We decided not to go back till morning. We were all tired. And I was left trying to comprehend another shock. Wow to walk in and see Austin wake up. I didn't go back in I figured it'd be better for them to explain it to him without me complicating things.
However I wasn't too tired to talk to Shane. He and I were in his room where I would be sleeping. There were two beds in it.
"Bet you never thought you'd find all this out did you?" He asked as soon as we were settled.
"I'm still trying to figure out how just asking what happened to my dad revealed all of this."
"I bet you are. I'm still trying to figure that out when it comes to me! Anyway I said Eddy got me into this right?" I nodded. "Eddy had gotten in a serious car accident on January 1 1991. He was out of wrestling for months. He messed up his leg in the accident. This was back when we were all friends. I talked to him a lot during the time he was recuperating. I remember him calling me one time he said he needed to talk to me. I was recovering from about my zillionth shoulder injury and wasn't wrestling either. He said he was backstage at one Nitro and overheard Hall and Nash talking about Over the Edge and that there would be one less Hart. This was back in April! He said he had gone to the authorities and was talking to a few people. You know that cabin in Kentucky? That's my cabin."
Well that did make sense. But it didn't quite answer my questions. But he continued.
"So anyway Eddy and I were both watching the PPV at the hotel we were staying at in Kansas City Missouri. We watched Chase as he checked Owen. We weren't sure if Owen survived the fall and were relieved to find out that Owen was checked into North Olathe Medical Center under an assumed name. Eddy went there while I flew to Kentucky to set things up for Owen. We thought it would look strange if both of us entered the hospital. We took Owen there when he was released from the hospital. Erichson stayed at the cabin and both Eddy and I dropped by every once in awhile to see how he was. That went fine until January of 2000. You ever hear about what happened then?"
"Mom talked about it once on why my dad went to the WWF in the first place. Said something about Dave being in charge of booking."
"Ah yes Dave and Mike. Well they were trouble. Dave wanted to give your dad the world title and make him lose it in three months to of all people, Goldberg. Now see Chris got all of us together when Russo was removed from head booking. Bischoff hadn't been in charge for months. Some asshole named Bill Busch was. So we went and talked to Busch and he told us he'd think about it and you hear about the walkout?" I nodded. "Anyway we got our release papers and were trying to figure out where to go. Eddy told me he was going to WWF to try to keep an eye on Vince. But I could not persuade the others to not go to WWF. When they signed with Vince, I made it look as if I wanted nothing to do with them when in actuality I was still working with Eddy. If only we had known what Vince would do in 2003."
He got up to get a glass of water and got me one too before continuing. "What happened in Detroit wasn't the only thing Vince pulled that year. No I don't mean he tried to kill someone and this was at a houseshow. We really should have thought Vince was up to something when he announced that we were doing a show in Oregon for the first time in ten years. Oregon has a strict drug testing law for wrestling and boxing. Well I don't know, and I don't think we'll ever know, if Vince was starting to get suspicious of Eddy or not but someone planted Heroin and Marijuana in Eddy's bag. Now back then Marijuana was still a schedule one drug. And even though it was legal in Oregon for medical reasons, Eddy of course didn't have one. He swears up and down, and I believe him, that he didn't use Heroin at all that night or any time before that. Well Vince had someone doctor the test because they found Heroin in his system. He was suspended three months because Vince said he believed him." He snorts. "That's Vince for you. Plant it but make it look like you are a good guy."
"Like he did Brian Lawler right? Shane mentioned it tonight when he was trying to get Vince to say something."
"Just like Brian Lawler. Vince was getting even with Jerry. Though that was easy to do I guess. Brian looked like the kind of guy who did speed. And he might have but he didn't have it on him that day in Canada. Anyway, Eddy spent his time going back and forth between El Paso and Kentucky. Kid something you need to know his wife knows about this, as does Sara and mine. Yeah probably was a bad idea but we had to tell them something. And things were going really smooth until we found out about Survivor Series. If we only had more time to try to fix that. But thank God, Steve had survived. After that, I stayed in Texas with a nurse that Chase knew that could be trusted. Things went smoothly until May. We knew something was up when Vince decided to hold a special Saturday PPV on May 23. But when we found out it was your father..."
