Bar stories:

The Red circle, once the greatest gentlemen’s club there was in the city, the place where the people who belonged to the highest level of society aimed to be a part of, was now a place where lowlifes gathered. Mostly to plot for illicit activities and have a good time. Thinking about it actually it really didn’t change much except for … well let’s say the way people carry themselves.

The games of poker once were about trying to measure one’s ability to play a part but now the players gambled out of vice which can only lead to bad decision making, for example in more than one occasion people lost everything they had just to prove a point.

Something stayed the same, or it could be said, someone stayed the same, the family who ran the establishment the Carters. The Red circle has been passed down generation to generation and nowadays it’s the turn for William Carter jr. Now Sadly for William the place was a real challenge but the Carters... They don’t give up, even if these are difficult times.

There have been a lot of good stories to be told but the one you are going to read next is William’s personal favorite.

A normal day in the red circle:

There was always something dark happening in this place, I didn’t like it when I was younger and much less now that only the worst kind of people come here, I’m used to watching people getting into arguments and let’s say arguments have a tendency to get worse if there is liquor involved so yeah I have seen people get into fights which is honestly really annoying. I have tried to stop so many fights, that I have kind of developed the ability to tell when one is going break open but I’m not perfect so from time to time, they just happen. 

The same thing happens when I hear people tell stories, I can somehow guess how the story is gonna end even before the person tells it. Or at least it happens with certain type of people, with others you can just feel it when they are about to tell me something I would’t have expected. Different stories that I call ¨The good stories¨ as in it’s a good one that I can get something out of it. I always feel fascinated with some of these people's stories but I never knew that one day I would have my own incredible story.

It’s the story I find most entertaining and the one I don’t tell often. You see it was a normal day here in the Red circle. The usual really except for something I never would have guessed could happened at least not directly here on the premises. The bar closes at 3am and everyone just finds a room if they’d like to spent the night here, some of the regulars help us keep everything in order but everything kinda settles down at about 4am and that's when I leave, I come back around 12pm to open everything running up again and that day was not different except for well... That Saturday when I arrived, I didn’t know I was going in for a wild ride.

I was making inventory, counting up the bottles so I knew how many I should order next when suddenly Stella´s scream made me stop in full, I ran upstairs and then I saw what Stephen King dreams’ most look like, it was Tatiana's perfect body in bed covered in blood and her guts decorating the floor, with the strange detail of an ¨A¨ written on the wall in what I assumed was her own blood.

Beautiful Tatiana, one of the girls who provided entertainment to these new type of "gentlemen¨ now flooding the place was murdered and I just came to the realization that this has never happened before to any of my family members and so I´m the first Carter that had to call the cops to report a murder.

The next thing that happened after they closed the place up for the investigation was I met detective J, somehow this guy seemed familiar, and shit was I surprised when I realized he was actually one of the regulars who came in usually for a couple of drinks. He didn’t really talk that much but he seems like an all is good type of guy.

Later i understood the reason he went there was to fill his ear with information on the business deals people were not discretely shouting about, I most admit I never took him for a cop, even tho the scar on his face and general attitude was the ¨don´t fuck with me¨ kinda guy. I mean really it´s just that cops don’t give us the courtesy to visit our establishment or so I thought.

Detective J had a few questions as I was still recovering from the picnic that was sweet Tatiana's murder scene but I had to answer what he wanted.

J: Describe to me the night before the murder

William: The usual, you know drinking, playing poker, nothing stands out.

J: What about people, does anyone stand out?

William: No, the regulars all came in except for you of course.

J: Was Tatiana romantically involved with anyone? Girls, boys?

William: Sir, Tatiana was romantically involved with anyone who could afford her

J: Even big guy over there?

William: No, and if I were you I would watch it, none of my employees could do such a thing.

J: Do the other girls in here have anything against her?

William: The “girls” don’t work here, they just come here and no… nothing I know of

J: You said they wouldnt be capable, would you?

William: Well, at least now I know you do have a sense of humour. Can we really take this seriously? I want to find out who did this.

J: So do I William, I’ll let you know how it goes, call me if you remember something that might help.

Conversation felt off but basically this guy wanted me to think and consider people who could have done this terrible thing but honestly ... there was nothing to say… none of this people could do it and honestly it was a pretty standard night as usual, a few death threats but none directed at Tatiana and I couldn´t really help him comprehend what happened or offer insight because nothing different really stood up. Now, there are 3 other people working in the Red circle but I know this people like they are my own family.

I started thinking hard about order of who´d possibly murder one of these girls, first thing I thought of was asking the girls, and well listen they don´t work here officially but they often use our rooms for their deeds, J wanted to know about the girls working in our fine establishment but really they just go fishing for clients here and if times were better we wouldn´t let them. Honestly they have helped calm the waters and getting rid of some of the tension, why shouldn´t we let them do whatever it is they do?, wether or not they had beef with her was beyond my knowledge but I knew someone who could tell me more.

Unfortunately I had to wait while j interrogated my friends and that’s when I decided if J was making a list of suspects and considered my friends then maybe I should make one too.

J wanted to hear from the people who were here, first it was Stella, the woman who helps me bartend and keep everything together really, she´s nobody to be messed with, and her attitude didn’t really help her get off J’s list. Then it was the turn for our security guard Alex aka big guy, the 7 ft 200 pounds of muscle I happen to have hired a few months ago, it didn’t help he stuttered all the way through the interrogation and I know Alex might sound like someone who could harm someone really easily being an ex-convict and all but he is really all just appearance. Even when he needs to kick someone out he basically just hugs the guy and throws him outside while looking tough.

Finally it was over, the red circle was closed until the full investigation took place so I had free time and figured I should take on what I thought and start my own list, J focused a little too much on my friends so it’s time to dig a little info so I can help end the investigation as soon as possible.

To be continued.