I hadn't been to Jake's place since before I left the force it was a dark corner bar with small windows and glass bricks around the front door a cops bar located on the fringes of the bad part of town it was a place where cops went to blow off steam and didn't welcome people who weren't part of the blue brotherhood or people like me who had been expelled
before my exile I had spent much too much time here, regular enough for the owner Jake to consider me a friend though not friend enough to discourage me from drinking.
Friend or not he was not happy to see me walk through his front door dropping his conversation at the far end of the bar to meet me at the near end and warned me off.
“I don’t want any trouble, Dan,” he said. Jake was about 45 but life in a pub had added a lot of Gray so that he looked 20 years older
his mustache and beard had gone white with only a brown stain from cigarettes giving color near his lower lip.
“I’m not here to make trouble,” I said and settled on a stool. “I’m here looking for somebody.”
“That usually leads to trouble,” Jake said. “Do you want your usual?”
“Better make it a double, I need to keep a clear head.”
He poured the drink then asked me who I was looking for.
“A woman, about 5 foot 7, dark hair, extremely pretty,” I said, “Someone who started coming around after I stopped hanging out here.”
Jake’s gray eyes took on a troubled look.
“I sure hope you’re not looking for the woman I think you’re looking for.”
“Why not?”
Jake lowered his voice and leaned across the bar so I could hear his whispered reply.
“She’s bad news, Dan,” he said. “People get hurt around her.”
“Which is why I’m looking for her,” I said. “She was with Nat when he died.”
The dark look in Jake’s eyes grew darker as he frowned.
“Our Nat?” he asked.
“No other.”
“But I heard he…”
“Misinformation,” I said. “People needed to be protected so I kept their part quite. But I’m curious as to what really happened, and I hope she can tell me.”
At this point, a tall detective named Robert Miller noticed me. He was seated with two other younger detectives at a table in the corner near the cigarette machine.
Miller had blonde hair, blue eyes and an attitude I never cared for much.
“Well, look who the wind blew in,” Miller said, bellowing it like a public service announcement. “What are you doing back here? Couldn’t you find another bar to get sloshed in?”
“There are plenty of other bars,” I said. “But most don’t have jerk offs like you in them.”
Miller’s blue eyes narrowed so that in the dim light they looked black.
“Watch your mouth,” he warned. “I didn’t like you when you had a badge to protect you. I liker you even less now that you don’t have one.”
“But you’re still too much of a coward to do anything about it,” I said. “Especially when I’m sober.”
“Dan!” Jake whispered. “You promised me no trouble.”
“This is no trouble,” I said. “Miller is all mouth, and he knows it.”
“I’m sure you won’t be sober long,” Miller said, making it sound like a threat.
“Long enough to disappoint you,” I said “I heard you got promoted to the prosecutor’s office. Don’t they have a bar of their own or do you feel the need to slum it?”
“Unlike you, I still have friends on the force,” Miller said. “I don’t kill off my friends the way you do.”
I felt my promise to Jake face as rage rose into my throat. I knew I was being goaded into making the first move, and knew it was working, my good friend, Jason, was a big part of the reason I no longer wore a badge.”
“Dan!!” Jake whispered again, more urgently, and grabbed my arm. “Don’t do anything.”
My rage passed, perhaps helped by the sip of whiskey Jake had provided me with, the way it rarely did during those days when I drank heavily.
“Score one for the prosecutor’s office,” I said, and turned back to Jake and the drink. “Who is the woman?”
“You don’t know?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be talking to you,” I said. “I have a few questions for her.”
“She’s not the type to answer questions.”
“I need to ask anyway,” I said. “Like what she was doing with Nat when he died.”
“What do you think she was doing?”
“Don’t be a smart ass, Jake, you’re not good at it.”
“Are you doing this for a client?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then, I would drop the whole thing if I was you.”
“You’re not me, Jake. Just tell me how to reach her?”
“Wait here long enough, she’ll show up,” Jake said. “She loves cops. She lives up the street and usually pops in here after work.”
“What kind of work?”
“Don’t ask me,” Jake said. “I told you already. She’s not the type to give out a lot of information, especially about herself. If you insist on meeting her, then come back around six. She usually sets up shop at the corner table.”
“Thanks, Jake, I’ll do that,” I said, draining my drink. “I’ll be back.”
I gave Miller one last glance before I parted. He had his head down, huddling with his pals from the force. But I could tell he was aware of me. He just didn’t want to step outside just then.
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