[Gallagher]

"Why, why does he always do this to me?"

It had been hours since Elizabeth had first started searching. She was tired, irritated, and absolutely starving. It was no wonder, really. She'd only gone out of her way to drive for hours to get back home as soon as possible just to find her good for nothing brother was nowhere to be found. She thought he would have known better. Days ago, she had called to remind them all that she was finally coming home — hopefully for good, now that she was no longer in active duty — and yet he'd still gone out drinking. Drinking of all things!

A light shiver went down the length of her spine. She glanced back behind her, her bright eyes narrowing as she scanned where she'd just come from. She smoothed her hands over the front of her shirt, habitually straightening out the line of buttons. She'd already gone to most of the places that she knew of. Unless he'd found some tramp to spend the evening with, there was only one more place she could think to try. She shook her head and got moving once again.

---

Elizabeth had never felt quite comfortable in places like this. The yellowed lights made her scrunch her nose as she stepped into the pub, the sound of her boots against the hard floor much too loud in her own ears. While the steady murmur of noise filling the place was almost comforting, one glance around at the people scattered throughout it reminded her just why she never liked dropping by. There was something deeply unsettling about it all. She'd been told by her family that it was something one just had to get used to, being around these types of people, but it had been quite some time since she'd last done so. Setting her hands on her hips, the tall woman did her best to brush off the feeling as she scanned the room, hoping to find a glimpse of that troublesome man.