Dave Zeltserman - Small crimes

As I got closer he moved to block me. I turned him aside with some effort and whispered in his ear, "This isn't worth getting your skull cracked open for, is it?'

He looked at the camera and then back at me, and I guess he decided it wasn't. He stepped aside and let us pass.

The place had maybe a dozen customers in it. Earl was behind the bar, and when he spotted me he pulled out a cell phone and made a call. His eyes were focused on me as he talked on the phone. I don't think he noticed Tina or Eric until they were well into the club. His head tilted to the side as he tried to comprehend what they were doing there.

I moved quickly through the room, leading Tina and Eric towards the back area. With some luck one of the private rooms would be in use. I nudged Eric and pointed out the dancer on stage. She was completely naked and was staring at us. She seemed disoriented, not quite sure whether to keep dancing or to get off the stage.

'Get a shot of her,' I told him. 'Vermont's a topless-only state. That's one violation so far.'

Eric stopped to shoot some video and then we kept moving.

When we got past the curtains, I started trying the doors. The third one I tried was locked. The doors were flimsy and were meant only for privacy. I doubted Earl ever expected anyone to try breaking one down. I used my shoulder and the door flew open on the first try. A middle-aged man was sitting on the carpeted bench with his pants down to his ankles while a thin dark brunette straddled him as she* bounced up and down. I had seen her dancing Saturday night. I remembered her name was Cindy. She started to yell at us and then froze in mid-bounce when she saw the camera and realized what was going on.

Tina moved quickly, sticking a microphone in the brunette's face as Eric shot video of it. She asked, 'You're performing sex acts for money here, is that right?'

The brunette slid off the guy and tried to cover herself. The guy on the bench looked like he was going to have a heart attack,

I pointed out to Tina a small container and a cocaine spoon next to him on the bench.

'What's that?' she asked me.

'Cocaine.'

Then, to the brunette, she said, 'Where did you get the cocaine from?'

'I'm not saying anything,' the brunette muttered as she scrambled to get back into a pair of hot pants.

Tina turned to the guy lying prone in front of us. 'How much did you pay for these sex acts? And how much for the cocaine?'

He rolled over on his side and tried to hide his face. 'Leave me out of this, please. I have a wife, for God's sake:'

I heard some noise from behind. I grabbed Tina. She tried to shake me off, but I got her turned around and heading towards the curtains. Eric followed behind us.

'I had more questions,' she started to complain, and then she saw Earl moving towards us with a baseball bat.

'I don't know what you thought you were going to do here, Joe, but you're fucking nuts,' he said.

'We're leaving,' I said. 'Just get out of our way.'

'No, I don't think so.' I could see that vein on his neck beating like crazy and his eyes shining with murder. 'Your two friends here ain't going anywhere with that camera, and you're not going anywhere period.'

'We don't want any trouble, Earl.'

He laughed at that. 'You got a sense of humor, Joe, I'll give you that.' Then he brought the bat back so he could knock the camera – and maybe Eric's head along with it – across the room. I dove for his knees trying to tackle him. Hitting him was like hitting a concrete block, but I knocked him back a few feet. He was able to stay on his feet but he swung off balance and missed Eric by a foot.

'Fucking asshole,' he swore. I was scrambling to get to my feet when he whacked me across the shoulders with the bat. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he swung with one hand and was off balance, but it still hurt like hell and dropped me back to my knees. He stepped forward and kicked me hard in the ribs, knocking me back on the floor. He brought his foot back for another kick, but before he could deliver it there was a dull thud and then a glass crashing next to me.

I looked up and saw that Earl had his hand up to his eye as blood seeped through his fingers. His face was beet red when he turned towards Tina, an open gash along the side of his eye. He glared at her for only a second before turning back to me, but it was all the time I needed. I grabbed a piece of the broken glass and drove upward with it, driving it between his legs. He screamed and reached down, but I knocked his hand away and kept pushing upward. Blood was getting all over my hand. I wasn't sure whether it was his or mine, but I kept shoving the broken glass into him. He fell over. I let go then and watched as he writhed on the floor, moaning and grabbing at his wound. Then I got to my feet.

I looked around. The girl who had been dancing onstage was standing naked, looking on in horror. All at once she put her hands to her face and started screaming. Milling around were all the club patrons, staring at us, trying to decide what to do. Tina looked like she was in shock. Eric was next to her, shaking his head as he muttered to himself; how unbelievably incredible the whole thing was. I grabbed Tina by the arm. 'Let's get out of here,' I told her. She didn't seem capable of anything, but once I started dragging her, her legs moved on their own. One of the patrons, a heavyset bearded guy in a flannel shirt and overalls, tried to stop me. I shoved an open palm into his chin and he staggered back. After that no one else tried anything. My side hurt like hell. I figured Earl cracked one of my ribs, but

I kept moving and dragging Tina with me. By the time Tina and I reached the exit Eric came to life and sprinted after us. As we got out of there I could still hear the dancer screaming her head off.

'We better get moving,' I told Eric. He fumbled for his car keys and dropped them a couple of times before he got the door opened. He was shaking like a leaf.

'Holy shit,' he said. 'Damn. I wish I had taken video of that.'

My hand stung. I looked down and realized I had more than just Earl's blood on me. My hand had been sliced open by the broken glass. I took my shirt off and wrapped it around the wound.

Are you okay?' Eric asked.

'I sliced my hand with the glass. I'm going to need stitches.'

'There's a hospital in Bradley,' he said. 'Let me take you to the emergency room.'

'No thanks, just get out of here. You can take me to a hospital in Burlington.'

Tina seemed to wake up from the back seat. 'We should call the police.'

'Uh-uh. Not here we shouldn't,' I said.›

We were still on one of the back roads when I spotted a black Range Rover speeding towards us. I lowered myself and saw Junior's two goons in it. Duane was driving and Jamie was next to him with his head bandaged up. They looked over at us, but neither of them saw me as they passed by. I turned and watched them through the back window. I knew they were racing towards Kelley's. I pretty much guessed Earl had called them when he first saw me.

Are we in danger?' Tina asked. She sounded scared. As I looked at her I noticed how close she was to crying.

'I don't think so,' I said. 'Once this story airs, Junior's history. Don't worry about him.'

When we got to Burlington, we stopped off at the Chapel

Memorial Hospital's emergency room. I got a tetanus shot and sixteen stitches for my hand, which they also bandaged up. I also had my chest X-rayed and found that I had a couple of bruised ribs, nothing broken. After that we stopped off at a department store and Eric ran in and bought me a new polo shirt and a pair of pants. I needed a new pair of pants because I had bled over the pair I was wearing. We then drove back to the station and I changed in the men's room. When I got out, Eileen was waiting for me. Her edges seemed even sharper than before.