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Anna pauses by the door, and I hold it out to her. “Oh—” She rolls her eyes at herself. “Almost forgot. Thanks.”

I nod and watch her leave, once again unable to keep my eyes above her waistline as she steps down. I force them up as she turns around and nods at me before closing the door behind her.

I exhale. Hard.

I have a daughter.

“Charlotte,” I say to myself.

CHAPTER 15

ANNA

The elevator doors open on the 18th precinct. I look up from my shoes, realizing that I’ve been running on auto-pilot since I left Milo’s truck. I don’t remember leaving the park and I barely remember driving back to the station, but I clearly remember the last question I asked him.

I cross the doorway, putting the question behind me. When I’m here, I have a job to do. I can’t let myself lose focus when there are still so many other questions that need answers.

“Hey, Anna,” Trevor says from his desk. “Where you been?”

I sit down in my chair. “Just following up on a few leads.”

“Leads?” He looks over at me. “What leads?”

“Uh…” I flick on my computer monitor. “I checked in with Gloria to reconfirm time of death.”

“Yeah. This morning,” he says. “I was sitting here when you called her.”

I stretch my neck, feeling it pop. “Just took a long lunch to clear my head, Trev.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Home.”

He squints and lowers his pen. “How’s the kid?”

“She’s in daycare. She’s fine.”

“And you?”

I look over at him. “I’m fine.”

“You seem tense.”

“No, not tense. Just very busy. Have we made any progress on our killer?”

“Not since we let him go, no.”

I ignore it and pull over a stack of my notes. “It has to be a Quinn,” I think out loud.

Trevor turns his chair toward me and presses his fingers together beneath his chin. “How do you figure?” he asks.

“Because of the evidence,” I say. “It was planted in Milo’s truck, so whoever planted it needed access to the truck.”

“Right… but why would the Quinns purposefully implicate a player in their own drug ring?” he asks. “Seems counterproductive.”

“We don’t know if he’s involved in the drug ring at all,” I point out.

Trevor pauses and flexes his jawline before speaking again. “Anna, have you considered that maybe Milo has an accomplice?” he asks. “That maybe he’s not as innocent as you obviously want him to be?”