Page 78 of Bonds of Magic
I described Sheridan, right down to the dismissive way he looked at people and his arrogant conversational style. Of course, I already knew he came here. But I wanted to know if he did anything strange while he was off-campus. If he met with anyone suspicious.
Law’s eyes narrowed. Then he nodded, evidently deciding that this was information he could part with.
“Yeah. That’s Sheridan,” he said. “One of our regulars. Comes here with another guy on Thursdays. Always gets the fish fry.” He paused. “He comes in here on his own though, too. Thinks he’s good at blackjack.”
“Is he?”
Law snorted and began wiping down the bar with a rag. “I saidthinks, didn’t I?”
Interesting. There was a reason I didn’t play poker that often with Nat. I wasn’t a bad player, but she could count cards with her eyes closed, and I didn’t like those odds. But Sheridan never joined in. He came here instead. Did he have a gambling problem? Or was there some other reason he kept coming back here?”
“He meet anyone here when he plays?” I asked. “Talk to anyone else regularly?
“Aside from the servers, no.” Law made a face. “I get the impression he’s kind of a blowhard. Don’t blame the other regulars for avoiding him.”
That tracked with the Sheridan I knew. But it didn’t tell me anything useful.
Law’s hand stilled, and his head tilted as he considered me for a long moment. I looked back at him, face neutral. Finally, he nodded.
“To be honest, Sheridan hasn’t been in lately. He’s run up some big debts with the casino and hasn’t paid any of them off. The owners contacted the cops, but no one’s seen him.” He gave me a questioning look. “Have you?”
Now things were getting interesting.
“Would I be in here asking questions if I had?”
I kept my voice even. So Sheridan had lost enough to have built up quite a tab. Maybe he did have a problem. But did it connect to anything at Vesperwood?
“You’re actually the second person to come in looking for him this week,” Law said, picking up a sparkling clean glass andpolishing it unnecessarily. “Just a couple of days ago, a woman came in asking about him too.”
“What did she look like?”
The bartender looked down at the twenty still sitting on the bar, paying for my untouched drink. I sighed and pulled two more bills out of my wallet. He looked disappointed when they turned out to be tens.
“All the cash I’ve got,” I said with a shrug. I hadn’t expected this conversation to be so expensive.
Law picked up the bills and tucked them into his pocket. “Curly black hair, cut short. Tall for a woman. Kind of a big nose. Don’t know what else to tell you.”
It didn’t sound like anyone I knew from Vesperwood.
“Is she staying here?” I asked, wondering if I could convince the bartender to tell me her room number.
But Law shook his head. “No, she said she already had a room, back up the road.” He nodded in a generally eastward direction.
That didn’t make any sense. The only thing up the road in that direction was Vesperwood. Unless she was staying in Pointe Claudette.
“That’s all I can tell you,” Law said. “She didn’t say much else.” He glanced down at my whisky. “You gonna drink that?”
I shook my head, sliding off the stool. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks for the information.”
“If you find Sheridan, you let him know we’re looking for him, alright?”
“Will do,” I said.
But not until I got what I wanted first.
15
CORY
