Page 8 of Unknown

If anything, the bar was worse inside than out. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the Army base closed down. A few wooden tables in need of serious repair were dotted around the scuffed floor. They were occupied, though. This bar was surprisingly full. Small groups of people, mostly men, mostly in the forty-plus age group, sat looking around distrustfully when the two of them walked in. Cora thought the patrons at the tables looked as weathered as the bar itself. It wasn’t an Army bar any longer. More like a bar for older bikers. Was that why Trisha had chosen it? It would fit in with the secrecy so far, that she wasn’t willing to show her face where anyone she knew could see her.

The air was filled with smoke and the reek of stale beer, and music thumped from the juke box - a heavy metal tune from the eighties.

Where was Trisha?

Staring around, Cora didn't see her at first - and then she did. But she barely recognized her. Trisha was sitting at a corner table, with a black baseball cap pulled down low over her face, hiding her silver hair. She was wrapped in an oversized dark coat.

Cora couldn't see much of her face, but Trisha's body language was enough to tell her that something was off. She was hunched over the table, shoulders tense, fidgeting with a cigarette lighter.

She looked up as Cora approached. Those green eyes were just as bright and vivid as she remembered. Her face was more weathered. She had a couple of extra piercings in her ears. Trisha had never been one for make-up and that clearly hadn't changed.

"Thanks for coming," she said. She glanced at Gabe, and then back at Cora.

Cora guessed that Trisha wanted to speak to her alone. She was picking up now that this woman was extremely jumpy. Something was wrong because that wasn't a quality she remembered. Trisha had been ice cool and reserved. Now she could see the signs of tension.

"I'll get us a drink," Gabe said. "What do you want?"

Trisha asked for beer, whatever the bar had on tap. Cora asked for a Coke, mindful of her demons. One drink could lead to more, and that could lead to darkness. It was safer to stay away.

Gabe went off to get the drinks and Cora scooted her chair closer.

"What's up?" she asked Trisha.

But Trisha shook her head. "Listen, your phone," she said in a low voice.

"What about it?"

"Can you turn it off?"

Cora's eyes widened. This was going beyond careful. This was paranoid. Whatever was happening, Trisha thought it was serious. And she was worried.

She took her phone out of her pocket and turned it off.

"Okay." Trisha drew out a breath. She twisted her fingers around the cigarette lighter. She took out a smoke and lit it. "How've I been? Okay, I guess. Things haven't always been easy. There have been some tough times. I left the recruiting job a while ago. I work for a gym now. But I still keep in touch with people at the base."

"The one nearby? I thought it closed," Cora said. She got the impression that Trisha was as bad at small talk as she was, and that she was making this conversation as a way of working up to whatever it was she really wanted to talk about.

Maybe she wanted to get a sense of what Cora was about and what she was doing, Cora suddenly wondered.

Gabe was taking a long time with those drinks, and Cora guessed he'd take as long as necessary for her to turn around and tell him that the conversation was done.

"Yeah, that base closed. They moved to the bigger base, the one in Hartford, about fifty miles from here?"

"I know that one," Cora said.

"And you? What are you doing?"

"Still the same," she said. "Still the PI work, when I get the chance and the job's right."

"Okay. Okay," Trisha said. Cora could see the cogs turning in her mind. She took a deep breath. Looked over her shoulder and around the room. It seemed like she was checking that there was nobody nearby.

Cora felt chills prickle her spine because Trisha was so obviously nervous. What the hell was going on?

She leaned forward, then. And in a voice that was almost inaudible, she spoke.

"Listen, there's something going on. At that big base."

Cora leaned forward too. "What is it?" she asked, also in a whisper that could barely be overheard above the thumping metal music.

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