The baby girl in question rolled her eyes.
“Dad, what are they going to do? Assault me with the menu?” she asked.
The man was to the point.
“Someone took our Megan. I don’t trust anyone,” he stated, his voice full of emotion. “They killed her. The news is plastering it all over the place.”
Well, there was the damn media making things miserable for everyone involved.
Only, the show had to go on.
So, Gene went there.
“Was anyone bothering her?” he asked. “You know…other than a normal patron being a dick when she cut them off from booze?”
He shook his head and whistled to get someone’s attention.
“Yo! Jimmy, get your ass over here,” he said to the bartender.
The man tossed down his towel and headed their way. When he got there, Mitch pointed.
“These are the Feds. They are here about Megan. Was anyone bothering her? You were back there with her the most,” he admitted.
Jimmy shook his head.
“No, boss. It was the normal.”
Gene took in the man. He was in his late twenties and looked like a typical bartender. He had tats up and down his arms, and around his neck.
Someone liked ink as much as Ethan.
Apparently.
“No one?” Mitch asked.
He shook his head.
“No, even our regulars were normal. It was so freaking slow, painfully. We were about to play checkers back there.”
And that was likely why he sent her off duty.
“I feel horrible,” Mitch said. “Had I not sent her off duty, we all would have walked out together.”
Gene reassured him.
“The person who took her likely has been stalking her a while. He knew where to be and got lucky. If he didn’t take her here, he would have gotten her somewhere else.”
That didn’t help, and Gene got it. It had only been a couple of days ago, so emotions were raw. It was time to do this delicately.
“Was she dating anyone?” Gene asked.
Jimmy laughed.
When they all looked over, he explained.
“Megan liked the ladies. If you even said the word‘dick’around her, she got green. She wasNOTa fan of the dudes. She barely tolerated me being in her space. The only reason she did is she told me she felt safe around me because I was gay.”
That told Ethan one thing.
