Page 8 of Save Me

“Yeah, but there’s not much point heading out there now with rush hour traffic starting. He’ll be in for his shift at eight.”

“His shift?”

“Todd’s a bartender.”

“Okay. Was he around a few years ago?” The name rang a bell. He thought he remembered a bartender named Todd. A handsome guy with brown hair. Popular with the ladies.

“Yeah, he was around. You would probably recognize him if you saw him. Used to be a swimmer. Has a few tats.”

It didn’t sound like the guy he remembered. The guy he was thinking of didn’t have any visible tats, but that could have changed since he was here last. “I want to talk to him.”

“You can, but only after I talk to him. If this is an investigation, we have to treat him as a suspect. Although honestly, we’ve never had an issue with him either. He’s one of the reliable barkeeps. He used to work at the Caislean in Manhattan.”

Crap. That meant he’d been vetted. The Caislean had the strictest hiring standards in the industry. “Still, there’s other people to consider. Some of them have records,” he said.

Calen was a big believer in giving people second chances. Mike scoured their backgrounds to pick only those deserving of one. But maybe one of the undeserving slipped past him.

“I’m getting a list together,” Mike said when there was a knock at the door.

Two uniformed cops entered the room. “Hello. Are you Mike Ward?” one of them asked.

“Yes, come in. Eric, why don’t you head out to your hotel and take a nap. It’s going to be a long night.”

Reluctant to go now that the police had shown up, he stood slowly. Mike shot him an exasperated glare and Eric excused himself, trusting him to do as Calen promised and leave Andie’s name out of this.

He detoured to the bathroom on his way out, wanting to splash some cold water on his face before getting back into his hot car.

The black marble floor of the men’s room partially camouflaged the pant leg sticking out from one of the stalls. Eric blinked several times until his brain caught up and he realized the leg wasn’t just lying there floating unattached in space. It was connected to a body.

Eric rushed to open the stall door. A young man dressed all in black was lying on the floor, pale and unmoving.

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