southside bar that had seen her best day. In her time, she was a classy jazz club, but had now been reduced to an out of the way meeting place for lowlifes, dopers and pushers. I wondered why in the hell Hope would ever pick a clip joint like this? For that matter, how did she even know about this place?
CHAPTER FOUR
Miles and I hoofed it up to the door, slipping on more than one occasion on the icy covered roadway. An over grown ape, bulked up on steroids, greeted us at the door. You could tell he was no ordinary doorman. He was more of a bouncer, just another tough guy with a past, probably fresh out of the joint providing muscle for the owner, a bad ass made man who went by the name of Dondalo Foscari. I was tempted to flash my badge as I walked past him just to shake him up a little, but I’d already had enough fun for one night. Once we made our way past him, I scanned the room looking for some sign of Hope. Through the smoke and neon light of the ever present beer signs, I found her holed up in the back at a corner table. There was an orange and blue Coors sign perched above her head that from a distance gave her an angelic glow. She looked gorgeous even in these surroundings. Her blonde hair cascading down over her doll like face with those killer full red lips. From a distance she resembled the old time actress Ann Sheridan. She was one hell of a looker with an even disposition and a head on her shoulders to match.
I caught her eye and she smiled showing her dimples and picture perfect pearly white teeth as we approached the booth. I reached over and kissed her gently as Miles stood behind me off to the side, respectfully waiting for his introduction.
Responding to me, “I’m so glad you could make it.” Then glancing over at Miles and smiling warmly, she introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Hope Jens, you must be Miles. Mooney’s spoken of you often.”
“Please don’t believe a word he’s told you.”
“Never, please sit down and join me.”
Miles sat down in the booth opposite Hope, I slid down and squeezed in next to her. She playfully grabbed my knee and I flinched. She looked over with a playful grin as Miles spoke, “It’s really nice to finally meet you. Maybe when you get back from your business trip, you and Mooney could come over to our place for dinner. I’m sure my wife would love to meet you. Perhaps next Sunday?”
“I’d love to Miles, but I’m leaving town on a buying trip. I never know how long they’re going to be; could be a week, could be a month.”
Miles responded to Hope, “What do you buy?”
“Fabrics. primarily for furniture. It’s not the most glamorous or exciting job, but it pays the bills. Excuse me, Miles, but your head, I can’t help but notice. What happened?”
“An altercation in the station house with a violent man, nothing really.”
“Hopefully, you locked the bastard up.”
“Not exactly, Hope.”
“Now you’ve got my interest. Why isn’t he in jail? How did he get off?”
“Mooney, you want to take this one?”
Hope looked at me with a bemused smirk and bluest eyes I’d ever witnessed, “The altercation that Miles spoke of was between me and another cop. Miles got in the middle of it and fell into a desk.”
“You make it sound like an accident. I tried to pull you away from Slick Tony and the next thing I know I’m down on the floor with my head bleeding and an Excedrin headache.”
Hope looked over with that sly little girl smirk, “Is this true, Mooney?”
“Of course not, didn’t I warn you about Miles? He’s a pathological liar, you can’t believe a word he says.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Hope cooed.
Luckily the waitress showed up and saved me any further embarrassment. Hope ordered a Manhattan, Miles his usual Bud and a ginger ale for me.
Not wanting to revisit the previous conversation I thought I’d try a few jokes before Miles got revved up again and Hope wrote me off as a hooligan. “What do you call a lawyer that went bad?”
Hope and Miles were caught off guard, but as usual he responded, “What?”
“Senator. Here’s another one, what do you call a lawyer with an IQ of fifty?”
This time they both responded in harmony, “What?”
“Your Honor.”
I threw out a couple more lawyer jokes and they seemed content to play along. From the corner of my eye, I could see the waitress approaching with our drink order on a small black tray. When she was by my side, Hope made a most awkward move in reaching for her drink. The waitress caught off guard went spastic and dumped the tray on me. Hope was animated in making her apologies, while Miles was smiling ear to ear. Fully drenched in the Manhattan, beer and soda; the waitress quickly ran off and promptly returned with a bar towel. Hope grabbed the bar towel and dried me off the best she could, but even her best efforts were not enough. I was still wet and wreaked of alcohol.
Once calm was restored, we placed an order for a second round that was promptly delivered without incident. The waitress insisted that the first round was on her, a poor choice of words under the circumstances. Although I was still wet, Hope and Miles seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were hitting it off well, Miles was filling her in on the case and our plan for tonight’s stake out. The bar towel although helpful really didn’t do the trick so I excused myself and went to the washroom. I navigated my way across the crowded bar to the back corner and down a poorly lit hall. The men’s room door was first, then the ladies room and a pay phone at the end. A young girl who couldn’t have been more than sixteen was doing business with a ragtag looking punk. What an odd pair. He looked like your typical addict.
Razor thin, sunken cheeks, pale with dirty unwashed hair. The creep had two gold earrings and as he turned I noticed a stickpin and stud through his eyebrow over his right eye. He was dressed in worn jeans with a black tee shirt. The tattoos up and down his arms and on his neck added further to his disfigurement.
She on the other hand looked like a girl scout that just came from a cake sale down at St. Dorothy’s church.
She looked up nervously, like a deer caught in the headlights, he brazenly ignored me. It was obvious for anyone with half a brain that he was selling and she was buying whatever drug was in fashion with the young crowd. I didn’t bother to roust them. Experience had taught me long ago it was a waste of time. If she wanted it, she was going to get the drugs somewhere. If I busted him, he’d be back on the street before I could finish the paperwork. The judge would take one look at her and go light on the girl and then Daddy would have to come pick her up. No sense in wasting my time, besides the paperwork alone would tie me up for hours, Miles and I had a bigger fish to catch tonight.
Once I got into the bathroom, I tried to clean myself up as best as possible. The smell of liquor was still ever present, clinging to me like cheap after-shave. I attempted to pump some soap from the washroom dispenser, hoping that would help, but it didn’t work. Returning to the table, I was surprised to find Hope alone. “Where’s Miles?”
“He went over to the bar to get a couple bags of peanuts.”
“So what have you two been talking about?”
“Miles was filling me in on
