nasal. "Visiting who precisely?"
"River Andrews."
He smirked. "Nice try," he said. "But there's no one by that name who lives here."
"Number 1279," I said. "This is the address she sent me."
He shrugged. "Like I said, no one by that name."
"Shit, man," Silas said. "Are you serious?"
I racked my brain. What was the fake name she gave Jed? Brenda. Bailey. Beth. "Beth Winters."
He shook his head, his eyes narrowed.
"Jesus, man, come on," I said.
"Wait a second. You're that guy," he said. "The bomb guy. The one she went to see." He looked back and forth between me and Silas. "There's two of you."
"Jesus Christ," Silas said. "Give this man a medal. Congratulations. We're twins."
"YES," I said. "Yes. That's me. I'm not a psycho stalker or something. I know her."
"Ex-Navy, right?"
"Yes, yes." I didn't want to chat. Right now, I wanted to flatten this guy for getting in the way of me seeing her.
"My son's thinking of joining the Navy," he said.
"That's nice." I looked toward the elevator.
The guard ambled slowly toward the desk. "It was in the news, you know," he said. "One of the magazines. Had your picture in it, with River's. I read your story. Article said you cleared a bomb in Afghanistan, ahead of a convoy that would have never seen it coming. You're a hero."
"Yes," I said, exhaling. "That's me. Hero."