Page 38 of Already Lost

“And just like with Nena, I wonder if thatchip on his shoulder wasn’t passed down through his descendants,” Laura said.

Nate sat up in front of the computer,doing a search on the name Maverford. “There’s a Mark Maverford living locally.He has a parking fine on record. No fingerprints.”

“That could be promising,” Laura said.“Anything on date of birth or address?”

“I’ve got both,” Nate said, reading fromthe screen. “He’s twenty-five and lives downtown.”

“Then we need to go downtown,” Laura said.“Because if we though that Jack Flora was a good suspect, then surely MarkMaverford has to be an even stronger one.”

“I’ll drive,” Nate grinned, swiping hiskeys from the desk. It felt like they were finally getting somewhere, after allthe false turns – and Laura could feel the killer almost within their grasp.

***

Laura looked up at the apartment building,squinting in the gloom. There were streetlights outside, but they didn’t go upas far as the floor that Mark Maverford was listed as living on.

“I hope to God they have an elevator,” shesaid, and Nate snorted.

“I’ll race you up there,” he said.

“I hope you’re joking,” Laura said.“Because you know I’m competitive enough that I would take you up on it, and bythe time we got to the top, neither of us would be in any fit state to arrest asuspect.”

“I’m joking,” Nate smiled. “Come on. Let’sgo find the elevator.”

They moved inside the building after agroup of teenagers who had unlocked the lobby door with a key, managing to getinside without alerting anyone they were there. Seeing an elevator right therein the lobby, Laura breathed a sigh of relief and hit the call button.

The lobby was dirty, the carpets stainedand leaflets half-falling off a communal noticeboard. There was graffiti acrosssome of the mailboxes. Nate followed her glances and lifted his chin. “Lookslike Mark Maverford didn’t inherit the kind of legacy a music legend would wantto leave behind.”

“No, he didn’t,” Laura agreed. “And he’snot even doing as well as Jack Flora, judging by this – which is sayingsomething.”

The elevator pinged an announcement of itsarrival and the doors swished open, prompting Laura and Nate to step inside. Itsmelled like stale cigarette smoke, and Laura found herself holding her breathas they waited for it to take them all the way up to the fifteenth floor.

“At least he can’t run out the back doorin a place like this,” Nate muttered. He was clearly gritting his teeth againstthe smell as well.

“I don’t know,” she said, teasing him. Sheremembered another case they’d worked where the suspect had been a bit moreinventive. “If there’s a balcony, he might try to jump down into a pool orsomething else that will break his fall.”

“Thankfully, I don’t think this place hasa pool,” Nate replied drily.

The doors pinged and whooshed open, andLaura stepped out gratefully – though the hall wasn’t much better. It was bareconcrete up here, an open view down to the courtyard below where they hadentered the building. In the darkness, she felt even more exposed than shemight normally – though she reminded herself that it had been hard to see uphere from the ground past the glow of the streetlights.

Laura stopped short, finding herself infront of the door they wanted quicker than expected, and put out a hand to stopNate walking into her.

“Right,” he said, squaring his shoulders,and then nodded to her.

Laura knocked loud and hard on the door.

There was a sound of movement inside, likesomeone had jumped, startled by the knock. Then more movement, what soundedlike muttering, and finally the door clicked open.

“Who are you?” the man who answered thedoor said. He was holding the door half-closed with the chain in place, peeringout in the gap below it. Laura assessed his face. He looked about the rightage, and she thought she could see a trace of resemblance to the photograph ofEarl Maverford she had seen.

“Mark Maverford?” Laura asked. She sawNate subtly shift his posture, putting his toe close to the door, ready toblock it from shutting.

“Who wants to know?” he asked, his eyesshifting between them rapidly. Something wasn’t right here. Something in hismanner was off. Laura found herself bracing, her hand going towards her hip butpausing short of touching her gun.

“Mr. Maverford, we’d like to discusssomething with you about your great-grandfather,” Laura said. “Earl Maverford.Do you know much about him?” She didn’t want to use the word ‘FBI’ until shehad to, not until the chain was off the door. Right now, he could easily slamit in their faces.

“Oh, you here about great-grandpop?” hesaid, becoming more animated. “Did you know him?”

Laura shot a sideways glance at Nate. Surelyneither of them looked like they could be that old. “No, we didn’t,” she said.“That’s why we’d like to ask you about him.”

---