Page 31

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

I nstead of heading back to Effort on the highway, Bryan takes the scenic route through the Lehigh Valley.

Fifteen minutes after leaving Center Valley, he’s parking across the street from the Seven Sirens Brewing Company, which looks more like a vast Manhattan loft space than a college-town bar.

The students from nearby Lehigh University come here often. Bryan knows this. That’s why he’s here.

Elliot Rodger wrote that he kept trying to place himself in settings where he could pick up women. But no one noticed him.

Bryan must think that surely he’ll be noticed. Women must spot his looks, his intelligence, and they must want him.

They don’t.

So, typically, after a few drinks, Bryan pushes his way into unwanted conversations with both female bartenders and female patrons. He even asks for their addresses.

Women have started complaining to the brewery’s owner, Jordan Serulneck, about the creepy guy with the bulging eyes. So he put the kid on his watch list.

Tonight, Serulneck isn’t going to give Bryan the chance to have more than one beer.

“Hey,” he says. “I need you to leave women alone. There’ve been some complaints.”

Bryan feigns astonishment. He gives a heck of a performance, almost Broadway-level. Serulneck will remember and demonstrate it in the future.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bryan says. “You have me totally confused.”

Bryan takes another sip of his beer. And another.

It’s like they are playing a game of chicken.

Bryan finishes his beer. Casually, he saunters out.

Serulneck doesn’t know if his words have had any impact. But as the days tick by, he registers something that makes him happy.

The kid doesn’t come back.