The LED bulbs that framed the roofline of the establishment twinkled just right. The brass fixtures near the entrance—the handrails and lamp posts—were lightly polished for a hint of class. The outside of the building attracted customers like insects drawn to light. The dark interior, the prepond...
She was tied to the bed, shackled at both the wrist and ankles. Her left arm was in a makeshift splint, bones sandwiched so tightly between two small boards that the skin was pinched flat against the grain of the wood. The intravenous drip in her immobilized arm was pumping the good stuff, a mixt...