Chapter Nineteen (19)

Chapter NINETEEN – To Catch a Thief

The liquor delivery happened twice a week; Monday and Friday with the latter being the heaviest load in preparation for the busy weekend.

Richie would be in by noon to accept the delivery and pay by company check. Eddie would come in about a half an hour early on both days to integrate the shipment into the existing storeroom inventory. Richie would usually leave after the shipment came in to run errands or do other business and then return just before the bar opened at 6:00 pm. Eddie was left in charge.

The thefts started slowly. Eddie had a fondness for Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, and he was known to consume a bit of it with Coke when not behind the bar. He thought no one would miss a bottle here and there and he was right. The sales volume was high, and Jack Daniels was one of the biggest sellers.

Soon he was sharing with a few of his friends and neighbors at his apartment complex in Hazelwood. One bottle became two. Then a buddy asked for a fifth of Smirnoff and the chick next door wanted a bottle of Amaretto Disaronno. Of course, they were willing to pay for it so Eddie would set a deeply discounted price. Other neighbors placed their orders.

Eddie’s next-door neighbor was a party animal. They had become friendly after she complained to the complex manager about Eddie’s penchant for loud music and late-night carousing. Responding to the complaint he appeared at her door with an apology and an invitation to come and join the party. Soon he knew her drinking habits and the girl next door could pay by sharing her bed now and again. Eddie grew to like Amaretto on ice, just before bed.

The pay for the head bartender position at the club wasn’t that much different from what they paid the bartenders. Eddie got $1.00 an hour more, his choice of schedules, overtime when necessary and a $200 bonus if the bar achieved the monthly forecast. He wasn’t gonna get rich behind the bar. For him, the taste off the top was justified. He worked hard for his money.

Soon Eddie was taking the equivalent of a case of mixed bottles every week. He couldn’t secrete that quantity by carrying it out to his car and then work his shift so he arranged to have his pretty little next-door neighbor drive to the roll-up door on Tuesdays at 4:30 pm and he would drop it into her trunk. Who would know? The volume would cover it, especially since it was a mixed case. He just had to be cautious not to get too greedy. The extra $100 a week came in handy and the neighborly female attending to his physical needs was icing on the cake.

But Eddie pined for another woman… the bartender named Jaycee, even while he found comfort in his neighbor’s bed. One of his favorite songs by Steven Stills had a line that he had to live by. ‘If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.’

***

Bud Winner was no fool and was a stickler for details. He had directed Richie to account for all empty bottles. As the stock was diminished daily the empties were delivered back to their original cases. Empty cases were stacked neatly against the side wall. Richie did an inventory of the empties on Monday and Thursday when he came in at noon and placed an order with the vendor by 4:00 pm for delivery the next day. Bartenders had to log any breakage on a clipboard.

Eddie knew about the system and initially entered a few bottles on the breakage board, but it would be problematic for him to log twelve bottles a week. That’s a lot of breakage so everything wasn’t always accounted for. He thought he was smarter than Richie and that a few bottles missing here and there wouldn’t be an issue.

But Richie did begin to notice the lost bottles over time and kept track. In his Tuesday sit-down with Bud, he mentioned that he thought someone was pilfering bottles of liquor. Bud asked about the quantity and Richie showed him his tracking sheet. Over six weeks there were nineteen bottles broken but there were sixty-two empty bottles missing from the cases. During the previous six weeks there were only five bottles broken and nine bottles missing. He concluded that the problem started six to eight weeks ago.

“Why didn’t you catch this sooner?” Bud asked.

“Well to be honest Bud, I need help. I’m working six days a week, ten hours a day, doing the books, the payroll, the forecast, purchasing, hiring, and watching the operation. Eddie is just barely adequate as head bartender and not much good for anything else. He knows that I’m overloaded. I think it’s him that’s doing the skimming. But it might not be just him. I need an assistant manager if you want me to keep the controls tight.”

Bud shook his head but said “Let me think about it. In the meantime, we need a plan to catch the son-of-a-bitch who was ripping me off. Do you know exactly what kind of liquor is missing?”

Richie consulted his spreadsheet. “Most of it is Smirnoff, Jack Daniels, J&B Scotch Whiskey, two bottles of Gallo Chablis and four bottles of Amaretto.”

“You need to do a daily inventory, reconciling the empty bottles in the cases. If something is missing, we will know about it right away. You do this for two weeks. Then we can see whether it was happening daily, a bottle or two at a time, or all at once. It might be one of our female staff walking out at the end of the night with a bottle in her oversized purse.”

Richie said, “I thought about having Louie do a bag check every night, but we don’t want to let on that management knows about the theft.”

“You’re right. Do a daily reconciliation. Concentrate on the brands that we know have been missing and balance throughout the week.”

