“That was our first case together,” Niki said. “The crime scene photographer took that. I had mentioned to him that it was my first day in Homicide, so he gave it to me as a memento.”

“I would have thought…” Max stopped.

“What?”

“I would have thought you’d have cropped me out of it.”

Niki walked to the stove and put a kettle on for tea. Without turning to face Max, she asked, “Would you have thrown it away if the roles were reversed?”

Max tried to imagine that. What if Niki had disappeared?

When he didn’t answer right away, he saw Niki’s shoulders settle, like a child who had just been let down. “No. I would not have thrown it away,” he said, finally. He knew that those were the words she wanted to hear, and as he said them, they felt honest.

“Want some tea? A little chamomile to slow the gears down?”

“Sure.”

Max sat at the table while Niki gathered cups and tea and honey. The room had gone silent, so Max filled the void. “Whoever we meet with in the morning will want to know why we’re looking into the Molinar murder,” he said. “We probably shouldn’t tell them about the ping. I don’t want you getting tangled up in my…”

“Shenanigans?”

“Sure, let’s go with shenanigans. I’ll just say that a confidential source gave us a tip and leave it at that.”

Niki joined Max at the table, sitting across from him. “I can work with that,” she said.

“What should we say about… who I am?”

“Seriously, Max? Everyone in the St. Paul Homicide division is going to know who you are, if not by face, then by reputation. Believe it or not, you were something of a legend.”

“I could stay in the car.”

“We’ll tell them that you’re consulting with me,” Niki said. “We’re trying to solve a crime. No one’s going to care that you don’t have a badge as long as you’re with me.”

“Watching out for me… just like the old days.”

“No, this isn’t like the old days, Max.” She traced a finger along the tabletop. “In the old days, you wouldn’t be sitting in my kitchen waiting for tea to boil.”

Max felt his cheeks warm up.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you always kept the distance between us,” she said.

“We were partners. I… didn’t want people to think…” Max could see no way to say it without coming across like a patronizing fool.

“They were going to think that regardless. But you made the decision for both of us. You with your rules and your walls. Getting to know you was like… walking through a maze.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing. We were such good partners. I didn’t want to mess things up.”

“And how did that work out?”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Max asked, not sure if he was ready for where this conversation seemed to be headed.