I’d specifically asked about Corey during our breakfast to not only get his backstory, but also her thoughts.
“The bartender who closed the night the Watering Hole was broken into was Corey, yes?” I asked as we sipped our coffee. “What are your thoughts on him?”
“I’ve known Corey for years. I actually met him at the gym down the street. I used to teach a few martial arts classes there, and he had just joined as a personal trainer. Not a lot of clients when you first get started in that kind of thing, so I told him to come work a few shifts at the bar. It would help us both out. He could make some money on the side and also maybe try to pick up some clients who come into the bar. For us, it gave usanother bartender, and he was good-lookin’ so the women liked to come in and buy a bunch of drinks from him.”
“I didn’t know you taught martial arts classes.” This woman was a beautiful fascination.
“I used to. I don’t really anymore unless they get into a real pinch and need someone to teach,” she explained. “Once Wade stepped back from managing the bar and moved over to the Ranger Shield business full-time, he handed over the reins of the pub to me, and it took up too much of my time—in a good way.”
She held up her hands as if to make it clear she wasn’t complaining.
“Look, Corey has never given off any bad vibes to me,” she said. “I feel like I’m a good judge of people. That man definitely has secrets, but being a burglar isn’t one of them.”
“Fair.” I nodded before digging for more information. “For what it’s worth, I’m not convinced it’s Corey or someone who works at the bar. Too much to risk, and too obvious.”
She nodded and then sipped her coffee, content that we both agreed on that.
“What about the man you set up the camera for?” I asked. “The one you suspect is taking your liquor.”
“Ahhh, Donald. His wife Brenda kicks him out of the house at least once a week, sometimes more, mostly for being a dumbass—which he is. He’s not violent. He just doesn’t think before he speaks, so she makes him leave, and he usually comes to the bar.” She sighed and then fully turned to me. “There were times when I would see his drink was low, and I’d remind myself to fill it up after I’d put in an order or something, and the next thing I knew, his drink would be topped off.”
I nodded. That was definitely not a good sign.
“It would also explain why sometimes I would serve him three drinks, but he would slur his words or act like he’d had two or three more.”
“So, you set the camera up to catch him.” It was more of a statement rather than a question, but she still nodded in reply.
Having that knowledge from earlier in the back of my mind, I swiftly moved my attention to the new man who had just taken a seat at the bar.
“Hey there, Donald,” Tammy greeted him. “You want your usual?”
“Yes, ma’am, and make it a double,” he said, grumbling.
That wasn’t a great start, and it definitely made him my number one target tonight, but he wasn’t my only one.
I’d met Corey about thirty minutes ago when he came in for his shift. He was closing tonight, so he came in to bump Claire home.
Claire was a new addition and had just started last week. Tammy still had her working mostly day shifts since they were slower and easy to start with. Claire was a local college student and worked part time whenever she could. She seemed nice, but I’d only just met her, so there was only so much I could say for sure.
As Tammy moved back and forth between her clients at the bar, grabbing food from the kitchen and making drinks for the servers out on the main part of the restaurant, I noticed I wasn’t the only one following her every move.
Every time Tammy had her back turned to the bar, Donald’s gaze shifted from her to the bottles in rapid succession. It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t careful. If anything, it was impatient.
This was alsoexactlywhy Tammy had put the hidden camera up and why I was happy we’d added the other one this morning.
We’d installed the second one on the other side of the bar—still in the back of the bar area, hidden between the high-dollarbottles of liquor, but higher up and about six feet to the left. It gave us a wider angle, one that would catch not just the bar-top area, but the path behind it too. If Donald—or anyone else for that matter—decided to take the five-finger discount on alcohol, we’d see it. And if someone got bold enough to go for the register and slip back through the kitchen like the burglar had done, we’d catch that too.
Still, I wasn’t about to give away our new camera so soon.
So instead, I positioned my cell phone against my drink, angling it just right so that the camera faced Donald. To anyone nearby, it looked like I was half-watching a game or show on my phone while I ate. Nothing out of the ordinary or worth noticing.
But… if Donald reached over the counter to grab something, my camera would catch it.
More importantly, we wouldn’t have to reveal that we had the new hidden camera.
I watched him wait.
Nearly ten minutes passed before he saw his opportunity.
