The Boom Room by Rick Blechta

Author:Rick Blechta
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: FIC022020, FIC048000, FIC031010
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2014-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Ellis was also in a park. He’d slept only three hours, but unlike his older partner, he felt wide awake, ready for anything.

At nine AM, he’d gotten hold of Carolyn Tucci to arrange another meeting. She had an earlier shift that day, and they agreed to meet in a park near the coffee shop.

As she walked up, he studied her closely. Underneath all the goth makeup and facial piercings, she reminded him strongly of the mother he and Jamie shared. He wondered if his half brother realized that.

Ellis got right to the point. “Tell me more about Mike Master.”

“What have you found out?”

“Pretend I know nothing. I want to hear this in your words.”

“Well, he’s weird, very weird.”

“You said that yesterday. Can you be more specific?”

“He lies about everything. Have you seen his Facebook page?”

Ellis nodded.

She continued, “Since he joined Rotten Attitude—”

“When was that?”

“About eight months ago. Since he joined, I’ve heard him change stories about things dozens of times. The band just writes it off as him being a born bullshitter, but I’m not so sure. Here’s something else: he has no ID. I looked in Mike’s wallet once, and there was nothing in it but a bit of cash. No cards, no driver’s license, no nothin’. Do you know anyone with zero ID in this day and age?”

“Where does he live?”

“At the band house. Jamie and I have our own place now, but the rest of the guys live at the house. They rehearse in the basement. They think it’s cool, but it’s really a dump and not worth the rent.”

“How does everyone in the band get along?”

“Pretty well, I guess. Of course, they have fights about songs when they’re working them out. Nothing serious though. Jamie writes all the band’s good songs.” She reached in her purse and pulled out a CD. Its cover had only Rotten Attitude scribbled across it. “Promise me you’ll listen to it. It’s really good.”

Ellis nodded and slipped it into his coat pocket. “How does Jamie get along with Mike?”

She shrugged. “All right, although there’s a lot of push and pull over who’s the leader of the band. Mike obviously wants to be.”

“And the others?”

“Skip and Jonny have been with Jamie since high school. They’re still solid. But with Jamie currently out of the picture, I don’t know what will go down.”

“What do they believe happened the other night?”

Carolyn sighed heavily.

“I get the feeling they think Jamie did it. They won’t say so, of course, but you can see it in their eyes. A couple of weeks ago, we were all sitting around after a long rehearsal. Gigs have been thin on the ground, and Rotten Attitude seems to be spinning its wheels. They were shooting the shit about surefire ways to get noticed. Someone jokingly said, ‘Well, I guess one of us could always kill someone.’ We all laughed.”

“Do you remember who said that?”

She thought for a couple of seconds, then shrugged. “No. Sorry.”

“Bet it doesn’t seem so funny now.”

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