you could mock and get away with it. There was something about the guy that said, go ahead, fuck around, see what happens.
After a moment of silence, Jendrek asked, “Did the cops suggest that you had something to do with it?”
“I don’t know that they were suggesting anything. I think they just have a hard-on for fucking with guys who’ve done time. They get off on intimidating people. A bunch of fuckin’ assholes, if you ask me.” He rubbed under his nose with an index finger and added, “Incompetent assholes.”
Jendrek asked, “What were you talking to Vargas about?”
“Well,” Pete hesitated for a second, looking almost embarrassed. “I needed to borrow some money from him. He helped me out when I got out of Quentin. Helped me set up shop. I give him discounts on everything he rents for his movies. But business hasn’t been so great. So I needed to hit him up for a loan. That’s what we were talking about.” Pete shrugged like it was no big deal.
“What was Vargas’s reaction?”
“Nothing. Hell, I’d barely had a chance to ask him about it when the whole thing happened. It wasn’t like it was a ton of money. Hell, it was only twenty grand, just to help me pay the rent and make payroll for the next couple of months.”
“And you told the cops that?”
“Yeah. Then, like I said, when they found out I’d done time, they got all suspicious.” Pete shook his head and squinted like the suggestion was unbelievable. “But that’s horseshit. It ain’t like that. Donnie and me go way back. I’m talking more than thirty years we’ve known each other. Besides, it was their own guy that shot him. No question about that. Bunch a stupid fuckers. All of them.”
I made a couple of notes on my pad, then asked, “What were you in prison for?”
Pete rolled his eyes again, like he couldn’t believe people wouldn’t let it drop. “I did five years for embezzlement. It was an insurance thing. I opened a shop as a broker and collected premiums.” He smiled, “Except I never remitted them to the insurance company. Worked fine until some guy got in a really bad car wreck and had a huge claim.”
“So you got caught because the guy’s claim was rejected?”
Pete laughed a little, thinking about it, and then shook his head. “Yeah, it was stupid.”
He said it in a way that wasn’t clear what exactly he thought was stupid, the scam itself or his getting caught. Then Jendrek asked, “So how do you go from that to running this place? Seems like a big change.”
“Ah, not really.” Pete shook his head and I realized for the first time that he had no neck. “I worked for Donnie for years when he was starting out, so I’d been around the business.” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his barrel chest. He talked about the business like porno flicks were just like any other movies.
“You mean helping him with his movies?”
“Yeah, since way back. I worked with him on his very first one. And for years after that too. I also did odd jobs for him too, whatever he needed. I was his right hand guy for years. So Donnie knew I was a good guy. He knew he could trust me. I just needed a hand getting on my feet after I got out. So I ended up running this place. I got a loan from Donnie. He kept me afloat. And that was that. It’s been, I dunno, three years ago.”
Pete’s eyes brightened up with recognition and he got up quickly and went to a shelf on the wall behind Jendrek and me. He took a small five by seven photograph off the shelf and handed it to Jendrek. “See, that’s Donnie and me.” He chuckled as he pointed at the faces with his thick finger. “Man, I think that was taken before he even got into the business.”
I leaned over to see. It was a photograph of two men in their twenties with arms draped over each other’s shoulders. I recognized Don Vargas. He was a smooth faced, twenty-something version of the picture Stanton had showed us. But Pete Stick looked only vaguely familiar. The intervening years had changed him from the thin-faced, almost scrawny looking kid in the picture to the beaten, bloated man hunching over behind me. In the background was a low, single-story motel painted bright blue and green. I