Garvey's Revenge

Chapter 11

They went to the second floor of the hotel. Jackie knocked on the door. Matt was surprised to see Barbara answering the door. "Hi, I was delivering Mr. Wilson's room service. All he can eat is soup."

This is going to be tough, Matt thought.

"You got some visitors, D.W.," Barbara said over her shoulder.

"Let me go in first," Jackie whispered. She stepped past the threshold. George and Matt stayed back.

"How are you feeling, D.W.?" Jackie asked.

"A little better," he gurgled. "The drugs are starting to kick in."

"Good. The gentleman who . . . punched you last night is here to apologize," Jackie stated.

Before the guy could refuse to see him, Matt stepped into the room. George followed.

D.W. was lying in bed under the covers. He didn't have a shirt on to cover his scrawny chest. A food tray was propped over his lap. A straw hung out of his bowl of soup. The big red bruise on the side of his chin could be seen from a mile away.

Matt knew he should feel bad about the state of the sorry excuse for a man, but he didn't. However, he knew he had to act like it.

D.W. grunted and pointed. "Keep him away from me," he murmured.

Matt took off his hat.

"It shouldn't surprise me that you're a cop. Figures," D.W. snapped.

Matt literally bit his tongue. "I came here to apologize, Mr. Wilson. I'll be covering your medical expenses as an apology for the inconvenience. I'm sorry about the ordeal last night. I hope that we can put this behind us for Joe's sake."

That seemed to get his attention. "What does this have to do with Joe?"

Barbara closed the door. Matt took a few steps closer to the bed. He was careful not to get too close because he didn't want to come off like he was trying to intimidate him.

"I'm the officer in charge of investigating Joe's murder. I think you might have information I need to follow a lead."

D.W. just looked at him.

"I know Joe sold drugs. I believe the people that killed him were from Phoenix. The same people Joe did drug deals with. I assure you I just want information that will lead me to Joe's killer."

D.W. lightly shook his head. "I want to know who killed Joe, too. But, hell, you're a cop."

"I assure you he means what he says. The sheriff can be temperamental; I grant you that, but he is a man of his word. I've known him for a while now, even before he became sheriff. Besides, if he messes with you any more, I'll personally tar and feather him," Jackie said and glanced up at Matt.

D.W. must have really trusted Jackie because he told what he knew. "Joe and I stopped at a soul food restaurant in Phoenix a month and a half ago. I just thought that he picked a random restaurant. We were eating at our table and this guy came up to us. He was really skinny and tall - black dude. Joe introduced us. His name was D.J. Dude said, hi, and told Joe he had something for him. D.J and Joe walked away. He was only gone for a couple of minutes. Joe sat back down and started eating. I asked him what it was about. Joe said D.J. gave him a recipe to try out at the diner. I knew that was bullshit. If that's all it was, why didn't the dude just give him the recipe at the table?" D.W. mumbled. He stopped to rest his chin and to scratch his head. "We went back to my apartment. We were planning to go to this new club that just opened. We showered and changed clothes. Joe came out of the bathroom and asked me if I wanted to smoke a bowl before we left. I know he didn't have any drugs on him when he came into town the night before cause I asked. Then all of sudden he has pot. I don't think he realized how obvious it was. He's usually pretty careful. I guess he had a lot on his mind. I didn't ask him or confront him about it."