Unfortunate Circumstances – Part 2

“Tell me Mike’s plan.”

Mike hired eight guys for each club. He knows the clubs have four bouncers per shift, so its eight to four in Mike’s favor. Plus Mike has the element of surprise. Mike and the guys wait outside the club until the last customer is gone then they go in through the back door. They round up the bouncers. Just like Mike said, there’s hundreds in the cash register, and Mike knows how to get into the wall safe where he suspects Yeager has lots of money from doing stuff on the side.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Drugs and prostitution, I guess.”

I can tell Patterson is getting excite now. He’d probably get a promotion from busting the councilman and this information is putting me in good standing with him.

“When Johnny gets back to the motel he has a bag full of money, more than five grand. It seems Councilman Yeager was about to buy a load of cocaine. I get scared and I want to leave the money and get out of town. We are about to leave town when one of the bouncer’s brothers shows up at the motel. He has three guys with him and they all have guns. They don’t want the money, they want revenge and they force us to go with them. We wind up back at Mike’s where they have collected all but one of the men that were involved in the hits. All of them holed up in the house. Mike and the guys are pretty beat up. I still can’t figure out how they knew Johnny and I were at the Seagull unless Mike told them.

“They start beating the crap out of Johnny. His so-called Karate is worthless against three or four guys. I’m crying and start looking for a way out. Mike’s shack is one room, living room, kitchen and a sofa bed and a bathroom. I figure that’s my way out so I ask to use it. First they say no, but I tell them I’m going to be sick and I start gagging. Let get disgusted and let me go.

I get in the bathroom and there’s a small window above the toilet and a two-story drop to the beach. I know I can’t stay so I jump. Once I’m free I make a run for the police.”

Patterson’s silent for a minute and taps his fingers on the table.

“Did you leave anything out?”

I take a minute too like I’m thinking. “No.”

Patterson looks up for the first time since the beginning of the interview.

“Are you sure?”

I wonder why he’s asking me this. I don’t answer.

“I’m going to give you a second and maybe something will come to you.”

I don’t like where this is headed.

“I can’t think of anything,” I say, but my voice starts to shake.

“You didn’t come straight to the police, did you Lisa?” The fact is, you went back to the Seagull Motel first, right?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right. To get my suitcase.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little unusual when your husband is in so much trouble?”

“I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. I was—and still am, in shock.”

“Um.” Patterson leans forward in his chair.

I start getting hot, perspiration hot. Beads of sweat form on my upper lip. I want another cigarette but I don’t want to ask now.

“Does the name Robin Walker mean anything to you?”

“That Walker’s wife? Johnny said he was married.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Have you ever seen her?”

“I can’t recall.”

“Okay, perhaps I can help with your memory lasp. There’s a bit of the story missing.”

All the hot spots on my body are wet now wondering what he think he knows.

“Let’s back up to the night you were at the motel lounge. While Johnny’s shooting pool and making plans with Mike Walker, Mike’s wife Robin Walker approaches you. She tells you how she married Mike to get away from an abusive boyfriend, and you tell her that you married Johnny to get away from your mother. She tells you Mike wants her to think they were broke, but she knows better. She tells you that she knows how to get her hands on a lot of money.

“She tells you she is involved with Councilman Yeager and that one of the clubs is in her name, but Yeager won’t let her run it. She tells you she needs the cash inside the club, inside the safe. She tells you she wants to use the money to get some help to push Yeager aside and once she is in control of the club she will make you the manager with a very large salary. How am I doing so far?”

All of the sudden, I find it hard to sit still so I bounce my leg at my knee. I think it best not to say anything right now.

“I’ll continue,” Patterson says. “You saw this as an opportunity; an opportunity to get rid of dead-beat Johnny and start over. That night in the lounge, Robin told you Mike was going to recruit Johnny for the job. You made an agreement with Robin. Didn’t you?

Patterson didn’t wait for me to answer.

“After the heist, when Johnny was asleep, you were going to take the money and meet her.”

“That’s not what happened,” I blurt out.

Patterson looked at the two-way mirror. “Detective Franks, would you step inside the room please?”

A lady comes inside and I realize it’s a set up.

“Lisa, I’d like you to meet Detective Sandy Franks, aka Robin Walker.”

I’m screwed.

“You and Johnny have been building a reputation in the past six months moving across country. When we heard you were coming our way, we decided to be ready for you. We built the kind of situation you like to get involved with.”

“Was any of it true?” I ask.

“Only that the clubs were taken over by Councilman Yeager, but he’s already doing time

for drug trafficking and running a prostitution operation.”

“So was Johnny beaten up by your cops?”

“No. That was an unfortunate circumstance. Those men were actually avenging the bouncer’s attack. They got to you before we did. At that point we were forced to play out the hand.”

I took another cigarette, this time without asking. “An unfortunate circumstance. That’s what I’d call hooking up with Johnny.”

“You won’t have to worry about seeing him for a long time. You’ll be spending your time in separate prisons.” Patterson smiles.

“Unfortunate, indeed.”

The End