Pretty: Cowardice

"I'm sure you didn't come here to hear me scold you, or really even for the beer, probably. No, the fact that you're here and still sober, coupled with what you said about having had a cheeseburger earlier, tells me you're on a case and you need help."

"Actually, I'm not on a case anymore." Jack took out his notebook. "I was tracking down one David Eddington for his wife, Lucy. David is a supervising accountant for Bingham and Steed, or at least was until three days ago when he failed to return home. He had been acting somewhat erratically for the week prior to that, and then one night, poof. He disappeared. Lucy called me rather than the police because she was worried her social standing would suffer when the police found out that he was shacking up with someone from his office. Turns out that wasn't the case at all, but she still can't go to the police. Seems David was last seen in the company of a Muninite or two, eating dinner no less. Since then, zilch. As soon as I heard that he was involved with the Followers of Memory, I told poor Mrs. Lucy Eddington that I would no longer be working for her, with her, or near her. I returned the check she had given me when she hired me, and walked away. As far as she is concerned, I'm off the case."

Mitsunori's brow creased in thought as he put a beer in front of Jack. "How did she take it?"

"How did she take it?" A wild light crept into Jack's eyes. He put the beer to his lips and drained it in less than thirty seconds. "I just told her that her husband, whom she was worried was cheating on her, was not cheating after all but was faithful and probably still loved her, but had fallen into the hands of a criminal organization from which neither I nor the police would be able to extricate him. Additionally, I told her that I would not contact her again because I was, essentially, a coward. Which, I essentially am. She did not take it well."

As Jack was getting himself worked up, Mitsunori had taken the glass Jack drained and filled poured enough water in it to fill it halfway. He then rotated the glass three times clockwise and twice counterclockwise. Finally, just as Jack stopped speaking, he hit it with his hand so it spilled all along the bar away from him and Jack, who jumped away from the bar in surprise, even though he was expecting something of the sort.

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