He stopped as if trying to figure out how to say this.
"When we found out what Hunter and Steph had planned for your father we acted fast. This time we could keep it from ending that way. And well Goldberg knew just making it look real would get him accidental manslaughter. But it nearly broke my heart when Eddy told me about how happy your father was. He said he just wanted to get through the match because he was going to spend all Sunday with you and Tatem. However, that was all shattered in an instant. Chris told you his side of it right?" I again nodded. "Well that's basically what happened. Chris went to stay in Kentucky and we resumed things the way it had been. Except I made my return to the WWF ring against Ric Flair and Eddy retired from the sport. And everything went smoothly until today. Mark'll tell you his side later I'm sure."
We talked awhile longer but we both were exhausted. When I woke up again my cellphone was ringing. I reached for it groggily hoping not to wake Shane. "Hello?"
'Danny what happened last night? I have just seen the paper!'
"Mom?" I asked groggily. I'm operating on about two hours of sleep.
'You are on the front page! Or I believe it's you since you are wearing a dress!'
"Front page of what?"
'The newspaper! I just read the article. It says that Shane McMahon and an unknown man jumped the railing at Philips Arena in drag. That you confronted Vince about Owen and Chris' murder! That Vince paid Vince Russo to kill Owen. That Hunter and Stephanie were behind Chris' murder!'
Oh no. I was now wide-awake. "It made the paper?"
'Front page. What the hell were you thinking?'
I'm thinking I really should have turned my cell off. "Um we nailed Vince."
'I can see that. I'm coming over.'
Great just great. "Um I'm not in Atlanta."
'You are back in Kentucky?'
"No Texas."
'Texas! What in the world are you doing there?'
"Uh long story. I'll call you when I get back to Atlanta. Love you."
She sighed. 'Love you too. Bye Danny.' I quickly hung up.
However I wasn't too tired to talk to Shane. He and I were in his room where I would be sleeping. There were two beds in it.
"Bet you never thought you'd find all this out did you?" He asked as soon as we were settled.
"I'm still trying to figure out how just asking what happened to my dad revealed all of this."
"I bet you are. I'm still trying to figure that out when it comes to me! Anyway I said Eddy got me into this right?" I nodded. "Eddy had gotten in a serious car accident on January 1 1991. He was out of wrestling for months. He messed up his leg in the accident. This was back when we were all friends. I talked to him a lot during the time he was recuperating. I remember him calling me one time he said he needed to talk to me. I was recovering from about my zillionth shoulder injury and wasn't wrestling either. He said he was backstage at one Nitro and overheard Hall and Nash talking about Over the Edge and that there would be one less Hart. This was back in April! He said he had gone to the authorities and was talking to a few people. You know that cabin in Kentucky? That's my cabin."
Well that did make sense. But it didn't quite answer my questions. But he continued.
"So anyway Eddy and I were both watching the PPV at the hotel we were staying at in Kansas City Missouri. We watched Chase as he checked Owen. We weren't sure if Owen survived the fall and were relieved to find out that Owen was checked into North Olathe Medical Center under an assumed name. Eddy went there while I flew to Kentucky to set things up for Owen. We thought it would look strange if both of us entered the hospital. We took Owen there when he was released from the hospital. Erichson stayed at the cabin and both Eddy and I dropped by every once in awhile to see how he was. That went fine until January of 2000. You ever hear about what happened then?"
"Mom talked about it once on why my dad went to the WWF in the first place. Said something about Dave being in charge of booking."
