The pounding music that blasted from the club was loud enough that the bass made the alley's puddles ripple to the beat. It was so overwhelming that the people smoking by the back door had to shout to be heard. That was why she liked it here, Beth thought, as she took a drag from her cigarette and gazed down the dark alley. Everything in this city was so crowded that they were packed impersonally like canned goods in a store, one on top of the other. In her apartment she could hear practically everything her neighbors did, but not here. Here she couldn't hear anything but the music. Here...