Hired by a young man to find out why his fiancee ran away roadie / PI Lenny Parker finds her quickly and sees her drive away with a big black man who turns out to be a pimp called Larry Thunder. For earlier episodes click here.
FOUR
Lenny was just in time for
practice. The Necromantic Poets jam in their vocalist’s , Mikey Taylor garage.
Mike is a good looking guy with long brown hair.
“You cut that one close,” Mikey
said. “We were all looking forward to hearing about your life on the road. It’s
been awhile.”
“Yeah, but first let’s jam. I’ve
been aching to put up my riffs against Lenny’s bass lickfs long enough,” a wiry
guy with a Mohawk said. That’s what the band called him too, Mohawk. Nobody
knew his name but Lenny figured it had to be something embarrassing like
Theodore or Harold.
“Yeah, let’s rock,” a girl with a
lot of tattoos and pink hair said. She was sitting behind the drums. She was
called Casey. Last time Lenny saw her she was dating a stripper and her hair
was blue. Next week he knew she might as well be dating a waitress and her hair
might be green.
Lenny unpacked his bass. “Fine
with me. Time to make some noise. What will we start out with? Zero Tolerance?
I love the intro to that one.”
Casey hit the drums with a quick
solo. “Go for it!”
Lenny served up a low throbbing
bass that Mohawk followed up with a down tuned riff. Mikey screamed, “Zero
Tolerance!” Then they were off.
They played a mixture of death
metal and thrash that they liked but didn’t seem to find a big audience.
Perhaps because Casey had a habit of getting so pissed off at the mistakes
Lenny made she sometimes walked off during a gig. Or the fact Mohawk showed up
drunk for a lot of them. Or didn’t show up at all.
They played two more songs before
they decided they needed a break. And a beer. They got some bottles of Corona
from the fridge which they drank with a rockstar’s gusto.
“So, how was life on the road?” Mikey
asked Lenny.
“What’s to tell… Long drives,
hard work schlepping around stuff. Managed to ace the opening riff to Iron Man while sound checking which the
audience loved,” Lenny said.
“Did you manage to party some
with the band?” Mohawks asked.
“Yeah, two nights. Had fun with
those guys. I did a few shots too many though. Almost barfed over the lead
singer.”
“That’s a pretty good way to get
yourself fired,” Mohawks chuckled.
“Luckily I just managed to get
the champagne bucket. After that I went to the hotel right away. Shit, makes me
wonder what happened to the bucket. Hope they got wise and…”
“Just stop it,” Casey said,
shutting my mouth with two fingers. “Maybe you should tell me a bit more about
your side job instead. Any new interesting cases?”
“There is a confidentiality thing
attached to the gig,” Lenny said.
Casey handed Lenny a new beer and
said, “You know we can keep a secret.”
“I guess. And I wouldn’t mind
getting this one off my chest.” Lenny gave them the short version of his latest
adventure.
“That Larry Thunder sounds like a
guy you wouldn’t want to mess with,” Mikey thought.
“That’s not the thing worrying
me. I’m bothered by the fact that I don’t know what I should tell me client. Poor
guy. Would you want to hear your fiancée is a hooker?”
“I dated one or two in my time,” Mohawk
said. “But you really think she’s a whore?”
“It’s pretty much the only reason
I can think of why she would be hanging with him.”
“Ever think of the possibility
she’s dating him?” Casey offered.
“It didn’t really look like that.
And do you think that would sound better to the poor guy?”
Casey shrugged. “Maybe he’s got a
right to the truth, even if it’s ugly.”
“He did hire you to find out why
she left him,” Mikey said.
“Maybe I just pull out and pay
him back. I just don’t want any of this shit on my conscience.”
Mohawk slapped Lenny on the back
of the head. “Fucking pussy! You’re such a damned softy.”
“Maybe you should try to get the
details from the lady first. Ask her why she left him in person,” Casey said
between to pulls from her Corona.
“But try not to face Larry
Thunder,” Mikey brought in.
“Sounds like a good idea. Now I
just need to know how I’m going to do that,” Lenny said.
“Never mind that for now. Let me
hear you do that Iron Man riff,” Mohawk said.
Lenny gave it a try and fucked it
up.
