He fought back the urge to reach out and touch her, to check that she really was here. That last night wasn’t just a dream.

Watt realized with a start that she was awake, her eyes fluttering open to shine in the darkness like a cat’s.

“Watt,” she breathed, and he leaned in to kiss her.

“I hate to say this, but I should get back.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to run off,” she murmured, teasing.

“Trust me, the last thing I want is to leave. I just don’t want to be the guy who gets you in trouble with your parents.”

“You’re right.” Leda let out a breath and sat up, letting the sheets spill forward off her shoulders. “Watt?”

He paused at the door to look back at her. “Yeah?”

“Will you go to the inauguration ball with me tonight?” She gave a hesitant smile. “I know we’ve had a few ups and downs at formal events, but I thought this time . . .”

Watt grinned, pretending to deliberate. “I’m not so sure. I mean, last time you only invited me because you wanted access to Nadia.”

Leda rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not how it—”

“But I can’t say no to you, Leda,” Watt finished. “Of course I’ll be there.”

The whole way home, he kept Nadia off. She had powered herself down while he was with Leda, the way she always did when Watt was with a girl, and for some reason he wasn’t ready to break the silence.

Which was why he didn’t get any warning that there were police officers at his apartment.

“As I told you, my son is out at a friend’s house.” Watt’s mom had planted herself sturdily in the doorway, her voice lifted in outrage. Before her stood a pair of police officers: a squat man with a moustache and a bright-eyed woman who couldn’t be much older than Watt.

Quant on, Watt thought furiously, watching as Nadia ran facial-reg on them. She quickly put name-identification boxes below their faces: Harold Campbell and Lindsay Kiles.

“It looks like he’s back now,” Officer Kiles said flatly as Watt approached the door. She lifted an eyebrow, as if to question why he was showing up so very early on a Saturday morning, looking distinctly rumpled and stale.

Officer Campbell butted in. “Mr. Bakradi, we were hoping you would come answer a few questions for us.”

“Absolutely not,” Watt’s mom insisted. Her hands were planted on her hips, her jaw set in a grim line.

Watt felt bewildered, and a little afraid. Nadia, what’s going on? I thought the police didn’t have any concrete evidence. All they knew was that Mariel had been stalking them, which didn’t prove anything.

Nadia seemed as nervous as he was. I’m trying to see what this is about, but as I’ve said before, I can’t hack the police’s system without being on-site.

Watt wondered if Rylin and Avery would be questioned too, or if this was just about him—about his hacking. Or worse, about Nadia.

“It’s okay. I’m happy to come, if I can be of any help,” Watt said as politely as he could, ignoring the angry protests of his mom. He ran a hand through his unruly hair before following the officers back toward the main thoroughfare.

He felt a stab of dismay at the sight of the blue police hover pulled up at the corner. For some reason he’d expected that they would take public transit. It didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence, being forced to ride in the back of that hover, where the doors didn’t open from the inside. It felt as if things had gone in fast-forward, that he had already been tried and found guilty.

Watt lifted his hand to the bump where Nadia was located, to reassure himself that she was still there—a risky gesture, but he tried to make it look as if he were scratching his head. At least he would have Nadia with him during the questioning, he thought, with a fevered gratefulness.

But the moment he followed the detectives into the station’s interrogation room, Nadia set off an alarm bell in Watt’s mind. There’s an infrared sensor in here to detect active tech.

That’s for tablets and contacts! It’s okay, my brain is supposed to show up hot, Watt assured her, because the thought of doing this interrogation without Nadia made him want to throw up.

Not safe. I’m going cold, she told him, and with that she shut herself off.

Shit. Watt would actually have to go through with this alone.

He took the metal folding chair across the table from the detectives. Should he sit up straight or slouch? Maybe lean an elbow on the table? He needed to strike the right balance between nervousness and confidence; because wouldn’t an innocent guy be somewhat blasé about all this, knowing he had done nothing wrong? Or would an innocent person be quaking with fear?

Why couldn’t he make even a decision about his posture without Nadia’s input?

Officer Campbell spoke first. “Mr. Bakradi. Did you know a girl named Mariel Valconsuelo?”

“I don’t know who that is,” Watt replied, perhaps a bit too emphatically. If there were infrared sensors in here, were there also lie detectors? But the detectives couldn’t run a real lie analysis without putting biosensors on him, could they?

Campbell nodded at his colleague, who tapped a screen, causing a hologram of Mariel to flare to life before them. She looked angry and uncompromising, her head tilted upward, as if it was a terrible imposition that she was being asked to take an ID picture.