Emily’s cheeks burned red beneath her numerous freckles as her strawberry-blonde eyelashes blinked hazily over her glassy eyes. She oft’ enjoyed a bit of gin or wine, but Bradley had flooded their bar table with a slew of shot glasses. The aspiring journalist sipped on a beer as she was reminded of her college days.

Across the table, Cooper was leaning against Bradley with his black hair slightly tussled. His glasses rested on his face, somewhat askew, as he giggled and sang random lines from “Rocket Man.” Bradley on the other hand, only seemed slightly sauced as he nuzzled Cooper’s hair and kissed him on the forehead.

The bar was clustered with Friday-night traffic by this point and the three friends had to speak louder to drown out the hum of the crowd and the lively music that was playing. The atmosphere of it all was a bit chaotic, but it felt seemingly perfect given the week that Emily had.

Cooper suddenly leaned over the table, “Okay so, you’ve heard about my week. What the heck is goin’ on with you?”

Emily rolled her eyes and slammed her beer bottle down on the table a bit more aggressively than she had intended. An exaggerated sigh escaped her lips as she shook her head.

“Coop, don’t get me started. My mom doesn’t want me to see her right now and is actin’ all weird, I can’t go to work without my boss undressing me with his eyes, and some weirdo gave me their number,” Emily complained, and then quickly tensed as she realized what she had said.

Coop flapped his hand in the air, “Girl, just go see your mom anyway. It’s not like they’re gonna lock you out of their house. As for your boss, he’s a sleaze-ball so don’t even give him the time of day.”

Coop started to throw back another shot, but Bradley snatched it from the drunkard and wagged his finger at him. A wave of annoyance flickered across Cooper’s face as Bradley took the shot in his stead.

“Wait a sec,” Coop paused as he fully digested what Emily had said, “A weirdo? Do you have a stalker or something?”

Emily shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she thought of what to say. It definitely wasn’t smart to speak about the Assistance Agency so openly, and she wasn’t sure if Coop needed to know about the business card at all.

“Um…do you remember that person I bumped into the other night? They just slipped a number into my pocket, but I wasn’t sure if I should even entertain them,” Emily lied as she studied Coop’s and Bradley’s expressions. Coop looked up at the ceiling like he was trying to remember something while Bradley stared on with curiosity.

“Aha! That dude in the black suit that looked all gloomy. Mr. Men in Black!” Cooper explained as he snapped his fingers.

Emily wasn’t even sure if that was the person who left the card in her pocket, but it seemed plausible given the situation that occurred. She nodded tersely in Cooper’s direction and then tried to move on from the subject. However, Cooper and Bradley were resilient in their curiosity.

“A strange admirer huh?” Bradley mused with a mischievous smile, “Well it wouldn’t hurt to call, right? Maybe they’re good in the sack…and you could tell this boss of yours that you’re taken.”

Coop nodded in agreement with Bradley as Emily blushed and sputtered, “I don’t know guys. I can’t even remember what they looked like.”

Coop scratched his head, “I can’t remember that whole night perfectly or anything, but your sexy stranger knew how to wear a suit. I think he had dark hair and pale skin or whatever.”

A quizzical expression crossed Bradley’s face as he listened to Coop, but whatever was concerning him must not have been important because he visibly shrugged it off and continued drinking.

Coop nudged Bradley playfully, “You should’ve seen this dude. He looked like an undercover agent or a funeral director.”

Bradley snickered in response, “Well maybe he was. Emily, you should totally call this person. They probably drive fancy cars and live uptown.”

Emily thumbed the matte business card in her pocket and frowned thoughtfully. She had been too busy to make the call all day, but she wasn’t even sure if it was a good idea. There was probably a lot more to this card than what the boys were thinking.

What if she didn’t call though? Would it frustrate the owner of the card? If that was the case, then maybe calling the strange number to see what they wanted wasn’t such a bad idea.

Emily mulled over the consequences for a moment and then summoned up her courage and stood up from the bar table triumphantly, nearly knocking over a few empty glasses. She grabbed her phone and nodded at Coop and Bradley with a sense of determination.

“I’ll be outside,” she stammered as she left the table and pushed herself out into the cool night air.

Her hands trembled as she tried to look at the card conspicuously under the beam of a nearby streetlight and typed what she saw into her phone’s dial pad. Emily’s heart froze with anticipation as she listened to the dial tone and waited for a response.

The autumn air was quickly enveloping her body like a tight glove as she waited. On the other side of the street, a few strangers stumbled through the darkness as they loudly recalled the events of their night. In the distance, a busker’s melancholy guitar solo dripped through the city sky and tickled Emily’s eardrums.

Click.

“Hello,” a monotone woman with a Boston accent spoke on the other line, “This is Henry’s Exotic Pets. May I ask what animal you are interested in?”

Emily hesitated in confusion at what she was hearing until a light bulb flickered in her head, “Oh…um…I think I’m interested in…a Crow?”

“Hold please,” the woman responded flatly.

Emily waited patiently as her call was transferred, half confused and half terrified at the thought of what was happening.

“Hello?” A silky voice leaked like smoke through the phone line.

The hairs on the back of Emily’s neck stood up almost instantaneously, “Crow?”

“Hello Emily. We need to talk, but not over the phone. Is that alright with you?”

The adrenaline in Emily’s body rushed through her blood like boiling water. If her assumptions were correct, the mayor’s worst enemy, who was also her boss’s subject of interest, was just on the other side of a simple phone call.

Emily glanced up through the bar window to see if Bradley or Cooper were paying attention to how she was handling the phone call. To her amusement, the two were flirting incessantly as Bradley fingered Coop’s lip ring. Coop giggled visibly and bit Bradley on the tip of his nose.

“What the – “

“Pardon?”

Emily snapped back into the moment as she heard Crow’s quizzical tone through the phone line.

“Ah, sorry. My friends are just eating each other’s faces…Wait, why do you want to talk to me?”

“That’s lovely,” Crow sighed, “and I don’t like personal questions. If you really want to know, then I’ll see you in a bit.”

Emily felt her stomach drop like a rock, but before she could even respond the phone call had ended. A cool breeze suddenly tore through the night and whipped through her long hair, sending flicks of red and gold around her frozen face.

Somewhere in the city, a notorious criminal knew who she was, and that person intended to meet with her no matter what she wanted.