Two and four, but not five? Niki thought. “We’ll ask them to each step forward, one at a time,” she said. “What we asked of one, we have to ask of them all.”

The jailer pushed a button on an intercom beside the window. “Number one, take a step forward.”

The man did as he was instructed and Sadie gave him a look, her head moving, almost imperceptibly, from side to side in a no, before she whispered, “Okay.”

“Number one, step back. Number two, step forward.”

Sadie narrowed her gaze on number two, looking hard at the man as though struggling to connect his face to a memory. The jailer reached for the button on the intercom and Sadie said, “Wait.” The man remained ahead of the line for several seconds, an eternity that caused Niki’s pulse to quicken.

Then Sadie nodded to the jailer. “Okay.”

The jailer returned number two to his place in line. Number three’s turn came and went quickly and Sadie paused again when number four stepped out of line. Sadie scrutinized his face the way she had with number two.

When Gavin stepped forward, Niki watched Sadie’s face in the glass, looking for any sign of recognition and seeing none. Sadie closed her eyes as though trying to conjure up the memory of the man in the salon chair. When she opened them again, she shook her head no and said, “Okay.”

Number six took his turn and obviously struck no chord with Sadie.

“I’m not sure,” she said when he stepped back. “I didn’t look at the man straight on. He was sitting in the chair. I saw him in the mirror and from the side. Can I have them…maybe turn to the side?”

“Absolutely,” Niki said, relieved.

The jailer had each one step forward and turn to the left and then to the right. Again, Sadie paused on number two and number four. When they were finished, her gaze bounced back and forth between those two men.

Niki handed a piece of paper to the jailer. “Ask them each to say these words.”

The jailer read the sentence on the paper, and then cued the intercom. “Number one, please step forward and repeat the following phrase: ‘All you had to do was be nice.’”

Niki watched Gavin’s eyes and saw fear flash in them. He’d replaced his practiced expression of boredom with what looked to be concentration.

The men, one by one, followed the jailer’s instructions, repeating the phrase that the man who had called himself Kevin had said to Sadie. When number two and number four said the words, Niki saw, in Sadie’s reflection in the glass, a hint of disappointment.

“Number five?”

Gavin Spencer stared at the wall ahead of him, intensely focused. Niki could almost read his mind. He’s trying to cure his lisp.