The band was already playing. Not a band, really—a trio. An upright bass, a brushed snare, and a piano. But the piano player… Leo stopped breathing.
Leo stepped into the alley, the echo of Blind Willie’s piano still humming in his bones. He knew he should go home. Write his thesis. Forget the address. club seventeen classic
“What’s this for?” Leo asked.
The Seventeenth smiled. It was a terrible, beautiful smile. “Destroyed? No, child. They weren’t destroyed. They were paid .” The band was already playing
And Club Seventeen Classic? You can’t find it on any map. But on certain rain-slick nights, if you know the right phrase and you’ve got a regret heavy enough to carry, you might hear the bass line seeping up through a sewer grate. You might see a flicker of amber light from a door that wasn’t there a second ago. But the piano player… Leo stopped breathing
The giant tilted his head, studied Leo’s scuffed oxfords and the frayed cuff of his corduroy jacket. Then, with a grunt, he stepped aside.
“Black snake moan,” he said to Silas.