CHAPTER ELEVEN - Life Savers - A Part of Livin'
We were waitin' for the ambulance to come get us. Eddie propped himself back up again for a second, just to check on me. He looked at my wound, saw a truckload of blood all over it. To hear him tell it, I was going white. He knew just what to do. He took his shirt off, rolled it up and pressed it against my opening wound, 'cuz, ya know, I got hit right near a major artery. He rolls it up and plugs it right in, stoppin' any more blood from flowin' out. I moaned, "how are you doin'? Where'd she get ya?" Eddie grunted a little and grimaced, "in the ribs. Feels like I took a real line drive there." "Ya bleedin' much?" "Some, yeah, but I feel okay. Hurts like a mo-fo, but I'm hangin' in there." When he jammed his shirt into my wound, I grin and says, "this one looks real good on ya, too" Eddie was tearful and his voice broke a little and says, "it looks better on you now".
The paramedics burst onto the scene and ran right toward us. They had stretchers, oxygen, blood pressure thingamybobs, the works. After they worked on us, it was time to go to the ol' repair shop. I didn't want to go on any stretcher, didn't wanna lie down. God damn it, I came in this dump on my feet and that's how I was gonna go out. But they told me it would be better if I lie down, keep my feet elevated so's I wouldn't lose no more blood. Eddie left on his feet, though, good kid. I see him walkin' and give 'im the thumbs up. If it ain't me on my feet, I'm glad it was him. He's bein' a man about it.
Then we were wheeled into surgery, emergency surgery, no less. Now, I ain't got no details on this 'cuz of all-a that sodium pentathol, so I'll just go on about the hospital stay itself. We made it. We were all right. We didn't even have to stay all that long, either. It was a pretty bad deal, though. I mean, we shared a room and all, but it wasn't locked. We had all-a these doctors, orderlies, nurses and all that crap come in and out a lot. No privacy for us here. Eddie hated the hospital food. "God, man, the potatoes are cold". I felt like ribbin' him. No, make that KIDDIN' him. I ain't thinkin' about ribs right now. So, anyways, the cold potatoes thing, I kinda grinned at him, "make like you're french, they love the stuff, call it vee shee swa, or some shit like that". "Naw, you're puttin' me on, they eat it cold?... on PURPOSE? Holy history - no wonder the Germans got 'em."
Ah, I won't go into the long harangue about stayin' at the repair shop. Bad food, crummy t.v., but before we knew it, we were gettin' outta there. What I liked. Seein' that our clothes were all messed up, I got a guy livin' in my buildin', see he's all witness protection and that, which is why I ain't sayin' his name or nothin', so anyways, he brings us some stuff to wear and comes and gets us to go home. Nice day outside, but this one has a hat, a heavy beard and sunglasses, even talkin' in a funny voice. Me and Eddie hear him talkin' in another voice when he's at home, but he don't know that we know, ya get me? So we get back home and pick up the car and drive back to the office. I gotta check up on messages, e-mails, and stuff. Then there came a knock on the door. Good jeez, it's like an alarm in this joint, the minute I sit down....... "Door's open", says Eddie. In walks this guy, kinda young, kinda thin, real bummed out. "How are ya, what can I do for ya?" "Perform a miracle", says the kid. I chuckle, "well, we'll see what we can do. What's up?" "I just got ripped off. My company checking account is overdrawn, then I find out the books were cooked, my partner....." I cut him off, "uh, this ain't a loan company, if that's what....." "No, no, no, uh, I know you're a Private Investigator" Eddie, who was sitting on the outer edge of the desk, arms folded, legs spread a bit, wearin' a real cocky grin, "Better than that, this is the Dashing Detective, Jack". "Oh, uh, that's right, yeah, I heard about that". Eddie then got serious, "all kiddin' aside, you said somethin' about a partner..." "Yes. My partner is nowhere to be found. He said he was going on vacation a few days ago, then I started getting all these returned checks and found out I was really overdrawn and also found out this guy was takin' everything I had in there." He hesitated a little, his mouth kept openin' and closing, his eyes were gettin' red. Finally he took his head in his hand and started bawlin'. "He took my inheritance." "Excuse me?" "My grandmother passed away not too long ago and left me a very large amount of money, which I decided to put into a business. I was tired of working for somebody else. So this friend of mine, well, at least he was a friend, decided to go into this with me." He drew a heavy sigh, "I don't have a job or anything." Eddie says, "your business is still goin' on, though, ain't it?" "That has yet to be determined." He stands up and starts pacin' - Eddie and I looked at each other, then at him again. "Oh, I'm at my wit's end, I'll either have to file for bankruptcy or go to my grandmother's executor to borrow some or......." and he reaches into his briefcase and pulls a gun out "just take my own life, right here, just to get it overwith". Eddie leaps up and tackles the guy. "Hey, what the hell are ya doin', huh? Ya tryin' to get yourself killed?" "Let go of me, please let me die. I have nothing left. I have no reason to live anymore." I stood up and leaned over and snarled at him, "then why the hell did you come in here?" Eddie pries the gun out of the guy's hands, looks in the chamber, sees it's empty. "You knew this was empty, right?" He admitted, very sheepishly, that he did. Eddie walks toward the client, pointin' right in his face. "You son of a bitch. You come in here, weepin' and wailin' about some jack-off takin' off on ya, then ya whip out the piece and faked like you were gonna do yourself in? What the hell is on your mind, huh? WHAT?!?" I caution Eddie to relax, not to get himself all worked up, and all. He forms a fist and looks like he's goin' swingin', but then turns around and punches the wall. Our client is very emotional, he had no idea what he was gonna bring about. "I'm so sorry, I....." I thought he should know what pissed Eddie off like that. "It ain't nothin' you did. Our last client shot the both of us, I almost died on the way to the hospital. If not for someone callin' the cops, we both woulda croaked it." "Oh, my God. I had no idea." "Yeah, I knew ya didn't." He walks over to Eddie, who's facin' the wall. "You're Robinson, right?" Eddie still looked ahead, his back to him, "yeah, what about it?" "The Boy Friday? I heard about you, too." "Good - glad to hear it". Our client puts his hands on Eddie's shoulders and tries to turn him around, but he won't budge. "I never meant to scare you or anyone." "Great" "I guess it was just a cry for help." "Terrific".
