Chapter 12

I stopped by the Lucky 13 on the off chance someone might be cleaning. No such luck, but there were emergency contact numbers on he door. I made a photograph of them. Since it was almost 11AM, I decided to call Lois on the phone. I gave her the emergency phone numbers and asked her to have a search for home address using their numbers. I didn’t plan to bother her with a criminal records search, since a man with a felony couldn’t own a bar, but I decided to let Lois do her thing.

“Lois?” I said to the voice that answered her work phone.

“No, It’s Deputy Purcell,” The voice answered.

“Is Lois around?” I asked.

“No, she went home. She has to get ready for her niece’s baby shower,” Purcell said.

“I need some information about the case. How do you feel about getting me an address from the crisscross directory?” I asked.

“Sure they have that information on line now,” Patty said.

I held on while she keyed the information into her desktop computer. She came back in a couple of minutes with the name Michael Everheart. She also had his address for me.

“How about checking him with the state criminal database. It would be nice to know what to expect from him,” I suggested even though it wasn’t in the plan. It would be good experience for her.

“He was convicted in a check kiting scam. That was five years ago, but he has been clean ever since. He is the manager not the owner,” Patty explained.

“So do you want to go talk to Michael, or do you want to wait for Lois?” I asked.

“I’ll meet you at his house,” she said.

“Okay, I’m on the way,” I agreed. “Wait for me please. I’ll meet you out front.”

I arrived at the apartments before Patty. I checked just to be sure which apartment was Michael’s unit. There were a couple of crumb snatchers running around he yard. It was the middle of a Saturday, with the sun shinning, so it wasn’t cold enough to keep them indoors.

I waited for Patti to drive up in a detective’s unmarked car. It was unmarked, but also unmistakably a cop car. I left my econo-box for the passenger seat of her car. It wasn’t a good idea, but it wasn’t prohibited either. We parked in front of his unit, got out, and then rang the bell.

“Michael Everheart?” I asked of the man who came to the door.

“You the cops?” he asked me.

“She is, I’m just an interested third party,” I said.

“Whats that?” he asked.

“My sons a mouth piece for one of the people involved in the incident last night,” I said. “I just need to know what happened.”

“Barry the big mouth asshole, picked up more ass whopping than he could tote,” Michael said.

“You got any idea why the other men beat his ass?” I asked.

“He tellin’ you there was more than one?” Michael asked.

“He is. He said somebody hit him from behind the others gave him a beat down,” I replied.