Ch 14 Dead End

The air was thick and greasy inside Kessler’s car, he kept warming his hands with his breath. Ronnie was drunk with his scent, he kept pressing his scarf to his nose to prevent himself from intoxicating himself. They were parked outside Chanter club, they were across from it  overlooking the highway. They were watching the entrance with a hawk’s eye. It was tedious and unproductive, that’s how Ronnie took it at least. As far as he was concerned they were just hanging out. Kessler was even wearing jeans, Ronnie would keep dropping hints for him to get out of the car just so he could check out his butt. Ronnie would occasionally snap out of his trance and focus on Will, every time he would look at Kessler’s perfectly defined jaw line he would quiver and claw into his thigh and think it an offense against Will. 

“So tomorrow’s your birthday eh?” said Kessler

“yeah, not much breathing room in here, why don’t take a stretch break, you know ,walk outside” Said Ronnie hoping he’ll say yes. 

“I don’t think thats such a good idea, besides I’m still convinced that the LadyKiller uses a disguise, if a victim could’nt identify him, then he must be wearing a disguise.”

“That queen was drugged up and high, of course he wasn’t going to recognize him, the only thing we got out of him was that he has a slutty tattoo-“

“That can be useful information-“

“How? Not unless you go around checking for yourself”

“Well, I never disregard a piece of information no matter how insignificant you think it may be” he said as he opened a bag of chips.  Ronnie’s grip on his thigh was becoming deadly. it was moments before he started bashing his forehead onto the dashboard. Restraint was his ally. But he could be strong no longer.

“Why are you here, Kessler?” Asked Ronnie before he started hitting himself. Kessler put down the bag of chips.

“What do you mean? We’re scoping out the-“

“Why though? Why go to all this trouble for this case? Why only you? No one else cares about Will, or Irene. No one gives a damn to what happens to drag queens-“

“Where are you going with this Ronnie?”

“Is it because you don’t like to be at home? That’s it isn’t it?”

“Ronnie, what the Hell’s wrong with you?” Said Kessler as Ronnie bit his lip to prevent himself from saying anything more. But it was futile, it was like this neurotic wave of sexual tension burst in Ronnie’s head mixed in with a desire to destroy everything in sight. Ronnie had two possible choices; bash his brains in with his fist or to choose to release his tension. He froze completely staring at the dashboard praying to God that his eyes not wander again towards Kessler’s direction. 

“Come on Ronnie, what’s the matter?” Ronnie remained silent. The more Kessler spoke the more of him he breathed in, the less he could contain himself.  Ronnie remained fixed, frozen like a statue. Kessler began to get worried.

“Ronnie? You okay?” Kessler got closer to Ronnie. Ronnie’s eyes deviated and caught a glimpse of his thin baroque lips. It  happened almost automatically.

 He forced his lips upon Kessler’s with a vigorous zeal and grabbed his head with it. Kessler was overcome with Ronnie’s kiss he was enticed, opening his mouth and taking him in with all his breath. The two kissed like ferocious jungle cats, one trying to fight the other off. Kessler’s saliva tasted exactly the way he imagined, a salty, milky elixir that made him yearn for more.  The air inside the car became sparse, their noses breathed the air that each blew out. Ronnie felt his pelvis quiver as he embraced Kessler further.

Finally, Kessler snapped out of it. His palm pushed Ronnie’s face away breaking away from him with terrible force. Ronnie’s head was shoved back he quickly inhaled and regained his breath. He quickly wanted to explain himself or to apologize but not before Kessler.

“Get out!” Kessler yelled at Ronnie.

“Wait I can explain!” 

“Get out, now!” Kessler was almost shoving Ronnie out of the car. Ronnie was forced outside as the door behind him slam shut and Kessler steeped on the gas, his tin can of a car revved onto the highway leaving Ronnie forsaken on the dark desolate road. He immediately tasted his lips, his scent still fresh, but then he stomped on the ground and kicked some dirt. He was angry at himself, angry that it didn’t go well. He took off his red cardigan and proceeded to rip it into pieces and hurl it into the wind. It was freezing cold but he didn’t care, he cast it away somehow blaming it for all his problems. 

