I walked around the front of the Eloquent Spider, but I couldn’t see Shannon anywhere. There were a few minutes between sets that I could spend with her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I approached the bar, confused. I had texted her as soon as I finished, but she hadn’t answered. I checked my phone again.

“What’s up, Fletch?” Bradford said as I approached the bar. “I hear Rin is picking up your drinks for the night, so what are you having?”

“Just give me a bottle of water. I’m too hot for anything.”

“Drumming shirtless is better, huh?” the bartender quipped, as he fetched my water from a glass cooler behind him. “You look confused. What’s wrong?”

“I’m looking for a woman. Maybe you’ve seen her. She was wearing a black dress that came up to her chin.”

Bradford nodded, licking his lips playfully and enjoying what he was about to say. “Yeah. I’ve seen her. She went into the ladies’ room and a man went in after her. They haven’t come out yet.”

I squinted at him disbelievingly. “Am I supposed to bust in the girl’s bathroom now?”

He smiled broadly. “I’ll come with you if you want backup.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be minding the bar?”

“It’ll only take a second. It would take me longer to go to the back for a new bag of wine. Let’s go.”

I was about to tell him to go soak his head when I remembered the true nature behind Shannon’s pretenses. I didn’t know where her limits were or what she would or wouldn’t do. I didn’t think she was fooling around behind my back at the bathroom during my show. That made no sense, but the idea that she could be up to no good made perfect sense. Had she found some trouble?

“Wait,” I said, putting my hand up to stop Bradford, who had just come around the bar. “I’ll go check it out myself. It’s okay. I’ve been thrown into girl’s bathrooms before.”

“Suit yourself,” Bradford called after me as I strode toward the bathroom.

I opened the door a crack and I heard a male voice say, “You look like a model, Shannon. If you look too hot, these pictures are going to turn out all wrong.” He paused and I opened the door enough to see inside. Officer Todd had a huge digital camera in his hands and he was looking at the pictures he’d taken. “These are all terrible. You have to look sad. Nevermind. I’ll start by getting close-ups.”

I pushed the door open the rest of the way and saw Shannon. She was wearing only her black bra, panties, and knee-high boots. There was writing all over her chest, back, and thighs. Her neck was entirely stained black, and Todd was completely right about how she looked… upsettingly sexy.

“What’s going on?” I asked, not feeling like I was walking in on anything I shouldn’t.

“Fletch?” Shannon squeaked, her face turning bright red and horrified.

“That’s the look we’re going for,” Todd exclaimed before shooting off twenty shots of her red face as she wrung her hands and stared at me appealingly.

“I want Carver,” I read off of her thigh.

Todd’s calm, authoritative voice chimed in. “He put ink inside this dress. From what I can tell, he sent it to her intending to deceive her so she thought the dress came from you. Shannon says she thought your apartment was the return address on the package, but anyone could have put that on. It seems that her sweat activated the ink. It doesn’t come off with water. Hell of a prank, eh?”

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“He did this?” I asked, looking at her alarmed face. She had black smudges on her fingers and when she put a hand to her mouth, it came off on her cheeks. I had never seen her so alarmed. I read it again, “I want Carver. Yeah, I want Carver all right.” I turned around and the only thought in my head was booting it upstairs to see if he was in the VIP room with Chase.

Shannon put her hand on my shoulder to stop me from going and then withdrew it lightning-fast because she’d smeared my shoulder with ink. “Sorry! But please stay,” she cried. “Or, maybe don’t go get in a fistfight. Todd went to get me some clothes when he went to get the camera, but he didn’t have any. Do you have anything with you that I can wear so that I can leave?”

“Shannon, you know I’d give you the shirt off my back,” I said, pulling the wife-beater off and handing it to her.

She took it gratefully and slid it over her head. Wearing it, she looked like an album cover. I kicked off my shoes and undid the button on the cargo pants.

“You don’t have to take those off too,” she said, seeing the top of my blue and white striped boxer shorts.

“Because I’ll look silly walking through the club? I’m debating whether or not I should still drum the second set in my underwear.” I pretended to contemplate this. “Nah. It would never work.”

“You can play, or not, but keep your pants on!” she almost shrieked. Then she calmed down and said, “Look, this shirt hits me mid-thigh. Todd can give me a ride home and I’ll be okay. I just need this shirt.”

Todd had finished taking pictures. “Shannon, do you want to come to the station to make your statement tonight or do you want to come in tomorrow?”

“Tonight!”

“Great. Let’s go. I’ll turn on the heat in the cruiser.”

Feeling helpless as Todd handed Shannon his jacket, I put my hands in my pockets. I felt my keys jingle. “Wait,” I called. “Shannon, don’t go home after you go to the police station. Go to my apartment.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a tub and you don’t. I’ll pick up some things to help you get the ink off and meet you there.”

Tearfully, she took the keys, tucked them into her purse, and left with Officer Todd. He gave me an approving nod and they stepped into the entrance of the club.

Rin met me in the lobby as I watched Shannon and Todd drive away.

“Just can’t keep a shirt on you, huh?” she said with a flirtatious smack of her lips.

I turned to her. “What do you know about that?”

“About Shannon Bilx getting hauled off in a police car? Nothing. I didn’t know they let criminals ride in the front.”

I didn’t think that anyone in the world knew that Shannon was a criminal. I didn’t let Rin’s brazen accusation fluster me. “So, Carver didn’t want me to perform with you tonight?”

“Yup. Good thing he’s not here.”

“I bet he is here,” I said slowly. “I bet he’s the one who suggested that you hire me for your tour and that he told you to hire me tonight too. Your sister’s band is crap and yet this place is packed, and it’s not packed with nobodies. I spotted a few local big wigs in the audience. You and your sister had better hope that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, otherwise, this show might haunt your careers.”

“They came as a special favor to Carver,” she said, before flinching.

“Wish you could bite your tongue off?” I questioned as I regarded the people loitering on the edges of the dancefloor.

“I didn’t mean to say that. I meant to say that they’re here as a special favor to me. You know, because I’m so famous.”

“Do you know what Carver did to Shannon tonight? Why she’s getting taken away in a police car?”

Rin paled and her eyes widened.

“Look,” I continued. “I don’t know if your offer for me to join your band was authentic or not--”

“It is,” she interrupted.

I put up my hand to stop her from saying more. “I don’t know if it was a real offer, but I have to refuse. Don’t bother ever looking me up again. Playing with your band those two nights was fun, but it wasn’t fun enough to have to deal with Carver or anyone connected to him. For the second set, either ask Chase to cover for me or get him to get one of his goons to hook up a drum machine.”

“Wait! You’ll never play with me again? Isn’t that being a little too rash? I mean, we’re all in this music industry together. We’re not competing. We can work together and… I don’t want to see you go.”

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows. “What do you care? You’re willing to play their little games, so go play.”

I strolled out the Eloquent Spider without my shirt on into the cold night air. I walked two steps toward my car before I realized that I couldn’t even drive it home. I had given my keys to Shannon.