Read Online Stay At Home Dad 03-Father Knows Death by Jeffrey Allen - Free Book Online Page A

everyone.”
    “Lying?”
    He nodded. “Yeah. Pinocchio has nothing on her.”
    “How do you know?”
    He looked me up and down. “I heard you’re working for her.”
    “Sort of,” I said, unsure of how to put it. “My partner and I are looking into Mr. Spellman’s death.”
    “That right?”
    “Yeah. You knew him?”
    His face clouded over. “George was a good friend.”
    “Was he? You weren’t just aware of him?”
    Butch nodded slowly. “Yeah. We were buddies. I was pretty shocked. We all were. He was a great, great guy. Deserved better.”
    “How’d you know him?”
    Butch scratched his head. “Gosh, I’ve known him for a long time. We used to be neighbors until he moved awhile back. And he was in the club.”
    “The club?”
    “Motorcycles,” Butch said. “Actually, the guys are about ready to take some action. When something happens to a brother, it’s serious business.”
    “A motorcycle club?” I asked, still unsure of what he was talking about.
    Butch glanced around us and stepped a bit closer. “Look, I can’t really talk about the club with someone who’s not a member, all right? But trust me. We are looking into this and we will respond.”
    “Respond? How?”
    “We’re supposed to ride during the parade at the fair,” he said. “We’ll probably make a statement then.”
    “What kind of statement?”
    “I can’t discuss it,” he said apologetically. “Club rules. But you can bank on it. The boys will respond.”
    I felt like I’d been dropped into some sort of weird B-movie version of Fight Club , but I let it go for the moment. “Were you serious about trying to get on the fair board?”
    “I don’t really know,” he said. “I’m pretty busy at my office and I got some other stuff going on, but I really think she’s ripping everyone and everything off.”
    “Why do you think that?”
    “I’m an accountant,” he said. “When I’m not out riding my hog, I crunch numbers all day. Nothing she says or does makes sense. I love this fair. Been coming since I was a kid. And I think she’s got something cooking and it’s not good for any of us. But I can just eyeball the amount of cash that goes through here and this fair should be growing. Instead, it feels like it’s shrinking.”
    The crowd was finally starting to disperse. I agreed with Butch. The fair did seem to be shrinking and there really wasn’t a good answer for it.
    “So, maybe not me, but I think someone else needs to get on that board and break up her little family-run monopoly,” he said, frowning. “It’s not fair. No pun intended.”
    I thought for a moment. “George worked for the fair, right?”
    He nodded. “Yes, sir. Every year. He was in charge of the grounds. Big job. And he did it for nearly free because he loved the fair. It cut into his other jobs, but he didn’t care.”
    “What other jobs?” I asked.
    “He had a landscaping business and did some handyman work,” Butch said. “He was just one of those guys who could do a bit of everything. But come fair time, he’d clear his schedule. He liked being around the fair and being a part of the setup and upkeep. I mean—he loved it. He planned his entire life around it.”
    “He work a lot with Mama?”
    He smirked. “What do you think? Of course. She calls the shots, so she was the one giving him his workload.”
    “He get along with her?”
    “Actually, better than most,” Butch admitted. “He just kind of laughed about her. I think he just liked working here so much, that he was willing to overlook all of her crap. He found a way to coexist with her.”
    Cars were now streaming out of the parking lot.
    “Was George in a relationship?” I asked. “Was he married? Girlfriend?”
    Butch’s face went crimson just like it had during the meeting. “Hey, man. I can’t talk about that kinda stuff.”
    “Why not?”
    “It’s against club rules to talk about other guys’ girls,” he said with a straight face. “That kind