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outta here.’
    Finn looked the young man in the eyes. ‘You kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?’ he said, nodding toward the other man standing by the booth. The tattooed man moved closer, until
his face was only inches away. ‘You don’t want to act tough,’ Finn said. ‘You want to sit down.’
    ‘You wanna make me siddown, asshole?’
    ‘Me? No.’
    The young man reached up and grabbed Finn by the collar. He pulled back his other hand in a fist, sneering confidently. The look lasted only a split second, though. Before he could throw the
punch, Kozlowski moved forward and grabbed him by the elbow. In one swift move, he twisted the young man’s arm around far enough that the back of his hand was above his shoulder blade. The
move forced the young man to let go of Finn’s collar and double over as he gave a high-pitched squeal. Kozlowski used the momentum to drive the man’s forehead down hard into the top of
a nearby table, splitting the skin just above the nose. Leaning over him, Kozlowski used all of his weight to keep him immobilized. ‘Man asked you to sit,’ Kozlowski said.
    ‘Fuck you!’
    Kozlowski pulled the man’s head off the table and slammed it down again. Then he pushed the man’s arm up even further, drawing a fresh scream. ‘Any more, and it breaks,’
Kozlowski said. ‘You wanna sit yet?’
    People at the bar were watching, as were McDougal and his other friend, both of whom remained still. The bartender called over, ‘Koz! Fuck’s goin’ on over there?’
    ‘Young man here slipped,’ Kozlowski said. ‘I’m trying to make sure he’s all right. Make sure he doesn’t slip again.’
    ‘Did he slip hard enough to need an ambulance?’ the bartender asked.
    ‘Not yet.’ Kozlowski leaned down and spoke into the side of the man’s face. ‘What do you think, kid? You gonna sit, or are you gonna slip hard enough to need an
ambulance?’
    The young man was wheezing through the pain. ‘Ahhh!’ he yelled as Kozlowski applied additional pressure to the arm. ‘Okay, I’ll sit!’
    Kozlowski eased up on his arm and spun him around into a chair at the table. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. ‘Wipe the blood off your face.’ The young man sat there
fuming, but remained in the chair. He took the handkerchief and put it to the top of his nose to stop the bleeding.
    Finn looked at the other young man. ‘You want to sit, too.’ The young man didn’t hesitate, and slid into a chair at the same table as his friend. ‘Not there,’ Finn
said. ‘Both of you, over there.’ He pointed over toward the other side of the bar. The two of them hesitated. ‘I’m Kevin’s lawyer,’ Finn explained. ‘At
least for now. That means whatever I say to him is privileged, as long as I say it to him in confidence. If you’re close enough to hear what I say, the privilege dies.’ The two of them
looked at him, still not comprehending.
    ‘Just move, morons,’ Kozlowski said.
    The two of them looked at McDougal. He didn’t look up from the table, and after a moment they stood up and moved to the other side of the bar.
    Finn stood at the opening of the booth, looking down at Kevin McDougal. ‘Mind if we sit?’

CHAPTER THREE
    Long stayed at the apartment while the coroner and the lab boys did their work. He didn’t need to be there; he’d get a report when they were done, and he suspected
he’d learn little from it. The case was likely to be over quickly one way or another. Either they would find a fingerprint that could easily be matched with someone already in the system and
they would make an arrest in a day, or there would be nothing to point in any particular direction and the case would die on the vine in a week.
    He’d work the case no matter the direction it took; he believed in working cases even when they looked hopeless. And there was always a chance that there was something more to the case
than appeared on the surface. It was unlikely, though, and Long was