“Shoes, please,” Apollo’s mother said, entering the foyer and pointing at a half-full shoe rack to the left of the front door. “I’m Cindy,” she continued, offering her hand after nudging the door closed. She wore a brilliant pink maxi dress with two lavender stripes running down the sides and lavish black heels. Zed was both impressed and ashamed on sight.

Zed shook Cindy’s hand firmly, meeting her intense eyes directly. She was a tall woman, bony yet imposing. She was so tall that her head seemed to float above her body, connected by will rather than sinew. Zed stammered out some small talk. “Did you hear about what happened in Stone Mountain?”

“Young lady, please remove your shoes.” Zed immediately obliged, unlacing her boots and placing them on the shoe rack next to a rainbow of differently colored heels and worn brown sandals. Without her boots, she lost two inches of height, placing her farther beneath Cindy’s formidable gaze. Cindy silently started up the stairs. Zed took the hint, trailing her.

There were no pictures on the stairwell, just blank space. Cindy stopped at a bedroom with a crimson door, silent.

“Hey Mom, what’s up?” Apollo bellowed from the other side of the door.

“Your girlfriend is here. She dresses strangely.”

Apollo careened out of the door, grabbing Zed like she was a freed hostage being released to the police, and slammed the door behind him. “Really?” he asked, burying his chin into her neck as he embraced her for a hug.

“I’d ask how’d it go, but they let you in the house, so that’s a pretty good sign,” he said, releasing her to step back and look her in the eyes. “I like your dress, by the way,” he added. Zed shook her head and slid to the floor, sitting cross-legged, a flap of her smock splayed over her crotch. She scanned Apollo’s room. It looked pretty bare for a place where he spent so much time. A mounted TV was the only wall ornament, and a bed, a desk, and a small dresser were the only furniture. On the desk were three monitors, all of them powered on, and a PS4 on standby. Zed searched for some lone analog device, a clock or a tome of Apollo’s beloved manga, finding nothing but more wires, screens, and devices. Theo wasn’t joking. Apollo truly did live his life online. Zed faintly smiled as pictures of her and Apollo appeared on all of his screensavers.

“Are you okay?” Apollo asked. Zed wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring at her.

“Yeah, I’m worried,” she finally replied.

“You must have watched the press conference. I caught that too. Of course they have leads. We don’t know if they’re good leads, though.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Zed said, unassured. “I’m just worried about the J. We might be in some Clayton County graffiti database or something. I know you put a C on it, but I feel like we should clear Jerry’s grave, just to be safe.”