We still didn’t know if Kim Pawlak worked for them or directly for Red Stokes, so before going we called the Elite Storage office. A man answered and told us that Kim didn’t work there; she worked for Acme Auctions. A quick Google search gave us the information we needed for location and ownership. Seems Acme Auctions was owned and operated by Redmond Stokes—or had been owned and operated by him. A calendar showed an auction scheduled for this morning at Elite Storage and another scheduled for later this afternoon in Downey. The man who answered the phone at Elite had said nothing about that. Maybe the auctions had been cancelled in light of Red’s death. I placed a call to the number listed for Acme Auctions, half expecting to get a recording saying that due to the death of the owner, the business would be closed until further notice, or at least for a few days. “Um, hi,” I said to the woman who answered. “I read about Red’s death and was wondering if the auctions scheduled for today were still going forward.”