He stood there contemplating to go inside the club and phone someone to come get him. But then he realized he had no one. He wasn’t really on speaking terms with his friends. He looked down the road and remembered a gas station that they passed by on their way. He began walking after he had calmed down. After he’d taken a few steps he noticed a few cars that were coming past them, the thought of hitch hiking crossed his mind, but he’s seen enough horror films to know that wasn’t an option. 

He’d been walking for half an hour until he reached the deserted gas station. Ronnie checked his watch. It was 11:05. He walked inside the also deserted store, making a ding as the door behind him closed. The cashier was to his left behind a glass wall, a fat baldy eating potato wedges.

“Excuse me, do you have a restroom?” Ronnie asked impatiently.

“Yeah, outside in the back near the car wash”

Ronnie smirks and looks around to see if he was lying, he really didn’t want to go outside again. 

Inside the concrete horror-house restroom Ronnie washes his hands and splashes water on his face. He looked at the graffiti rich mirror and tried to recall that rapturous embrace that he shared with Kessler. Then he realized that he didn’t push him away immediately. Ronnie examined the rusty sink, he formulated and hypothesized so many theories of why that was and the only answer that he cared to contemplate was that Kessler was sexually confused and secretly wanted Ronnie. That had to be the only explanation. 

Ronnie heard a scurrying in the outside corner, like a skidding rat. Ronnie carefully listens again and makes out the noise as footsteps, carefully placed footsteps. He slowly makes his way to the entrance of the restroom. At the end of the stone corridor he could discern a shadow moving back and forth almost impatiently. Ronnie shuddered, his heart began to race, his eyes grew wide with fear. He was going to get mugged or something worse. Ronnie covered his nose and mouth to prevent the person outside to hear his hyperventilating. 

He was a cornered rat trapped inside the restroom and they were waiting for him to exit and assault him. Ronnie stood frozen thinking in shuddering fear. He quickly found that he had only one option and it was a long shot at best. 

He silently moved backwards and untied his shoes and removed them. He stretched to his sides, and did lunges. Near the entrance of the corridor he took a runner’s stance and slowly counted… 1… 2…3. 

He viciously sprinted out of the restroom, running right past his assaulter, his face covered by a hood, he started pursuing him immediately. 

Ronnie instinctively ran straight forward away from the gas station and into the dirt fields away from the high way. He could hear his assaulter hurry after him, his big manly footsteps were audible as Ronnie’s feet were pricked by thorns and small sticks. Ronnie ran and ran and ran as fast as his scrawny legs would drive him. His feet kicked up dirt as  he became tired. He looked behind and caught a glimpse of his pursuer. A tall hooded man with a bright blue aluminum baseball bat.

Ronnie looked forward and kept running. Feeling himself be dragged, he was struck with what felt like a massive bullet to the side of his head. The aluminum bat connected with Ronnie’s temple with great force. The sound of it hitting his skull was a loud firecracker.  Ronnie collapsed as he ran. Ronnie was blindsided and knocked out as he began to spasm on the floor. The tip of the bat dipped in blood. 

The hooded man looked around and turned back to the gas station, leaving Ronnie unconscious on the dirt road.

Kessler burst through his home living room, his forehead smothered in sweat. His wife was in the kitchen washing dishes. Kessler strode in there without giving her a chance to greet him.

“David, it’s about time you got-“ She was stopped by Kessler’s mouth as he pressed it against hers savagely. 

“Where are the kids?” he paused to ask.

“They’re asleep” She responded as Kessler lifted her up onto his pelvis and carried her into the bedroom maintaining their kiss. 

Entering the bedroom Kessler drops her on the bed, he unbuttons his shirt as she slips out of her blouse and unhooks her bra. He takes off his pants and impatiently attacks her with sexual fervor. Skipping foreplay he goes in immediately as he turns her around and shakes the foundation of the mattress back and forth repeatedly widening the ridges on the hard wood floors.  

Kessler awakens with the ring of his phone. His wife standing at his bedside holding his cell phone in one hand and carrying the baby in the other. Kessler grabs the phone and answers it. 

“Petrovsky?”

“Where have you been all morning?!” Kessler looked at his alarm clock. It was 11 a.m. 

