5 Tutti Frutti by Mike Faricy

named Charlie’s last night. I’d say I was in there from about nine o’clock until maybe ten-thirty or so. Charlie, the owner, can attest to that and maybe a half dozen guys that were in there. I had dinner with a woman, paid in cash, tipped Charlie. I left with the woman once we finished our dinner. She had two martinis, I had a half glass of beer. We drove from there directly to my house.”
    “Gee, a dinner date at Charlie’s bar . You’re a real high class big spender.”
    “We needed a quiet night . Then, like I said, we ended up at my place.”
    “Drove her car?”
    “No, actually I drove mine. She followed me in her’s.”
    “You talk to anyone there?”
    “At Charlie’s? No. Except to place my order. It was just me and this woman. I was waiting for maybe a half hour before she showed. We sat alone in a booth. Of course she was obviously enthralled with my company.”
    “ Yeah, who wouldn’t be? You didn’t talk to anyone at the bar then.”
    “ Not really, some drunk made a comment, I let it go. I think I said something like no hassle or see ya. He apologized later; offered to buy us a drink. I had other things on my mind to tell you the truth. Why, what’s this all about, anyway?”
    “You know anyone named Gary Ruggles?”
    “No, not that I can recall at this time.” This was taking a turn I didn’t like, and I began to hedge my answers like one of those creeps in Washington.
    “Is y our vehicle here, Mister Haskell?”
    “Yea h, it’s right out on the street.”
    “Mind if we take a look?”
    “At my car?”
    “Yeah, your car. ”
    “No , I guess not. What’s going on here, Manning?”
    “Just want to check license and registration is all. That okay with you?”
    “Is my client suspected of something, Detective? I’m guessing sooner or later you’ll arrive at the real purpose of this harassment.”
    God, it took Louie long enough, but I didn’t have anything to lose with Manning checking my car, unless Candi had called him to report my tail lights. “Car’s out on the street, you want to follow me I’ll show you the license and registration.”
    Mann ing nodded and the four of us went down the steps and outside to my car.
    “I should have know n this beast would be yours when we first pulled up,” Manning said, looking back and forth along the length of my car. “Why the blue door?”
    “A work in progress ,” I said. I had climbed behind the wheel to reach over into the glove compartment. I handed Manning my registration and insurance card. “Sorry, didn’t realize you’d been promoted to traffic division.”
    “A note from one of your fans?” Manning asked , indicating Rose’s spray paint along the passenger side.
    “Just a slight misunderstanding.”
    While we talked, Richardson walked around studying the car then looked over at Manning and shook his head.
    “ You’re leaking a good bit of oil there; you might want to get that checked,” he said.
    “Thanks, I’ll be sure to do that.”
    “Surprisingly, this all seems to be in order,” Manning said, sounding just a little disappointed as he handed me back my paperwork.
    “Gee, thanks, ” I replied.
    “What sort of mileage do you get with this beast?”
    “It’s improving, somewhere between eight and ten miles to the gallon. To tell you the truth, with gas only about four bucks a gallon, a high roller like me doesn’t have to really worry about fuel costs.”
    “Enjo y your day, gentlemen,” he said. They crossed the street, climbed in the front seat of a squad car, and drove off.
    “I have to say you seem to have a strange effect on people. What did you do to piss that guy off?” Louie asked, watching as the squad car slowly disappeared down Randolph Avenue.
    “I have no idea what any of that was about. What was that guy’s name he mentioned?”
     
    Chapter Thirteen
    “Yeah here it is right here. Jesus, hit and run victim last night.” Louie had a four sentence article displayed on his