***

During the first week there were two broken bottles of wine but nothing really unusual. Then on Monday the breakage for the weekend was entered by Eddie. There were two bottles of Jack Daniels, three bottles of J&B and five bottles of Smirnoff on the list. Richie completed the reconciliation and found that none of that was missing. How could the bottles be broken but not missing? With Eddie’s initials next to the entries on the report he had little doubt who the thief was and knew that the next theft would occur soon.

The next delivery was the following day, Tuesday. Richie was there to receive the delivery and make payment by check and Eddie was there to put the stock away. Richie figured that if the liquor was going to disappear it would likely happen that afternoon.

He followed his usual pattern of leaving to go on errands after the delivery but instead drove around the block to the back parking lot of the IGA grocery store. From there he had a clear view of Eddie’s car and the roll-up door at the rear of the club.

At about 4:30 pm a pink Rambler pulled into the parking lot and made its way to the back of the building. A young woman got out and rang the bell next to the roll-up door which opened within a minute. Eddie appeared and gave the woman a quick kiss. Then she opened the trunk and Eddie placed what looked like a case of liquor into the trunk. He could see that the box had the Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary Mix logo on both sides. After another quick kiss the woman got back in the car and drove away. Richie followed and memorized the license plate just in case traffic caused him to lose track of the car.

They travelled south about five miles on Lindbergh, entering Hazelwood, an adjacent town. After a right and a left the Rambler turned into a parking lot of an apartment complex called Arbor Glen.

The pink car slowed and parked in an open space. Richie followed and stopped his car directly behind the Rambler. The women got out and looked back toward Richie’s car. He got out and walked toward her. She didn’t notice him at first but then saw him coming with a determined look on his face.

“What is in your trunk?” Richie asked.

“Uh…”

“Come on. Tell me what is in your trunk?”

“Nothing.”

“I saw Eddie put a case of something in your trunk.”

Her shoulders sagged but she said nothing.

“Give me your keys,” Richie demanded.

She fumbled in her purse and eventually produced a small toy troll with three keys attached and handed it to him.

He took the keys and opened the trunk. Next to the spare tire was a box with the Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary Mix logo on both sides. Inside the box was a variety of liquor bottles.

He looked at her and said, “What’s your name?”

“Sophie. Sophie Sanders.”

“How do you know Eddie?

“He’s my neighbor.”

“He lives here?”

“Yeah.” She points to a second-floor apartment.

“Do you want to go to jail Sophie?” Richie asked.

“Nnn…nnn…no!” she replied sheepishly.

Richie picked up the case and put it on the passenger seat of his car. Then without another word he got in and drove away.

Traffic on Lindbergh this time of day was a bitch. By the time he got back to the club it was 5:30 pm. He decided not to approach Eddie until he spoke with Bud, so he made the call from the office phone.

Bud had already left the office in downtown St. Louis and was probably stuck in highway traffic on his way home. He had Bud’s home number and wouldn’t normally bother him, but he knew, in this case, Bud would want to know, and would tell him how to handle the situation.

Richie and Eddie got the club opened and they prepared for the Bikini Contest. Jack and Teri were the other bartenders. Maddy and Cassie were on the floor along with a new hire in training. Richie didn’t want to disrupt the evening’s business so he knew that the confrontation would have to take place at the end of the shift.

At about 7:30 pm there was a lull in the business and Richie called Bud at home. His wife answered and said that Bud had just arrived and was in the shower. She would have him call back. Richie waited by the phone.

“What’s up?” Bud asked.

“Eddie is the thief.”

“How do you know?

“I saw him loading a case of something into a car that belongs to his neighbor. A girl named Sophie. I followed her and confronted her. Then I asked her if she wanted to go to jail. I found a case of mixed liquor in a box in her trunk, and I retrieved it.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No. I thought I should talk to you first.”

Bud hesitated and said, “We need to cut him loose.”

“Do you want to press charges?”

“No. I’ll be at the club at midnight after the contest. Is Louie working tonight?”

“Yes. Six to one-thirty.”

“Good. After we fire the little shit Louie can walk him out. If he gets belligerent Louie can shut him down. Tell him I’m coming in and to keep my parking space open in front.”

Business that night was steady but not crazy. There were only five contestants for the bikini contest, but they were all gorgeous and the crowd of mostly men loved it.

By 11:45 pm after the contest the bar crowd thinned. Eddie closed down the middle section and sent Teri home at midnight leaving Jack to stay and close.

At 11:55 pm Bud pulled his gold Cadillac into the reserved parking space near the front door and Louie was there to greet him.

“Have one of your guys watch the door and follow me,” Bud said to Louie as he breezed past.

