She was sitting between Larry and Lila, but she quickly excused herself and got to her feet, hugging Adam, offering a kiss to Genevieve, then turning to introduce him to the others. He had indeed met several of them at various charity functions, and greetings went around the table.
With Eileen on her feet, talking to Adam, Larry and Lila, who had so vigorously pointed fingers at each other regarding Thorne’s murder, were now next to one another—and pointedly ignoring each other, Gen noticed. Suddenly Lila jumped up and demanded, “So, Adam Harrison, what are you doing in town?”
“You’re not up here because of this dreadful business, are you?” Lou asked.
“Just came up on business,” Adam said lightly.
“Well, you managed to arrive just when the city is going insane,” Larry said.
Meanwhile, Brook dragged over some extra chairs, and in a minute they were all seated.
“Honestly, that murder is all that anyone is talking about,” Larry said. “Everyone’s forgotten about war in the Middle East and global warming.”
“This girl…” Brook said. “I can see why everyone’s so interested in her. She was a lost child of New York.”
“A lost child of New York. I like that. Can I steal it?” Larry asked. “It’ll make a great headline.”
“Go right ahead. I’ll be looking for something deeper, something that gets into the psychology of the phenomenon, for the magazine,” Brook said with a shrug.
“You’re both awful!” Barbara exploded.
They all fell silent, staring at her. She flushed. “One minute you’re complaining because people are treating this like the most devastating news in the world, and the next you’re talking about the spin you’re going to give the story yourselves.”
“Bravo,” Don Tracy said, and applauded, causing Barbara to turn an even deeper shade of crimson.
“Not to mention that we’re all forgetting what it means to us personally,” Lou said quietly.
“Just what does it mean to us?” Nat Halloway asked.
“My dear money man, so sweet and accommodating—and unimaginative,” Lou said, but not unkindly. “It means there really is a psycho out there with a Poe fixation. And that no one in the city is safe—especially us.”
“Just how did you all end up here tonight?” Adam asked pleasantly.
“Well…we get together here all the time,” Don said. Then he laughed. “Hell, I’m here because I needed a drink.”
“I called Eileen,” Lou said. “And she said we should call Lila, and Lila called Barbara.”
“It’s where we hang out,” Larry said a little lamely.
“Just like Cheers,” Don said, lifting his glass. “Everybody knows our names.”
“We needed comfort, if you ask me,” Nat said, and they all fell silent, because unimaginative or not, he had hit on the truth.
The table was still quiet when Genevieve noticed, from the corner of her eye, that the front door had opened and someone else was coming into the crowded bar.
Joe.
She knew she should have tried to get hold of him, at least to let him know she was on her way here, even to invite him to join them. Then again, he had gone off on a trip she certainly hadn’t been invited to share.
She certainly hadn’t expected to see him here now, though.
He saw them and made his way through the crowd and directly toward their table.
“Hello,” Joe said, as if he were greeting everyone at the table all at once. And he was. But his eyes were on Adam, and he wasn’t pretending he wasn’t surprised to see him.
Adam had risen, his hand out to greet Joe warmly, and apparently Joe wasn’t going to be churlish enough to reject his greeting. They clasped hands, then joined in a quick embrace before drawing back to study each other in the way of two men who hadn’t seen each other in a while.
“You look good, Joe,” Adam said.
“So do you. So what the hell brings you to town?” Joe asked pleasantly, only his eyes betraying his suspicion.
They had an audience, Genevieve knew. And Joe was playing the scene well. But when he looked at her, she stiffened. A shaft of cold air seemed to blast straight at her, his eyes were so cold.
He knew. Somehow he knew that she had called Adam.
“I have some business here in the city,” Adam said. “Naturally I gave Genevieve a call.”
“Naturally,” Joe echoed dryly. “And you just happened to show up here?” he asked Genevieve, his tone still pleasant.
“We were just talking about the way we all gravitate to this place,” Eileen said, giving Joe her most radiant smile.
If Joe admired anyone, Gen thought, it was Eileen. And in fact, his eyes did soften as he turned to her.
“Joe, what’s your take on this murder?” Brook asked.
“I don’t know who killed her, if that’s what you’re asking,” Joe said.
“She disappeared on Sunday,” Barbara said, her gaze focused straight ahead, her eyes unseeing, as the words left her lips. “Mary Rogers. Eighteen forty-one. She left her home on a Sunday. She was found on a Wednesday. In the water. Just the same.”
“He’s getting better,” Don Tracy said darkly.