She shrugged. "I have a way of getting people to talk to me."
Bridge nodded. "Also, if anyone's got cameras, look for gaps in time. That means an Elite member has been here."
Her brow furrowed. "Gaps in time?"
He smirked. "We tend to not want to be seen moving about."
We all formed small ohs with our mouths and nodded as Nyla knocked on the front door.
A woman in crisp black trousers and a white top opened it, asking if she could help us, and Nyla flashed her badge. The next thing we knew we were in Jacob Milton's office. We were served tea and his delightful truffle biscuits.
When Milton came in, he bustled, carrying a stack of papers, and called out, "Jennifer, if you could—" He stopped talking as soon as he saw us. "Oh, I didn't realize I had visitors."
At thirty-five, Milton had started to bald slightly. His suit, while moderately expensive, was slightly rumpled. It looked like there was some kind of tweed weave to it. So successful, but a sort of rumpled solicitor was the look I was getting from him. He was clean-shaven, hair combed back neatly, but he smiled at us all warmly. "Hello. Jennifer, if you can hold my calls so I can talk to my guests."
Jennifer, the woman with the crisp trousers, said, "Yes, sir. Sorry I didn't get to warn you. You were in the other meeting."
"It's all right. I'll brief you when I'm done here."
She nodded and then excused herself. He came over and shook my hand immediately. "I'm so sorry, did we have an appointment?"
Nyla took charge. "Sir, sorry we barged in. I'm Special Agent Nyla Kincade. This is Emma Varma, and this gentleman you know."
Milton eyed Bridge up and down. Bridge was a solid four inches taller than him. "Ah, I'm not sure where I would know you from, but it’s lovely to meet you." He stuck out his hand, and Bridge eyed it for a second before taking it. I could see him visibly relax.
"I look a lot different from the last time you saw me."
Milton's brows went up. "Well, if you looked different, you clearly have done well for yourself, I suppose. May I ask you who you are?"
Bridge gave him a brief nod. "Bridge Edgerton."
Milton cocked his head. "The first name is familiar, the last name, not so much."
Bridge sighed. "It was Bridge Tenneson when we last knew each other."
Milton's eyes went wide and he gasped. And then he eyed Bridge up and down again and again. "Jesus, didn't you hit a growth spurt?”
Bridge watched him warily. I could feel the tension in his body. I wanted to reach out and take his hand and tell him to calm the fuck down. We needed information, not for him to scare the guy.
But Milton didn't look afraid. He looked, what was that? A little bit like he'd tracked in on himself. His body had hunched down just a little bit, and he sighed deeply. "Wow, I would never have recognized you. And you have done well. Looks like we both changed."
Bridge just gave him a terse nod and then sat down.
Milton continued. "So, this is clearly not a social visit. Special Agent Kincade, what can I do for you?"
Nyla took out the recorder and waved it. "All right if we record this?"
He nodded. "I have nothing to hide."
"Fantastic." After she announced who was present, she began. "We wanted to ask you about the incident that you and Mr. Edgerton were involved in years ago."
He coughed. "What? When I was thirteen?"
She nodded. "Yeah, if you don't mind."
"Like I said, I was thirteen. It was so long ago. And last I checked, Mr. Edgerton is it? He was eight, maybe."
Bridge nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"What can I say about the incident? I was a twat. A full cunt status. I was a real menace."
Bridge blinked in surprise as if not expecting him to say that. "Ah, you won't catch any argument from me."
Milton laughed. Then he walked around and sat behind his desk, placed his files down, and then got comfortable. "Oh, for the love of Christ, it's been over two decades. A lot changes, but that night changed me forever."
Bridge eyed him dubiously.
"Look, first, since you're here and I wouldn't have known how to find you otherwise, let me apologize."
We all were taken aback. Nyla hovered over the recorder as if she was going to stop recording. But Milton continued without paying attention to anyone but Bridge. "I sincerely want to apologize to you. That day, I was a stupid kid. I could have killed you, and what I did to your mate was out of order. I shouldn't have."
Bridge stared for a long moment, and I could see it in his gaze, the memory as his brow furrowed. "I didn't expect that."
"Yeah, trust me, I know why. But falling on my own stupid knife was like karma was coming for me. I was going to end up dead or in the nick for the rest of my life if I didn't get my shit together. The copper who came and arrested you and got me to the hospital, he got me straight. He made sure I went to school and such. He got me cleaned up. Off the booze and things."
"Booze?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Thirteen, running around with the wrong crowd, you do things you're not supposed to."
I sighed. It's not like I hadn't had a drink or two myself by the age of fourteen or fifteen.
"But anyway, that girl, Pip, I looked for her to apologize, but I never found her.”
Bridge was just staring at Milton, completely gobsmacked. "Yeah, you remember."
"Yeah, of course, I remember. I'm lucky you didn't kill me for fucking with your mate. And then I almost killed myself."
"I-I don't know what to say."
"You can say what you need to. I guess these two are your bodyguards?"
Bridge chuckled. "Hardly."
Nyla sat forward. "Okay, so that incident, what happened?"
Milton shrugged. "I was a twat. Pip was, you know, annoying. The neighborhood pest, somebody's sister. I don't remember who. But she used to annoy Bridge the most. Always tagging along after him."
He nodded. "Yeah, Pip."
"Anyway, she was aggravating me one day, and I used to have this chain. Just junk really, it wasn't even real. But she was horsing around, and she nicked it. My big brother had given it to me. And then when she nicked it, I just… I don't know. I lost it. I grabbed her. And I'm not proud of this, but I was seeing blind rage and I think I was high. But at the end of the day, there was no excuse. I shouldn't have hurt her. I took her down, and then I took my Swiss army knife and I started whacking off her hair. Pip had really pretty locks, a real towhead. Not that dirty dishwater blond, really beautiful blond hair, and she used to wear it in this ponytail. I just started hacking it off."
Next to me, I could feel Bridge tensing. Milton continued. "I just held her down, and all I could see was red. I was just so angry. Bridge grabbed me, knocked me down, and then picked me back up. At eight, you were so fucking strong. Already my size."
Bridge shrugged. "Pip was just a kid. A girl I didn't want to see hurt."
Milton shook his head. "She shouldn't have been hurt. That was on me. I fucked up. Anyway, Bridge asked me how I would like it if someone grabbed a knife and started cutting my hair off. And then he dropped me down again. We started getting into it. I held the knife like some mini gangster. I went after him. I don't even know how he knew how to do what he did, but he just kicked my legs out from under me. I fell on my own bloody knife."