August 1 Wes Chino:
Hardin Sole is acting head coach while Zak recovers. I got the staff together this morning- I had called them early yesterday. Everyone is pulling together, as you would expect.
Hardin Sole:
As soon as Wes called I called Jude and Art, and told them to come right in so we could meet with the kids. Then I texted the kids and told them to meet us in an hour. I met with the staff briefly, told them what I knew, and we discussed how we’d tell the kids. We would meet again after the kid meeting.
The kids all knew before they got here. It was good to be able to tell them that Coach was conscious and would make a full recovery, probably be back on the job in mid-August. We then told them how practice would go until he got back. I mentioned that as acting head coach I would be in contact with Zak regularly, as soon as he was up to it.
Brad Crew, player:
As soon as I heard the news I realized it would be time for some senior leadership. Ken Horn, Joe Mily, and I are co-captains so I met with them and talked about how we could help. We’d stay positive, and just bust our butts in our informal, no coaches practices, and encourage everyone else to do the same. When Coach gets back I want him to be impressed by how hard we’ve worked.
August 3 Dawn:
There’s a lot of shoulder pain. There’s some upper back pain because that exit wound is nasty and messy, but it’s the shoulder that is really giving him trouble. He still can’t make a fist but he seems to have feeling everywhere from the shoulder down to the tips of the fingers so that’s good. The meds seem to help a little, but they don’t last long enough.
Zak is coming home tomorrow. There will be nurses in twice a day to change dressings, monitor his condition, things like that.
Thankfully my summer course ended last Friday, which is why we were out to dinner. We were celebrating.
Detective Sgt. Harry Pakij:
Three days is a long time in this kind of case.
I’d gotten all I was going to get out of Mike Boss by the end of the first day so I sent him home without arresting him. He was still near the top of my list though.
When I got to the restaurant it turned out that the bartender working last night, Billy Gotz, was off tonight. I’d known Billy for years and knew that he would have lots of useful info. I called him at home and he said he’d be down in 20-30 minutes.
I spent that time talking to the waitresses, both of whom were working last night. Claire Awl is a ditz, barely bright enough to do the job. I got nothing from her.
Debbie Duzz was more help. She spoke with a thick accent. She’d left Texas for Newark about five years ago but she still sounded Texas; she has hinted from time to time that Dallas had gotten a little too warm for her, if you know what I mean. She said Mike, as usual, had talked to everybody in the bar, hit on both waitresses, and tried to cadge free drinks from Billy. But he’d talked with two guys more than the rest, and that both had left the bar before the shooting, but not at the same time.
One was a guy who had never been in the bar before that night.
“Said he was a travellin’ salesman. Paid his tab with a credit card, though. That tells me he ain’t your man, Sgt.”
The name on the card was James Bois. I would run it later and see where he was from. I’d track him down for questioning at some point but Debbie was right. If you’re planning to shoot somebody you don’t pay with a credit card.
“The other guy is a sleaze ball. He don’t come in often, thank you, lord, but he’s been here a few times. Cheap as hell. Never tips, and we think he steals tips if we don’t get to ‘em right quick; never caught him at it, though. Drinks rotgut, but he ain’t a real big drinker. I don’t know what his angle is.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Only thing I ever heard him called was ‘Lefty.’”
That set off alarms, of course. I was tempted to visit the Zachery family but I settled for a call. Dawn answered. When I asked, she said Zak was awake, but in pain. I asked her if she remembered whether the gunman had held the gun in his right or left hand. She hesitated; then I heard her ask Zak.
“He said he hadn’t thought about it, Sgt., but now that you ask, the guy had the gun in his left hand. That’s how I remember it, too.”
I think we got a winner!
It was no surprise to learn that Lefty had never written a check or used a card at the bar.
I got a good description from both Claire and Debbie.
At that point Billy walked in. He’s my man. He had a pad with him.
“After the shooting I took the time to write down the names of everybody who was in the bar from 6:00, when I got here, until the shooting. I got phone numbers for a few because I know them. I wrote where a couple of others live. You already got the stuff on Bois, and I don’t know no more about Lefty than the girls do. I also gave a physical description of all the ones you don’t know.”
“You shoulda been a cop, Billy.”
“Nah, I’m good slingin’ booze.”
Obviously, finding Lefty was my #1 priority. I went to Mike Boss’ apartment right away. He wasn’t home.
Being the law abiding cop that I am I broke in- gently. It was a cheap lock and picking it took about 15 seconds.
The inside was a mess- I mean a REAL mess. I don’t think Mike ever cleaned the place. When I got to his closet I got some bad news. I KNOW Mike has a suitcase because when he was at The Newark News he travelled a lot. No suitcase. And it looked like he had taken lots of clothes because there weren’t many around. I did a good job of digging through the place but I really didn’t find anything useful. I didn’t find anything that a man would leave behind if he was making a quick getaway. If he had hit the road, and that’s how I made it, that meant he was involved in the shooting. I’d bet on it.
Since that first day I’ve been following leads. I’ve run what I can run on Lefty, but without a name I’d have to be really lucky. I haven’t been. I talked to James Bois by phone. He seems clean but I’m not throwing his name away. I haven’t found Mike yet. The s.o.b. is going to be very unhappy when I do find him.
August 7 Hardin Sole:
We added 11 big guys to our recruit pool. The guys are really stepping up. They’re allowed to hold “Captain’s practices.” No coaches allowed. Hey, is it my fault that Coach’s office window looks out onto the gym? The guys are working hard, and Crew, Horn, and Mily are real leaders. They’re doing a great job.
Dawn:
Zak is coming along slowly. The shoulder is still very painful. But he’s up and walking around quite a bit more than he was at first. He still tires easily. We’re told the physical and emotional trauma from a gunshot wound take a long time to recover from. He talks about going back to work but there’s no way he’s ready for that. He has some numbness in his index finger. He says he misses the computer key when he uses that finger. Thankfully, no one does much writing anymore because he has tried once or twice and he can’t hold a pen. At practice he takes notes by speaking into his phone.