Stitch stood in front of Two Tone with his arms crossed, “I want the girls too.”
“No deal asshole,” said Two Tone.
Stitch hit him on the head with the barrel of the Ruger. It opened a gash in Two Tone’s scalp and blood ran down the side of his face.
Donnie smirked, “I think you better give up the girls too. I don’t care how much he busts you up as long as you ain’t dead.”
Two Tone held his head, “Alright man, I’ll give up the shit on the girls but I ain’t giving up the guns or the pills.”
Donnie motioned with his thumb, “Inside my man let’s have a little talk.”
They walked toward the house.
“He man, if you were a superhero who would be your sidekick, Wingtip?” Stitch laughed at his joke, “I’m going to the truck and get the terrorist’s gun just in case.”
Two Tone flipped him the bird.
Chapter 9
Stitch and Donnie sat in lounge chairs on the dock. The sun was just coming up but the condensation was already beading and running down their beer bottles. A giant bluegill came up and took a mayfly off the top of the canal with a smack.
“Oh, shit that was a good one,” said Stitch.
He got up and cast a Hex fly in the direction of the smack.
“Two Tone owned up to calling Lamar for help. He got pinched when they picked up one of his girls working the street. Lamar told him to take a hike. He wasn’t going to help anybody out with pimping. Two Tone said he was pissed about it but even he ain’t dumb enough to waste no cop.”
“You think he might have had somebody do it for him?” asked Stitch.
“No, you saw that chicken shit in the yard. He ain’t going to have anybody offed. Anyway, he told me that about a week after he called Lamar for help, a DPD Internal Affaris detective showed up asking if he knew Lamar.”
“So, IA did take a look at Lamar?”
“Two Tone said he didn’t even own up to knowing Lamar because even though Lamar didn’t want to touch the pimping shit he could always help if it were a gun charge, pills, or something else. He wanted to keep that relationship intact.”
“He have a name on the IA detective?”
“Yeah, he said it was Stan Polunski. White guy with a cop haircut and a cop mustache. Said the dude was a little lumpy and his suit was too tight. Too many doughnuts.”
Stitch laughed and pulled the fly out of a fish’s mouth. Donnie couldn’t tell if he was picturing Polunski in his head or laughing at the fish.
“What about the girls?” asked Stitch.
“Well, you saw the ones he had in the house. I told him to get out of the pimping business for good or I would be back with you and the terrorist’s gun.”
Stitch laughed again.
“I don’t trust him, remind me to roll past his place one day in a couple of weeks just to make sure,” said Stitch.
Donnie chugged his beer, “Alright get out of there and let an honest of goodness fisherman have at em. You need to get on this beer anyway. They are getting warm quick today.”
Stitch put the fly in the keeper and sat down, “So, now I got an ex-partner that he was sleeping with at some point and an IA detective who was asking around about him.”
“You got a lead on the woman?” asked Donnie.
“Yeah, white gal, lives up around Algonac.”
“The natives couldn’t have been too pleased with that if they made a show around town,” said Donnie.
“Yeah, that shit would make the redneck’s heads spin for sure. I wonder what Polunski was looking into off the record?”
Donnie pulled up and the fly rod doubled over, “I told you that town was crooked as fuck. IA investigations with no file, shit like that. Nobody fly fishes. It’s a goddamned mess.”
Stitch laughed, “Yeah, every other town is a model for law and order.”
“You got a good point,” said Donnie, “So, what’s next.”
“When we’re done playing with these fish I’m going to clean up and head downtown to talk to Mr. Polunski, find out what he knows. I’m heading out to Algonac tomorrow to talk to the girl, you in?”
“I get to pack heat, maybe push some people around?”
“They drug me around in a Porta-John behind a fucking car, told me to stay away from Sheri Banford. What do you think?
Donnie laughed, “We going to have time to fish?”
“Probably not if the Porta-John is any indication.”
“That’s OK I have two half day trips the next day.”
Stitch mimicked Donnie, “That’s OK I have two half day trips the next day.”
He opened another beer, grabbed his rod, and went to another dock to cast.
“You know what your problem is?” said Stitch, “You fish too much, one day you’re going to wake up with a set of gills.”
“That’s just pure jealousy right there Mr. Porta-John,” said Donnie.
