"Requiem For A Stripper" drabbles by Christopher

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 296

Requiem For A Stripper #296

It said:

Jen Ann,

Meet me at Lincoln Park as soon as possible. I've just broken this case wide open.

Love,

Jake

I looked back at the bartender, "Who gave you this?"

"Nobody. It was there on the bar addressed to Miss Tonic so I gave it to her."

"How long ago did she leave?" I asked in a panic.

"About 20 minutes ago."

"Oh no!" I yelled as I tore out of the club and back to my borrowed car. I drove like a maniac toward Lincoln Park, which was at the intersection of Mission Road and Valley Boulevard...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 295

Requiem For A Stripper #295

I had to hurry back to The Gilded Daffodil. Jen Ann was about to take the stage, but after what Linda said I wasn't sure that something hadn't happened.

It was about 5 minutes after 10 when I got to the club. Jen should've been on stage but there was another girl up there removing her clothing.

I went to the bar and said, "Larry, where's Jen Ann?"

"She went to meet you, Randolph!"

My stomach turned.

"What?" I asked.

"Here's the note you left her," he said as he handed an envelope to me.

I pulled out the note...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 294

Requiem For A Stripper #294

The guy's skull cracked open as well as the crates. A flood of pencils came rushing out onto the warehouse floor.

I chuckled, "Well, the pencil is mightier than the sword too!"

I reached in the goon's pocket, after retrieving my gun, and fished out the car keys.

I went back out to the corner where they'd told me the car was and I saw a black '42 DeSoto Club Coupe. I checked the keys and this was the car they were supposed to drive me to my demise in.

Linda was not going to be very happy about that...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 293

Requiem For A Stripper #293

I lunged at him, expecting any second to feel my body being pierced by hot lead, but all I heard was a click. The idiot had fired so many times he was out of bullets. I landed on him and drove him to the floor. We struggled but not for long. The guy wasn't very good with a gun or with his fists. I left him snoring as I went to take out the other goon. He was starting around a corner when I saw him. I pushed over a stack of crates.

They crashed down on top of him...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 292

Requiem For A Stripper #292

A bullet whizzed past my head as I took refuge behind a stack of wooden crates. I heard further bullets as they buried into the sides of the boxes. The smell of gunpowder was wafting through the warehouse. The two men after me were coming from opposite sides. I knew they were trying to squeeze me in a pincer movement.

I eased around trying to get behind the trigger happy one. I went down a row of crates and saw him toward the end. I snuck up behind him. He heard me just before I got there.

He spun around...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 291

Requiem For A Stripper #291

The warehouse was full of boxes and crates but they were covered in a thick sheen of dust and cobwebs. It was too dark to read the writing on the sides of the boxes. I heard the goons as they entered the warehouse. One said he would circle around to the other side. I was going to try and bypass the other one and get out the door. I started around a column that went straight up to the ceiling and I heard gunfire. I ducked back and took cover. The guy just kept firing. These dudes were rank amateurs...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 290

Requiem For A Stripper #290

But I took that opportunity to grab the lid off a metal trash can and smack the guy with the gun. He went down and before the other one could pull my gun from his waistband I ducked into an alley beside a warehouse. I saw a door and tried it, but it was locked. I slammed my shoulder into it a couple of times and it gave way.

I could hear the guy I'd knocked down clamoring to his feet as the other one said, "We gotta get him!"

I ran inside the warehouse, looking for somewhere to hide...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 289

Requiem For A Stripper #289

The other guy reached in under my left arm and pulled my pistol out, tucking it into his belt. They led me through a door in the back to the outside.

"Where are we going? Do I need to chip in for the gas?" I asked, looking for my moment to strike.

"The car's just around the corner, puke! And it's all gassed up," the goon with the gun said.

That was the first time I'd ever been called puke.

Just then a stray cat jumped from a fire escape, which scared the hell out of all three of us...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 288

Requiem For A Stripper #288

The guy with the gun to my head grabbed my left shoulder and shoved me to the side of the bar. I presumed he was leading me to a back door. The other guy fell in behind us.

I stopped and turned my head toward Linda.

"When I'm done shoveling the other shit from this case I'm going to come back and find you, Linda. We'll have one final dance together."

She smiled, "Your last dance will be to the Funeral March, Mr. Randolph. And check him for a gun, you idiots!"

Damn! I was hoping they'd forget about that...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 287

Requiem For A Stripper #287

"He definitely could use some time at the shooting range," I said truthfully.

"Well, I think he's about to get a little practice in soon. He's the gentleman behind you with the gun in your ear," she said, grinning. "Hopefully Jen Ann Tonic won't notice your absence at her performance tonight. That is, assuming she gives a performance tonight."

I didn't like the sound of that.

"You two," she said to the guy with the gun to my head and another guy off to the side, "take him you-know-where and do you-know-what."

I got the message...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 286

Requiem For A Stripper #286

I pulled her arm around behind her and started to slam her down face first on the bar, the same trick I'd pulled with Minga at the Pussycat, but something stopped me. It was a cold bit of steel I felt pressed against my head behind my right ear.

