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offered her another beer. She smiled, shook her head and went back to pretending nothing else in the world existed.
    Except the door.
    She hid it well, but she watched the door like she expected it to disappear. Oh, she wasn’t overt about it. She just made sure nothing stayed between her and the escape route. It was a sort of readiness, like she knew she might have to bolt at any given second.
    He’d been working here since he was sixteen, running the place for the past fifteen years, since his parents died in the accident when he was twenty-five. Adam could spot a drunk from a mile away and he knew when somebody was trying to make a drug deal in his place, when a fight was about ready to break out, and he knew when somebody was trying to hide.
    That hiding thing was the easiest thing to spot, for him, at least.
    He also knew how to hide. In plain sight, even. He didn’t even know if anybody had ever seen past the mask he wore, but he knew the signs.
    So he saw the signs on her well enough. Travis Nevins sat down next to her, an admiring look in his eyes, and he struck up a conversation, or tried to. She made the right sounds, nodded, and as soon as she could she ended it, and Travis, being no idiot, cut his losses and vacated the stool.
    After he was gone, she shifted around so that she had her back to whoever might take the seat next.
    Polite, subtle … Leave me alone.
    Through it all, she watched the door.
    When somebody cut in front of her and blocked her view, she changed her angle. And kept her watch on the door.
    If she hadn’t worked so hard to downplay it, Adam might not have even noticed. But she worked too hard to hide it, and that, in and of itself, made him notice.
    Shakers was packed. That wasn’t unusual. It was Friday; people were ready to blow steam. But the atmosphere in general was … tense. That was putting it mildly.
    He knew why, too.
    He’d caught the whisper of the name earlier.
    Charlie Sutter, missing for a few weeks.
    Not missing, now. Dead, in the river.
    Dead how? Adam had overheard one of his servers asking the off-duty cop at the bar.
    Beats the fuck out of me. The cop shrugged, but Adam had a glimpse of his flat eyes. Adam would bet the night’s receipts that the man knew, all right. He just wasn’t saying.
    They had another corpse and it was hotter than hell outside.
    All sorts of people were going to be edgy and pissed.
    No wonder Adam had already had to break up two near fights. If he got through the night without calling the police, it would be a miracle. He wondered if the cop might be talked into hanging around awhile. Luther did enjoy his wings. Maybe a free order would do the trick.
    A raised voice from the far end of the bar caught Adam’s ears and he sighed. Every damn person had his tail in a twist tonight.
    Adam didn’t have to speculate about just what the problem was. It wasn’t just the discovery of Charlie Sutter’s body, either. It was more. A lot more.
    That fucking club.
    Somebody had pried the information out of somebody at the police department and given it to the local news. The Cronus Club. They couldn’t call it the I Rape Little Boys Club.
    His hand tightened on the neck of the bottle and Adam had to remind himself to calm down, pull back. Mixing up a hurricane for Hank’s wife, Tina, Adam took that and the beer down to the end and put them in front of the couple, leaning against the bar and taking a minute while there was a brief lull. Hank smiled at him. Adam just nodded.
    “You hear about Junior?” Hank asked, his eyes troubled. They’d spent some time working together when Junior had hired Hank to help with a side project a few years back.
    Adam nodded.
    “I…” Hank stared sightlessly at the wall in front of him. “I can’t believe it. Just can’t wrap my mind around it.”
    “Charlie. The Blue family.” Tina rested her head against Hank’s arm, dragging her finger through the condensation gathering on her glass. “I mean … I know