You had been sitting at the bar for hours, staring listlessly at the booze, attempting to form a coherent thought. Your gin was long gone and now you were just drinking coffee to moisten your throat instead of for the taste. You were stuck in limbo now. You still couldn't seem to get a drink in you, but you could also no longer even form the intention from the fumes of the alcohol. You were definitely getting a bit sloppy, but the bar tender had stopped bothering you after you had told him the same story for the tenth time. Something about getting fired right after catching the bad guy, which was some guy called the Doctor. You remembered reading that somewhere around the tenth time he talked to you, but that was a while ago.
After another hour of sitting still, you decided that it would be best to start drinking again. You decided you needed to get to a place that had clean air and wouldn't ostracize you for a bit more. You finished the coffee and stood up from your seat and sluggishly made your way to the exit. You step out of the doors and the rain hits your face, a cold and heavy one. The heavy shower was starting to pound on your head, but you didn't mind. You even wished that it would rain more. Maybe even as hard as a thunderstorm, you thought. It was a sudden and strong thought, but you welcomed it. You welcomed anything, you realized.
After a few minutes of walking, you find a bar that had a sign hanging proudly above it. 'The Coin'. Wait, you had actually seen that sign before. When did you see it last? You still couldn't remember, but you remembered a sign with three words above a bar that was bright and shiny and you remembered that it was warm inside. You remembered dim sounds of laughter and conversation, but almost nothing distinct. Nothing but the sounds and the warmth.
You open the doors to see a similar crowd. You could see the fire blazing in the fireplace as usual. You could also see what you could only call a mint julep in a glass. You weren't quite sure what it was, but you assumed that it was a cocktail. You got a seat at the bar and handed the bartender some money. You then told him to pour you whatever he had that had a light brown hue to it. He poured you some sort of dark beer in an opaque yellow glass. You silently thank him and begin to drink. After the first drink, you feel warm. It was an odd sensation compared to the cold. It was an odd sensation that felt nostalgic.
No, no… you remember it a lot better now. Your head was clear, too clear. You began to think of more and more, more and more. There was so much more, but you couldn't quite focus on it all at one time. It was all too much, too much.
You had seen this sign before. You know this sign, you know this bar. But… you didn't recognize it. How could you have forgotten this? You were sure that you had seen it so much recently. You began to think back, an old event came to mind. The last time you remember seeing this sign was at the courthouse where he had once worked. His courthouse.
You're sure he never told you his last name. In fact, you're sure that you didn't even know his first name is. A complete stranger you still called 'Doctor'. Everything began to come back to you. This was the bar he took you to all those times and it was here that you met him for the last time. Your thoughts were so much clearer now as you thought about him. You remembered perfectly now and all the shadows from the past were cast away.
Everything was so clear now. You planned on taking him to lunch at a fancy restaurant that had wine with every course. He had politely declined and asked to meet you at the courthouse. You were excited to see him, but he was nervous about something. You were never really sure why he was nervous. He couldn't really say it, but you were frustrated nonetheless.
After much waiting, he finally met you in the courthouse. "I'm sorry for being late." He said, "It turns out I wasn't invited and I had to bribe my way in. I'm so sorry I'm late." He said again. You sighed and apologized for being impatient. You walked together to a restaurant and quietly ate your food. You knew it would be bad, this time you knew that it would. You could just tell.
After finishing your meal, you stood up from the table and prepared to leave. He seemed to be very nervous again. You wondered why, but you were too proud to ask him. You didn't want to upset him or have him down on you. You were getting a gut feeling that someone was messing with you.
After getting his coat, he walked you down to an alley. He told you that someone might have tipped to the bartender early and it covered over a lot of the details. You didn't know all the details, but you understood that he was in danger of being fired. He said he would be fired if he even breathed a word to anyone outside of the courthouse. You told him that you had the right to know, but he simply told you that he worked in the courthouse and that he had to be careful with his words.
That was it. You were angry and you were in no mood to be careful with your words. You were fuming. You didn't feel like talking to him anymore. You even said that you could take care of yourself if he wasn't coming clean with you. He seemed taken aback at that and you conveyed your feelings about it. You weren't so polite about it anymore. You told him you weren't going to stay hidden in shadows.
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