man at Table Nine just watched me approach like I was a train he'd heard coming f

Still as a shuttered church, expensive without trying. His tie

ross from him without a

n?" I said, like a

one breath too lon

it

o'd already made peace with every bad thing h

to drop off a fresh dr

y face into the amber light. "I

hea

nd

settling. "You sing like you

e I d

e very good

I was a painting, and he was the one person in

t's what I'm trained

deserve it," I sai

into me. Like he wanted to ask a quest

o

question for a

Buttoned his jacket. L

ht, Miss

give you

edge of the tab

it in yo

ike that,

und the rim of his glass, the warmth of

uso was hiding yet, but I already knew this: I

to be the

someone twice unless

running into a record executive three nights in a row. I'd laughed the

d of crowd that asked for your name with their hand already on your thigh. I didn't sing tha

ng her own grave. Not looking for Frank. Not really.

as t

me, charcoal pinstripe, tie neat as a confession. His

him feel my presence before I gave him my eyes. W

wo nights. Either I'm bless

calm as smoke. "I

into the booth across fr

d to the side, then bac

illed in this town

ask the rig

That was the thing about The Canary; it remembered your

meone with very shar

you strike me as someon

tween us, warm a

do you want to k

as if studying not just my face but the weight of my pau

hy are you reall

on as last night. You

and his voice didn't rise, didn't press-but it d

stare. Le

ch, and just enough real

aid. "They're too afra

ugh. But he

idn't as

and the conversation slightly unfinished. I didn't follow him with my eyes. That woul

ed Art Deco posters that promised names no one remembered anymore. The hallway always smelt like

at on the velvet armrest of the fainting couch and lit a cigarette

dn't get u

harlie stepped into the light slowly, like he was g

ar you come

never

curl toward him. "If you've g

eves were rolled to the elbow, and the top button of his

alone,"

ve. "Congra

lking to Marco. Marco doesn't talk to cops

floor. "So what are y

I was a puzzle he alr

he's got leashed. And Frank Caruso doesn'

my chest co

I can't han

lone," Charlie said. "But you better be s

se now. "Why

looked, like a man about to s

ivi... you're the only one stand

without waitin

ce, I didn

standing close eno

os could make grown men cry into their bourbon and why I couldn't stop hearin

ewhere, a dog barked. Tyres hissed on wet pavement. Neon buzzed above the liquor store where no one ever bought

iles, rusted balcony rails, and a courtyard fountain that hadn't worked since Roosevelt

e window painted everything in shades of old secrets. My heels came off w

top hearing

eresting twice... unl

d at me, it wasn't suspicion. Not yet. It was something heavier.

lders. From up here, the city looked like a promise someone forgot to keep. A couple argued two fl

ng. Watched it va

ou're lying to to believe you. Not just for survival. F

e. That was

my second cigarette, when I heard the faintest

om nature. It's a city sou

ecause hesitation only gives fear a head start. The apartment was silent except for the tick o

here

ke it had walked in on its own. No name. No r

two fingers. The flap wasn't sealed. That was the

re was only

otog

white. G

e. Seated a

t at him. You couldn't see his face just the back of his head, the cut of his

hing written. No smud

was taken. Hours

d followed me from the club. Watched me. Got ahead of

. They hadn't spoken. T

t given me

against the sink, heart thudding in that low, c

was wa

wasn't

wasn'

ced the street, third floor, no balcony across from mine just a brick building and a row of wind

red i

he impression of someone being ver

the cur

ened it a

l no

No sound in the stairwell. No rustling in the courtyard. No fading footsteps, no shadow

his town. They didn't just follow you.

o down beside the drink I hadn't touched.

re. Print it. Deliver it. Quietly. Cleanly. That was

as pre

er my second conversation with Fra

they weren't watching

hing to see wh

? He just became

ain. Still blank. But it di

and another after dark. I'd ju