“Crap, I must’ve over slept, last night was kinda-“

“Guess who was found dead this morning naked on their bed with their rib cage exposed?” Kessler sits up. He remained silent thinking it was who he thought it was.

“Enrique Machado, you should’ve been there, the boy was strangled and was cut up like cardboard leaving his rib cage exposed “ Kessler remained silent. His stomach becoming calm after hearing it wasn’t who he thought it was. 

“Kessler? The D.E.A is denying that this has any relevance to your case. They already got someone else on it… Kessler?!”

“Yeah… I just gotta do something first. I’ll be right there.”

It was at the break of dawn. Pedro rode in the back of a crowded Ford Ranger dolloping through bumpy dirt road. He had a lighter complexion than his counterparts next to him. They all had grim and depressed countenances. Their faces reeked with worry and pensive thought. their trucker hats and faded jeans were a sign were a sign that they were on the way to work. 

Pedro looked out to the encompassing dirt and picked out a figure lying out in the ground. He stared at it for a while then proceeded to shout in Spanish.

“Paren! Espera! Paren!” He banged on the window for the driver to stop. The truck stoped and Pedro jumped off it and ran towards the figure, some of his co workers followed him. 

He came upon Ronnie’s cold bloodied body. He saw the bloody gash on the side of Ronnie’s head and panicked. the other’s caught up to him. Pedro checked his pulse.

“Esta vivo!” he said he was alive. The others looked at each other. 

“Miguel! Tenemos que llevarlo con Adelita, ella sabra como curarlo. “ Pedro lifted Ronnie up from the floor. saying that they had to take him to Adelita, she’ll know how to cure him. The others helped him carry Ronnie to the truck and placed him on the flat bed. Pedro turned his head to the side so the wound would’nt get infected. The others looked bothered that they had found Ronnie. Pedro looked down at Ronnie’s face and stared.

Kessler sped down the same  highway hurriedly looking for any sign of Ronnie seeing as no one would answer at his dorm room number. He started imagining the worst. He was panicking, his hands trembled as he tried to grasp his steering wheel. He finally reached the club and the spot where they were parked. Kessler pulled over to the side and got out of the car keeping his eye fixed on a particular red cloth on the side of the road. He picks it up. It was Ronnie’s red cardigan ripped into pieces. Kessler held it in his hands and looked left and right hoping for any signs of him. Looking left and right and again.

Ch 13 Harbinger

Jeremiah  saw the many assembly lines entangle and raised in between each other, behind the glass he could see them climb up high to the ceiling. He was in a door knob factory waiting for Teddy to et out of work. He was wearing his glasses and his suit-like uniform, he stood out amongst the other people in the waiting room who were common and plain white t shirt-esque. 

Jeremiah was standing while everyone else were sitting down. He stared at the factory line, all the workers with white hats, scrambling pieces and putting them together. There was a large crane machine that indented the metal of the door knobs, then it quickly passed onto the hands of a worker, the process was repeated over and over again with such accurate precision. Behind Jeremiah’s glasses, his eyes were correlating, observing, and calculated. He was some sort of a genius.

He was thrown off when Teddy came in the waiting room wearing his hat and his worker’s vest. 

“Alright I’m ready to go” Jeremiah was kicked out of his trance. 

“Oh, ok, then lets leave… this place bothers me” .

Albert opens his eyes to see a pair of perfectly manicured feet standing right next to his nose. Connected to them was a tan colored man, at a first glance he might look like he’s wearing a graphic t-shirt but it would be due to all of the tattoos, from his neck to his waist and on his arms. A grizzly bear with an outstretched palm grasped his left peck, he was toned and his permed hair suggested the perfect juxtaposition, his head free of imperfections. 

“Rise and shine sweet cheeks” he said. Albert could hear Rock the Casbah by The Clash in the background. he looked again at his feet and remembered the rebellious tirade of an orgy that he was in. 

“Chico, you’re gonna be upset with me but I need a place to stay-“

“Say no more my friend, mi casa es su casa, stay as long as you like you know, just as long as you’re willing to fuck some pussy” Albert glared at him.

“I’m just kidding bro! But you ought to try it sometime-“ A topless woman walks into the living room, her breasts miniscule and non-buoyant. 

