Free Secret of the Seventh Son by Glenn Cooper Page A

music, he made magic. When I played with him, I thought the heavens was going to open up and angels was going to pour on out. You want me to put on some Miles right now so I can show you what I mean?"
    "I'd rather hear some of your music," she replied.
    "You are trying to charm me, young Miss FBI! And you are being successful." He said to Will, "You know your colleague here is a charmer?"
    "This is our first day together."
    "She's got a personality. You can go far with that." He pushed himself up from the chair and made his way to the piano, sat on the stool and made a few fists to loosen his joints. "I got to play soft now, on account of the neighbors, you see." He began to play. Slow, cool music, obliquely tender, with haunting hints of melodies that disappeared into the mist to return anew down the line. He played for a good long time with his eyes closed, occasionally humming a few bars of accompaniment. Nancy was mesmerized but Will kept up his guard, checking his watch, listening through the notes for taps or scratches or thumps in the night.
    When Clive finished, when the last note faded to nothingness, Nancy said, "Oh my God, that was beautiful. Thank you so much."
    "No, thank you for listening and for watching over me tonight." He sank back into his easy chair. "Thanks to both of you. You're making me feel real safe and I appreciate that. Say, chief," he said to Will, "am I allowed to have a nightcap?"
    "What do you want? I'll get it for you."
    "Over in the kitchen cupboard to the right of the sink, I got a nice bottle of Jack. Don't you go puttin' no ice in it."
    Will found the bottle, half full. He unscrewed the top and sniffed. Could someone have poisoned it? Is that how this was supposed to go down? Then, an inspired thought: I need to protect this man and I could use a drink. He poured himself two fingers and downed it fast. Tasted like bourbon. A nice little buzz started. I'll wait for half a minute to see if I die, if not, the man gets his nightcap, he thought, impressed with his own logic.
    "Find it, chief?" Clive called out from the other room.
    "Yeah. Be right there."
    Since he'd survived, he brought out a glass and handed it to Clive, who sniffed his breath and remarked, "Glad to see you helped yourself, my man."
    Nancy glared at him.
    "Quality control, like a Roman food taster," Will said, but Nancy looked horrified.
    Clive started sipping and talking. "You know what, Miss FBI, I'm going to send you some CDs of my group, the Clive Robertson Five. We're just a bunch of old-timers but we still got our thing going on, if you know what I'm sayin'. We still cookin' with gas, though my man, Harry Smiley, on drums, he passes plenty of gas too."
    Almost an hour later he was still talking about life on the road, keyboard styles, the music business. His drink was finished. His voice trailed off, his eyes fluttered closed, and he began to softly snore.
    "What should we do?" Nancy asked quietly.
    "We've got an hour till midnight. Let's have him stay right there and wait this out." He got up.
    "Where're you going?"
    "To the bathroom. You okay with that?"
    She nodded sullenly.
    He hissed at her. "What? Did you think I was going to get another drink? For Christ's sake, I needed to make sure it wasn't poisoned."
    "Self-sacrifice," she observed. "Admirable."
    He took a leak and came back angry.
    He strained to control his volume. "You know, partner, you need to get off your high horse if you want to work with me." He demanded, "How old are you?"
    "Thirty."
    "Well, sweetheart, when I got into this game, you were in junior high, okay?"
    "Don't call me sweetheart!" she hissed.
    "You're right, that was inappropriate. In a million fucking years you'd never be my sweetheart."
    She responded with a full blast of whispered fury. "Well that's good news because the last time you dated someone in the office you almost got fired. Way to go, Will. Remind me never to take career advice from you."
    Clive snorted and half stirred. They