Double Trouble (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 10) (2 page)

“How about today? Say, maybe one-thirty. You free, man?”

“Free? Today? Well, yeah, I guess, I suppose I can do that. You pick the place, Tommy.”

“You know the Over Easy? It’s down on East Seventh.”

I did know it. It was a twenty-four/seven joint that specialized in a cardiac arrest menu and girls to go. They’d been shut down by the health department for a week at the beginning of summer and there’d been a shooting in the ladies room sometime earlier this month.

“The Over Easy?”

“Yeah, it’s just across from Doctor Romance.”

Perfect. The sex toy store. You could work up an appetite with battery-operated friends then drift into the Over Easy for a heart-stopping meal.

“One-thirty, yeah, I guess that’ll work, looking forward to seeing you again, Tommy.”

The Over Easy was actually two old train cars pushed together to form a restaurant. The place was featured in post cards from the 1930s and had pretty much been on a downward slide ever since. I was sitting in a back booth waiting for Tommy, watching the collection of characters and smelling hot griddle grease for the better part of a half hour. The table top and the red vinyl booth seemed to glisten from a patina of cooking oil.

Tommy pulled into a parking place across the street. He was driving a faded red, two-door Datsun sedan with a buckled hood and a tied down trunk. Or, was the dangling bumper tied up to the trunk? It was hard to tell.

He climbed out of the car, stared at the parking meter with the red flag showing time had expired, shook his head, muttered something then crossed the street against traffic carrying what looked like a paper lunch bag.

“Hey, Tommy,” some tattooed guy behind the counter called then went back to filling coffee cups.

Tommy responded with a nod as he scanned down the length of booths looking for me.

I waved.

“Dev, nice to see you, man it’s been awhile,” he said, sliding into the side opposite me. He needed a shave and he looked like he’d slept in his clothes.

“Good to see you, Tommy, been a couple years.”

“Yeah, ‘spose you heard I had a little vacation, compliments of the system,” he said.

I felt like asking “Which time?” instead I just nodded and glanced at the menu. “I appreciate you getting back to me so fast, Tommy. This company, there’s no romance to the product line, unless you’re maybe a vampire or something.”

Tommy looked at me straight faced and didn’t blink.

“It’s everything you can think of for the funeral biz,” I said, then went on to explain Andy’s business and what he needed.

“Sounds like just what I’m looking for, stable, with a future. God, my last gig was student loans and I was working on commission. I think I only had a four percent success rate and I was their top guy.”

“So here’s the contact information,” I said, sliding an envelope across the table. Tommy glanced at the envelope then quickly slipped it into his pocket without opening it. I sensed a number of heads watching us and probably coming up with all sorts of weird scenarios.

He dove into breakfast, about five pounds’ worth of greasy hash browns, greasy bacon, two greasy fried eggs and something resembling hollandaise sauce slopped over the entire platter. After a few minutes I’d pushed my platter to the side, but Tommy continued to diligently work his way through his.

“You gonna just let all that go to waste?” he said once he finished, then nodded at my heart stopping order.

“Help yourself, if you’ve got the courage.”

Once he cleaned my plate, he sat back and gave a satisfied sort of smile. Maybe a minute or two later he picked up his brown paper lunch bag and said, “Would you excuse me for just a moment.” He slid out of the booth and headed for the restroom.

He was gone for a good fifteen minutes. I wasn’t surprised. The food at the Over Easy probably had that effect on most people. It was one of the reasons I’d pushed mine to the side. When he returned to the booth, he looked clean shaven.

“Did you just shave in there?”

“Yeah, didn’t Lissa mention it? You might say I’m sort of highly mobile, right now.”

“Highly mobile?”

“Kind of living in my car, you know, just until I get back on my feet. Shouldn’t be too long, well, if this pans out, I hope. And I’m sure it will,” he said looking up at me trying to sound positive.

“Your car?” I asked and looked out across the street at the buckled hood and the Bungee Cord holding things together in the rear.

“Couldn’t you move in with Candi or Lissa? You know, just till you got back on your feet?”

“That sort of didn’t work out too well with either one of them. They thought some things were missing, they never really said anything, but I know they blamed me. I just figured it would probably be better for all of us if I was on my own. Be great to have a place to land, you know for maybe a day or so, couple of days, tops, just to tide me over until I got this job. And I’m gonna get it, I can feel it, Dev.”

If I was supposed to respond, I didn’t.

“Well, I suppose I should get going. I’ll call your pal right away, soon as I find a pay phone. I think there’s one a couple of blocks over, maybe.”

“You don’t have a phone?”

“That’s one of the first things I intend to address just as soon as I can. Well, that and I wanted to give some flowers to my Mom. I know, crazy, but it’s just something I gotta do. She just loves flowers.”

“I thought she passed away a couple of years back?”

“Oh yeah, she did,” Tommy said, not meeting my eye. “I just wanted to leave them on her grave, you know make it look nice and all. She was such a wonderful woman.”

“Isn’t she buried back in Ohio, some sort of family cemetery or something?”

“That’s why it’s so expensive, I’d have to send them. You know, sort of like Joe DiMaggio did for Marilyn Monroe.”

I was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of passing Tommy Flaherty on to Andy.

Tommy picked up the tab and looked at it for a long moment. “You mind if we split this? I just have a C-note and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to break it.”

“Let me get it, Tommy. My pleasure, besides it was nice to see you again.”

“You sure? I mean I can cover my half, if that’s what you want to do.”