“Rosa! Get back in the bedroom, I’m not done with you yet!” Rosa scurries back. Albert stands up and sits on the couch. 

“here” Chico throws a small clear bag at Albert.  

“It’s from my personal stache, free of charge of course, as long as you’re staying here” Chico winked at him and hunched over to whisper something in his ear.

“I’d better see you in there afterwards” Albert contemplated the bag with white powder as Chico disappeared into the bedroom, he stared blankly.  

Jane kept dialing the number on her phone, she pressed the phone to her ear as she heard the tone over and over again hoping to hear Albert’s hello. She walked to her car from the science building in broad daylight as she kept dialing she stopped at her car to press dial one more time.

Suddenly her head was thrust into the driver window as her nose felt the full impact. An enraged Olivia held onto Jane’s red smoldering hair with one hand as she bashed her skull with her other hand. Jane screeched as she tried to release Olivia’s grip on her hair. She immediately thought of pulling but Olivia had grasped a good portion of her hair.

“You fucking whore bitch!” Olivia shouted as she kept pouncing at Jane skull while she shrieked. 

Iago turned around as he heard Jane’s screams from across the parking lot. He sprinted as he saw Olivia pounding Jane’s head, driving her to the floor. He ran as soon as he reached them he grabbed Olivia’s fist with a manly ferociousness, he was angry and with his grip he was crushing Olivia’s hand causing her to release her grip on Jane.

“Ow, ow, ow, let me fuckin go you fuckin piece of shit wetback!”

Iago released her and pushed her back. His teeth clenched and  his eyes glared at her his manly honor was restraining him from chasing her away and pelting her with rocks. Jane recovered from the floor and jumped up, Iago caught her and prevented her from lashing out on Olivia.

“Let me go! I’ll kill her!” It was instinctive for Iago to stop Jane from attacking Olivia but at the same time trying to defend her from Olivia. 

“You fuckin stay away from Bradley, you fuckin whore!” At the mention of his name Jane stopped struggling to get past Iago. 

“That sunuvabitch?” Jane said. Iago was in a hurry and he was not about to let these two make him be late. 

“You should leave. Now before I call campus security!” He said. 

Olivia cursed and mumbled under her breath. She jogged back to her car as Jane and Iago watched.

“Are you ok?” Jane looked at Iago’s caramel skin and his large boulder-like shoulders. 

“Yeah, im just a bit shaken is all” She bent down to grab her phone.

“Wait, I’ll get that” he bends down to grab her phone and almost as if pushed by magnetism, their hangs touched as Iago’s hand reached the phone first. They stood up and Iago handed her the phone.

“I’m sorry, my name’s Iago” 

“I’m Jane. Sorry to ask but what accent is that?”

“I’m from Colombia, I know, my English is sloppy”

“No, no, its fine. I was just intrigued that’s all”

“So are you going to be okay? DO you need to go to the doctors?”

“Um, no I’ll be fine. She hits like a pussy”

“alright well I have to get going, see you around Jane” He smiled at her as she watched him walk back to his car with a gleam in her eye, her attack seemed insignificant to the back side of Iago. 

“God, if you’re up there and your’e not too mad at me, please don’t let him be gay”

Teddy sits idly as Jeremiah walks out of the car to refuel it. Jeremiah’s car was nothing too fancy, a well kept Ford Eclipse. Teddy sat twiddling his thumbs secretly glancing at Jeremiah when his phone started to ring. Teddy picked it up and about to announce to Jeremiah that his phone was ringing when he accidentally looked at the caller I.D. It was Gemma. Teddy felt like he was suddenly in the twilight zone, automatically, he pressed the call button and raised the phone to his ear.

“Jay, sweetie, I rented Pirates Of The Caribbean, how long till you get here?”  Teddy quickly hung up and flung the phone to the driver’s seat as Jeremiah approached the vehicle.  Teddy stared at the dashboard unblinkingly as Jeremiah got in. His eyes started to accumulate water and started to shine. 

“You alright Teddy?”  It took him a while to respond.

“Uh, yeah I’m fine” Teddy bit his lip and gritted his teeth. He wanted to open his window, stick his head and just yell his heart out and let his tears fall out of his face. 

