Five

The sun had set by the time they hopped off the streetcar, disappearing between buildings that crowded too close together and leaned on each other like drunks stumbling home at the end of the night. The streetlights were pools of molten gold, but all they lit up was piles of slush and trash, the icy pavement in between sparkling like a warning.

Vivian lived on the second floor now. The two tenement rooms she had shared with her sister had been too much to afford on her own after Florence married and moved downtown. But she couldn't leave her building or her neighborhood, ugly and unloved though they were.

As they turned the corner, she could hear music drifting through the frosty evening, a window left improbably open in the cold air. Will Freeman had recently bought a radio, and even when it was freezing, he threw his windows open to share the music with the world. It cut across the sound of voices raised in an argument, of children shrieking in a way that could mean joy or rage. When she opened the front door of her building and a dog launched into a volley of fierce barking, she could tell it belonged to Mr. Brown. When a baby began crying in response, she recognized Mrs. Gonzales's newborn.

She knew each sound without thought. And as much as she longed to leave behind every run-down, desperate inch of her home, she couldn't bring herself to.

Maybe someday. But not yet.

Vivian shivered as the wind chased them inside before Leo slammed the front door closed. Her feet climbed the stairs without her needing to tell them to.

The thought of a shift at the Nightingale made her shake with fatigue. Usually, it was the place she loved the most in the world, the place she most felt like herself. But tonight, all she wanted to do was curl up like a child, to try and forget everything that had happened.

But there was no forgetting, not yet. If she closed her eyes, she would just see Buchanan's face again, that vacant, shocked stare, the trickle of blood that curved over his chin.

So she might as well go work, sneak a glass of champagne from the bar. Might as well lose herself in the music, wear out her body and her mind until she felt like herself again. Maybe then, she'd sleep without dreaming.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Leo's question, his sudden grab at her arm, brought her thoughts tumbling back into her body. There was a man standing in front of her door, arms crossed as he stared at her, his hat casting shadows over half his face so that she couldn't see his expression. But she could hear the amusement in his voice as he spoke, and it was colder than the air outside.

"I don't think you really need to ask me that, Mr. Green. Not after what happened today." He glanced at Vivian, and she felt the look like a physical touch on her skin.

A movement at the end of the hall, half-seen out of the corner of her eye. Vivian turned as the second man stepped forward, blocking their path back to the stairs. Even in the dim light, she could see the buttons shining on his uniform. She turned back; the man by the door smiled. "Invite me in, Miss Kelly. We have a few things to discuss."

"Sure thing," she said hoarsely, pulling out her keys and stepping past him, the back of her neck prickling under his gaze. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, then stepped out of his way. "Come on in, Commissioner."