“Where are we, Mommy?”

I hear Charlotte whisper in Anna’s ear as we climb the darkened stairwell up to my apartment. I crane back to see her little fingers clinging to Anna’s jacket. She barely lifts her head from her mother’s comforting shoulder. She’s terrified and confused but so is Anna. Hell, so am I.

Anna glances up at me from three stairs back but I turn away before she notices me looking. “I don’t know, honey,” she whispers back.

I should do something more to put them at ease. If my heart would stop pounding, I definitely could.

I clear my throat and pause at the top of the stairwell. “Fourth floor,” I say, flashing a smile that I hope is comforting. “Sorry, the elevator has been broken since I moved in.”

“You live here?” Anna asks.

I reach into my pocket for my keys. “Yeah. It’s not much, but it’s…” I chuckle. “It’s not much, let’s just say that.”

Her lips tug involuntarily. Progress.

I unlock my door at the end of the hall and gesture inside. “Ladies first,” I say, my eyes briefly falling to Charlotte’s still hidden face in Anna’s arms.

Anna walks in and I do a quick scan of the empty hall before walking in and locking the door behind us.

I flick on the light to burn as much mystique as possible. To be honest, every glance at that frightened lump on Anna’s shoulder twists my gut into knots.

“Living room and kitchen, obviously,” I say. I point to the two doorways across the room. “Bedroom on the left. Bathroom on the right. You’re welcome to any food or drinks—”

“We’re fine,” Anna says. She moves to the windows and slides a single finger through curtains to look outside.

“You’ll be safe here, Detective,” I say.

“The Quinns don’t know about this place?” she asks.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me, I wouldn’t still be living here if they did.”

She nods, seemingly satisfied. “We won’t stay long.”

“You can stay as long as you need to. I don’t mind—”

Charlotte raises her head, stopping me cold. Her little eyes peek out from behind dark strands of her hair. Brown with spikes of blue. Just like mine. I couldn’t get a good look at them before.

“Charlotte…” Anna slides her down to the floor and takes a knee beside her. “This is Milo. He’s a…” She hesitates, looking up me. “He’s a friend,” she says.

I lower down, my eyes still locked on hers. She doesn’t seem as frightened as she was before. I wonder if she recognizes the same in me as I do in her. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

“Hey, Charlotte,” I say, my voice nearly breaking. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hello,” she says.

My heart skips. I smile at that tiny voice. Her dimpled cheeks. That brunette hair.

I look at Anna and she’s smiling, too.

She drops it as soon as we make eye contact and turns her attention back to Charlotte. “Come on, honey,” she says. “Let’s take that wet jacket off…”

I stand up. “I’ll grab a few towels for you.”

“Thank you.”

I retreat into the bathroom, taking wide steps to get there as fast as possible.

As soon as I’m out of sight, the wind knocks out of me. I exhale hard, refusing to inhale again until my body jerks and forces me to.

I just met my daughter. And she’s perfect.

I catch my breath and gather two clean towels together before heading back into the living room.

Anna’s eyes shift from me to my desk and I cringe. I wasn’t gone thirty seconds and she’s already spotted the stack of stolen IDs and passport books. Wonderful. Bring a detective home without tidying up first. Good call, buddy.

“Here,” I say, holding out the towels.

“Thanks,” she says, her voice dry and cold again. She gestures to the bedroom behind me. “Do you mind if we use…?”

“No. Go ahead,” I say, turning out of the way.

Anna reaches downward and Charlotte takes her hand out of instinct. “Come on, let’s go get dried off, honey.”

I give an awkward wave as they pass around me. “I’ll just be… out here.”

The door closes behind them. Again, my body jerks to get my attention and I force a deep breath into my lungs.

I walk to the kitchen and open my fridge in search of the nearest shot of alcohol I can find.

Whiskey. That’ll do.

I take a glass from my cabinet and sit down on my sofa. I can just barely hear Anna’s voice in the other room as I fill my glass. It’s oddly soothing, though a mother’s voice usually is.

But when she comes back out again, I don’t know if she’ll be the calm and soothing mother or the hard-ass detective looking for answers.

With my luck? The latter times a thousand. Maybe it won’t be as bad if I’m half drunk.

I take a drink and wait.