Free Red Dog Saloon by R.D. Sherrill Page A

been the
ringleader of the group given his reputation both then and now as an alpha
male. Sam would make a play for the weak link, Stevie Grissom. Perhaps the fact
two of his former running mates were dead, both victims of grisly murders,
would scare him into being forthcoming unlike Eddie the day before.
    Sam
pulled up to the Grissom home in the upper middle class neighborhood of Easton.
He immediately noticed a minivan in the drive. Maybe he would have
better luck than he had the day before.
    Sam
rang the doorbell and was soon greeted at the door by Stevie Grissom. His eyes
gave him away as soon as he saw the lawman standing at his door.
    “Mind
if I come in?” Sam asked.
    He
immediately noticed Stevie’s body language which told him his reluctant
host was very nervous about the sheriff’s visit.
    Why
would a good, law-abiding citizen be nervous to see the sheriff?
    “Um,
sure sheriff,” Stevie stuttered, looking around outside as if to see if any of
his neighbors were watching.
    Sam
stepped into the nicely decorated house. A woman’s touch obvious in the
décor.
    “Is
anyone else here?” Sam asked as he did a look around inside the well-kept
house.
    “No.
I’m about to pick up the kids at school in a few minutes,” Stevie responded in
a nervous voice. “The wife is at work at the hospital. She’s the administrator
there.”
    “I
see,” Sam said. “So you’re off today?”
    Stevie
responded in a quiet tone. He was obviously uncomfortable with the question.
    “Well,
I do some day trading from my home office, take care of the kids and things
like that,” Stevie replied.
    “Ah,
you’re a house husband,” Sam declared.
    His
description left Stevie with a look of embarrassment. He must not have cared
much for the characterization.
    “Don’t
worry Stevie; I’d do the same thing if I could,” the sheriff smiled.
    “So
what can I do for you sheriff?” Stevie timidly asked.
    “Actually
it’s what I can do for you,” Sam replied. “I’m sure you’ve heard about your old
buddy Andy Crouch being killed yesterday.”
    “Um
yes, that was too bad,” Stevie said. “I hated to hear that.”
    “Well,
this morning we found another one of your friends ... Eddie Young,” Sam said.
    His revelation caused Stevie’s face to turn white as a sheet. He wasn't prepared
for the bombshell.
    “We
think the killings are related,” Sam noted.
    Stevie
walked over to the kitchen table to sit down. He was visibly shaken by the
news.
    “I
just talked to him last night,” Stevie confessed with his eyes starting to well-up
with tears. “We talked for a couple of minutes and then I put him off. I guess
I should have took my time and listened to him. I didn’t realize that’d be the
last time we would talk.”
    “What
did he call about?” Sam asked. “You know you may have been the last person he
talked to.”
    Stevie’s
eyes shifted, his body language letting the sheriff know he was going to
evade his question.
    “Oh,
nothing in particular. Just a bunch of ranting,” Stevie replied.
    Stevie
became choked up given the realization he was likely the last person his old
friend talked to.
    “It
sounded like he’d been drinking so I just kind of tuned him out,” he noted.
    Seeing
Stevie was legitimately moved by the passing of his old friend, Sam pressed to
establish the connection between him and the old Red Dog gang.
    “You
used to hang out with both of them didn’t you? Eddie and Andy that is?” Sam
asked.
    “I
suppose so but that was a long time ago, back when we were just dumb kids,”
Stevie responded as he refused to return the sheriff's gaze. “There’s a lot
that’s changed since then.”
    “As
a matter of fact I think you all had a little clique out at the old Red Dog
Saloon back in the day didn’t you?” Sam accused.
    The
sheriff's question left his host visibly shaking. Stevie rubbed his hands
together nervously as he tried to repress his sense of panic.
    “We
did hang out there