Over time David noticed that she began to go through periods where she was hyped up, and then very depressed. Mickey said that the owner of the red Pontiac GTO was known as “Crank.” She didn’t know his real name, but she told him that Crank was a high-end drug dealer who had done time in state prison. He sold drugs like Quaalude, Dexedrine, LSD, among others. Then Mickey got into speed, and David broke up with her. But they were still friends, even though Lani hated her. It was also rumored that Crank sold heroin. David stayed well clear of the drugs associated with Crank. It was one thing to smoke a little weed once in awhile, but that’s as far as it went for him. Lani felt the same way. David asked some friends if they knew how Ginny got mixed up with Crank. Frank said he didn’t know. But Lorraine, a girl he had known since 10th grade, told him that Crank knew Ginny’s cousin. Stephanie, who had been his girlfriend in 9th grade, once lived three houses down from Ginny’s parents. She said that, before Ginny’s parents moved, she often saw Ginny get picked up by a guy driving the same red car that showed up in the school’s parking lot. Stephanie also said that Ginny’s cousin had done time in state prison. That’s where he met Crank.
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It wasn’t until much later that Crank was found with a bullet in the back of his head. It turned out that Crank had been an FBI informant for years. He passed on information to the FBI that enabled them to put away several of Sullivan’s more senior associates in the organized crime ring, including Fixer and Stan Griswold. When the leaders of the Syndicate realized that they had a mole, a concerted effort was made to find him. Another man associated with Crank was pulled off the street one day, taken to a warehouse and “convinced” to tell them about Crank. What they were told was enough for Sullivan to receive orders to kill Mike Armstrong.

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“Yeah. I heard that she was going back to be with her parents and the kid. But then she returned again, this time with her kid.”

“So what she’s doing now? She still in with this guy?” David asked.

Suddenly the front door swung open. The two kids ran into the house. They were followed by the two large dogs. Entering the living room, they decided they hadn’t finished saying hello to David.

“Laurel! Hardy! Get down!” Pete hollered at them. The two dogs laid down on the carpet. They began panting and drooling.

“Laurel and Hardy?” David asked, trying to brush dog hair off his shirt.

“Ex-wife named ’em. I don’t know what Ginny’s doing now. I don’t even know if Crank or his gangster buddies are still around. But I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they are, and I’d bet a hundred bucks she’s still involved with ’em.”

Crank

Mike Armstrong, also known as Little Mike or Mikey because of his short stature, is most commonly known as Crank. He appears as a sinister figure who lurks behind the story, and particularly, Ginny Cooper. Crank works as a mechanic in a garage owned by a friend. That friend is also a drug dealer. When Crank's grandmother is close to losing the home she and Mike have lived in all their lives, Mike, desperate for money to prevent the foreclosure, agrees to mule drugs for his friend. When his grandmother is placed in assisted living due to dementia, Mike's need for cash soars. Crank finds himself inextricably living a criminal life. He is a high profile figure due to his bright red Pontiac GTO, which appears in the student's parking lot at Westbridge High. Crank serves time in prison, where he meets Augustus (Gus) Cooper, Ginny's cousin. He also meets a gangster named Sullivan, a member of the West Coast Syndicate and a trusted lieutenant of a powerful Syndicate boss. After both are paroled, Sullivan uses Crank to move drugs for the Syndicate. Ginny's relationship with Crank is an on-and-off sort of thing, and Ginny finds herself arrested when Crank forces her to deliver drugs to a buyer at a local, sleazy motel named the Western Star. Whenever Ginny has associates like Crank at her home, Kerry Cooper leaves and wanders around until they are gone. Crank is also an informant used by the State Police. When his handlers become frustrated with the lack of useful information being provided by Crank, they pick him up and threaten to kill him. Desperate, Crank remembers a phone call he overheard between Sullivan and his boss, a man named Stan Griswold, where he learns that Sullivan's boss plans to personally accompany an upcoming delivery. Crank passes this on to his handler and Griswold is busted. Members of the Syndicate frantically search for the mole and the trail leads to Sullivan. A short time earlier, Crank kills a strange man after learning that the man is linked to the murder of several prostitutes, one of whom was Crank's friend. Kerry Cooper doesn't learn that Mike Armstrong is her father until much later in life. 

“Why don’t you do it?”

“Because someone has to keep an eye out and be ready to split fast. All right? All you do is knock on the door. He’ll ask who it is. Tell him what I said, tell him “Agnes sent me.”

“Who the hell is Agnes?” Ginny asked.

Crank was becoming angry. “There is no Agnes; it’s how he knows you’re not a cop.”

Ginny was becoming anxious. “You said there’d be no cops.”

“This guy’s paranoid. There are no cops. Why do you think I drove around the fucking block? Their cars are easy to spot. Just go in, do the deal and we’ll split.”

Ginny gave Crank a nervous smile. “This is the last time.”

Crank reached over Ginny’s lap and opened the glove compartment. He pulled out a large, clear baggie filled with pills. He handed it to Ginny. She turned the bag around in her hands. The pills were bluish, with a strange looking “M” or possibly a “W.” There were a lot of them. Then he reached under the driver-side seat and pulled out a baggie filled with small individually packaged doses of white powder. Ginny knew what these were. Crank pulled a few out and held them out to Ginny. She reached out to take them, and he pulled his hand away.

“Not ’til the deal is done. Just go to room 10, knock on the door, say ‘Agnes sent me’, and take the money. It’s that easy.”

Ginny put the baggies in her purse, got out of the car and headed toward room 10.