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Red Beard went careening into a table. He roared and came hurling back at Liam with fists flying. Liam dodged him easily, sending Red Beard tumbling to the floor from his own momentum. It wasn’t that hard to deal with one angry man. A lifetime growing up with Boyd and the Bricks, getting into scrapes and brawls at the tavern, had trained him well. This was like sipping tea from a china cup compared to that.
Everyone started yelling at once. Red Beard sprang from the floor and rushed at Liam again.
“Stop!” Eli shouted, holding out his hand. Red Beard froze, and the bikers quieted as Eli’s calculating gaze roamed over Liam, assessing him. “Not bad, son. A natural fighter. Where’d you learn?”
Liam lifted a brow in amusement. “Someplace that makes you lot look soft as plum pudding.”
“Liam,” Cora said in warning.
“No, girl.” Eli raised a hand. “Let the man talk.” He was looking at Liam the same way a man sizes up a racehorse. “Perhaps he can do me a favor instead of paying off the debt.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Cora said through gritted teeth. She surprised Liam by getting in Eli’s face. “We are with the Providence FallsPoliceDepartment in case you’ve forgotten. We don’t do you favors.”
“You’d be surprised,” Eli said with a sneer. A few of the bikers chuckled.
“You really want him to do you a favor?” Cora continued. “Tricky business, those. You learn a lot about a person from the favors they ask. Lots of information that could be useful later.”
Eli glared daggers at Cora, but he backed down. Whatever she’d just said must’ve hit home.
The front door opened, and the mood in the room suddenly shifted from hostile aggression to something much lighter.
Finn Walsh entered the bar as somber and expressionless as he’d been when he represented Slice in the interrogation room. Boring as ever. That was Finn for you.
“Jack,” someone at a back table rumbled. A few others joined in, smiling. What the devil was there to smile about? The mongrels should be tearing Finn apart by now. Perhaps they mistook him for a better, livelier person named Jack.
“Finn,” a woman said, pushing through the bikers. Eli’s wife, Mabel, was all grins and happiness to see the man. To Liam’s shock, she threw herself at Finn, giving him an enthusiastic hug.
Finn smiled weakly and patted her on the back. “Mabel, how are you?”
“Better, now that I’ve seen your handsome face,” Mabel answered, giving Finn’s cheek a pinch.
Liam felt as if he’d gone away with the fairies. Maybe someone had spiked his beer with poison and sent him to the great beyond. To see a hard-as-concrete woman like Mabel go all soft and gooey overFinn, of all people. This night was getting stranger by the minute.
Finn spoke quietly to Mabel as most of the bikers dispersed. Eli joined Mabel and Finn, and just like that, the tension in the room evaporated.
“What the devil just happened?” Liam whispered to Cora.
“Finn happened.” She looked just as bothered as he felt.
Like outsiders, they watched as Finn charmed a giggle out of Mabel and received a slap on the back from Eli. Then Finn did something that shocked Liam further. He walked over to Red Beard, covertly pulled money from his wallet and handed it to him. Liam looked to see if Cora was paying attention, but she was staring at her phone. When Liam glanced back at Finn, Red Beard was trying to give the money back, but Finn wouldn’t take it. Instead, he said something that made the man laugh.
By the time Finn approached Liam and Cora, the patrons in the bar weren’t even paying attention anymore. Finn gave them a crooked smile. “You guys want to get out of here?”
“Hell, yes,” Liam said, following Cora to the door. She said nothing, but he didn’t think much of it as they climbed into Finn’s car.
When they were on the highway heading home, Liam glanced to Cora in the backseat. “You all right? That old man better not have given you a hard time.”
She was staring out the window. “I handled him just fine.”
Liam turned to Finn. “How did you know to come for us?”
“On the phone you mentioned Magnus drove you there, and you said he was stirring up trouble. I was already on the road, so I thought I’d drop by just in case. I’ve seen Magnus get caught in some nasty bar fights in the past, so I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“Because you’re so against fighting,” Cora said. She almost sounded bitter, but maybe she was just tired.
“Magnus can be...a wild card,” Finn said. “He doesn’t always consider how his actions affect other people before he charges into something. Anyway, aside from his involvement, how did the meeting with Eli go?” He peered at Cora through the rearview mirror.
“Just great,” she said flatly. “Eli was his usual, charming self.”
