Chapter 4

Ed walked into the bar of the hotel. This was a working class hotel and had a bar that was appropriate for such an establishment. It reminded Ed of Shirley's back home. After looking at some of the characters seated at tables around the bar, he took a seat at the counter. The woman behind the counter looked at him with disinterest. After taking in his cowboy outfit, she asked, "Shot and a beer?"

"Coke," answered Ed.

Raising an eyebrow, she poured a coke and set it on the bar in front of Ed. In the two years she had been working here, this was the first time anyone had just ordered a coke. She asked, "You don't drink?"

"That's right. I learned that I was a mean bastard when I drank. Decided that I would rather be sober and a nice guy." Ed looked around the room and wondered how long it would be before someone would try to buy him a drink.

Noticing how he looked around the room, she said, "You might want to go over to the restaurant to get your cokes. These guys will eat you alive."

Laughing, Ed answered, "I'm not worried. The cat will take care of anyone that tries to eat me."

The barmaid looked over the counter and saw the Bobcat for the first time. Looking up at Ed with wide eyes, she said, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, Tiger is a wild Bobcat. He followed me here," said Ed. Of course, he didn't mention that the cat was one of three that had been following him around ever since the time John had been attacked at the house. He had no idea how the cats decided which cat was to go with whom, but he was pleased that it was Tiger this trip. He had gotten rather fond of the cat.

"Followed you?" She was fascinated by the cat sitting next to Ed.

"Yes," replied Ed after taking a sip of the coke.

A man came over to where Ed was seated and asked, "What's that you're drinkin?"

"A coke. It is a carbonated beverage made by the Coca-Cola bottling company and is distributed around the country," replied Ed. Since he had expected this to happen, he was a little better prepared than the last time. Hopefully this time he wouldn't have to hurt the guy.

The man said, "Let me buy you a man's drink."

Ed said, "I think not. I'm afraid to drink."

"Afraid to drink?" asked the man. He was about to turn around and make a joke at Ed's expense. The fun was about to begin.

Before the man had a chance to say a word, Ed said, "You see. I don't think my cat is particularly fond of drunks."

Sensing an opportunity for even more fun, the man looked at Ed and sneered, "You're a regular little cat lover?"

Tiger jumped up on the bar and faced the man. Its ears were folded back and it showed its fangs. Shaking his head, Ed said, "I think you insulted my cat. You might want to apologize before it rips your throat out. I've seen it do that once before and it was very messy."

Staring at the cat, the man backed off a bit. He glanced at Ed, noticing the intense look on his face. It felt like Ed was looking through him, examining each and every secret. When his eyes flicked to the cat, he saw that it was shaking its rear end like it was about to pounce. Ed said, "His name is Tiger. I'd apologize very quickly if I were you."

"I'm sorry, Tiger. I didn't mean anything bad," said the man as he backed further away from the bar.

The cat slowly relaxed, but kept its eyes on the man. With the negligent attitude that only a cat can achieve, the cat licked a paw as the claws on it extended. Reaching over, Ed petted the cat and looked over at the man. He said, "It looks like he accepted your apology. Now, I believe you were saying something to me."

Sweating, the man answered, "It was nothing. Drinking a coke is perfectly fine."

Smiling in a friendly fashion, Ed said, "Would you like to pull up a chair and join me in a coke?"

The man slowly shook his head and answered, "I'll just go back and join my friends."

"Okay," replied Ed as he watched the man return to his friends across the bar. Turning to look at the barmaid, he said, "That went pretty well. The last time that happened, I almost broke a guy's nose before he backed off."

Tiger jumped off the bar and returned to the spot near Ed's feet. As if nothing had happened, the cat curled up and rested. The barmaid looked over the counter at the bar. Surprised at the behavior of the cat, she said, "Wow, that was amazing."

Looking at her, Ed asked, "Is this your place?"

"Nah, it belongs to the owner of the hotel. I just work here," replied the woman. She looked around the bar with disinterest. She wanted to leave because the pay was very low, but in a small town like this there weren't many jobs she could take.

Shaking his head at what that implied, Ed said, "I bet the tips here are pretty bad."

"Tell me about it. These guys don't know how to tip worth a damn," she replied as she shot a look across the room. The tips in most of the places around town were usually pretty bad. She added, "Most of them think that a quarter is a good tip."

In a voice loud enough to carry through the room, Ed said, "You know. A quarter is an insulting tip. Any one that leaves a quarter as a tip must not know that a minimum tip should be a dollar or fifteen percent, which ever is greater. If the service is good, it should be twenty percent. After a quarter tip, I'd quit serving the bastard."

Winking at the barmaid, he returned to a normal speaking voice as he said, "That should help a little. How much do I owe you?"

Laughing at the nerve of this guy, she said, "A coke is a dollar, but this one is on the house."

"Here's two dollars. I'm on an expense account," replied Ed. He pulled out two dollars and left it on the bar. As he started to leave the bar, he paused and said, "As I'm leaving, say in an excited voice that I just left you a dollar tip on a dollar tab. Remind them what it means to get a good tip."

She smiled at him as he left the bar. As he left the bar, he could hear her make a statement about his tip. After the run in earlier, he imagined that she would be getting good tips all evening.

Padding along side Ed, Tiger ignored the commotion that his presence created among other people in the hotel lobby. It was about dinner time and Ed headed over to the restaurant to eat. He had hoped to eat in a booth, but this particular place didn't have any booths. Following the waitress, he was led to a table near the corner.

