Sal felt much better when the sun rose the next morning. He was still exhausted, but the nausea and dehydration were gone. Events from his drunken night came back to him in flashes. He cringed over what he'd said to Seth: "If you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask," Sal repeated to himself. He could kick himself. He truly suffered the remorse of a drunken high-schooler. Sal had no idea what he might say to Seth if he ever saw him again.
Sal went to the kitchen while everyone else in the house was still asleep. He heated a scone and boiled some water for tea. Angel, his beautiful Labrador, came running happily into the kitchen. Oh, how he'd neglected her. He decided he'd take her for a walk. It was hot out, the wind wasn't moving, and the world was quiet, yet again.
Things had calmed down a bit in Strong Edge since the murders of the businessman and Ben Adler. It turned out that the businessman, Daniel Masterson, had been a shady fellow, a person with a low morale, and his loss wasn’t mourned.
Sal knew better than anyone that Ben Adler was more than shady—he was a freaking monster.
The patrols in the city had been minimized even though the murders were still being investigated. There had been no sign of trouble since the murders except for the drunken troublemakers at Giantsfair.
Sal went outside with Angel and walked to the end of the street before he let her loose. He couldn’t help but believe that the two murders were somehow connected, but he had no idea how. Sal didn't think Masterson and Adler knew each other, but what if they had?
What he did know was that someone out there had an agenda and that it was based either in justice or revenge.