Instant Losers

About the Book

Columbus detective, Lieutenant Mike Pendleton is tired, but still on the job, assigned to hopeless cases. That and aggressive banter with his co-worker Beth are the best parts of his life.  He gets the lottery bandit file and when he learns that instant tickets are printed in New Jersey the chase begins.

Recently paroled salt and pepper team, Fast Eddie and Darnell Simmons, have started their new life together with a little recreation.  Short of cash, they discover the charm of instant lottery tickets when they begin robbing convenience store.  They decide to go into the business by stealing winning tickets at the source.  They rob their way across MI, OH, and PA, stealing money and instant lottery tickets on their way to New Jersey.  Darnell knows a guy they need in New Jersey.

Darnell and Fast Eddie attempt to force the apparently reluctant cooperation of an ex-con acquaintance of Darnell's, Ticky Nicky 'Tavish, now John Dietz, who has a job at an instant lottery ticket printing company.  Their original plan is stupid but John has been thinking about the holes in the ticket printing system.  He offers improvements that Eddie and Darnell like.  They work out the details.  The bad feelings between John and Eddie continue to develop.  Nevertheless, they decide to go into the business of printing instant losers.  

Detective Pendleton gets a break.  Two stolen Ohio fifty dollar winning tickets are turned in.  He finds the guy who turned them in at the lock and store where Eddie stashed the car.  He gets a warrant and finds the car, and prints.  Runs the plate.  The FBI and the Michigan State police come up with the same names.  His office relationship with Beth develops a very satisfactory way but the investigation stalls out temporarily.

John Dietz gets organized and puts his plan in motion.  Eddie and Darnell discuss eliminating John when they no longer need him.  John and Millie begin considering survival plans.  Danger turns her on.

The scam is successful.  Darnell and Fast Eddie find customers and threaten them to keep them quiet.  Things are great.  Expansion to other states is planned.  Money pours in.  John knows he's getting shorted, complains about holding wholesale price.  Can't do much else but hold up orders.  He saves what he gets.  Everything seems to be running smoothly until Darnell and Eddie get greedy and want to expand recklessly.

Mike Pendleton picks up another lead and gets a working vacation assignment in New Jersey.  He takes Beth along.  Around the time he and the FBI are beginning close in on Eddie and Darnell they draw unwanted attention because they raise the price to a "connected" bar owner.  A Mafia contact, Sal, remembers the time he bought hot instant tickets from Eddie and finds Eddie and Darnell.  He begins taking over their side of the operation in return for providing cover at both ends of the business.  Nicky knows Sal can only stall so long and before he has to close them down with prejudice.  He warns Eddie.

Sal has been working alone and is getting worried about his exposure.  He sees no good way out.  He tries to set up a triple cross.  Sal and Eddie plan to kill Darnell first and then set Nicky up and double cross him.  The FBI interfers in the shoot out before Dietz arrives.  Eddie kills Sal.  Darnell goes to the hospital and Eddie disappears.

Darnell agrees to testify against Eddie.  Nicky, John Dietz, saves himself with a convoluted but convincing explanstion that the scam was really a test of system security.  Nicky’s father-in-law, a Godfather character, introduces Nicky as his heir.

Nicky makes a pitch.  "The states helped design and approved the system so they are partly responsible for any flaws.  We'll make that point and t

About the Author

Over forty years ago George Parrish was awarded an Honorable Mention in an Atlantic Monthly creative writing contest and never recovered. He spent twenty-five years as a writer miscast as an entrepreneur. Until 1990 most of his writing time was consumed by FORTRAN programming, reports, and proposals related to CPU, Inc., the computer sales and data processing business he started in 1968 and sold 25 year later to turn to reading and creative writing full time. George Parrish was born in Muskegon, Michigan, where he still lives. He is an honor graduate of the University of Michigan with degrees in electrical engineering and engineering mathematics. He held positions as technician, research engineer, college instructor, and business executive. He and his wife of 40 plus years have three children and seven grandchildren. Rite of Passage was first novel. He has also completed other novels, collections of poems, essays, and short stories.