Charlie sat at the top of the stairs, leaning against the wall with his legs outstretched across the hall, out of sight, but not out of earshot. He listened to the noise of the bar, the voices and clinking glasses and bottles. He let the voices wash over him, picking out words here and there, until he heard a familiar one.
He shifted a little closer to the edge of the stair and leaned over, straining to focus a bit more on the voices nearest to the bar.