Another wrong thing to say. Mia saw him frown slightly, look down at a piece of paper on his desk. She’d lost his interest again. She sat forward and focused on his face, became the eager student. “I was always interested, but there was no one in my circle to teach me. They’re called gaming consoles, right? Like PlayStation 5, Xbox? Is that a console on your shelf there?”

He perked right up, leaned forward, the enthusiastic master ready to instruct the ignorant but willing student. “Oh yeah, it’s a classic, my first PlayStation.”

“Do your friends call you Snake?”

He shook his head. “Snake, like you said, is a handle and isn’t used outside of gaming. Well, almost never,” he added. “Alex and I sometimes called each other by our handles when we were growing up. He was Dante—” He pointed to the poster next to Snake, not quite as large. “Dante is an avatar in DMC—”

Mia cocked her head and he snapped out, his voice impatient, “DMC, the game Devil May Cry.”

She studied the outrageous character on the poster, a swashbuckler with longish gray or blond hair, wearing a billowing red velvet coat over tight black leather that showed off a ripped body. He held an elaborate sword above his head, ready to lop off a head. He looked sexy and hard and determined. Is that how Alex Harrington saw himself?

“And you and Alex played games like World of Warcraft online, with other players?”

“Sure, that’s what gamers do, mostly.”

“Did you or Mr. Harrington ever wear those outfits when you were kids? Red velvet coats and such? Pretend you were them?”

“Sure, kids and teens do, mostly for Halloween and dress-up parties. But you shouldn’t think gaming is any part of Alex’s life now. We play together rarely now to amuse ourselves. We both have more important things to think about, Alex in particular. And, well, so do I, really.”

“Does that make you sad?”

He gave her a flash of a smile. “Sometimes, I admit it. My youth, great days.”

“How about Alex?”

“I’d say Alex is completely focused on becoming the next great mayor of New York City.”

“Of course.” He was leading her back to talk about Alex, but she didn’t want to let it go just yet. She sat forward, her eyes sparkling, and waved her hand at the other posters. “And who are they?”

“That’s Nero next to Dante, then Trish, Vergil, all iconic characters. And that’s Garrosh Hellscream, Deathwing the Destroyer, Uther Lightbringer—they’re all from World of Warcraft.” He made a sweeping gesture. “All of them are avatars or icons, or portraits or emblems—shorthand for the players’ characters.”

“And your own avatar, Snake, how does he fight? Does he have a superpower?”