Read Online Bulldog (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 9) by Mike Faricy - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mike Faricy
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probably not the best clientele living here.”
“Well, they’ve done a wonderful job. There must be a space back there behind this cabinet, certainly not big enough to be a room, it’s strange.”
“Hey, I’m going to get your dinner going in the microwave, you want to join me or would you rather stay up here in the closet and knock on all the walls.”
“I’m coming, oh this has been so cool. Thanks, Dev, you know every once in a while you do something nice.”
“Thanks.”
“You can be sweet,” she said and gave me a peck on the cheek. “You can also get me another wine.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was just before seven the following morning when Heidi left. “I’ve got a conference call at nine and an eleven o’clock meeting,” she said then kissed me and let herself out. We’d gone to sleep in front of the flat screen in the den. After sleeping on the thick Oriental rug and using the couch cushions as pillows my body felt like a bent piece of plumbing. I was in my boxers cleaning up the little white takeout food containers and putting the wine bottles in recycling when the workmen showed up.
I arrived in the office and was seated at my desk by nine, unsuccessfully scanning the building across the street with my binoculars. Louie made it in a little after ten.
“Any coffee left?” he asked as he came in the door.
“Fresh pot on, I made plenty for you.”
“You sound like you’re in a pretty good mood, anything happening over there?”
I put the binoculars down and spun round in my chair to face him. He was wearing his wrinkled gray suit today, as opposed to his wrinkled navy blue, gray herringbone, darker gray, brown or wrinkled black suit.
“I got a text message from Casey this morning, she’s going to give me that property abstract tonight so you could go over it tomorrow if you’ve got time.”
“Great, I’ll make time I’d like to look at it. I don’t have a lot shaking in the morning, at least as it stands now.” He had just poured himself a mug of coffee and was walking back to his picnic table desk carrying the mug. As he sat down in his chair, coffee sloshed out of the mug and in one fell swoop got his lapel, his white shirt and his tie. “God, can you believe this crap?”
“Maybe you should have set the mug down first.”
“Thanks for that thought.”
“Say, I went for a little ride with your friend, Fat Freddy, yesterday.”
“My friend,” Louie said then licked the back of his tie and attempted to dab the coffee off his shirt. It looked as if he only succeeded in making the stain a little larger. “Damn it.”
“Maybe you should just leave well enough alone,” I suggested.
“Fat Freddy, you were saying.”
“Yeah, we drove around over on the East Side and he showed me a bunch of places Bulldog is providing protection for.”
“You two are pals, now?”
“In a way, I sort of feel for the guy. He’s just an idiot.”
“Well, say no more, there’s the common bond.”
“Anyway, it’s a protection racket, Bulldog and most likely Tubby got going. They’re screwing these small business guys. Looked like a lot of immigrant-type places. I’m sure it’s folks unfortunately afraid to go to the cops and rightfully afraid of Bulldog.”
“What a jerk.”
“You think? Near as I can figure out, from just the places Fat Freddy showed me, they’re getting close to three grand a week. And like I said, that’s just the ones I saw.”
“Three grand a week. What is that a couple hundred bucks from each of those places?”
“Yeah.”
“Every week? God, that’s probably their entire profit margin.”
“Certainly could be. Freddy alluded to Bulldog skimming some off the top. Man, I’d like to nail that creep.”
“Stay away, Dev. Nothing good can come from you getting involved.”
“I’m not going to get involved, I’d just like to nail him is all.”
Louie just shook his head, took a sip of his coffee and opened a file. I put the
“Well, they’ve done a wonderful job. There must be a space back there behind this cabinet, certainly not big enough to be a room, it’s strange.”
“Hey, I’m going to get your dinner going in the microwave, you want to join me or would you rather stay up here in the closet and knock on all the walls.”
“I’m coming, oh this has been so cool. Thanks, Dev, you know every once in a while you do something nice.”
“Thanks.”
“You can be sweet,” she said and gave me a peck on the cheek. “You can also get me another wine.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was just before seven the following morning when Heidi left. “I’ve got a conference call at nine and an eleven o’clock meeting,” she said then kissed me and let herself out. We’d gone to sleep in front of the flat screen in the den. After sleeping on the thick Oriental rug and using the couch cushions as pillows my body felt like a bent piece of plumbing. I was in my boxers cleaning up the little white takeout food containers and putting the wine bottles in recycling when the workmen showed up.
I arrived in the office and was seated at my desk by nine, unsuccessfully scanning the building across the street with my binoculars. Louie made it in a little after ten.
“Any coffee left?” he asked as he came in the door.
“Fresh pot on, I made plenty for you.”
“You sound like you’re in a pretty good mood, anything happening over there?”
I put the binoculars down and spun round in my chair to face him. He was wearing his wrinkled gray suit today, as opposed to his wrinkled navy blue, gray herringbone, darker gray, brown or wrinkled black suit.
“I got a text message from Casey this morning, she’s going to give me that property abstract tonight so you could go over it tomorrow if you’ve got time.”
“Great, I’ll make time I’d like to look at it. I don’t have a lot shaking in the morning, at least as it stands now.” He had just poured himself a mug of coffee and was walking back to his picnic table desk carrying the mug. As he sat down in his chair, coffee sloshed out of the mug and in one fell swoop got his lapel, his white shirt and his tie. “God, can you believe this crap?”
“Maybe you should have set the mug down first.”
“Thanks for that thought.”
“Say, I went for a little ride with your friend, Fat Freddy, yesterday.”
“My friend,” Louie said then licked the back of his tie and attempted to dab the coffee off his shirt. It looked as if he only succeeded in making the stain a little larger. “Damn it.”
“Maybe you should just leave well enough alone,” I suggested.
“Fat Freddy, you were saying.”
“Yeah, we drove around over on the East Side and he showed me a bunch of places Bulldog is providing protection for.”
“You two are pals, now?”
“In a way, I sort of feel for the guy. He’s just an idiot.”
“Well, say no more, there’s the common bond.”
“Anyway, it’s a protection racket, Bulldog and most likely Tubby got going. They’re screwing these small business guys. Looked like a lot of immigrant-type places. I’m sure it’s folks unfortunately afraid to go to the cops and rightfully afraid of Bulldog.”
“What a jerk.”
“You think? Near as I can figure out, from just the places Fat Freddy showed me, they’re getting close to three grand a week. And like I said, that’s just the ones I saw.”
“Three grand a week. What is that a couple hundred bucks from each of those places?”
“Yeah.”
“Every week? God, that’s probably their entire profit margin.”
“Certainly could be. Freddy alluded to Bulldog skimming some off the top. Man, I’d like to nail that creep.”
“Stay away, Dev. Nothing good can come from you getting involved.”
“I’m not going to get involved, I’d just like to nail him is all.”
Louie just shook his head, took a sip of his coffee and opened a file. I put the
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