“Okay. Not sure that Keith needs an excuse to drink more, anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Weren’t you the one delivering the shots earlier?”
“Never said I was perfect. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” He peered up at me for a second. “Anyway, we’ll need to pry Keith out of the bathroom first. Because we all know what he’s doing in there.”
That certainly sounded like Finch knew about the drugs already. Was that why he’d fired Keith? Because that would actually be fair. I wouldn’t want Keith in his current state representing me either.
Finch’s phone rang. It had been in his hand ever since we arrived. He was probably waiting for a call from his new art dealer. “Sorry, I need to take this,” he said. “Will you be okay if I step out?”
“Sure, sure.”
Finch pressed his lips together, then nodded before heading for the door. I could already see Jonathan coming our way.
“Jesus, there you are,” Jonathan said when he finally reached me. “Keith has disappeared. He went into the bathroom and then vanished. Maeve and Derrick are still back there looking.”
“By the way, the contractor is here, with some friends,” I said. “I ran into them outside. It wasn’t pleasant.”
“Perfect,” Jonathan said, then seemed to register the potential gravity. “Wait, are you okay?”
I nodded as my throat started to burn. “Yeah.”
“And of course now we can’t leave until we find Keith.” Jonathan shook his head, put a hand to his mouth. “This is— I mean, are we about to get into a bar brawl because Keith’s somewhere getting high?”
“Also, I think Finch already knows about the drugs.”
Jonathan raised his eyebrows and sighed. “Well, I suppose that at least takes some of the pressure off.”
Maeve appeared then, smiling a little maniacally. “We found Keith,” she breathed. “Derrick’s just grabbing him now.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Luke. He was watching us. “Let’s go wait in the car,” I said. “Like right now.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for Derrick and Keith?” Maeve asked.
Jonathan glanced Luke’s way, too. “No,” he said. “Stephanie’s right: we should go.”
Maeve darted ahead obediently, making her way through the crowd with surprising speed. She was a couple steps ahead when Luke’s weaselly friend appeared out of nowhere, heading her off. Maeve nearly bumped into him.
“Oh, excuse me,” I heard her say.
She tried to move around him to the door, but he blocked her way.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
She went to step around him again, but he suddenly cocked his head and clamped a hand around her forearm.
“I know you,” he leered drunkenly. “You gave me, you know— ” He mouthed a blow-job motion. “You look hot as fu— ”
Maeve pulled her free arm back and gave him a whack to his sternum. The guy stumbled back and released her, and Maeve rushed ahead and out the door.
“Asshole,” I spat at him as we headed past.
None of us looked back until we were across the street at the car. Maeve was pale and clearly shaken. I grasped her hand and squeezed it.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded unconvincingly as we watched Derrick come out of the bar alone.
“Where’s Keith?” I called to him.
“He’s coming. He’s coming,” Derrick said as he crossed over to us, but he seemed troubled. “Let’s just get in the car.”
We piled back into Derrick’s SUV, all taking the same seats we had before. This time Finch seemed to be much closer to me in the back seat, our legs almost touching. I could feel the heat of him as we sat there and waited. I tried to inch closer to the window to put a little space between us.
“Oh, here he comes,” Maeve said, turning around to look behind us.
“Good,” I said without looking myself. “Now we can leave.”
“He’s, um— there’s somebody with him.”
“What?” Jonathan asked, looking for himself from the front passenger seat. “Who?”
I turned, too, and sure enough, there was Keith crossing the street and he was, indeed, not alone. Some distance behind there was a woman— blond hair with a reddish tinge, wearing a tiny camel-colored leather skirt and short black booties. She was giggling and wobbling as she walked. From the flat expression on Keith’s face as he approached the car, I thought maybe she’d followed him, and he was trying to get rid of her. But then he slowed down and laughed at something she’d said. After that, they walked in lockstep.