Louie motioned to Larry to watch the door and did as directed. Bud stopped at the main bar entrance and viewed the crowd, then looked toward the bar and stared at Eddie who was watching the dance floor and smiling.

Eddie must have felt Bud’s searing gaze and turned to look at the entrance. Bud held their eye-to-eye contact for a few long seconds but didn’t smile. Eddie’s smile evaporated.

Bud moved down the darkened hallway toward the office with Louie in tow and found Richie at the desk counting cash from the cover charge.

Richie looked up as they entered and stopped the count with only a few bills left in his hand.

“$3,200.00,” he said. “$500 more than last week. The bar should be strong too.”

“Good. Are you ready?” Bud asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Richie replied.

“Louie. We are terminating Eddie. Wait outside and come in if you hear angry voices. You will walk him out to his car when we are done,” Bud ordered.

Louie nodded and left the room.

Bud looked at Richie and said, “Call him on the intercom.”

Richie lifted the receiver and hit the intercom button for the bar.

“Yeah,” said Eddie.

“Come back to the office. Bud wants a word with you.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about your future with the company. Just get your ass back here now.”

Eddie slammed the phone down onto the cradle and quickly ducked down under the bar, going through the opening toward the office.

Jack heard the loud crash of the receiver even over the downbeat of disco music and turned to see Eddie’s angry departure.

Louie was standing at the door when Eddie arrived, and they glared at each other.

Bud had taken the faux leather chair behind the desk but was still wearing his camel-colored wool overcoat. Richie was standing next to him.

“Have a seat,” Bud said pointing to an empty chair across from the desk.

“What’s this all about?”

“It’s about you thinking you are smarter than me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Richie met Sophie today.”

Eddies shoulders dropped and his mouth opened slightly. Then he said, “Sophie who?”

Richie interjected “Your neighbor. Sophie. You know her? Sophie Sanders? She lives in the Arbor Glen apartments. Isn’t that where you live?

“Yeah, I live there.”

Bud pushed back from the desk, stood, and reached down, retrieving a heavy box with the Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary Mix logo on the outside. He dropped it firmly on the desk with a loud thump.

“I was watching you from the IGA parking lot when Sophie pulled up in her little pink Rambler. You put this box into her trunk. You kissed her and she drove away. I followed her to your apartment complex. She was quite cooperative and was happy to give the box back to me. Especially when I mentioned jail,” Richie said.

Eddie said nothing.

“Richie keeps a close eye on our inventory,” Bud said. “It looks like you’ve been busy filling up boxes with my liquor and stealing from me over the past few months. Richie, what is the value of the missing liquor?”

From his front pocket Richie removed a folded section of adding machine tape and opened it up. At the bottom of the twelve-inch-long strip of paper was a total. “62 bottles. It’s a little over $1,500.00 based on the wholesale price per bottle. And that assumes that the breakage you reported is really breakage. Might be more.”

Bud let that sink in for a moment then said, “You know, don’t you, that theft with a value over $500.00 is a felony in the state of Missouri?”

Eddie was wide-eyed but remained silent when he heard the word ‘felony.’

Still standing Bud moved toward Eddie and said loudly, “Stand up.”

The door opened and Louie filled the space as Eddie stood. Bud put his hand on Eddies shoulder and said softly “Do you want to go to jail, Eddie?”

“No, sir,” Eddie replied looking down at the floor.

“Well, I’ll tell you what we are gonna do. You have got a paycheck coming this Friday. Richie tells me it covers two weeks and should be about $800 after taxes. You are gonna come in to see Richie on Friday promptly at 2:00 pm and you are gonna sign that check over to him.

Then two weeks from Friday you are gonna do it again for the partial check you are owed. That ought to total about a grand. It’s not the total amount you owe me but it’s the price I have to pay for hiring a God-damned thief. If you don’t show up, we will call the cops, they will arrest you and we will press charges. Oh, and we will come after your little girlfriend Sophie too. And I wouldn’t look to us for a job reference. So, what’s it gonna be?”

“Okay. It’s a deal,” Eddie said.

“Louie. Escort Eddie to his car,” Bud said.

“But I got personal stuff in my locker,” Eddie objected.

“Tough shit. Pick it up on Friday,” Richie said.

Louie grabbed Eddie by the arm, but Eddie twisted away saying “I don’t need any help.”

Richie shut the door after the two men left.

Bud said “I want you to make Jack the new head bartender. I like him. I think he’s honest. He’s smarter than Eddie and if he works out after 90 days you can promote him to Assistant Manager.”

“Cool!” Richie said, reaching for the phone and pressing the intercom button for the bar.

“Hey Jack. Can you come in early tomorrow?”

“Sure Boss. What time?”

“4:00 pm.”