Page 41 of Smoke and Glitter

Then I send it.

For a few seconds, I just stare at the confirmation on the screen.

That's it.

An office in London existed for me for maybe four minutes.

Sam sleeps through all of them.

I put my phone facedown on the nightstand and settle back under his arm before he notices I was gone.

The man in the suit is sitting at the far end of the bar when I come into Vibes a few nights later.

There's a folder in front of him and a glass of water he hasn't touched. Bex passes him on her way toward me without asking if he needs anything, which tells me she's already tried.

She puts my mezcal down while I'm taking off my coat.

I nod toward the other end of the bar. "Who's the suit?"

Bex glances over her shoulder as she hangs my coat beneath the counter. "No idea."

"Bex."

She looks back at me. "I genuinely don't know."

That makes me look again.

Sam is working the rail around the man, but I know him well enough now to see the difference. He's not rude. He's not even unfriendly. A customer asks for bourbon and gets bourbon. Somebody closes a tab. A regular calls his name from the other end of the bar, and Sam answers without stopping.

But nothing gets past the counter.

I take a drink and try not to watch.

Twenty minutes later, I've given up pretending.

The man does most of the talking. At one point he opens the folder and turns something toward Sam. Sam reads it, says something I can't hear, then closes the folder and pushes it back.

The man sits there another few minutes before finally getting to his feet.

Sam walks him to the door.

When he comes back behind the bar, he reaches for a knife. The lime tray is already full enough for a Friday rush, but he pulls another lime toward him and starts cutting.

I wait until the blade goes through the first half.

"Who was that?"

"Bank thing."

He doesn't look up.

I glance toward the untouched water at the end of the bar. "That didn't look like a bank thing."

"It was a bank thing, Autumn."

His voice is easy when he says it. Warm, even. He gives me a small smile before turning the lime under the knife.

I've watched him do this to other people for months.