Page 21 of Cosmo

“I know, honey, but I don’t enjoy having to do this, and I know you don’t. Not really. You only like stretching your brain muscles.”

“Well, he’s living with us, working with us. I suspect if he’s not a good guy, we’d want to know, right?”

“Right,” she said as Murphy turned back and saw Tally’s hand laying over Mims’s arm.

Mims started, his fingers moving like lightning. Murphy had seen no one, ever, type so quickly.

Tally glanced over, giving him that motherly smile. It was no wonder they’d asked her to carry their children. She was a mother to all she knew.

“Okay, I’m into the site. What’s his full name and all that?”

Murphy spoke then. “Liam Lee MacManus, born July seventh, two thousand three in Adam’s County General Hospital.”

“Parents?”

“That’s one thing we need to know. We have no idea.”

“Gotcha.”

More lightning typing, more chewing his cheek until he came up with some answers. “He was eight when he lost his mother. She has an obit here, but it’s really short. It tells the date of her death and when she was being cremated and buried. I didn’t know they buried ashes,” he commented as he read. “He was twelve when he did his first stint in juvie for tagging the side of a building, but…this is weird. He was already in a foster home.”

Tally asked, “Where was his father? He didn’t lose both, did he?”

“I haven’t found an obituary for him. This may take a while. Juvenile records, you guys know, are a tough nut to crack.”

Murphy had to open the bar, so he ducked out after telling Mims to do whatever he had to. They had to know the entire story about the guy he was letting live amongst his family. All his family, from his husband and kids, to his surrogate kids, all using nicknames he’d given them.

It was less than busy on that Friday morning, but that would change by the time night dropped. People started flooding the place as soon as the world darkened.

Murphy’s primary job on Fridays was to get ready for the evening. He made sure all the bottles were full, or had a spare behind them, sent Eazy or one of the guys out for plenty ofchange for those that still used cash. The paper for the receipts was stocked, and spares were in the drawer below.

After cutting fruit and vegetables for the drink garnishes and ingredients, he cleaned, made sure all the glasses were ready to go. They lined up beautifully under the top shelf bottles. Then he cleaned the spouts for the tops of the bottles, and did a hundred things on his checklist before even the first customer, Joe Brody, walked through the door, complaining, “It’s hot as ball sweat out there.”

“Global warming, Joe,” he called as he poured the man’s dark Irish beer.

“That’s bull crap straight from those goddamned liberals.”

“Sure thing, Joe. That’s why it’s as hot in October as it was in July. The liberals.”

Grumbling a little, the first thing Murphy could make out was Joe asking about Mick. “Where’s that Paddy McFucker, Mick?”

“He’ll be down soon.”

“Give me some of them peanuts.”

Joe was one that would eat five bowls. He ate them to save money for beer. Lunch and sometimes dinner were peanuts, so he could spend more on drinking. No wonder he was alone. “Sure thing, Joe.”

After setting the wooden bowl on the bar, he left Joe to finish his checklist. It seemed everything was set for the busy night, but that was when Cosmo walked in from the back. “Murphy, hey, I came to practice a little.”

“Good for you. You getting the hang of the recipes?”

“Yeah, a little. Goldie told me what was ordered the most, so I memorized them.”

“Good! That’s more than any of the rest of them did, right off.”

Cosmo stared at the floor, staring at it while he fidgeted. “They really throw the bottles around every night?”

After Murphy chuckled, he slung an arm around Cosmo’s muscled shoulders, leading him behind the long bar. “Yeah, but not exactly. Goldie and Haze can toss, gently toss, the bottles back and forth to each other from either end of the bar. Abs and Mims do it but a little closer together. They’re like circus performers, but you don’t have to worry about doing that right away.”

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