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.