6:25 a.m. in a bar in Dundalk

A husky man in stained and wrinkled work clothes moved through the streets of Dundalk as if in a daze. He had walked until all strength left him. He stumbled and felt as if he might fall to the sidewalk. Seeing the lights of a bar room that looked open, he all but fell inside. He saw no one, but stumbled across a freshly-scrubbed floor and took a seat, resting his elbows on the bar and his chin in his hands.

The man almost put his head down and we...