“No, everything’s cool, Marko,” she told him. “This is Jeremy Barnes. He’s a private eye, and he just wants to ask me some questions.”
“About what?” he asked, as he turned to me.
“A case I’m working on,” I said.
“Wanna try to be a little more specific?” Everything about this guy screamed aggression. I tried to keep calm.
“No,” I said. “Client confidentiality, you know.”
“Marko’s one of the bouncers,” explained Dee-Dee, “and sometimes he gets a little overprotective.” Giving him a look that expressed her disapproval, she added, “Way too overprotective.”
“Hey,” said Marko, “ask away, man.”
“Well,” I said, “the questions I have for Dee-Dee are of a somewhat personal nature. I’d rather not have anybody else around, if you don’t mind.”
“Tough shit, ‘cause I do mind.”
“Oh, Marko,” said Dee-Dee, “for God’s sake, just leave us alone for a minute.”
Marko put his hand on her arm, not all that hard, but still there.
“Listen, Babe, I tole you before, you gotta quit trustin’ every Tom, Dick and Harry who walks through that door.”
I stood up from my stool and said, “Hey, Marko, there’s no need for any trouble here. I’ll just take five minutes of the lady’s time and then be on my way.”
He took his hand off Dee-Dee’s arm and jabbed at my chest with one of his fingers. I hate that.
“Maybe you’ll take five seconds to get the hell out of here instead.”
“Don’t do that,” I told him, as he continued jabbing at my chest with his finger.
He jabbed harder. I grabbed his finger and turned it slightly.
“Ohhh, shit!” he said. He tried pulling out of my grasp, and when that didn’t work, he started to raise his other hand to hit me. I increased the pressure on his finger a little and pulled his arm up just a bit. His body had two choices: separate itself from the arm or fall to the floor. The body chose the floor, and when he hit the hardwood, I bent over so that my face was very close to his.
“Marko, I’m going to say this just once. You are much bigger and much stronger than I am, but this isn’t a weightlifting contest. This is a fight, and I am a hell of a lot more experienced at it than you are. I’m going to let go of your finger now, and if you come at me again, I will hurt you much worse.”
I let go. For a minute, I thought he was going to do the stupid thing, but then he looked over my shoulder and stayed down. I turned and saw Jake standing there, next to Dee-Dee.
“Marko,” Jake said, “you and me have talked about this kind of stuff before, right?”
Marko nodded and examined his finger, as though he were surprised to see it still there.
“So maybe,” continued Jake, “we need to have that conversation again. Go get some ice from behind the bar and put it on that finger, and then wait for me.”
After Marko got up, gave me a nasty look, and left, Jake turned to me.
“Sorry ‘bout that. Marko sees himself as some kind of guardian angel or something for the ladies here. Other than that, believe it or not, he’s a good bouncer. Never seen anyone he couldn’t handle . . . until just now. You ever looking to pick up a few extra bucks, give me a call, okay?”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” I told him. “Meanwhile, is there somewhere Dee-Dee and I can talk in private for a minute?”
Turning to Dee-Dee, he said, “Why don’t you two use my office?”
“C’mon, Mr. Barnes,” she said, as she turned and began walking towards another door in the back of the room. I followed, watching her hips closely. You never know where you’ll find a clue.
Chapter 23
Jake’s office appeared to have been a closet in a previous life. There was room for a desk with one of those chairs on rollers behind it, a small sofa, and, next to the sofa, an end table with a lamp. The desk had a small fluorescent light on it, but there was no overhead lighting. Dee-Dee sat on the sofa, which was at a right angle to the desk, leaving me to either sit in the chair behind the desk or on the edge of the desk itself. Since I didn’t want to appear to be assuming the role of a boss here, I leaned back against the desk and strived mightily not to look down the front of her blouse.
“How’d you do that?” she asked. “You know some kind of martial arts stuff or something?”
Actually, I’ve had some training in karate, but as I once told Simon, I know just enough of it to get my ass kicked in a good street fight. I wrestled in high school and college, and I use some of that when I have to. Basically, though, whenever I find myself in a situation where I’m forced to defend myself, I just sort of go with the flow and do whatever comes naturally. I’m pretty quick, and my reflexes are okay, so I’ve always been able to handle myself. Plus, to be honest, I hate to lose. I used to play racquetball every Friday night with a friend of mine. The two of us were fairly evenly matched, so the games were always close. One night, though, I was distracted. I think I was in the middle of a difficult case, but whatever it was, I suddenly found myself on the wrong side of a 14-0 score. Kenny and I played to 15, and the winner had to get all 15 points and win by two, no quitting after an 11-0 whitewashing or anything like that. Anyway, I wasn’t upset with Kenny, just mad at myself for losing my focus. I let the tiger out just a bit that night, and I scored 16 straight points to win, 16-14. Later, in the locker room, as he was toweling off, Kenny looked at me for a
