“Yeah. Working on his laptop in the coffee shop across the street from your club. He just happens to be in Seattle, hanging out across the street from where I’m staying. How fucking convenient is that?”
“Tobias Mayer?” Morse asked again.
“Yes!” Mila threw her hands in the air. “Said he’s working for a company named TriLink, and, get this, he’s a software engineer.”
“And you’re sure it wasTobias Mayer?” Levi was clearly having trouble keeping up.
“Ohmigod, yes! Levi, he’s weird. Like, bizarre weird. Exactly the same as I remember him, weird. Said he and his mom moved to San Francisco, but I swear, he hasn’t changed a bit. Bubbly, happy, nice, not a cynical bone in his body. He even dropped a ‘praise the Lord’ on me. How could living in Frisco not change him at all? That’s impossible, right?”
“So… he’s still nice?”
“Yes! Worse. He’s… perfect. Perfectly mannered, perfectly well spoken, a perfect gentleman. It’s like we were still in the compound where the elders could hear us. I always thought he was just pretending—like me—but I think he’s really thatgood.
“And that’s a problem?”
“It’sweird. He said he went back to the compound to find me. He wanted things to go back to the way they were before he left. Why would anyone go back to the compound?”
“Foryou. I told you that boy had a crush on you. Sounds like he hasn’t grown out of it.”
Shocked, I stared at Mila. During her conversation with Toby, I would have sworn she was all in. She seemed almost as happy to see him as he was to see her. Listening to her rip him apart was surreal. It was almost like watching two different people. She had to be the best actress I’d ever met.
Maybe even better than my mom.
I stared at Mila, flabbergasted, wishing I could unthink that thought.
“I got his phone number, and I’ll text it over to you. He wants to have lunch with us soon.” Mila marched straight to her temporary desk and sat, opening her laptop. “What are the chances? I haven’t seen or heard from Toby in years, and he suddenly pops up? It’s gotta be connected to Polly and Rishi’s deaths. He took the Bible classes with us and knows the verses. He wanted to gobackto the compound, Levi.Back.Tolivethere.With me,” she repeated. “There has to be something wrong with him.”
Still looking confused, Levi met my gaze. “Do you have anything to add?”
I set Levi’s coffee down on his desk. “About five-ten, a hundred and seventy pounds, short brown hair, brown eyes, medium build. No visible scars, no distinguishable markings, dressed to fit in with the upper-class Seattle tech crowd. Respectful. He pulled out her chair and stood when she did. Didn’t try to keep her there. Didn’t guilt her into staying longer than she could. Looked me in the eyes when he shook my hand.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“Why does it sound like you’re endorsing him?” Mila asked, her voice thick with outrage.
I shrugged. “He seems like a nice guy.”
“So did Jeffrey Dahmer.”
Levi frowned at Mila. “You really think Toby is capable of murder?”
“I don’t know, but you have to admit it’s weird I ran into him here.”
“Not really. Most software designers end up in Seattle sooner or later. It’s a small world, Meals. You two were inseparable for years. Did you ever see him do anything alarming like pluck the wings off butterflies or burn ants with a magnifying glass?”
She frowned at Levi. “No. Of course not. I wouldn’t have hung out with him if he was like that.”
“But now you think he’s a murderer.”
“Shouldn’t you be all gung-ho on this? We finally have a lead—someone for you to investigate—and you’re giving me shit about it.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m suspicious as fuck and fully intend to dig so far into his business I’ll make a cavity search seem non-invasive. I’m just wondering why you’re so ready to sharpen the pitchforks and go after him. He was your best friend, Meals.”
“And look how much I’ve changed! If I can become a…” she glanced at me, “school teacher, he can be a murderer.”
Mila was keeping something from me. I’d heard it before when she was worrying about God punishing her, but that glance, that slip… she’d confirmed it. Morse immediately dropped his gaze to his screen and Mila began typing away like a hypochondriac who’d discovered WebMD for the very first time.
I hated secrets almost as much as I hated lies.
She was so damn fake at the coffee shop.