The table gave him a good view of the entire restaurant. With the cat under the table, it didn't create too much of a stir. He looked around the room taking in the variety of people seated at the tables. There were a couple of elderly couples, some that looked like they still loved each other and others that looked like they barely tolerated each other.

Glancing over the menu, Ed considered trying the trout, but changed his mind and went with an elk steak. In a way, it made sense that a small town in Montana would have game on the menu. Waiting for the waitress to arrive at the table, he looked over at the man seated at the table next to his. The man was large, built like a bear with a short very bushy beard. He didn't give the appearance of an obese man, but of a very large framed man. His large fingers punched buttons on a calculator as he went over figures on the page in front of him.

After a long delay, the waitress finally came over to the table and asked, "So what will you have?"

Smiling at the waitress, Ed replied, "I'll have the Elk steak medium well, thousand island dressing on the salad, brussel sprouts, baked potato with butter no sour cream, and an iced tea."

Surprised at the completeness of the order, the waitress quickly wrote down the whole order. She asked, "Anything else?"

Tiger nudged his foot, reminding him that there were two at the table. Embarrassed at having forgotten about the cat, Ed said, "I'll have two elk steaks raw on a plate with no sides."

Shocked, the waitress stared at Ed wondering what could motivate someone to make such an order. For a moment, she wondered if he was a food inspector. Observing the look on her face, he said, "My cat is under the table and the meat is for him."

Almost tripping over herself backing up when she spotted the cat, the waitress stared at the animal. Terrified of the animal, the waitress could hardly control herself. Stuttering, she said, "That's a Bobcat!"

"Yes, Tiger is a Bobcat," replied Ed. He looked under the table at the cat and would have sworn the cat winked at him. It rolled over onto its back and wiggled as though scratching its back on the floor.

Still staring at the cat, the waitress smiled and said, "Isn't that cute?"

Having a lot of experience with the cats, Ed wasn't surprised that it knew how to turn on the charm. He said, "You can pet it, if you would like."

Even as he said the words, the cat rolled over and slowly came out from under the table. The waitress knelt down to pet the cat. Her fear of the cat was quickly dispelled by the cat's apparent begging for attention. Looking up at Ed with a smile on her face, she said, "He's just adorable."

Smiling to himself, he wondered how she would have reacted to Rover. If any cat could beg attention or make social comment, then it was Rover. He had observed in the past, that in a crowd of people a cat will select the one person that doesn't really like cats to torment the entire time with attention. These big cats weren't any different. The person that wanted to pretend like the cat wasn't there was liable to find a hundred and sixty pound cougar lying across their feet. Ed smiled, "Yes, he can be quite adorable."

After a lot more attention to the cat than to Ed, the waitress finally left the table to submit the order. The cat returned to its position under the table. Ed settled back to watch people, a past time that he had only recently adopted. An oath from the table next to him caused him to look at the man at the table. The man threw himself back in his chair, threw a pencil at the table, and, in an angry tone of voice, said, "I just can't find it."

Looking at the papers on the table, it felt like a hot knife had been thrust into his brain. For the first time, he discovered that his truth sense was sensitive to the written word. He couldn't even read what was on the papers, but it was clearly false. This was something that he had to respond against or he would suffer from a headache for the rest of the night. He cleared his throat and said, "I can help you."

The man looked at Ed and said, "I'm sorry, but these are private files."

Shuddering at the rejection, Ed stood up and went to the table. Picking up the pencil from where it had landed, he grabbed the least offensive page and put an X next to the row that screamed out that the entry was a lie. As he set the page aside, he said, "That's the only entry that is a lie on that page."

He picked up another page and without even looking at what was on it started making X marks at several points. He dropped the page in front of the man and said, "Those entries are lies."

The large man stared at the entries that Ed had marked as lies. Those were exactly the entries that he had suspected, but had been unable to prove were wrong. Ed picked up another stack of papers and started marking entries. The man stared at the Ed and the speed with which he was marking the entries. His mouth dropped open, when Ed picked up the third stack of papers and pulled out ten forms. He put an X at the top of the form and, as he set them in front of the large man, he said, "These forms are totally fraudulent."

The man looked at the ten tax fillings of employees that worked at the company in surprise. He looked up and asked, "What do you mean they are totally fraudulent?"

Ed looked at the form more closely and realized what they were. He answered, "The people don't exist."

A smile broke over the face of the large man as he looked at the forms in front of him. After mentally adding up the wages declared on the falsified forms, he realized that the amount of money was significant and this guy was cheating big time. The tips that his office had received were correct. He looked up at the cowboy standing in front of him, realizing this guy had just given him his case if what he had marked was accurate. Extending a hand, he said, "My name is Stan Bentley."

Taking his hand, Ed replied, "Nice to meet you Stan. I'm Ed Biggers."

Stan said, "It's going to take me a little time to put this all together, but you've really helped out here."

Rubbing his temples as the headache slowly abated, Ed replied, "Glad to be of service. To tell the truth, I found the lies on those papers so offensive, that I had to act."

The delivery of his food to his table interrupted the discussion. Slipping the plate with the two raw steaks under the table for Tiger, Ed then settled back in his chair and started eating. The Elk steak had a slightly different flavor from venison and from beef. He would be hard pressed to describe the flavor to someone else.

The lack of Broccoli and thick French Fries was a special treat. He wondered how long it had been since he was able to select the side vegetables at a restaurant and couldn't remember. Checking under the table, he saw that Tiger was ripping into the Elk steaks with great delight.