As Jeremy drove through the suburbs, he realized just how out of place he felt in the evenly spaced, neatly trimmed neighborhoods. He'd been borrowing Lani's car ever since he'd gotten sidelined and his own vehicle had been locked down, and it was a damn sight nicer than his, but he felt weird even listening to his music. It all felt like he didn't belong there.

  Jeremy pulled up a block away from the Bensen house and stopped at the curb, watching and waiting. He'd love to stake out the place and wait until he could catch Alden unaware, but he couldn't just rely on the guy to show up. With what he knew and what he'd seen, every moment wasted felt like another tick on the clock counting down to something horrific. Jeremy wasn't sure what would happen when it struck midnight, but he knew he wanted to be ready the moment it did.

  He couldn't waste time sitting around. Time to flaunt my authority.

  Jeremy got out of the car, and nearly knocked over a boy riding a tricycle down the sidewalk. He apologized hastily to the boy's mother and hurried down the street. Great fuckin' start.

  As Jeremy approached the house, he noted that both spots in the garage were filled, as well as a bicycle leaning up against the wall. Odds were, everyone was home. Perfect.

  He checked his gun again, just in case. Between the bar and the gunman in Canada, Jeremy felt like violence might erupt anywhere at this point — particularly when he was approaching someone he knew had access to magic.

  Magic. Fuck this shit. Can I go back to my old job yet?

  He took the steps up to their porch two at a time. Ignoring the doorbell, he rapped his knuckles loud on the wooden door, audibly echoing through the front hall. He adjusted his tie and jacket quickly in the window reflection. Jeremy had gone for the full FBI 'G-man' look, with a dark suit he'd pulled out of the depths of his closet. He figured it would be the most effective on the kid's family, since he was pretty sure they weren't in on the secret.

  Leverage on top of leverage. Courtney would be proud. Bitch. Pushing his half-sister out of his mind, Jeremy knocked again.

  "Coming!" called a pleasant voice. A woman bustled into view holding a laundry basket. She stopped on seeing Jeremy waiting patiently behind the glass, and quickly set it aside. "Can I help you?"

  Jeremy winced at the burst of cold air that blew past him. Despite the quite comfortable weather, the Bensens apparently still had their air conditioning on and were accustomed to living in the Arctic. "Mrs. Julia Bensen?" he asked firmly.

  "Yes, that's me."

  "I'm Special Agent Lani Makaio with the Federal Investigation Bureau," he continued in his 'talking to civilians' voice. "I'd like to ask you a few questions."

  "Oh! I mean, yes, of course." She looked puzzled and a little frightened, which didn't surprise Jeremy in the slightest. "I'm sorry, what's this about?"

  "May I come in, ma'am?"

  "Of course." She stepped aside and gestured into the living room adjacent. "Can I offer you anything? A drink, maybe?"

  "No, thanks." As Jeremy walked in, he saw a young face laying on the upstairs floor, watching him carefully from between a set of bannisters. She immediately inched backwards out of sight as soon as his head tilted upward. "Is anyone else home?" he asked dryly.

  "My daughter Margaret, and I believe my husband is out back in the shed. Let me go get him."

  Jeremy took a seat on the couch and waited. An inquisitive cat strolled through, eyeing him as the intruder he really was, before it wandered away to find something to eat. Jeremy had the distinct impression he was being watched, which had never failed him yet. The daughter, no doubt. He wondered what hiding spot she'd managed where she could still see him.

  Julia returned a minute later with her husband. Jeremy stood again, offering his hand. "Mr. Bensen, I'm Special Agent Lani Makaio."

  "Makaio?" Bensen asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Yes."

  "I'm sorry, I just… you don't really seem Hawaiian."

  Son of a bitch. "It's complicated."

  Julia nodded sagely. "Dear, he didn't come here to give us his family history."

  Son of a bitch, she noticed too? Jeremy pulled out his badge and showed it to them, and thanked God that Lani had never put a photo into the badge envelope. "I'm here on an investigation, and I just had a few questions for you. Nothing serious, I promise."

  "What's this about?" asked Julia, settling down on the couch next to her husband. "Did something happen?"

  "I'm afraid I can't discuss the particulars, ma'am."

  Bensen shifted in his seat uncomfortably, drawing Jeremy's attention. Does he know? The wife kept talking though, taking the lead for the both of them. "Well I can't imagine what you'd want from us. We're just high school teachers."

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  "Both of you, your whole life?"

  "Yes," said Bensen.

  Julia nodded in agreement. "We met at college and knew we wanted to keep teaching the rest of our lives. It's just so rewarding."

  Jesus, they're the most vanilla couple I've ever seen. If not for their son, I'd be bored out of my fucking mind. "And what about your son, Alden?"

  Julia paused. "Did Alden do something wrong?"

  "That's what I'm here to determine, ma'am."

  Her husband stood up very suddenly. "I'm sorry!"

  Jeremy flinched at the movement, but he didn't seem to be aggressive. The fuck…?

  Julia looked just as shocked. "What's going on?" she asked.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremy saw the daughter, Margaret, peeking around the door from the kitchen, watching them all closely.

  "It wasn't him, it was me, all right? You want me. Don't ruin his life for this."

  Well shit. This just got interesting. Jeremy stood up very slowly. "Mr. Bensen, I'm here to talk to your son. That's all for now."

  "No, he's got nothing to do with this."

  Like hell he doesn't. I saw him with Hailey, and on video in Rallsburg. "We have evidence, Mr. Bensen. I'm afraid I can't leave until I speak with him."

