Score One For The Bad Guy by Kevin Long (finding audrey txt) 📖

Score One For the Bad Guy

A police detective walks into a bar and asks to speak with the bar tender. When the bartender comes over to the detective, he first introduces himself as a Mr. Howe the establishments proprietor and then asks what he can do for the detective. The detective looks down the bar and then asks the bartender about a lone woman sitting at the bar drinking very heavily. This is the conversation that takes place.

“ Who Shelly? Well sure she comes in often but not normally for herself. Normally she’s here picking up Jim, that’s her husband. Jim is usually the one frequenting that stool. Actually there is no usually about it, he’s here every night. He’s normally down here puttin’ the booze away and then like clockwork at 12:45 every evening Shelly shows to put Jim away.”
“ Sounds like you know the Fewers well?”
“ As well as you can when you see them every day. I’ve served the one and helped the other get him out of here just about every night since I started up the place.”
“ And Mrs. Fewer, she shows up every night at the same time to fetch up Mr. Fewer?”
“ I’ve never had to call her once. 12:45 on the dot.”
“ She just shows to collect her husband and goes home? She never drinks with him?”
“ Never with him. that’s not to say she doesn’t drink. Shelly comes in here, she pays whatever she can afford against his tab and then she’ll sit down and finish his last drink while we bullshit a little. When the drink is done she stands Jim up, props him on her shoulder and they walk out.”
“ Have you ever helped Mrs. Fewer walk Mr. Fewer home?”
“ No, I’ve never had to, Shelly can usually get him to walk on his own, she just holds him up. Hey, what’s this all about detective? What’s eatin’ Shelly? Where’s Jim?”
“ Well Mr. Howe, last night around 2:30 in the morning, Mrs. Fewer dialed 911 and reported that her husband had passed out while drinking and stopped breathing. By the time the ambulance arrived, Mr. Fewer had already passed on.”
“ Jim’s dead?”
“ Yes sir, Mr. Howe.”
“ Oh, poor Shelly. I don’t want to speak ill but I cant say I didn’t see this coming.”
“ Why is that? Did you know Mr. Fewer to drink after leaving your establishment?”
“ Well I’d never been to their home but with the amount Jim drank, one could imagine he would have had a few bottles lying around his house.”
“ So Mr. Fewer drank profusely, would you say?”
“ Jim drank a lot detective. Jim would drink anything you put under his nose. His usual was whiskey shots and vodka tonics. It wasn’t the craziest mix I’ve ever heard of but it sure was a strange one. If I had a crowd though and someone was buying rounds, Jim would definitely drink his share.”
“ And did you have a crowd last night?
“ No, not really. Just a normal Wednesday night. A few small groups and Jim are all I can remember really.”
“ What about Mr. Fewer? Was he drinking more then usual?”
“ Nope, he was right about the usual. Jim had about eight or nine vodka tonics and almost the same amount of whiskey shots.”
“ So Mrs. Fewer, did she finish one of his drinks last night?”
“ Yeah, I remember her having about half a glass.”
“ Did you too “bullshit” as you called it?”
“ Yeah we talked a little.”
“ And did she say anything about being fed up with Mr. Fewer at all? Or had she ever said anything like that before?”
“ No, Shelly’s such a nice woman. Shelly loved Jim. You cant be thinking she did this? There is no way that sweet woman could have killed anyone, most definitely not her own husband.”
“ You’d be surprised. I’ve seen stranger cases but no, we don’t think Mrs. Fewer had anything to do with her husbands death. Seeing that it was an alcohol related death we just wanted to check up on a few things just to make sure. She sure is puttin the drinks back though, isn’t she?”
“ Yeah, I bet she doin’ it for him. His stool, drinkin’ that many vodka tonics. No whiskey though, guess she just cant handle the stuff.”
“ Well Mr. Howe you had better get over there and take care of her, looks like she’ll be needing another soon.”
“ Thank you detective. Come around some time when you’re off duty, it’ll be on me.”
“ I’ll have to do that. Have a good night Mr. Howe.”
“ Good night to you too detective.”

As the detective turns and leaves the building, Mr. Howe watches as the door closes behind him and he is safely across the street before he turns and walks back behind the bar and over to where Mrs. Fewer is sitting. Mrs. Fewer begins the conversation.
“ Is he gone?”
“ Yes, he’s gone. How are you doin’ over here?”
“ I don’t think I could stomach another glass of soda water. Do you think he bought it?”
“ What is there to buy? Jim was an alcoholic and everyone new he’d be drinking himself to death before long. The detective said they just had to check up on it to completely rule out a murder. Now, are you ready to go?”
“ Of course, where too?”
“ Well, I was thinking that first we would go south, just in case. You know, to make it look like we aren’t trying to go too far. Then I was thinking we could head east from there. What do you think baby?”
“Sounds good to me. Lets get going, please.”

Outside the bar, the police detective slides into the passenger seat of a black sedan where he is greeted by his partner. The partner begins the conversation.
“ Well, Do you think she did it?”
“ I don’t know, it’ really clean.”
“ Screw it, call it suicide. I’m just glad we didn’t have to do it.”
“ What do you mean, “we didn’t have to do it?””
“ Well, just last week I had a talk with the boss and he said he was going to have one of us bump Fewer off if he didn’t come pay on his debt. I’m perfectly happy with whoever did it.”
“ Screw it, Suicide it is. Hey check it out, they’re closing it down early. Looks like they’re cutting out. Well lets get out of here.”
“ Score one for the bad guys, huh?”

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