Last Chapter: Part 3
The Detective dismissed the other officers, he felt they were just getting in his way. He searched the apartment for any clues on the type of company the victim kept.
He searched drawers, cabinets, under the bed, closets but found nothing of use; besides the victim loved to drink. Bottles of empty whiskey bottles were laid about.
“Somebody liked whiskey in his coffee”
The coroner came to remove the body from the scene. The coroner was close friends with the detective and was always happy to see him.
“Detective Briggs”
“Kenneth!”
Detective Briggs knew Kenneth was his only friend. After his wife died years ago; he maintained very little friendships due to grief.
“The officers told me you think it was murder.”
“Yea, I know the poor bastard was miserable… you can look around here and tell that but his death… something doesn’t add up.”
“Well you’ll definitely get to the bottom of it. George invited me to go golfing next week, join us.”
“You know I’m bad at golf.”
“It’s fine we just go to relax. We all have draining jobs. I figured you’d enjoy some relaxation.”
“Eh maybe.”
“Let me know if you change your mind John.”
Detective Briggs nodded.
Kenneth handed a card to Detective Briggs.
“What’s this?”
“It fell out of his pocket. I figured it’ll be helpful.”
“Thanks”
Kenneth smiled and left the room.
“The Hot House? Classy” he said sarcastically
“Of course it’s a strip club, what else would a lonely man in his 50’s be doing. Weird, it's right near my neighborhood.”
He headed out to his car and quickly put the card in his pocket not to share with the officers outside.
“Any clues?” One officer asked
“Nope.”
Detective Briggs got in the car and drove away. He didn’t need or want those dumb ass officers in his way. They were the city's poor excuse of trying to uphold the law.
He got out of his car and walked to the main entrance of the club and immediately got disgusted.
“It makes sense this is in my part of town… disgusting.”
The neon pink sign was barely functional. The door handle looked rusty and the bouncer in the front looked annoyed that he was there.
“ID?”
“You want my ID? Do I look 12 to you?”
The bouncer didn’t respond; he just stood there with his hand out. Detective Briggs sighed and rustled his back pocket to pull out his ID.
“Here”
The bouncer looked at it for about 5 seconds and handed it back.
“Go ahead”
“Maybe If I cut my beard, I'll look 4 at the rate your eyes work.”
Once he got in, the smell took his nose for a wild ride. He couldn’t decide whether to focus on the smell of sweat or the strong smell of hot wings.
He walked over to the bar and ordered a shot of whiskey.
The bartender somehow knew he was a cop and immediately called him out.
“Another shot officer?”
Detective Briggs laughed.
“That obvious?”
“You're looking all around with the cop stare.”
“We’ll actually it’s detective.”
“Well excuse me detective. Who are you looking for?”
“I’m not sure. Any of these lady’s ever go over to 182 Hickory Lane?”
“The old bridge apartments?”
“Yes”
“A couple yea but Bubbles is a regular”
“Bubbles?”
“Yea the blonde one with a huge smile on her face like she’s the person happiest person alive.”
Detective Briggs looked around but didn’t see Bubbles. Before he could ask the bartender anything the DJ was announcing Bubbles to the stage.
A blonde girl that looked too young to work at a strip club appeared on stage. She was wearing just a thong and two blue pasties on her nipples. Her heels were tall and ironically enough looked as if they were filled with bubbles. Briggs made his way to the front pass all the thirsty men throwing their life savings at her. He put a 20$ dollar bill in front of her which got her attention.
“Bubbles, how's your day going?”
“Good, how's yours?”
“It’s great but work is so stressful.”
“I can help with that. I do private dances for 50$ a dance.”
“Pricey but sure.”
“Okay I’ll be finished in about 10 minutes, you can wait by the bar.”
Briggs headed back to the bar and waited for Bubbles. She came a little later than expected. He followed her to a room in the back and sat on the couch while Bubbles got the music ready. Soon as she turned around Detective Briggs pulled out his badge.
“Oh shit!”
“Calm down, I'm not here to arrest you, I just have some questions.”
“Arrest me? I’m 18”
“Really? Huh I- anyways do you know Lance Tuffin?”
“Oh you mean lonely Lance, yea.”
“Wait, you call him lonely Lance. That’s sad but alright.”
“Why is Lance okay?”
“No Bubbles, he's dead.”
Bubbles couldn’t believe it. She sat down on the couch next to Briggs.
“He was murdered I’m trying to find out who’s responsible. Tell me everything you know.”
“Well he was pretty miserable. He paid for me to come over and dance for him once a week specifically Wednesday nights. Then he started having a bunch of us come over every other day to dance for him.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
“Only that his wife hated him and he didn’t know why since she took everything in the divorce he just wanted her to be happy. I felt bad for him because he was always down. He always smelled like whiskey.”
“Hmmm okay do you know if he had any other girls there alone?”
“Nope, just me; he said I was his favorite.
“Okay Bubbles, he’s your 50$. Enjoy your day.”
“Thank you, come again!”
Detective Briggs laughed as he left the room.
“Talk about bubbly personality.”
