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stomach
growling.
    After a meal of
leftovers and a couple of unproductive hours at my desk, I fell
into bed early and spent the night running through endless dreams
on leaden feet.

Chapter 7
    I crept out of bed and
into the shower the next morning feeling only slightly refreshed.
At the breakfast table, I marshalled my shrinking courage with a
brisk pep talk about positive attitude. I could do this.
Claustrophobia was all in my head.
    I made no effort to
dress up beyond a well-fitting pair of jeans and a flattering
T-shirt. Even so, I was over-dressed for the grimy office at the
Silverside Hotel. I made my unwilling way to Harks’s chaotic desk
and began to sort through the heaps of stained and wrinkled
receipts.
    Harks’s aversion to
tidiness actually worked in his favour in a few cases as I
harvested slips of paper from where they’d drifted onto the floor
and into the corners. I tried not to think about the nameless
objects that lurked in the dingy cavern under the desk.
    Harks made a short
appearance, again leaning heavily on the back of my chair. The
faint wheezing of his breath from a few inches behind my head made
my skin crawl, and a dull headache bloomed while my neck and
shoulders tensed.
    After an hour and a
half, I’d sorted and stacked the papers in orderly piles, ready for
me to tackle the next time.
    As I left the office,
Harks looked up from the reception desk. “You leaving already?”
    “Yes, I have another
client.”
    “I need this done right
away, you know. For what I’m paying you, I should come first in
line.”
    Yeah, right. He’d
ignored it for at least six months, and now he needed it right
away. I left without comment.
    I stepped gratefully
out into the blazing sun and stumbled to my car. After another
liberal application of hand sanitizer, I slumped in the seat for a
few seconds massaging my headache before driving over to Blue
Eddy’s.
    My spirits lifted
immediately at the sound of the piano when I let myself in the back
door. Rollicking boogie-woogie made me grin as I poked my head into
the bar.
    Eddy glanced up and
returned my smile while the music continued to pour effortlessly
through his nimble fingers. I knew I couldn’t resist the temptation
anyway, so I didn’t try. Instead of going directly to the office to
get started, I wandered over and leaned against the piano, watching
him play. He walked the bass home and grinned up at me.
    “You’re still my
all-time favourite client, Eddy,” I told him sincerely.
    “Ah, you’re just
sucking up because you love my burgers,” he teased.
    “True, but I’m also
sucking up because I love your piano playing. And your bar. And the
blues. And your beer.” I sighed. “Man, I could sure use a beer
right now.”
    He hopped up from the
piano stool. “Do you want one?”
    I shook my head
regretfully. “I’d love one, but I can’t. I’m driving. And anyway,
beer and bookkeeping probably isn’t a good combination.”
    His observant gaze
assessed me. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
    “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve
just been really busy lately. I’ve gotten a couple of new
clients.”
    “What, more dens of
iniquity like mine?” he joked.
    I laughed. “One of them
is a den of iniquity. Or a den of disgusting filth, anyway.”
    “Do tell. I didn’t know
we had disgusting filth here in Silverside.”
    “Then you’ve never been
in the office at the Silverside Hotel.”
    Eddy sobered, a faint
line appearing between his eyebrows. “Bill Harks? Are you sure you
want him for a client?”
    “No,” I said
truthfully, trying to make it sound like a joke. “His office is so
gross and dirty, I needed a shower by the time I left. He had a
sandwich lying on his desk that was older than I am.”
    Eddy stood in silence
for a moment, his face troubled. “Aydan... be careful over
there.”
    “Why? Will the cooties
crawl out of the carpet and eat me?”
    “No. At least I don’t
think so,” he said with a half-smile. “It’s