“Been coming here long?”

Another nod. “He likes to talk, you know. He’s interested in all sorts of weird shit. Like, conspiracy theories? Who was really behind 9/11, were the moon landings fake, did aliens build the pyramids, shit like that.”

“UFOs?” Duckworth asked.

“Yeah, them. Sometimes he talked about his family, his old man.”

“Albert Gaffney?”

“I don’t know his name, but yeah. Brian was saying he moved out, got his own place because his dad said it was time for him to make it on his own. Thing is, I think Brian would have lived at home forever. He felt safer there, I reckon. But he seemed to be doing okay on his own, far as I could tell.”

“What I wondered is, did you notice anyone talking to him, taking an interest in him that night? Checking him out somehow?”

Axel shook his head slowly. “Not really. Brian usually just sits there and drinks his beer and watches the game.”

Duckworth nodded in the direction of the security camera mounted on the wall close to the ceiling. “What about that?”

Axel followed his eye. “Oh, yeah.”

“You got security video from that night?”

“We should. System banks it for a week or so. It’s kind of good to have in case something goes down, you know. Fight breaks out, or someone thinks they got their pocket picked, stuff like that. The owner says it protects us, too, in case somebody tries to sue us for something that didn’t happen.”

“I’d like to see two nights ago. That be okay?”

“Sure,” Axel said. “Need to go to the computer in the back. I’d check with the owner, but when I tell him it’s you, fuck, he’s gonna tell me to do everything I can to be accommodating. You know why?”

Duckworth waited.

Axel leaned over the bar and said softly, “His sister was one of the ones who died from the water.”

“I’m sorry.”

“If he was here, he’d be offering you free drinks till the end of time.”

Duckworth smiled sadly. “Let’s go to the instant replay.”

Axel called over a waitress to watch the bar while he was gone, then led Duckworth through a back door, past the kitchen, where the smell of fries and wings made the detective light-headed, and into a wood-paneled office. The cluttered room featured a desk with a laptop.

Axel dropped into a chair and tapped away. “So two nights ago . . . and Brian came in around eight. Okay, here we are at quarter to eight.”

Duckworth came around and stood at Axel’s shoulder.

“Let’s trade places,” Axel said, offering the detective his chair. Duckworth settled in and Axel gave him instructions. “Just put the cursor there, yeah, like that, and you can go forward or backward and faster and slower, whatever you want.”

Duckworth got comfortable with the controls. “Okay, I’ve got it.” He looked at the timer in the corner that said it was 7:48 p.m. The camera captured most of the room, including the booths on the far side. Two couples were having something to eat in one, four guys were sharing a pitcher in another, and in the one next to that, a man and woman were seated side by side, the opposite bench empty. They had their heads close together, engaged in close conversation and the occasional kiss.