"Eddie, please look at me. It's pretty difficult to talk to you this way." Eddie turned around and still had a bit of a chip on his broad, muscular shoulder. "Uh, okay, I guess I over reacted. It was pretty bad that night. Someone who pretended to hire us turned out had to try to kill us." I stepped in, "you've been through a lot and so have we. Maybe we can call it a draw, and start all over. You been ripped off. Your partner absconded with the cash. Give us the guy's name, we'll check out flight records, car rentals, that sort of thing. What about credit cards?" "There are company credit cards, they were all maxed out before I knew it. See, I never really kept track of things because that's what his role was. My role was the day to day operations of our establishment." Eddie says, "what kind of business is it?" "It's a nightclub. Hopefully you've heard of it, it's called the MeatMarket A Go Go." Eddie's eyes almost popped outta his skull. "Get outta here, you own that place? Man, that's a legend. Hey, Boss-man you oughtta see this place, it's beautiful. " "Beautiful, huh? Do ya mean the layout or the clientele?" Eddie laughed, "both, man, both!" Our client thought this would be a good time to plug this establishment, "while we're on the subject, the two of you should really come in this Saturday night. It's costume night. It's usually pretty packed then. We have costume night once a month, strippers one week, and other things." Eddie waxed poetically, "come on, Boss man, say you'll go with me. You'll love it." I thought it over a little and considered that we should look over the books and all. "Ya got regulars over there, people who might know youse guys pretty good?" "Oh, certainly, why do you ask?" "Maybe someone was sworn to secrecy or knows some kinda pattern, maybe an accomplice." "That is a very good point." "And...uh...costume party, eh?" "Well, really a contest, but it's open to whoever shows up." "Yeah...yeah, it should be fun, we'll see ya there then." "Wonderful, it starts around 9." He and I shook hands, as he also did with Eddie, but he didn't let go at first. Instead, he pulled Eddie a little closer to him and gave him a little hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Eddie, I am, again, so sorry." Eddie also embraced him. "Ah, don't sweat the small stuff, eh, chief?" Then he left. Eddie then became a little animated. "So, ya hungry?" "Hungry as hell, but I gotta catch up with some stuff first", as I sat back down. Eddie grabbed my chair and turned it around to face him and leaned forward. "How's about I have a real nice dinner waiting for you when you're done." I nodded, "mm, sounds purty good". Eddie then sat on my lap and put his arms around my neck. "ya got some grub at the house, a little bit of wine, candlelight and stuff." "Keep talkin' boy." "get a little frisky, there, I mean, it's a great form of physical therapy, would ya say?" I laughed. It was the first laugh I've had in a while. "Sounds fan-freakin'-tastic. Go on, why don'tcha get outta here so there'll be somethin' waitin' for me when I come crashin' " Eddie laughed and got going. He was just a couple of steps away from openin' the door when I stopped him. "Oh, Eddie..." "Yeah, boss?" I looked him up and down. "Ya look really good tonight. Real good. Them beige pants you're wearin'.....your legs look so smooth and creamy, like ya got butterscotch gams. I love butterscotch. I could lick it up and down for days."
Eddie was blushin' up a storm, then says, "oh, hey, I got an idea for a costume, I got this old baseball jersey, get a cap, and all that - I can go as a baseball player." I says, "ah, oh, yeah, that'll work, that should look good." "Hey, how about you? Ya got any ideas?" I leered at him. I thought he'd never ask. I gave him a devilish smile and said, "oh yeah I got an idea all right." "Cool. I'll see ya at the house."
Truth is, I was playin' hard to get. I had every intention of goin' to this costume thing. I knew exactly what to wear that night. I pretended to be workin' on somethin' legit at the computer, but I was really on a costume orderin' web site, where it's delivered in a couple-a days. Nah, I ain't tellin' ya what it is yet. You'll find out, same as Eddie. All in good time, my little pretty readers, all in good time.