Megan walked up the stairs of one of her friends’ house, she followed a little girl to a bright fluorescent room with flower wallpaper and a giant window that overlooked the entire back yard. Megan was desperate and running out of time the window period in which she could do what she was there to do was closing.

“Hey Cessy could you get me a glass of water”  The little girl nodded and left the room. The instant she did, Megan spasmodically retracted a high caliber photography grade camera from her bag.  She lashed open the curtains of the window and pointed the camera the at the reverend’s office window hoping and praying that he had not moved the curtains the way she placed them before so that there was a clear shot. 

And sure enough, the view was unobstructed. There was the reverend naked, as Megan snapped the photo of him naked and Regina’s ass in the air. She snapped the camera again and again gritting her teeth and cursing under her breath.

Ronnie squeezed through some busty queens to get to Enrique’s dressing room. He was in front of his mirror wiping off his make-up. He lingered a while before he said anything.

“Hey, how are you doing?” He asked him. Enrique looked peppy. 

“I’m great actually”

“Yeah? Cause I was thinking maybe we could go and have that date-“

“Oh I’m sorry I kinda already made plans with someone else”

“Oh alright, yeah no problem” Ronnie had turned red with embarrassment if there was anything that Ronnie found the most unpleasant was being rejected. 

He quickly walked back to the bar as the sensual music pierced his senses. He was diffused, it didn’t really mean anything to him that Enrique rejected him. He was entranced with someone else. The dance floor teases him unwaveringly, teetering the sensual music back and forth, he looked and hoped desperately that he would find Kessler in the middle of the dance floor with leather bottoms and a sequin top.

Iago  stopped at a corner next to a heavily tattooed man wearing a wife beater. He got out of the car and went straight for the hood of the car.

“What the Hell took you so long?” Asked Chico wearing his crocodile skin sandles, showing off those prized piggies. 

 

Iago opened the trunk. “Girl fight bro, had to break it up, anyways, here’s the 50 Kilos”

Chico looked I the trunk and there were the pristine white packages of white powder. Iago’s accent seemed to vanish.

“That’s perfect bro”.

Character Profile: Albert and Melvin

This is the mesmerizing Brian Kinney from Queer as Folk who served for my inspiration for Albert. Brian Kinney is one of the most narcissistic, misogynistic, self-centered, and cold-hearted gay characters I have ever seen. Despite his personality, Brian is no dud; he's sexy, good looking, cunning, and street smart.

He's also a masochist, he likes to put himself in risky situations, Albert is different from Brian in several aspects; for one Brian is the cliche promiscuous gay man who sleeps around with every guy in town, while Albert on the other hand likes meaningful relationships.

They do share similarities. This picture is a perfect embodiment of both Brian and Albert, just lounging around the house with nothing on but some pair of jeans. Like Brian, Albert can be blunt about certain things and about others he will completely lie about to protect others. When he broke up with Ronnie he flat out explained to him that he had found the love of his life.

This is Justin and Brian from Queer as Folk. Justin was Brian's only boyfriend the entire series, their attraction started from episode 1 until the very end. And the only person Brian admits to love. Justin had minimal involvement in the creation of Melvin, Justin seemed too young, too inexperienced, too fragile to handle someone like Albert so i was inspired give Albert the partner he deserves.

This is Corbin Bleu, the face of Melvin. Melvin is Albert's rock. His calculative, rational, and pensive nature gives Albert that balance that makes them complete. Although it may not seem like it, Albert loves Melvin a great deal, and he basically tore out his heart to break up with him. Albert knows he's on a fast track to a life of failure and had no intention of dragging Melvin along. I wouldn't give up on these two just yet.

Ch 12 Invisible

Ronnie rushed through busy hospital hallways looking for the room number that the nurse at the front desk gave him, it seemed like white walls coveted by drab architecture, he seemed asphyxiated until he distinguished the red on Jane’s hair. Everyone was there including Teddy and Gemma. He wasn’t too happy to see them, not what happened after the funeral.

“Hey, where’s Albert?” he asked Jane, whose cheeks were soaked with tears, her mascara ran down a perfect path down her face. 

“He’s in there with Melvin, don’t go in, they don’t want to be disturbed.” She said as she sniffled.

