“Good move.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Nora said she’d wait for me before starting the interview.” Amusement entered her tone. “She said it very deliberately. I think she was trying to hint that you shouldn’t be there.”

“Too bad. I’ll watch through the mirror. She can’t complain about that.”

“Sure she can.”

“She won’t.” I hope. He ended the call, telling her to drive safely, and jogged down the hallway to the stairs. He took them two at a time and hit the fire door from the stairwell a bit too hard, announcing his entry to everyone who worked on that floor. He knew Nora was using the room directly over his. They’d joked about running a cup-and-string system out the window for communication. Nora stepped out of a room, a file tucked under her arm.

“I see you’ve heard,” she stated. She cut him off as he started to plead his case. “You’ll stay in the observation room and you won’t say a word.”

“Agreed.”

They moved down the hall together, and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t think I’m a pushover.”

“I don’t.” He matched his stride to hers.

“I might expect the same courtesy one day.”

“I hope I never have to extend it to you,” he said sincerely.

“I’m doing this for two reasons,” she said firmly. “One: I want all the eyes and ears possible on this case. You were at the scene and might pick up on something I or the FBI might miss. And two: you and Denny go way back.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I could be risking my position.”

“I’ll go to bat for you. I can be very persuasive and everything’s feeling disorganized in the office with Denny gone. I don’t think anyone will come down on us for coloring outside the lines a bit.”

“There’s talk that you’re being considered as Denny’s replacement.”

Mason tripped. “What? No. That can’t be right.” I’m not supervisor material.

“I’ve heard it from two people. It hasn’t reached you?”

“Lord, no. I’d turn it down anyway.”

“Why?” Green eyes turned his way.

“I’m not a boss. I don’t want the headaches that come with supervising people, and I’m crappy at telling people what to do.”

“From what I’ve seen you’re a natural leader.”

“You haven’t seen much. Sure, I can manage a scene in the field. But sit behind a desk and listen to everyone’s complaints? Berate a detective for breaking a rule that I probably would have broken, too? That’s not for me.”

“Huh.”

He glanced at her. “You like doing that stuff?”

“I like people. I’ve had supervisory positions in the past. I’ve been told I do it well.”

“If they come to me, I’ll suggest you.”

She snorted. “That’ll go over well. I’ve been in this office for two weeks and am the only female in Major Crimes. Is this your way of getting me to go back to Salem?”

“The guys around here could use some shaking up. If you’re fair, they’ll be fair.” I think.

She lifted an eyebrow, giving him a “You’re bullshitting me” expression.

“Maybe not,” he admitted.

They worked their way to the interview rooms and found Zander waiting outside one. They stepped inside the adjacent observation room to get a look at the confessor.

“He’s young!” Mason exclaimed. “There’s no way . . .” He let the sentence fall away. Age didn’t matter these days. Teenagers filled the headlines with their brutal crimes. Even some preteens.

“The masks might make more sense if he’s our guy,” said Zander. “I kept feeling there was a younger element to those choices.”

“How old is he?” asked Nora.

“He’s twenty,” supplied Zander. “Name’s Micah Zuch.”

Mason studied the slouching young man at the table. He had dyed his unruly hair an impenetrable black and wore black skinny jeans, a ripped black shirt, and a black jacket. He was thin to the point that Mason wanted to order him a Big Mac. Two of them.

“Street kid?” he asked.

Zander shook his head. “I have a home address from southeast Portland. His mother lives there. No father in the picture.”

“He’s twenty and lives at home?” Mason asked. Although his son Jake was nearly twenty, and he still lived at home when he wasn’t in school. Micah didn’t look like a college student.

“I think it’s more common these days than when we were twenty,” said Zander. “It’s cheaper to live at home. Cost of living is higher now.”

Only because kids today believe the cost of living includes an iPhone, a new car, and a big-screen TV.

“At first he told us he was homeless,” Nora said. “He told the detective he lived on the streets with some of the other homeless kids but eventually admitted he went home to sleep. Sounds like he spends a lot of his time on the streets, though.”

“A street kid wannabe,” Mason murmured. “What type of person wants to pass himself off as one of them?”

“They’re edgy. Independent,” said Zander.

“They’re also hard up to find a place to shower and sleep. Many of them resort to crime to fund their drug habits or meals.”