Ennis James Sheehan. Fiction.

He could read a fight crowd and the weather - and he could read fear in a man’s eyes. Anson always knew victory before he tasted it. You got that look and it was all down hill from there. His reputation alone was enough to punch men in the face all night as they tried to sleep before battle.

The river deceived. In summer it hid its strongest currents. In winter it disguised its thinnest ice. I had been raised to believe there were more ways to die on it than could be counted

Was there any drug that could equal the high of plotting someone’s destruction? She thought not. Under its influence you could drive a car, you could function to a point of perfection, you could go anywhere, do anything, say anything – because you would always be watching yourself winning.

They say that being over prepared can sometimes mean not properly prepared at all. It is a sign of over confidence – or a serious lack of it. And tonight, for some reason, Mason was not reading the signs. He was scrubbing out the last of the mugs at the sink, with his back to the door, and did not even hear it open.