Bulldog (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 9) by Mike Faricy

Fredrick Zimmerman was assaulted while on the way to his car. Zimmerman, an employee of Nasty’s is listed in stable condition tonight at Regions Hospital. Police are asking anyone with information to please contact them.”
    “In other news the Twins suffered yet another defeat…”
    “Is that…?”
    “…Fat Freddy,” I answered. “I was just with him a couple of days ago. Jesus Christ.”
    “Someone beat him up in the middle of the afternoon in Nasty’s parking lot?” Louie said.
    “Yeah, and I’m willing to bet I know exactly who had a hand in it if he didn’t attack him outright.”
    “Who?”
    “Bulldog.”
    “Hey, look, Dev. I know you were kind of warming to Fat Freddy and you are no fan of Bulldog’s. By the way, neither am I, but it might be a little farfetched to pin this on him.”
    “Not a fan? No, I’ll lay you odds on it, he’s responsible. I just know it.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    “Because it’s my fault.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I was at Nasty’s the other night. I went in there to talk to Fat Freddy, to see if he could tell me who Lowell Bulski is.”
    “That name you got off the property records at PRR? I checked online and couldn’t find anything. Remember?”
    “Yeah, but just ‘cause it’s not online doesn’t mean there aren’t other sources.”
    “Now Fat Freddy is a source?”
    “I had a hunch, Bulski, Bulldog, get it?”
    “No.”
    “Bulski, the last name, it’s why that bastard Bulldog is called Bulldog, well, that and the fact the guy is such an asshole.”
    “And Freddy told you this?”
    “No, as a matter of fact I never even talked to Freddy, never saw him, he’d already left. The place was jammed with all sorts of upstanding citizens and ‘swells’ getting their fill. Then this chick came on the stage, they hyped her as the nastiest woman Nasty’s has ever had or something like that. She was clearly the reason all the suits were there. Anyway, she does a couple of half-ass numbers then is out fleecing the crowd for lap dances. Can you believe she get’s forty bucks?”
    “So who was she?”
    “I’m getting to that. I can’t get near her for a couple of hours. They got these big, thuggy bouncers literally guarding her ass. She’s out there doing lap dances and shit, she’s on some guy and at the same time signaling me that I’m next. You know who it was?”
    “I got no idea.”
    “The name Swindle Lawless ring any bells?”
    “You are kidding me, Swindle Lawless? That porn star slut who was with Tommy and Gino D’Angelo until they got sent to prison? Do you mean to tell me she hasn’t died from some sort of overdose or been run over by a group of enraged wives? God, the female version of Keith Richards and she’s still out there proving everyone wrong. I don’t believe it.”
    “Believe it. She tossed down seven or eight shots while I tried to talk to her. Ten bucks a crack.”
    “That’s what she charges?”
    “No, that’s what the shots cost.”
    “God. So what does any of this have to do with your husky friend Freddy being put in the hospital?”
    “Oh yeah, so I’m trying to talk with her, asking if she knows who Lowell Bulski is? I’m thinking she may have lived at Casey’s when it was cut into sleazy apartments. One of the neighbors I talked to described a woman who lived there as strange and unbalanced.”
    “That could be just about any woman who would go out with you.”
    “I’m asking old Swindle if she knows Lowell and she’s kind of drunk and sort of staggers. I had to grab her by the shoulders so she wouldn’t fall. Next thing I know some bouncer wants to throw me out. So, I told him Tubby and Bulldog sent me over to watch Swindle and they had told Fat Freddy to pass on the info to the rest of the bouncers. Anyway, that bouncer checks with his pals, they start to come after me and that’s when I just got the hell out of there. Long way around the barn, but I think that’s why Freddy