“So he’s okay?”  Jane glared at him with real intensity. Ronnie understood and backed away. 

“Well what happened? I don’t really understand what happened-“

“Albert was doing crystal meth, the dumbass overdosed-“ 

“Don’t call him a dumbass!” Jane scorned Gemma. Ronnie was shocked, never had Albert been a drug user during their relationship, he wouldn’t even touch cigarettes.

“Melvin found him luckily and brought him to urgent care, I don’t even know why Melvin’s in there talking to him, he only did it for the attention, who does crystal for getting kicked out of DeMille?”

“Shut up Gemma!” Jane shouted. Ronnie looked around, astonished, to see if anyone had heard. 

Gemma glared at Jane and refused to say anything more. Ronnie was perplexed and afraid to say anything, he leaned against the wall away from them trying to endure the most uncomfortable and miserable silence. Will would probably know what to do at times like these, Will would’ve stormed in there, slapped some sense into Albert, and then he’d be on his merry way back to Flamers to finish his show, and while hearing six heels. Oh God, how he missed Will, more than he missed God himself, it was moments like these that made his loss unbearable. He suddenly heard the rapid clicking of heels and twitched his head to the right to see a random woman with heels walking around; he slowly turned his head back disappointed. 

Ronnie watches as Jane paces back and forth with a damp tissue raised to her eyes. What a thoughtless jerk Albert was, giving no second thoughts about his sister, who has literally devoted herself to their cause; his cause. It was unfair, unfair to care for someone and have those feelings being shoved back into your face. 

Ronnie looked at the time and then remembered his ‘date’ with Enrique. He wasn’t too bummed about it, he wasn’t so sure about it from the start, besides he got to see Kessler again- Ronnie’s brain went into a mode that start force feeding him images of Kessler, he tried really hard not smile given their situation, but it was as if Kessler was Ronnie’s crystal meth.

Inside Albert’s hospital room Melvin was yelling at Albert.

“I just can’t believe how selfish you are!” Melvin shook his head and looked at the floor while yelling at him. Albert sat up on the reclined bed, his face pale and his lips drained of color but his personality came through unscathed.

“Please, go on.” 

“How the Hell are you gonna look at your sister in eye, and tell her that you fucked up, she who basically, lives for your sake! She’s out there crying her eyes off and you have the audacity to just sit there complacent acting like you got a scrape on your knee!”

“You probably think I did this for the attention, ok yeah, lemme take some coke and some crystal so that my friends can see that I got kicked out of school-stop making this about yourselves, stop trying to justify what happened-“

“I can’t believe how selfish-“

“And what if I am selfish!? Melvin. So what if I am-“

“No, you’re acting like a child!”

“If I wanted some bitch yelling at me, telling me what to do, I’d be straight! Go be someone else’s wife!”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“It means fuck off!” Melvin  punched the wall, his lips clenched and tucked, forcing himself not to shed a tear. 

“So that’s it? That’s how it ends? You’re just gonna tell me to fuck off, we’re not even gonna talk about this?!” Melvin couldn’t contain it, he spilled out like a hose. Albert looked away.

“I said go! Leave already!”  Melvin swung open the door and walked out. Jane was the first to step inside the room.

“What happened?!” She asked.

“Tell everyone to go home”

“Albert they all came her to support-“

“You too Jane!” Albert turned to the side away from her. She whimpered and wiped away more tears from her cheeks. She looked at him, and thought how fragile he must be right now, how miserable, she didn’t dare defy him now. It was soft but she could hear him sob, she knew what he did. Ronnie and the others looked from the doorway, Jane nodded her head and they all dispersed, and so did she.

Kessler entered his tinted glass office, inside he found Petrovsky waiting for him. He didn’t get much sleep, he slowly sat down at his desk trying not to spill the coffee in his hand.

“Rough night?”

“Same old… so what do you got?”

“well I don’t know if it’s a lead, but I found a police report from that club where the victim worked, it dates back a few months” She hands him a file. Kessler looks over it.

“A reported assault?”

“Read it carefully, it says the offender seduced the victim and tried to get him in his car before he was stopped by a horde of drag queens”

“Patty this is exactly what we needed, our Lady Killer tried to score in this club before but failed-“

“I thought he was trying to evade the police?” Asked Petrovsky.