"Ah yes Dave and Mike. Well they were trouble. Dave wanted to give your dad the world title and make him lose it in three months to of all people, Goldberg. Now see Chris got all of us together when Russo was removed from head booking. Bischoff hadn't been in charge for months. Some asshole named Bill Busch was. So we went and talked to Busch and he told us he'd think about it and you hear about the walkout?" I nodded. "Anyway we got our release papers and were trying to figure out where to go. Eddy told me he was going to WWF to try to keep an eye on Vince. But I could not persuade the others to not go to WWF. When they signed with Vince, I made it look as if I wanted nothing to do with them when in actuality I was still working with Eddy. If only we had known what Vince would do in 2003."
He got up to get a glass of water and got me one too before continuing. "What happened in Detroit wasn't the only thing Vince pulled that year. No I don't mean he tried to kill someone and this was at a houseshow. We really should have thought Vince was up to something when he announced that we were doing a show in Oregon for the first time in ten years. Oregon has a strict drug testing law for wrestling and boxing. Well I don't know, and I don't think we'll ever know, if Vince was starting to get suspicious of Eddy or not but someone planted Heroin and Marijuana in Eddy's bag. Now back then Marijuana was still a schedule one drug. And even though it was legal in Oregon for medical reasons, Eddy of course didn't have one. He swears up and down, and I believe him, that he didn't use Heroin at all that night or any time before that. Well Vince had someone doctor the test because they found Heroin in his system. He was suspended three months because Vince said he believed him." He snorts. "That's Vince for you. Plant it but make it look like you are a good guy."
"Like he did Brian Lawler right? Shane mentioned it tonight when he was trying to get Vince to say something."
"Just like Brian Lawler. Vince was getting even with Jerry. Though that was easy to do I guess. Brian looked like the kind of guy who did speed. And he might have but he didn't have it on him that day in Canada. Anyway, Eddy spent his time going back and forth between El Paso and Kentucky. Kid something you need to know his wife knows about this, as does Sara and mine. Yeah probably was a bad idea but we had to tell them something. And things were going really smooth until we found out about Survivor Series. If we only had more time to try to fix that. But thank God, Steve had survived. After that, I stayed in Texas with a nurse that Chase knew that could be trusted. Things went smoothly until May. We knew something was up when Vince decided to hold a special Saturday PPV on May 23. But when we found out it was your father..."
He stopped as if trying to figure out how to say this.
"When we found out what Hunter and Steph had planned for your father we acted fast. This time we could keep it from ending that way. And well Goldberg knew just making it look real would get him accidental manslaughter. But it nearly broke my heart when Eddy told me about how happy your father was. He said he just wanted to get through the match because he was going to spend all Sunday with you and Tatem. However, that was all shattered in an instant. Chris told you his side of it right?" I again nodded. "Well that's basically what happened. Chris went to stay in Kentucky and we resumed things the way it had been. Except I made my return to the WWF ring against Ric Flair and Eddy retired from the sport. And everything went smoothly until today. Mark'll tell you his side later I'm sure."
We talked awhile longer but we both were exhausted. When I woke up again my cellphone was ringing. I reached for it groggily hoping not to wake Shane. "Hello?"
'Danny what happened last night? I have just seen the paper!'
"Mom?" I asked groggily. I'm operating on about two hours of sleep.
'You are on the front page! Or I believe it's you since you are wearing a dress!'
"Front page of what?"
'The newspaper! I just read the article. It says that Shane McMahon and an unknown man jumped the railing at Philips Arena in drag. That you confronted Vince about Owen and Chris' murder! That Vince paid Vince Russo to kill Owen. That Hunter and Stephanie were behind Chris' murder!'
Oh no. I was now wide-awake. "It made the paper?"
'Front page. What the hell were you thinking?'
I'm thinking I really should have turned my cell off. "Um we nailed Vince."
'I can see that. I'm coming over.'
Great just great. "Um I'm not in Atlanta."
'You are back in Kentucky?'
"No Texas."
'Texas! What in the world are you doing there?'
"Uh long story. I'll call you when I get back to Atlanta. Love you."
She sighed. 'Love you too. Bye Danny.' I quickly hung up.