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“What are you drinking tonight, boys?” the bartender asked in a soft voice.
“Two beers,” Hawke said.
When the woman placed the two glasses on the counter, Mathews twirled his finger. “I’m going to cruise.”
Hawke nodded and watched the bartender. She was efficient, talked with everyone at the bar and kept her eyes on the women serving drinks as well as the ones on stage dancing. He grinned. She would know everything that went on at this establishment.
She wandered back to his end of the bar. “What are you smiling at?” She wiped at the bar, but her gaze rose over his left shoulder as she watched something.
“I see you are a people watcher. It’s one of my favorite pastimes, too.” Hawke sipped his beer.
Her dark brown eyes landed on him. “What makes you say that?”
“Twila, I need refills,” a small strawberry blonde called from the middle of the bar.
“Hold that thought.” Twila hurried to the taps and filled four glasses with beer and made two mixed drinks that she placed on a new tray. She took the tray with the empty glasses and placed the glasses in a sink of soapy water, washed and rinsed the glasses, and put them in a rack to dry. Before returning to him, she refilled two drinks at the bar and took money from a man paying his bill.
She strolled back his way. “Where were we?”
“Discussing our mutual hobby of watching people.” He spun a bit to his right to see more of the dark interior of the establishment. A small, too pretty man was on the stage introducing the next dancer. Whoops and whistles rang out.
He caught the slightest narrowing of the bartender’s eyes before she said, “Don’t you want to watch Sugar dance?”
“Nope. I didn’t come here to watch the women dance.”
She stared at him. “You don’t give off any vibes you like your own kind.”
Hawke laughed. “No, I’m definitely a man who likes my bed partners with curves and all the other womanly attributes.”
Twila scanned the bar, then leaned closer. “Who are you here watching?”
“I was wondering why Buck Bayle spends a lot of time here?”
She straightened, walked down the bar, filling drinks, and setting up drinks on a tray for the red-headed waitress.
He sipped his drink, wondering if she’d figured out he was a cop and wouldn’t answer his questions. Establishments like this, even the clean ones, usually had something illegal or immoral happening somewhere on the premises, which made all the people who worked there leery of the law.
Twila returned, taking his half full glass and putting a full one in his hand. “Buck bought this place after he married Ginny. She was the main attraction until he set his eyes on her. He bought the place to make sure she didn’t work here anymore.”
“Why does he still drop by? To make sure things are being run correctly?” Hawke asked with as much restraint as he could. He wondered at a man purchasing the place a woman worked so he could marry her.
The bartender’s face grew dark, her mouth puckered in anger. “He comes by to get a lap dance from the flavor of the month. This month it happens to be Sugar.”
From the anger and venom in the words, Hawke couldn’t help by ask. “Were you the flavor of the month at one time?”
She pulled his beer away from him and raised her hand to call the bouncer. “No. I’m Ginny’s friend. He’s scum, and I tried to tell her that. But all she saw was his money.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean to demean you. I think we both have something in common.”
She shooed the bouncer away when he arrived. “Sorry. Miscommunication.” When the man left, she nodded to the waitress waiting for refills. “I’ll be back.”
Mathews arrived back at his side. “There are four rooms in the back. Three for lap dances and one that takes a code to get through. Four men have gone in and no one has come out.”
“The bartender doesn’t like Bayle, who, by the way, owns this place. His wife worked here before he bought it.”
Mathews eyebrows rose. “I told you she was a looker.”
Twila returned. She refilled Mathews’ drink and he wandered off again.
“What’s your friend doing?” she asked.
“Trying to find a way to get into the backroom without a code.”
“That’s a high-stakes poker game. I’d love someone to catch him playing.” Twila wiped the counter.
“I’d like to catch him at something worse than gambling. Have you seen him in deep conversations with anyone here at the club? I mean other than the usual people?” Hawke picked up his beer and sipped.
“About three weeks ago he had his body guards block off one of the lap dance rooms while he had a conversation with an older man and a younger cocky guy. The older man left as soon as the meeting was over but the younger guy hung around.” She nodded to the men at the bar waving their empty cups.
Hawke wished he had a photo of Sheridan. He did an online search and there was a photo of him. It made sense the man who was full of himself would have a blog about tracking.
Twila returned. Hawke showed her the blog with Sheridan’s photo.
“Was that the man?”
“Yeah. That’s him. Not much of a tipper for all the puff he talked about himself.” She grabbed his half empty glass, dumped it out, and gave him a refill. “The way he talked, he’d been in here before. Kept asking me about a Tina. I told him as far as I knew there wasn’t a Tina dancing.”
He was glad he wasn’t drinking all these glasses of beer he’d be paying for. “Did he happen to mention why he was talking with Bayle?”
“Something about a killer getting justice and dollars for him.” She stopped, grabbed Hawke’s phone and opened the link back up. “This is the guy who was killed after the guy who escaped from prison.” She studied him. “Did Bayle have something to do with that?”
Hawke couldn’t say no, but he also couldn’t say yes. Not to someone unofficial. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Do you have a card?”
He pulled out one of his cards, setting it on the counter by his glass.
She glanced down before staring at him. “Oregon wants him? What about Idaho?”
“He’s wanted for murders in both states.”
She nodded. “I’ll see if the security cameras have the two men meeting with Bayle. If they do, I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
Hawke smiled. “I like the way you think. I better mingle so someone doesn’t say something about me monopolizing your time.” He picked up his beer and spun on the stool as a new dancer was being introduced. The timing was perfect. He also noticed one of the men who’d kept him from speaking to Bayle standing by the door, scanning the room. Good thing he was getting away from Twila.
He found Mathews at a table and sat. “We may have something tomorrow. Twila is going to look on the security tapes. Sheridan and Childress were in here about three weeks ago with Bayle.”
Mathews grinned. “That would go a long way to getting the Prosecuting Attorney to press charges.”
“That’s what I thought.”