Under Abnormal Conditions by Erick Burgess Page B

Kevin Turner talked to them, and they said you
knew she didn’t come back up front. And everybody knows about, you
know, Michelle.”
    “You were there. I tried to get everyone out
as fast as I could. What was I supposed to do?”
    She just shrugged her shoulders and shook her
head.
    Most of Phil’s speech just went in one ear
and out the other. That was until the very end.
    “ . . . and the police think it may have been
an inside job. All I know, is I have my suspicions,” he said, with
his eyes focused on me. All of the eyes in the room seemed to
follow his gaze, directly to my face.
    “There are a few of you that will be subject
to a lie detector test,” he continued. “The club is going to be
closed for two or three days while the police gather evidence.
Brenda or I will call to let everyone know what is going on. If no
one has any questions . . .” he paused. “I ordered the buffet for
everyone, so eat and try to forget about this whole horrible
ordeal.”
    “I’m not wanted here. I’ll call you
later.”
    “Wait. Are you okay? I mean really. What’s
going on?” she asked.
    “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
    “No, really?” she asked again.
    “Come here,” I said as I took her arm and
pulled her aside. “Sherry wanted me to find Michelle’s killer. She
told me that the night she died.”
    “What?”
    “Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but what can I
do. I have to find out what happened to her and Michelle. I better
get out of here.”
    “Please be careful,” she pleaded.
    I was halfway out the door when Phil called
me back. “I talked to Kevin today, you know.”
    “So,” I answered then kept walking.
    “And the police want to talk to you
again.”
    “I figured as much,” I said continuing on my
way.
    He grabbed my arm and whispered, “I know you
had something to do with it, Kevin knows you had something to do
with it, and the police know it.”
    “Do they also know that you were sleeping
with Sherry?” I announced, jerking away my arm. Brenda’s permanent
scowl dissolved into a look of bewilderment. With an eyebrow raised
and a puckered mouth, she looked at him as if to say, ‘Well, answer
him.’
    “That’s just a dirty rumor and you know it!”
he shouted and caught everyone’s attention. “Look my friend, it’s
not about what you know, it’s about what you can prove. There was
nothing going on with me and Sherry.”
    “What about the illegal gambling?”
    “You can’t prove any of that. Get out of my
sight! I don’t have to take this,” he grunted and stormed away.
    A sardonic smile covered Brenda’s face as she
looked over the top of her glasses and said, “I hear they are
looking for help here at Angelo’s. Maybe you need to apply.” She
then walked away in search of Phil. It didn’t matter when the club
reopened; I would be looking for a new job.
    Don’t trust anybody.
     
     

Chapter 16
     
     
    I wasn’t sure about the gambling and I really
wasn’t sure about the affair, but like Mona said earlier, I did
have a way with people. That also meant I could read people.
    Phil was lying.
    That was a trait passed down from my father.
He could spot a lie like a fly in a soup bowl. Phil was lying and
if I could catch him in his lie, maybe an end would come to my
problems. Or I could be getting myself into even more trouble.
    Ester was expecting the child support for
this month, and I had to come through. What I did was stupid and
irresponsible. I knew telling Phil off was the wrong thing to do
but it felt so good. If I had not stood up to him, he would have
continued to run over me. I figured I would start looking for a new
job as soon as possible.
    Ester had a small house in a quiet
subdivision on the edge of town close to Baton Rouge. It was a nice
place to raise a family. That neighborhood was real. It was filled
with real people with real families and not the artificial place
where Trey lived.
    She had lived with her mother ever since we
separated. There