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“I don’t know,” Laura said. He could feel how eager she was to move on, to solve the case, to get it done. “We don’t have hours to spend here. If Rondelle calls and orders us back or we lose our jobs, we don’t want to have to tell him all we did was sit in a bar and watch a guy.”
“I don’t think he’ll call tonight,” Nate pointed out. “It’s getting late. Speaking of, who’s paying for the motel tonight?”
Laura sighed deeply. “I guess it’s coming out of our own pockets,” she said. “It’s too far to drive back and forth every morning and night – especially since we’ve got to finish this before Rondelle snaps, and that could happen at any time. I want to be as close to the town as possible so we can be on the scene as soon as we need to be.”
“Scene?” Nate repeated. He risked a glance at her as he pulled out into the road. “You think there’s going to be a scene? Like, a new one?”
“I do,” Laura nodded. “I can’t think of any other reason why I would have these visions – can you? I think he’s going to strike again, and we have to stop him before he does that.”
“Maybe.” Nate bit his lip again, not wanting to say it.
He didn’t think they were getting anywhere in particular. Checking out one guy who one bar manager had pinpointed as being kind of odd wasn’t a real lead. He knew Laura saw it that way, that she was excited about it. He knew they would have to follow it up, because if they didn’t, she was never going to let it drop. She would always be wondering if they had missed the most obvious suspect.
And besides, just because it felt like a reach, didn’t necessarily mean Laura was wrong. She’d been right with less to work on before. Nate knew his role in their partnership: to support, to help, to put her in the right places so she could have her visions. To keep her safe between. He wasn’t always great at the last part – something he remembered every time she lifted her hand and he saw the burn scars across one side of it – but he did what he could.
“There!” Laura shouted, almost making Nate jerk the wheel to the side and crash the car.
“What? Where?” he demanded, not even sure what he was supposed to be looking for.
“The bar!” Laura exclaimed. “It’s right ahead. Here, there’s a parking lot – pull in!”
“Okay, wow,” Nate said, shaking his head. “You didn’t need to give me a heart attack.” He pulled in and parked, resting his hands on the steering wheel for a minute, feeling like he needed to catch his breath.
“You need to do more cardio,” Laura said. She turned to get out of the car, leaving Nate to stare after her, speechless. It was only when she leaned down and grinned at him through the window that he realized she was riling him up on purpose.
“I’ll get you for that,” he muttered, which only made her grin more as he got out to join her.
“You sure you don’t want to stay behind for this one?” he asked. “I can bring him out here cuffed, no problem.”
Laura frowned at him, even deeper than she had before. “What’s with you trying to stop me from doing my job today?”
“It’s not that,” Nate said, holding up his hands. “It’s just… are you going to be alright in there?” They’d already visited a bar during this trip, but that had been different. During the day, when the liquor was safely closed up in bottles and taps, not in glasses and ready to be consumed.
“I’ll be fine,” Laura said, turning her back on him and walking towards the doors, conveniently meaning he could no longer see her face.
Nate sighed and followed after her, because there was nothing else he could do.
Inside the bar, the atmosphere was busy. There were people sitting around at tables and on stools at the bar, engaged in spirited conversations. A few televisions high up on the walls were blaring some local sports game, and there was also low-level music piped throughout the place. It was like walking into a wall of sound – almost overwhelming to begin with.
“Great,” Nate muttered. “It’s busy.”
“Well, if he’s a regular, we should be able to narrow it down,” Laura replied, heading towards the bar. She reached for her badge, and Nate was about to put out a hand to stop her and remind her to play it quiet, but her hand moved away on its own. He guessed she had remembered.
“I’ll order us something,” Nate said, gesturing to a couple of seats towards the end of the bar. “Let’s sit and listen.”
Laura opened her mouth but then closed it again, as if she’d thought better of the objection. She sat down at the bar, obediently, and Nate stood by a stool to wait to get the bartender’s attention.
“What can I get you?” he asked, coming closer and wiping his hands on a dish towel over his shoulder.
“Two Cokes,” Nate said. “Do you do food here?”
“We do snacks and bar food,” the bartender replied, reaching for two glasses, and starting to fill one from the tap.
“You have a menu?” Nate asked.
“Sure,” the bartender replied, grabbing a laminated sheet, and passing it over the bar. Nate studied it, tapping his card against the machine when he was prompted. He took a slug of the cold drink, watching Laura do the same from the corner of his eye, and then turned his back against the bar as if he was just settling in.
“What do you think?” he asked.