“No, my pleasure. Why don’t you give me a call once you talk to Andy? Let me know how things went.”

“Yeah, I’d be happy to, Dev. Hey, thanks again, I’ve sort of been on the short side lately.”

“Glad I could help, Tommy, talk to you later.”

Chapter Four

Andy phoned me that
afternoon. I was just about to head over to The Spot and meet my officemate, Louie, for just one.

“Hey, Andy, how are things?”

“Great, spoke with your guy Flaherty this afternoon.”

“Yeah, how’d it go?”

“Sounds like a real nice guy, polite, well-spoken. The last thing I need is some thug making calls. He’s coming in tomorrow, but unless he crashes into my car in the parking lot, I’d say he’s got the job.”

I wasn’t sure if I should offer congratulations or a warning. I decided to go positive. “That’s great, Andy. I’m sure he’ll work out and hopefully ease that list of past dues you’re carrying.”

“That’s my hope, too. Well, just wanted to say thanks.”

“No, Andy, thank you for being a good guy and giving him a chance.”

“Later,” he said and hung up.

I walked over to The Spot. Louie was sitting four stools in from the front door. I signaled Jimmy for a round.

“You’re certainly cheery for having accomplished absolutely nothing all day, again,” Louie said.

“I’ll have you know I did accomplish something today and I’m pretty damn proud of it.”

“Do tell,” he said then nodded thanks to Jimmy as he slid my beer and Louie’s next drink across the bar.

I proceeded to tell him my Tommy tale. How the guy was down and out just fighting for a second chance and coincidently I went the extra mile, was able to get in touch with him and give him Andy’s number.

“And, I just got off the phone with Andy. He said he was going to offer Tommy the job.”

“Well, you better watch it, much more of this sort of behavior and you’ll be confusing all of us who have you pegged as a complete and utter asshole,” Louie said then raised his fresh drink to me in a toast.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I said.

“We toasted one another for the better part of the evening and I ended up taking the backstreets home. I pulled into my driveway, locked my car and was halfway to the front door when a voice called my name.

“Dev?”

I jumped a couple of feet, looked around, and there was Tommy stepping out of the shadows. “Tommy, God, you scared the hell out of me, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to tell you thanks, again. I phoned Andy Lindbergh this afternoon. I think it went pretty well and I have an appointment with him tomorrow. Can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done, man.”

“My pleasure, Tommy.”

He nodded like that seemed logical then just stood there looking like the new kid in the neighborhood hoping someone would pick him for their team.

I waited for a long, pregnant pause then asked, “You got a place to stay tonight?”

“My car, I was gonna park on one of the side streets down by the police station. It’s pretty safe down there, most of the time, usually.”

“Look, I got a spare couch. Why don’t you come on in and get a decent night’s sleep, shower and shave tomorrow morning so you’re on your best foot going in to talk with Andy.”

“That’s awfully nice of you, Dev. You sure I wouldn’t be cramping your style?”

“Tommy, it’s after two in the morning and I didn’t bring anyone home. I don’t have a lot going on right now so grab your stuff and come on in.”

“I’m traveling light,” he said and followed me up the steps.

I showed him where the guest bath was and got him a glass of water. “If you’re the first one up tomorrow this is how you make the coffee,” I said pouring water into the coffee maker then scooping six spoonfuls of grounds into the filter. “See that button at the base of the coffee pot?”

“Yeah.”

“All you gotta do is push that thing.”

“I think I can remember that.”

“What time are you meeting Andy tomorrow?”

“Eleven, I’m praying I’ll be walking out of there with a job.”

“Just be yourself, Tommy. Who wouldn’t want to hire you?”

Chapter Five

Tommy was gone by
the time I got up, but then again it was almost noon. The coffee was still on with maybe a half-cup left in the pot. I just hoped all went well for both him and more importantly, Andy.

“Just calling to say thanks, again,” Andy said when he called a little after four.

“You hired him?”

“Yeah, in fact right now he’s working at the same desk where you failed so miserably, he’s been making collection calls since noon. No offense, but he’s already done about a thousand percent better than you.”

“Terrific.”

“Yeah, he wanted to work until eight tonight, said you actually get the best results between six and eight. Which I guess sort of makes sense.”

“He’d know better than me.”

“Or me. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again, Dev. He’s gonna be a great addition. I’m thinking there are all sorts of possibilities for someone with his talents.”

“Glad to hear it, Andy, and thanks for giving him a chance.”

“Your guy get the job?” Louie asked looking up from the picnic table that served as his desk.

“Not only did he get it, but he’s working there right now. Andy says he’s already making an impact and wants to work until about eight tonight, says between six and eight is the best time to connect with folks for collections. Andy’s thrilled.”

“Great, so it’s a win all around?”

“Yeah, you know every once in a while I guess you can do something nice for someone and it doesn’t come back and bite you in the ass.”

We wandered over to The Spot for a few hours to celebrate Tommy’s success. When I pulled into my driveway later that night Tommy was standing on the front porch. It looked like he was just knocking on the door.

“So?” I said climbing the front steps.

“Oh hi, Dev, didn’t realize you weren’t home. Hey, I got the job. Actually, I worked until eight tonight, really a nice guy.”

“Well, I gotta tell you, I got a call from him this afternoon and he’s pretty damn happy. You’ll be a great addition there, Tommy.”

“I can’t thank you enough for the help, all the advice, putting me in touch with Andy and of course the place to stay last night.”

“My pleasure, Tommy. What are your plans for tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“That pretty much answers my question, you want to flake out on my couch again?”