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Soul Stalker [1]
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Date: 2023-06-07
I used to be part owner of a restaurant in San Diego and my partner told me that if we ever had any problems in the restaurant that he knew a “hit man” that could handle the problem. I took his mention of this with a grain of salt because Bill was used to some tall tales. Bill was a drug dealer who had done it since high school and he accumulated enough money to build the restaurant. I too, was involved in drugs but on a smaller scale. I had made enough to invest in Bill’s store. I just so happens he was losing his shirt because the manager was taking all the profits and falsifying the books. So he had to fire him and asked for my assistance. I said he should hire me as a cook and call me Jose so I can see what was causing the demise of his business. I had not been to his place and therefore no one knew me. Bill had hired his family to run the store and he was not happy so in I went as Jose. For several days I observed and just about everyone was stealing. The bartender was stealing in this manner. A person would ask for a drink he would pour a very strong drink and hand it to the customer. As the customer pulled out cash to pay, credit cards and debit cards were not so prevalent then, the bartender would say, “it’s on me!” The customer would then give the cash for a tip. I saw almost daily the bartender count up hundreds in tips and the cash register barely showed a hundred or so. The waitresses did similar. They would serve the guests bring the receipt after they had eaten and pocketed the money. One day I heard a banging on the rear door and when I opened it a person would ask for Bill’s brother. When I went to inform him he went to the rear door, told the person to wait a minute then he proceeded into the freezer and grabbed a huge tri-tip and went and handed it to the guy. After closing most all would grab a bottle of liquor and leave. It was a catastrophe. When Bill contacted me and asked who he should fire that was costing him money I said, “All of them”. He was surprised. He said he couldn’t fire everyone that he would have to shut down the place. I said, “leave it to me. I have friends that are loyal to me and have experience in the restaurant field. I told him to call a meeting the following Saturday and introduce me as his new partner. He was concerned that if he fired everyone they would sue him for unlawful termination. I said to him, don’t worry, I witnessed all the theft and when they know I will be running things they will just leave. He said okay I am trusting you.
On Saturday, everyone was there including myself, they were all wondering what the meeting was about. Bill came in and started talking, he said that he had taken on a new partner and that they knew him as Jose but really his name is Ray. I stood up and looked around. A lot of surprised looks were quite evident and I walked to the front where on the bar was something that was covered with a cloth. I began by telling everyone that there were going to be changes and the first was a new cash register. I pulled the cloth covering it. The old one was so bad you could barely see the print on the receipts and this new one had new computer programming that would keep track of every drink sold, every meal served and would be done by volume and weight of each meal and drink. So beginning today we will perform inventory of every drop of liquor, lb of meat and cheese and program the setting on the computer to track it all. I said, ”anyone who does not like this is welcomed to leave. All but one bartender who was the only one not stealing got up and left. As they left they encountered a group of people outside the doors. They were the new employees and they came in and began to follow my instructions. I began marketing the business, got a new lady bartender who liked to were revealing blouses, things started to shape up.
One day I got a visit from two men in suits. They were police detectives and I had been made aware that the restaurant was a “cop shop”. Many police felt comfortable there and also because the former manager provided them with “cocaine” and a place to imbibe either in the womens restroom that had a lock on the front door and if you were privileged , you also were given a key to unlock the door on the sink vanity to reveal a mirror, razor blade and straw. The cops felt safe and secure. They at times would use the back office to do their drugs. They wanted the old manager back and they were instrumental in boycotting and encouraging most customers to boycott until they got their friend back. They said that they were going to set me up with an underage person and have the place shut down if I didn’t comply. What a dilemma. I sold drugs but this was a legit business and I adhered to no drugs as did Bill and the cops who were supposed to uphold the law were not holding to their oath and threatened me as well. What and eye opener. I did what I learned to do on my own. I enrolled my employees on a program to spot underage persons. Had them take a course on drug prevention, put up signs that stated no underage or drug use tolerated and took a picture with a date stamp of me standing beside the signs. I did not know what else to do.
One day two police officers showed up and I thought some more harassment was coming but instead they wanted a donation to the officers fund. This angered me and I spoke right out. “You guys have some nerve. You ask for a donation when you threatened to close this restaurant because you wanted the former manager to return so you could do your drugs.” Took them by surprise. They said they were new to the dept and asked what officers had done this. I gave them the names and they said they would look into it. I thought, rookies, what can they do?
About a week later, the rookies came back and said they had taken care of my problem and no one was going to be conducting any scams to close my restaurant. I was totally surprised and pleased so I gave them $250 for their police fund.
One night, I was closing the place, it was close to 3 am when I heard the front door open. When I went to see it was Bill and he was walking in with someone else. I greeted him and asked what he was doing so late, did he want a drink? He introduced me to his friend, Richard who shook my hand and said he had heard that I was a real good pool player from Bill. I told him I was one of the best in San Diego and he said that is what he had heard. He wanted to play me a few games and I looked at Bill and said, “I’ve been here 18 hours and have to start again early that morning I would have to say no. Bill said it would be a favor to him and I could finish the paperwork tomorrow. I relented and said okay. Richard was a well dressed man, hair in place, beard trimmed, clothes pressed and shoes shined. He racked the balls and as he did, Bill whispered, “take it easy on him”. I broke made a few balls and then purposely missed a shot. Richard shot and made one ball and missed. I made a couple more and missed and Richard yelled out that I could have made that shot that I missed it on purpose. Richard had his back to Bill who was watching from one of our booths and waving to me to let up on him. Game ended with Richard having two balls left. At that time there was only one person who could defeat me in pool a professional name Sammy. I would go to a bar, play on two tables at a time all night and never lose. This was difficult for me. He racked again and I broke and sank about four balls then missed another shot. Richard got loud and said “ you are missing on purpose. I want you to play and play harder. Then he said, “ Don’t pay attention to Bill, play hard” on that note Bill kind of collapsed into the bench seat of the booth. I got angry and ran the rest of the balls leaving him with 5 balls. He racked again and said,” I have never lost 3 games in a row.’ I thought to myself, don’t believe that he was not that good. Before I broke he came up to me, grabbed my cue stick and said, “Play your best” with a hint of anger. I was by now really pissed and broke and ran the table. Richard came up to me grabbed my hand, shook it real hard and said, “You’re a cocky SOB. I like that.” Then he turned in Bill’s direction and said he was going to the car and wait for him. I went over to Bill and asked, “Who was that?” Bill said, “remember the “Hit man” I told you about?” I exclaimed, “That’s him?” Bill said “Yes and now you made him mad and I’m going to have to talk him out of killing you.” I said, “killing me? Over a game of pool?” Bill stated, “Well, he doesn’t like to lose and because you beat him he will want to get rid of you.” “What!!! What the heck did you do to me Bill? You bring a guy in here, tell me to play him some games knowing I can’t lose and then this guy wants to kill me? Thanks a lot Bill.” He left and said he would call me in the morning.
It was morning and Bill called me and said he had talked Richard out of killing me but he had to do him a favor for him. He said he was going to be gone for about a month to help Richard with some business in Washington state. He would be out of touch until he returned.
Little did I know that this would begin a long a treacherous road to deal with the worst serial killer of all serial killers. The story just began.
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https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/6/7/2173974/-Soul-Stalker
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