Inside a private room at the bar
The lighting was dim and the drinks intoxicating. Sydney Sawyer sat on a single armchair, staring at her pink slippers, at her own feet, so embarrassed her toes were digging into the floor.
'If I'd known, I wouldn't have come.'
'Why does it feel like I'm some clown being gawked at by these two?'
Ryder Sharp wasn't so old-fashioned as to think women shouldn't be in bars.
It was just that Jane Spencer had always told him how quiet and well-behaved her daughter was, so he'd subconsciously assumed she wouldn't frequent places like this.
'It seems this little sister...'
'...has a lot of secrets.'
"You come to bars often?" Ryder Sharp asked, looking up at her.
The dark background made his cool voice sound even more detached and indifferent.
"No, just... occasionally."
"Alone?" Ryder Sharp pressed.