I let Linda go. She stood up and rubbed her wrist.

"Now, you unfortunately know too much, Mr. Randolph," she said. "Which is exactly what this little charade was about. We tried to get you this afternoon but someone botched the assignment.”

The one who shot at me at Madame Helga's...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 285

Requiem For A Stripper #285

"Watch your step, Linda," I said with clenched fists.

"No, she's too much of a goody two-shoes for that! Can you imagine? A stripper with morals? Hahaha!"

"Is that what's happening to all the missing strippers? The Immoral Society does away with them?"

"You are absolutely clueless, Randolph. How do you make a living as a detective? You couldn't detect your ass with your hands if you were sitting on them!"

"At least I'm not a whore," I said.

A fire broke out in her eyes as she took a swing at me. I dodged it, grabbing her wrist...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 284

Requiem For A Stripper #284

I looked at her empty glass of vodka and she said, "I've been drinking water all night! You are an idiot!"

That meant the bartender was in on it. I would imagine everyone in the bar was in on it. I started looking around. Guys were sliding out of booths and getting up off barstools.

"Tell me something, Linda. When did you stop working as a prostitute for Madame Helga?"

She hauled off and slapped the shit out of me.

"Do you recruit girls for The Immoral Society as well?"

"You mean girls like Jen Ann Tonic?" she asked, laughing...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 283

Requiem For A Stripper #283

"Oh yeah, Nicky Minga. Sure, I know him," she said, trying to save the situation.

"He said he did his recruiting at Hoofers. I assumed he was talking about girls for the strip club. Or maybe he meant his next girlfriend. Or was he talking about recruiting for something else?"

She just stared at me. I knew it was over.

"So, Jacob Randall," she said in a low tone, "or should I say Jake Randolph? You've got some nerve for coming here, I'll give you that. Either that or you're just stupid."

She seemed to have sobered up awfully fast...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 282

Requiem For A Stripper #282

She shifted on her barstool and said, "Really?"

"Yeah," I continued. "I'm liaising with Schmidt through an associate of his. A guy named Minga. Nicky Minga. You know him?"

She started looking around the bar as if she didn't know what to say.

"Uh...uh, I think I do. Minga you say?"

"Yeah. He mentioned something about Hoofers to me when we were negotiating. That's why I came down there. He said I should ask for Linda Erickson."

She looked like a kid that got caught with one hand in the cookie jar and the other hand already full of cookies...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 281

Requiem For A Stripper #281

"I own part of it. I have a couple of silent partners but I run things."

"Who are your silent partners?" I asked. She got a funny look so I added, "I have some prime real estate in and around southern California. I just wondered if they'd be interested in buying some."

She took another drink, "Uh, they prefer to remain anonymous. But I don't think they'd be interested."

"Well, you never know. I'm talking to a German fellow right now by the name of Klaus Schmidt. He runs The Pink Pussycat and he's looking to buy some real estate."

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 280

Requiem For A Stripper #280

I sometimes wondered, being basically an honest guy my whole life, how I got so good at lying to people. It wasn't a skill I had to hone either. Maybe I was only fooling myself that I was otherwise an honest man.

We sat and drank, with Linda knocking back vodka after vodka, and me nursing one bourbon on the rocks for a long time. But she had yet to say one thing that would be useful to me solving this case. I'd have to prime the pump.

"So," I said, "how'd you wind up running Hoofers? You own it?"

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 279

Requiem For A Stripper #279

We sat down at the bar and the bartender just stared at us. He was a stocky man with dark hair and question marks in his eyes. Linda said she wanted vodka. I told the bartender I wanted a bourbon on the rocks. He started making our drinks.

"So," Linda said as she turned to me, "tell me everything about yourself, Jake."

"Well, I'm a native Californian. Born right here in the City of Angels."

That much was true. And then the lies started.

"I deal in real estate, buying and selling. Sometimes multi-million dollar deals."

She looked impressed...

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 278

Requiem For A Stripper #278

She pulled into the parking lot of a dive called Brannigan's Pub.

Great, I thought. I'll probably be spending the night dodging a bunch of Mick fists.

We walked inside and it was apparently Brannigan's Pub in name only. There was nothing even remotely Irish about this place. It looked like every other sleazy bar in Los Angeles.

There were about 20 people in the place besides us and the bartender. She asked if I wanted to get a booth or sit at the bar.

"Let's sit at the bar for a bit. We can always get a booth later."

Jake Randolph in "Requiem For A Stripper" Pt. 277

Requiem For A Stripper #277

"How about we take my car?" she asked as we approached a Nash 600, which looked to be a 1947 model. It was candy apple red with black wheel wells and whitewall tires. It looked like a car a teenager should be driving.

She drove us out to Armstrong Avenue, which ran by the Silver Lake Reservoir. I didn't know what the point was of going this far out, considering we had passed dozens of bars on the way.

She chatted mostly about running Hoofers. I let her speak, but she hadn't given me anything I could use.

Not yet...