“Get out of my bar.” “Alright, take it easy,” the young man said. “We were only having a bit of fun.”
He answered and motioned to his friends to get up and leave with him. He saw something behind the eyes of the bartender that truly terrified him, and he wasn’t going to hang around to find out what it was. They all left quickly without looking back.
“I apologize for them. We do get some customers in here from time to time that aren’t the most hospitable of characters. Are you alright? Can I get you anything? Would you like to call the police?”
“No, thank you. But I do appreciate you stepping in when you did,” Ness conjured up the friendliest smile that she could. “It’s my pleasure. Name’s Eddie,” the bartender held out his hand toward Ness and she could feel the underlying strength beneath the calluses.
“I’m Ness,” she responded before releasing his grip. “The food and anything else you order is in the house, Ness. I’d hate to lose a new patron because of a bunch of idiots,” Eddie said as he turned to leave to tend to some other customers in the bar.
Ness turned back to her plate of food, and even though she still had most of her fries and onion rings left, the adrenaline from the incident made her lose her appetite. Ness pushed her plate away and took a few more sips of her club soda. She had a slight tremor in her hands from the altercation, but it wasn’t from fear: it was from rage. She could feel the darkness within her starting to build, and if she didn’t learn how to control it, it would completely overwhelm her.
Ness spent the next few minutes staring into her drink and thought about leaving, but then she heard the small bell above the doors to the bar jingle. She looked up and—almost as if fate had a hand in the evening’s processions—saw Henry Martin walk through the doors. This was obviously not his first stop but confidently walked up to one of the stools at the other end of the bar. Once he sat down, he started snapping his fingers impatiently.
“Arrogant son of a bitch.” Ness whispered to herself as she moved deeper into the booth to avoid being spotted by Martin.
Ness couldn’t believe that their paths actually crossed. This was an interesting turn of events, and she was interested to see how Eddie would respond to this rude customer. But Eddie moved behind the bar and in his friendliest way, asked him what he’d like. Ness overheard Martin ask for a shot of Jack Daniel’s and after Eddy poured the shot for him, Martin simply informed him to leave the bottle. He pulled out a wad of cash and pushed a $100 bill across the bar. Eddie merely nodded and took the cash as he left the bottle with him.
Ness wanted to leave the bar, but she couldn’t risk being spotted by Martin at this point.
If he recognized her it may start an altercation and—even with Eddie here—if people remembered that they were seen fighting in a bar in Chicago, it could cause problems for Ness in the future. The best decision she could make was to bide her time and wait for Martin to leave, but there was no telling how long that might be. Fortunately, Ness had packed an extra scarf and hat into her purse before leaving for the city because it was an unusually cold night. So, she quickly pulled them out and covered her blond hair up.
Martin would recognize her hair long before he recognized her face. Ness adjusted her hat and sat back and got as comfortable as possible. This was the perfect opportunity for Ness to observe how Martin acted out in public, and Ness wasn’t going to waste this moment.
Ness wasn’t sure how long it would take for Martin to finish the bottle of Jack Daniel’s and she was alarmingly surprised when he had the last few drops out of the bottle before the hour was up, and even by alcoholic standards, that was alarmingly excessive.
“How are you doing?” Ness was brought out of her focus by Eddie’s voice behind her.
“Hmmm?” Ness responded.
“Everything all right?” “Oh, yeah, thanks. I’ll actually be leaving soon,” Ness turned and smiled at Eddie. “I hope to see you again, Ness. It was nice having someone like you in here,” Eddie smiled at her and walked back to the bar.
Ness wondered for a few seconds what he meant by that, but her thoughts were cut short by Martin standing up to leave. “Hey, buddy, can I call you a cab?” Eddie asked from behind the bar.
“Nah, I’m walking,” Martin said without turning back and headed for the door. Ness arose quickly and followed him out. The evening had become very dark with storm clouds starting to build in the distance, and Ness knew she would have to get home before it broke. But she didn’t want to stop following him just yet. It was at that moment that she saw Martin dig in his pocket and pull out his car keys, and Ness’ veins became filled with fire. All she could see was her mother’s broken body lying next to her because that monster couldn’t resist the urge to get behind the wheel after being wasted. Her mind was made up—she knew what she had to do.
“Excuse me,” she said in
