Simmer Down

mural had been graffitied behind the bar, and the ceiling was littered with tiny lights meant to look like stars. Even with all the neon business everywhere, the room was so dark that I could barely find Sean. I eventually located him at the bar nursing a Guinness. In a simple pullover and khakis, he looked remarkably, and even irritatingly, well-dressed. When we were dating, he’d been a notoriously poor dresser.
    “Hi, Sean,” I said as I removed my coat and sat down on a barstool next to him.
    “Hi, Chloe. Thanks for meeting me. I hope I didn’t interrupt your night.”
    “No, not at all. I’m just starving though. Can I borrow your menu?” I felt suddenly nervous, as if at any minute Sean might confess his undying adoration and propose. “Have you eaten? Do you want something?” I was trying to avoid whatever topic Sean had in mind. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash our past or discuss our nonexistent future.
    “Sure, I could eat,” Sean said, picking up his menu. “But, listen, the reason I called you—”
    I cut him off. “Look, it’s Barry.” Eclipse’s owner was at the other end of the bar speaking with one of the bartenders. He caught my eye, smiled, and came over to our seats.
    “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Chloe,” he said, shaking my hand. In my eagerness to find a strong motive for Hannah to have murdered Oliver, I was almost disappointed that Barry failed to attempt any inappropriate touching, thereby confirming that Full Moon establishments were rife with sexually aggressive behavior. Did I really expect him to just reach out and grab my boob as confirmation?
    I introduced Sean and Barry to each other and got a puzzled look from Barry, as though he’d caught me cheating on Josh.
    “Sean is an old friend of mine,” I said. “He was at Food for Thought the other night,” I explained, meaning that Josh knew of Sean’s existence and that I was not some horrible tramp involved in clandestine meetings with other boys in nightclubs.
    “We just stopped in for a bite to eat,” I said. “To catch up.”
    Barry nodded. “Everything is on the house for you two. Frankly, I couldn’t ask someone with your taste to pay for the food here. It’s garbage, if you ask me. Oliver really wanted standard bar food here, so that’s what we did. I don’t know how you can eat here when you’re used to Josh’s food. I don’t know if you know, but I used to go to Magellan all the time.”
    Magellan was Josh’s old restaurant, where he’d run a very successful kitchen. He was reusing some of his best dishes from his stint there by putting them on Simmer’s menu.
    “I’m sure everything will be fine,” I assured Barry. “Not all food has to be totally upscale all the time, right?”
    Barry shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose. Well, anyhow, go ahead and order whatever you can stomach and consider it covered. Sean, it was nice to meet you.” He shook Sean’s hand, smiled at me, and left.
    We looked at the menu and, after Sean had proclaimed that everything looked great, the bartender took our order for spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips, buffalo wings, and loaded potato skins. It wasn’t exactly a high class selection, but that kind of food definitely had its place.
    “I’ve got dinner plans later,” Sean said, “so I probably shouldn’t eat too much, but I’m starved.” From what I remembered, Sean was always hungry.
    I reached across him for the three-page laminated de-scriptions of Eclipse’s bar offerings. “I think I’m going to get a drink.” I scanned pictures of neon-colored concoctions.
    “Chloe, the reason I called you is about what happened the other night,” he began again.
    “Uh-huh,” I nodded, searching for the bartender. “Oh, excuse me. Could I have a Global Warming, please?” I’d just ordered the most politically incorrect drink I’d ever seen, but it had lots of rum.
    “When I was at the gallery the other night, I was looking for the restroom, and I accidentally came across one of the office rooms back there. I saw a man and a woman in there. And the man had himself pressed up against the woman, forcing himself on her. I was about to step in, but the woman didn’t seem to need my help. She pushed him away and said every four-letter word I’d ever heard. Then she started hitting him with a bag of chips. I’m not sure how much good that did, but it did seem to surprise him. I didn’t realize it until later that night,