Chapter 58

Vera franks girl friend,

Lottie bartender. Sportsman club bartender.

That same night at eight we drove to the Sportsmen Beer Bar. Once inside I noticed the four large screen TVs. I asked the half dressed girl behind the bar. “Hey what’s the deal with all the TV’s?”

“We usually have all he college and pro games on in here. It Wednesday night the only thing on is some soccer game’s from Europe. The guys who drink here don’t get excited about that,” she said. “So what can I get you to drink?”

“I don’t suppose you have any coffee do you,” I asked.

“There is some left from the day shift, but it’s nasty,” she replied.

“Damn girl, you just made his night,” Janet said. “Bring him a cup, and I’ll have a Miller Light.

“So Miss, I’m Ed Rogers,” I said handing her a card. “This is my partner Janet.” Janet waved. “Tell me, do your customer have an opinion as to why Frank James was killed?”

“The opinion seems to be it was some kind of payback thing,” she said with a grin.

“From what we hear Frank was more less homeless, so payback for what,” Janet asked with a conspiratorial smile.

“Now honey, If I knew anything I would tell you, but I don’t,” she said to Janet.

It was obvious to me that the two women were flirting. Damn, somebody had unleashed a monster in Janet, I thought. I thought it, but I didn’t say a word.

“So what kinds things around here could get a man killed?” I asked.

“Well, one of the things is sticking your nose in where it don’t belong,” one of the patrons suggested.

I knew I had the .22mag revolver and the collapsible baton in my cargo pants pockets. The most dangerous thing in my arsenal was not a thing at all. It was a her. She was what had been a skinny blond with a big ass just a few months ago, but who was now a kick ass MMA fighter.

Janet looked at the bartender smiled and asked, “Are all your customer such Red Neck dumb asses?”

“I’m staying out of this,” the bartender answered moving away from us.

“You know old man, you should teach your daughter some manners. Hell, maybe I’ll teach her some,” he said standing.

“Dumb ass move,” was my reply. When she moved toward him. Janet gave a short, but hard jab to the throat. The dumb ass just stood there looking for a second, then he realized that he couldn’t breath. At the same time, I flipped the baton open. I also took a balanced stance and waited to see what would happen. At least the other ten or so customers didn’t stand.

“I should tell you something. I know most of you guys probably have a gun in the truck out there. So if we continue on this road someone is going to get his skill crushed or he is going to get his ass shot. If I was you guys, I’d pick up my drunk friend and just go home. If you want to file a complaint that’s fine. But leave it to the cops.” I suggested. There is no need for anyone to die here?” I said showing the .22mag. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but I hoped it got the message across.

The three of them left and Janet went to stand in the doorway. After a full day of ‘shucking and jiving’ my pack was in real pain. I leaned on a bar stool and waited for Janet’s return, or her call for help. A call for help would trigger a flood of Adrenalin, which would counter act any pain I might have.

That never happened. What did happen was that after a very few minutes Janet came back and reported that all things seemed to be clear. Janet wrote something on the back of one of her cheap ass business card, and handed it to the bartender. We stayed long enough to be sure that there would be no knee jerk reprisal at the club. Janet seemed to insist on that. I knew that it was the ‘right’ thing to do. fortunately it never came.

I drank more bad coffee until 10PM then Janet and I returned to the motel. It was a very cool night in the mountains, but not cold by any means. At just after ten Mikah and I took our evening ‘pee’ walk. We walked less than a city block. When Mikah and I got back to the room, Janet looked like she was choking to tell me something.

“What the hell is it?” I asked her.

“The bartender ‘Lottie’ called. She is scared, but she has some information. I promised we would take care of her till all the drunks sobered up, if she told us what she knew,” Janet said.

“Good for you,” I said with a smile. “Maybe you should get an additional room. There is an adjoining room next door, at least that’s what I assume the extra door is for.”

“I was thinking that as well. I’ll go down and add it to our bill,” Janet suggested.

“I was asleep when the bartender arrived so Janet interrogated her alone. The interrogation was loud enough to wake Mikah, who then woke me. Mikah just wanted to make sure everything was secure. It seemed fine in spite of the bumps in the night. Mikah had not been allowed to sleep on a bed when she was a cop, but since she wasn’t a cop any longer she often slept with me. She was cute getting up to the bed. She put the front of her body on the side of it, then lunged up with her rear legs only. Then she kind of fell forward. She didn’t injure herself at all. After she was in the bed, she crawled until she found a place that suited her. She curled up at the foot of my bed, it seemed to be her spot of choice. I soon began to hear the comforting sounds of her snoring. I didn’t pay any attention to the noises Janet and Lottie produced after that.

Mikah and I were up and out walking by 6AM. In fact it was a couple of minutes before six. The pedometer clicked over a half mile, when I found it necessary to head back to the motel. I had to stop three times to allow my back to realign or whatever the hell it did during the ten minute breaks. Mikah, who wasn’t at all arthritic, just looked at me impatiently until I continued to walk back to the motel. I entered the parking lot leaning heavily on the walking stick/entrenching tool. When we got back to the motel room, there was only quiet coming through the wall.