“No, his intention was never to hide, I don’t know what it is… we have to go there today see if we can find a witness”

“You’re gonna take that boy?”

“Ronnie? He’s gonna be 21 in a few months, besides he kinda reminds me of myself"

“Im not all that sure you should be bringing him everywhere you go, you do know that he’s a-“

“A gay? Yes I know that he’s ‘a gay’ what does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing I was just concerned about the boy, not you”

“He wants to help, he has something to prove, his friend that got killed, he wants it to be resolved, I’ve never seen such a kid with such passion, that day that he found his best friend shoved under the bed like that, it would leave anyone scarred” Petrovsky looked at him with disdain, she shrugged and then left his office, leaving Kessler with his thoughts.

Jane trudges through the hospital early in the morning, she looked like she was up all night, watching television at point blank range, she was a hot mess, her hair unwashed and in a droopy ponytail, her make-up still smeared and soggy. She was afraid before entering his room again, afraid to see what was left of her brother, her only family left. Albert and Jane’s parents died in an unfortunate car accident when they were 6 and 8 years old. Albert was everything to her.

She opened the door to find it vacated, she quickly searched the room and then shifted back and started running back to the receptionist near the elevator. 

“Where’s my brother?! Albert Tabor” The receptionist looked at her computer.

“He was just released a couple of minutes ago-“

“Dammit!” Jane sprinted towards the elevator, she pressed the down button and waited for the elevator.

“C’mon, c’mon. Dammit!” She entered the elevator before she remembered the time when Albert was 15 and he decided to run away from home because their uncle beat him for catching him kissing another guy in his room. They did everything they could to find him, they called the police alerted all of his classmates, went out looking for him, Jane even started posting posters all over town after the 4^th day he was gone. It wasn’t until 2 weeks had gone by that Albert returned home on his own, he had run out of food money and was starving. In the end, it was his choice to return, she would never find him. 

The elevator stopped at the ground floor, Jane stood there, her head hung towards the floor.

Enrique sat in front of his mirror at the dressing room of Flamers. He had a large floral print dress on and had his wig on a mannequin next to his mirror. He was applying mascara when Ronnie popped inside his mirror. He glared at him through his mirror and then also quivered as he saw Ronnie’s slender body as he was wearing a tight fitted black turtle neck sweater that complemented his shiny black hair and eyes. 

“What do you want?” he said as he kept applying his mascara. 

“I asked for you by name, and they didn’t know who you were, then I remembered you were incognito, so I described you… so your drag name is Maria?”

“yeah, what do you care?”

“I’m really sorry about last night, I should’ve called, my friend Albert was hospitalized and I just had to be at his side,-“

“And you call me the liar, why are you apologizing? I thought I was the one who killed your best friend Will?” 

“I’m not lying, and I just wanted to say sorry about that, you know I didn’t really think you were the one… anyways I just came here to say that and also to tell you to watch your back” Enrique turns around and faces him.

“What do you mean?” 

“You know, just be careful, don’t go into dark alleys and stuff” Enrique turned back around and started to apply more lipstick.

“Sure okay” After a long silence Enrique watched Ronnie turn around and leave the dressing room through his mirror, turning around as he closed the door behind him.

Ursula walked the dance floor of Chanter wearing a French mid costume, she ha such a feminine physique, one could not tell the difference between her curly blonde wig and real hair. She was tall as well, flaunting her hooker pumps, she balanced a platter of drinks on one hand as she shimmied towards the bar. 

“Ricky, give me a gin and tonic I’m dying over here these bitches are sweating salt its like they came out from Miami” She said as she fanned her hand. She received her drink and gulped it down, she turned around and saw Kessler’s rugged handsome face.

“Holy shit! Ricky, who let Hugh Jackman in da club?!” Kessler was speechless, Ursula saw Ronnie standing behind Kessler.

“And this baby looking Gary Oldman” Ronnie stared at her, while mentally saying ‘bitch’.

“Are you Ursula?” Asked Kessler loudly as he had to speak over the loud music.

“Yes, who’s asking?”

