Page 140 of The Birthday List (Maysen Jar 1)

Being so young, I had dismissed Nina when I’d seen her on the video footage. Just like all of the cops had done that day as they’d watched the young couple walk to their black car and drive away.

Leaving ruined lives in their wake.

“How am I going to tell Poppy all of this?”

“I don’t know.” Matt stood from his chair. “But it’s good that you can be the one to break the news.”

I followed Matt out of observation to the hallway but stopped as the door to interrogation opened. With Simmons gesturing her through the door, Nina stepped into the hallway. Her eyes were aimed at her feet, but when she saw Matt and me, she looked up. Then with one hand, she brushed her hair back, holding it out of her eyes.

For the first time, I got a full view of her face. A face I recognized after all. A face I knew from years ago.

My feet faltered and my shoulder crashed into the wall.

Time slowed as Nina stared at me, recognition dawning on her face at the same time it did on mine. She held my eyes, unblinking, until Simmons shuffled her along, down the hallway to process her arrest.

No. No, it couldn’t be her. Nina Veras couldn’t be the young girl I’d caught six years ago one night on patrol. It couldn’t be her.

Except it was.

“Please. Please, Officer, ple

ase.” The girl clung to my arm. “Please don’t arrest me. I promise, I’ll never do something like this again.”

“Look, kid. I’m sorry. But you and your friends were vandalizing private property. Graffiti is illegal, even if that building is condemned. I can’t let you go.” Especially because she was the only one of her gang that I’d managed to snatch.

“No.” Her eyes begged me as she spoke. “I swear. I wasn’t even painting. Look.” She held up her fingers, all of which were clean.

“Then you won’t get in much trouble. Let’s go.” I took her elbow and started walking her back to my car.

“Please.” She was tall, probably five ten or eleven, so she kept up with my steps as she kept pleading. “I’m only sixteen. If you take me in, they’ll send me back to California. But I can’t go back. I can’t. My mom’s boyfriend . . .” She stopped her feet, tugging my arms so I stopped too. “Please. I can’t go back to live with him.” With her free hand, she lifted the long, dark hair off the nape of her neck, revealing a cluster of six cigarette burns shining under the streetlamp.

Fuck. This girl might be playing me, but the tears in her eyes and the torment on her face looked like the truth.

“You’re sixteen?”

She nodded.

“How did you get to Montana?”

“I came with my boyfriend. He’s twenty-one and we moved here together. But my dad lives here, he just doesn’t have official custody.”

“And was this boyfriend one of the punks who was vandalizing that wall?”

She shook her head. “No.”

My eyes narrowed at her lie. “Really?”

“I won’t do it again,” she whispered. “Please.”

I let her arm go and took a deep breath. Without a trace on her hands, I couldn’t prove she’d been spray-painting. All I could show was that she was with the crowd, which meant she’d probably get a slap on the wrist and a one-way ticket to California from social services. So instead of dragging her to my cruiser, I put one finger in her face. “This is your once. Your one chance. If I catch you again, I’ll drive your ass to California myself.”

“Thank you.” She threw her arms around my middle. “Thank you.” The second she let me go, she turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Be good!” I called to her back.

“I will!” She waved and disappeared around the corner.

“Cole.” Matt put his hand on my shoulder. “Cole, are you okay?”