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“Downstairs. You can’t receive a complete Milwaukee presentation without meeting the mayor.”

“The mayor lives in this building?”

“No. He argues with the parking meters outside.”

I follow Briggs toward the front door. “Are you friends with the man who argues with parking meters?”

“His name is Marco, and he feels strongly about municipal theft.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“We’re close.”

“How close?”

“He tried to sell me a microwave in February.”

“Was it his microwave?”

“That remains unclear.”

“You want to introduce me to a potentially stolen-appliance salesman?”

“He provides local color.”

“Ryan told me to wait here.”

“He is almost five hours away. We’re going downstairs for coffee, and I promise not to lose you.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Only in unfamiliar cities.”

“This is your city.”

“Then you’re completely safe.”

Briggs collects his coat and hands me mine before checking the hallway with exaggerated caution. “If Ryan asks, you forced me.”

“He’ll never believe that.”

“No, but I enjoy establishing a defense early.”

The coffee shop occupies one side of the building’s lobby, and the woman behind the counter begins making Briggs’s drink before we reach her. He introduces me to three people before I manage to order mine, including a security guard who tells me Ryan pretends not to know everyone’s name and a retired teacher who informs me that Briggs once carried her groceries twelve floors after the elevator stopped working.

“I was hoping to control the narrative,” Briggs tells her.

“You told the hockey player’s girlfriend you were the mayor,” she says.

“Different government branch.”

“I’m not technically his girlfriend,” I say.

The woman looks between Briggs and me. “You drove here from Michigan?”

“Yes.”

“You’re his girlfriend.”