“I’m detective Kessler-“

“Ah damn! He had to be a cop”

“Listen, is there a place we can go to speak in private?” Ursula got excited and then looked at Ronnie again.

“Is puberty over there tagging along?” 

“Yes” 

“Oh alright, follow me, try not to get lost in the crowd” 

Kessler and Ronnie followed Ursula through the dance crazed crowd, and through a door way at the end. She led them to her dressing room. A cramped private room filled with wigs, brassiers, and reeked of hairspray. 

“Look if you’re here to talk about Felicia you can save it-“

“Actually were here to talk to you about the assault you reported a while back-“

“Well its bout damn fuckin time ya’ll did something about that, its only been a whole damn year” 

Ronnie hated this queen, she was to fishy.

“Listen Ursula, the person who assaulted you might be the one who murdered Felicia!” Ronnie spoke out. 

“Ronnie!” Kessler scolded him. “let me handle this. Ursula I need you to describe exactly what happened the night”

“Well it was here in the club…” Ursula looked up to the ceiling to think like a confused schoolgirl. “I was hostessing as always, I remember I was wearing my Audrey Hepburn, god I love that dress… anyways this guy starts flirting with me and buying me drinks, from then on I couldn’t remember anything, sun of a bitch spiked my tonic with LSD or some other shit-“

“He drugged you?”

“That’s what I just said”

“Do you remember anything else?”

“well I do remember him showing me a tattoo of a music note on his pelvis near his schlong, and after that I don’t remember anything else other than what Felicia told me”

“what did she tell you?”

“That she saw that guy basically dragging me, half asleep out of the club and headed to his car, she called the popo and headed outside with a baseball bat. She threatened the dude with it and the sun of a bitch dropped on the floor and left in his car-“

“What car was it?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a car person. It might have been blue-“

“Can you describe him?”

“He was a white guy, cute as hell too. That’s it.”

“If you were to see him again would you recognize him?”

“Probably” Kessler pulls out a folder of images from his coat. 

“Flip through the pages and tell me if any one there looks familiar” Kessler hands Ursula the flipbook and views the image of Reverend James, she makes a nasty face and turns the page, next she sees a picture of Bradley Haynes, she shakes her head as she turns the page onto Shawn and skips that one too, then just skims the photo of Enrique and closes the book.

“It ain’t none of these guys” Ursula hands Kessler the flipbook. Kessler and Ronnie look at each other perplexed and confused then back at Ursula’s solemn expression.

Reverend James fixed his collar while Shawn entered his office, it reeked of sweat. The reverend’s hair was undone and messy, his shirt was un-tucked and wrinkled.

“Oh Shawn come in, I was just going to call you in, how was the trip?”

“It was good for the most part, Beverly wouldn’t stop bitching about the weather though-“

“Yes , well, uh sit down Shawn, there’s something I need to talk to you about” Shawn sits down uncomfortably as he sniffs the air around him. 

“you know that fag that got killed a few weeks ago and they tried to pin it on us? Well another one of those has been killed” 

“Another tranny?”

“Yes… someone is doing this community a, a service, whoever this person is he’s sending a clear message to people- that its wrong what they’re doing and they should be punished!”  He said violently as he waved his hands around with passionate gusto. The reverend was obviously drunk; Shawn could detect it, the smell of alcohol and the smell of a woman.

“I don’t see where you’re going with this?”

“What I’m going with this is that this person has the balls to do what is needed, they are telling everyone in this community that what they are is wrong, its wrong and that God is unforgiving to them, it’s a plight-“

“Are you sure you’re not interpreting this the wrong way, sir?”

“Of course not my boy, whoever they are, they’re on our side, sure they are a bit extreme, but that’s just the type of initiative we need! A call to arms! We need to send them a message that we’re on their side, and I think you know what I have in mind” Reverend James looks deep into Shawn’s eyes, he pulls out a baseball back from behind his desk.

“Oh that again? Who did you have in mind this time?” 

“That nosy little faggot who came into my church the other day”

“Ronnie?”

“Be careful though, I don’t want that cop he was with to get in the way, we need to do this as soon as possible”

“Loud and clear” Shawn exited the room looking into the trash can near the door and saw the packaging of latex condoms; he looked back sinisterly at the Reverend who was adjusting his belt.