Fic

[franavu]

Title: Joe's
Fandom: Highlander/ Dresden Files
Summary: Joe Dawson, Susan Roderiguez, a convertsation.

 

It was late afternoon on a Tuesday when I walked into my bar. The weather was as you'd expect it early February in the Pacific northwest, thoroughly miserable. The place was quiet, there was a couple quietly talking at one of the tables in the corner. Adam was slouched in his customary place at one end of the bar, a half-drunk beer in front of him, when he saw me he gave me a faint grin and a wave. A young woman was sitting at the other end, looking intently into a notebook, an almost-empty glass of wine to one side, she was pretty, looking faintly Hispanic, with dark hair and eyes.

 

As I made my way behind the bar, I nodded at Mike, my fellow watcher and barkeep. I provided Adam with another beer and then asked the woman if she wanted another drink.

 

“Another glass of wine, please.” She answered.

 

“Do you happen to be Joe Dawson, the owner.”

 

“Yup, that's me.”

 

“It's quite a change, isn't it going from owning a bookstore to owning a bar.”

 

What the hell? “I guess I needed a change, miss...”

 

“Oh sorry, I'm Susan Rodriguez, I'm a reporter for the Midwestern Arcane, I'm looking into the rash of decapitations in the area, more specifically decapitations followed by mysterious lightning storms.”

 

From the corner of my eye I could see Adam stiffen slightly, and when I looked down I saw the top of a New York Times sticking out of the top of the notebook, dated about when Connor MacLeod took down the Kurgan.

 

“Decapitations, huh, yeah I guess I heard something a few years back, you should talk to the police then.”

 

“I already did, but I have a feeling you can tell me more.”

 

Uh-oh, “I'm just a bartender, ma'am I'm not sure I can help you.”

 

“And your brother-in-law, James Horton? I heard I was obsessed with swords and decapitations, there was even a half-built guillotine found in a storage space he owns.”

 

Yeah, this was bad. “Look lady, James had some serious psychological issues before he died, and I don't appreciate you involving my family in anything, they suffered enough.”

 

“Mr. Horton was murdered wasn't he? I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm just looking for the truth here.”

 

“Well I don't know anything about decapitations and I'm not talking about James with some reporter.”

 

“All right, I won't ask anything about him then. But what about Duncan MacLeod, the police questioned him in connection to one of these cases.”

 

“Mac? He's a friend, a regular at the bar, not some kind of murderer.”

Well, that was mostly true, at least. Thank God the Highlander was holed up with Amanda somewhere.

 

“If you say so, Mr. Dawson.” She didn't look like she believed a word I'd just said. “Then I won't take up more of your time.” With that she paid and left.

 

When she walked out of the bar a shot a look at Adam, I had a feeling we hadn't heard the last of her yet...