  "Well, he's not here," piped up the girl from the kitchen. "Guess you have to leave."

  "Meg!" Julia admonished. "You should be upstairs."

  "When there's something interesting going on down here? As if." Meg walked in and plopped down on the couch. "Who're you supposed to be?"

  "Lani Makaio, FBI." He stared her down coldly. "So where's your brother, if he's not here?"

  To his surprise, she didn't react at all. Most kids — and plenty of adults — crumbled under his glare, but Meg just shrugged. "Dunno."

  "I told you, my son's got nothing to do with it." Bensen took a deep breath. "I used his computer, all right? I was the one who downloaded it."

  Jeremy took a second to process. "...Downloaded what?"

  "The movie, all right? I did it. I just wanted to see it early but I hate going to the theater. I'm sorry."

  No one spoke for a full minute. Jeremy just stared at him dumbfounded, along with both his wife and daughter.

  "Dad…" Meg started.

  Jeremy burst out laughing. "Fuck me, that's what you were thinkin'?"

  "I don't think that sort of language is called for," Julia snapped, grasping her husband's hand. "It was a mistake. I'm sure we're happy to pay the penalty."

  "Lady, I don't care about a goddamn copyright violation." Jeremy choked back another laugh. He pulled out Lani's badge again. "I'm with the National Security Branch. I couldn't give a shit about piracy."

  "But—" Bensen started.

  "Delete it and move the fuck on." Jeremy shrugged. "I just need to talk to your son."

  "What on earth for?" asked Julia. "What could my Alden have to do with national security?"

  Jeremy paused. The parents were clearly as innocent and naive as their vanilla flavor implied. Telling them more wouldn't do him much good, and might set them off on reporting back what they'd heard. White people love talkin' to the news… and the police. "He may have been a witness to an incident. It's just a routine follow-up. I can't say more." He switched to what he hoped was a reassuring voice. "He's not in any trouble."

  "Should we be getting a lawyer?"

  "Like I said, he's not in any trouble. This is just routine."

  Bensen shook his head, finally calmed down from his hysterics. "Meg was telling the truth. He's not here."

  "So… where is he?" Jeremy asked, after none of them seemed to be forthcoming.

  "We don't know."

  "He's trying to figure out his life. Taking a year off," added Julia. "We're doing our best to help him through that. I'm sure you understand."

  Nope. If I took a year off out of school, I'd have probably starved. "Can you contact him for me?"

  "He asked that we don't."

  Well isn't that suspicious as fuck. "This is really important."

  "I'll text him," said Meg. "If he's gonna answer anyone, he'd answer me. What d'you want me to say?"

  "Whatever you need to get him to come talk to me."

  "Well he's not gonna do that," she said, rolling her eyes.

  Jeremy pulled out a card and wrote down his personal number. He handed it to her. "Give him that number and tell him to call me, then."

  Meg shrugged. "Sure. Does this mean I have a get-out-of-jail-free card now?"

  Julia twisted around at her daughter. "Meg, why would you need something like that?"

  "So I can go do something bad for free."

  Jeremy shook his head. "That's just a phone number. Make sure he gets it." He turned to leave.

  "Let me show you out," Julia said quickly, still trying to act the proper host despite the confusion.

  "I'm sure he's fine," her husband interjected.

  "Can I see your car?" said Meg suddenly. That got them all to pause.

  "...My what?"

  "You've got a secret agent car right? Show it to me."

  "Meg, I'm sure the man's got plenty—"

  "Okay," Jeremy interrupted. She's up to something. "I'm only parked a block away."

  "I'll be right back, Mom." Meg dashed out the front door, leaving her parents bewildered.

  Jeremy shrugged again and followed her out. As soon as they were halfway down the block, Meg slowed down. Her voice dropped low, though she kept her eyes locked forward on Lani's rather unremarkable car.

  "So, Agent Makaio," she said, the name laden with teenage sarcasm. "Whatcha want with my brother?"

  "To talk to him."

  "Bullshit. I know who you are. You met him at the big hostage thing a week ago, right?"

  Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Smarter than you look, kid."

  "Screw you, I look plenty smart. Kelly thinks I scare boys away." She stood next to the car, pretending to look inside. "You're not looking for Alden. You're looking for Hailey, right?"

  Who the fuck is this girl? "...Yeah."

  She glared at him. "If I get her to talk to you, you'll leave my brother out of it. Right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good, 'cause he can't do another one of those. He's already screwed up in the head."

  "...I'm sorry."

  Meg shrugged. "It's not your fault. You went in there to save him, right?"

  "All of 'em."

  She nodded at herself in the window reflection, still determinedly not looking at him. Jeremy checked his peripheral vision, and sure enough, her parents were watching from the porch. Just in case. She kept up the show of just being interested in his car.

  "That's the only reason I'm gonna help you. And don't you forget, I'm just an innocent teenage girl. You got nothing on me, so don't think you can turn around and get me to do more."

  "You gonna lecture me?" Jeremy asked, astounded.

  "I've got powerful friends, Mr. Agent Ashe. Friends you definitely don't want to screw with." She shook her head. "And just to be clear, you and me aren't friends either. One favor and that's it."

  One step closer to finding Jackie. "Deal."

  Meg smiled and stood up straight. "What a shitty car." She walked away, waving goodbye as she went.

  "Fuck you too," Jeremy said through a gritted smile as he waved in return.