Chapter 10
Stitch parked in a parking lot off Beaubian between a neighborhood bar and strip club. He walked the three blocks to police headquarters and found Polunski’s desk without too much trouble. Polunski wasn’t there so he grabbed a cup of coffee and made the rounds with some of his contacts. Polunski showed up about an hour later, he had coffee and jelly on his tie. Stitch was sitting in a chair in the corner.
“Polunski,” said Stitch.
“Who the hell are you?”
Stitch flashed his ID, “Linus Stitcher, Stitcher Investigations.”
Polunski rolled his eyes, “Alright, a private dick, what you want with me?”
“You know a guy by the name of Dontell, Two Tone, Templeton?”
Polunski’s face grew serious, “I don’t know anybody by that name.”
“Never stopped by his place and asked him questions about Lamar Milton?”
Polunski’s eyes narrowed, “Never.”
“OK, so you just have a lot of friends over off of Joy and Evergreen. Stop in to see them once in a while. Chit chat about the wives, the neighbors, the lawn, the kids soccer games, you know shit like that.”
“This meeting is over,” said Polunski.
“No.”
“I can have you escorted out or arrested if you like?”
“You could, or we could have a conversation with some of my friends here at headquarters about why you would interview a known pimp, gun runner, and drug dealer and never bring him in knowing he was holding girls in the house against their will.”
Polunski leaned back in the chair and looked down. He noticed the stuff on his tie and tried to wipe it off.
“Alright, what do you want to know,” said Polunski.
“Why you talking to Two Tone about Milton and why is there no file on it?”
Polunski snapped his head up, “You’ve got access to IA files?”
“That’s right. I got lots of friends down here. That happens when you fight wars with people.”
“Well, in the course of looking through some arrest records I noticed that Milton kept coming up in reports that were tied to known pill heads like Two Tone and Delmar Owens. Arresting officers indicated conversations with Milton.”
“Bullshit, you don’t have enough initiative to look through arrest records on your own.”
“You don’t even know me,” said Polunski.
“I don’t need to know you, I can tell by looking at you,” Stitch smiled, “Special ops, intelligence.”
Polunski shook his head, “That’s all I got for you soldier boy.”
Stitch stood up, put his coffee cup on the desk, straddled it with his arms, and leaned forward.
“There’s also the little matter of Two Tone coming in and swearing out an affidavit on the conversation that he had with you. You see, he didn’t just have girls in his house they also found a gun there that belonged to a known terrorist. Had the terrorist’s and Two Tone’s prints all over it. This becomes a federal issue, we can draw out what you discussed that way.”
Polunski see
med unimpressed.
“OK, how about this fat body. Milton was a vet, how about I just beat the shit out of you after your shift this afternoon on principle. You know, that whole fighting wars with people out of my mind with PTSD thing.”
The tone of Stitch’s voice and the threat shook Polunski up.
“Terrorist. Why didn’t you say that to begin with? A commander walks into my office a couple days after Milton bought it and asks me to look into Milton off the record.”
“You do that a lot? Look into people off the record.”
“Yeah I do, especially when a commander asks me to. So I see Milton’s name coming up with Owens and Templeton. I couldn’t locate Owens but I got a bead on Templeton and went to talk to him. He said that he, Owens, and Milton were friends from the old neighborhood and sometimes they asked Milton for a favor. You know, old friends type shit.”
“That’s it, that’s all you discussed? You didn’t take it any further?”
“Yep, I had all I needed to know.”
“Needed to know, or wanted to know?” asked Stitch.
Polunski pursed his lips. He wasn’t going to admit to doing a half assed job to get a commander off his back.
“Okay, I need a name.” said Stitch.
“No names,” said Polunski.
“OK, I’ll just get it from the secretary. I told you I had friends around here. Me and her used to fool around a little. You know, before they sent me off to the desert to kill scores of bad guys.”
“It was Stanton,” said Polunski.
Stitches eyes grew distant, “Chapman, Chappy, Stanton?”
“That’s right Commander Stanton.”
“No. Major Chapman, Chappy, Stanton.”
Stitch got up and walked out wondering why out of seven DPD commanders it had to be Major Chappy Stanton.
Thanks for taking the time to read Detroit Gumshoe Episode #1 and please check out the other episodes as they become available.
Also don’t forget to check out my other book, Winner Rides Away.
Detroit Gumshoe: Linus Stitcher Episode #1 Page 3
