Bulldog (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 9) by Mike Faricy Read Free Book Online Page B

Freddy.
    “I’d like you to see our guest to the door. He’s finished here,” Jackie Van Dorn said, then sort of shooed me away with a few flicks of his hand.
    Fat Freddy waved the .45 at me indicating I was going to leave. I wasn’t about to argue, I rose to my feet, gave Freddy a wide berth and headed for the door. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Van Dorn, I’m sure we’ll be in touch,” I called over my shoulder.
    Van Dorn didn’t respond. The woman at the desk didn’t bother to look up from her solitaire game which one could only hope she was losing. I walked out of the room, down the short hall then picked up speed once I was at the top of the stairs.
    “Oh no you don’t, not so damn fast,” Fat Freddy said half under his breath, then hurried down the steps after me.
    I had to slow down to let him catch up. He thundered down the steps grunting. His hand holding the .45 was placed against the wall for balance. He was busy focusing on the stairs when I half turned, reached up and grabbed him by the wrist then twisted him over my shoulder. I hung onto his wrist and yanked the .45 out of his hand as he let out a loud groan then slid down a half dozen steps. His head bounced off the steps a couple of times and he skidded to a stop at the bottom.
    “Freddy, Freddy, Freddy, you just don’t seem to learn,” I said then stepped over him, opened the door and walked outside. Freddy remained where he was, sprawled across the steps coughing and groaning. For my part, I couldn’t see any benefit in hanging around, so I quickly made it to my car and fled Nasty’s.
     
     
    Chapter Twelve
     
    “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d get anything out of Van Dorn,” Louie said then twirled his index finger at Jimmy to signal another round. We’d been in The Spot for a couple of hours.
    “What a sleaze ball.”
    “Told ya,” Louie said.
    “Did you know the entrance to his office is next to a couple of dumpsters behind Nasty’s?”
    “No, I didn’t, but it’s not all that surprising, in fact it’s almost poetic now that I think about it.”
    “I put a call into Casey about her abstract hopefully she can get hold of the thing.”
    “Yeah, like I said it would be interesting to look through it. You get the name of the seller it’s probably nothing, but it just might be a good idea to pass that information on to the police,” Louie said making it sound like a pretty strong suggestion.
    “Yeah, I know, I know,” I groaned.
    “You worried about this Freddy character? It doesn’t really sound like you’ve gotten the relationship off on the best foot.”
    “There is no relationship, Louie. I want that idiot and anyone else who may be associated with him to just stay the hell away from Casey and from me.”
    “I get that, but just be careful so you’re not inviting more involvement on their part.”
    Some guy walked in the front door and I glanced outside, it wasn’t quite dusk, but it would be dark in less than an hour. “I better get a move on, I want to be at Casey’s before it gets too late and have some lights turned on. You want to stop over for some week old chicken wings and beer?”
    Louie seemed to ponder my offer for a brief moment then shook his head. “No, it would probably be the better idea to just head home.”
    “Of course it would, but since when have you ever done that?”
    “True, but I’ll still take a rain check.”
    “Suit yourself, man. See you tomorrow.”
    Louie nodded then signaled Jimmy for another drink. I went out to my car and headed toward Casey’s. There was a pair of headlights behind me as I drove down Victoria toward the entrance ramp, nothing unusual, I just made a mental note. They followed me onto the interstate which was still okay. I took the next exit, Grand Avenue and they followed. That was a little unusual, but it’s happened before. When I took a left up Ramsey then turned left a block later onto Grand instead of going up Ramsey Hill, it started to feel a