used to be able to sleep through anything too. Now I’m lucky to get four hours straight.”
The man in the center of us nodded empathetically. They were an older married couple, both with graying hair and wrinkles on the outer corners of their eyes.
“It appears some kids pulled the fire alarms and waited ‘til people started evacuating to enter some apartments and rob them.”
My first thought upon hearing this news was disbelief. That wasn’t what happened here tonight…
Was it?
“Who said that’s what happened?”
The man gave me a strange look before replying. “The police.” He motioned outside where two officers in blue uniforms were talking to some of the people I recognized from living in the building. “Seems the kids only burglarized the first floor. They didn’t have time for the rest.”
Is that was Garlic Breath and his friend were doing? Hoping to make easy money in the midst of chaos they themselves created? I hadn’t gotten a great look at them, but I knew they weren’t kids.
Of course the firemen upstairs called me ma’am and this woman down here was wishing she was as young as me. Clearly everyone had their own definition of age.
I was thinking in circles. That never happened. Usually I was analytical and concise with my thoughts. I was just tired, in shock, and yeah, okay… maybe I was a little scared.
I found myself wishing that Max were here. It would be nice to not be alone tonight.
I turned back to the man, to hopefully draw some more information out of him, when one of the officers stepped inside. All his attention was on me.
“Ma’am,” he said. “We’ll need to get your statement.”
“Of course,” I agreed and turned away from the older couple to give him my full attention.
I started to explain why I was late, but he cut me off to ask, “Did you see anyone in the building? Anyone who seemed liked they didn’t belong?”
“Is this about the robberies?” I questioned. A good lawyer always answered a question with one of her own.
He nodded briskly. “We’re trying to gain descriptions from all those who might have seen them as they were vacating the building.”
“I was late vacating. I wear headphones at night.” The lie was easier to tell, like once I had gotten over telling it upstairs, it no longer mattered. I wondered if that’s how criminals felt. Like after their first crime, the ones after it didn’t even matter.
“Did you see anyone on your way out? Anyone you didn’t recognize? Anyone who was acting suspicious?”
I thought about Garlic Breath and the way he seemed to just appear in my dark apartment. I thought about how he wasn’t interested in any of my material possessions, not even after I told him he could have them.
I thought for long moments.
And then I lied again.
“No. The only people I saw were the firemen, clearing the building.”
The officer seemed disappointed, but he didn’t question my statement. After a few more general questions and my brief explanation of how I saw nothing at all, the officer moved on to the next interviewee.
I never lied. Lying only got people in trouble, a fact I saw day after day in my job as a lawyer.
But I just lied tonight. To an officer of the law no less.
Why?
Something inside me told me to keep my mouth shut.
5
Tucker
The entire drive from Pennsylvania to New York City was spent sitting in the back of a black SUV and being briefed on my brother’s life. In order to be able to pull off literally stepping into his shoes, I had to know as much as I could about him.
I think the Feds assumed I knew more than I did. I didn’t bother to correct them. In truth, I was mildly embarrassed that I didn’t know more about Max and his life these days. Every detail they told me seemed to affect me in one way or another. I felt amused at how focused and intent on success Max was, but that wasn’t to say I wasn’t impressed. Max was achieving his goals. I never doubted he would.