Chapter 10 · Same Clerk

Nico's hand closes over the back of my neck before I even get my ID out of my jacket.

"Relax," he says, low, right against my ear. "You're sweating through your collar."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

The clerk looks up from her monitor, and her whole face does this thing — recognition, then delight, then something close to a smirk she doesn't bother hiding. Same woman from the courthouse six weeks ago. Same red glasses on a chain. Same name plate: R. OKAFOR.

"Oh," she says. "It's you again."

Nico's fingers tighten just slightly on my neck. Not painful. A leash check. Making sure I'm still on it.

"You know him?" he says, voice easy, the kind of easy that means he's already three moves ahead and waiting to see if I'll lie.

"Sure I know him." Okafor pulls up something on her screen without asking, like she's done this exact thing before, like it's routine. "He's been at this window more than my supervisor."

I feel my stomach drop somewhere around my shoes.

"Eli," Nico says. Just my name. Flat. Waiting.

"We're here for the amendment," I say, too fast. "The name field. That's it.