Love Me Quickly

"You're dying?" I asked incredulous.

"Yes..I'm dying." said Shane Bradley.... "I've been poisoned, but that's a whole different story...I need to find Meaghan to make things right with her...See, Kevin...Meaghan and I were once engaged to be married..I suppose you should know that I'm an Attorney, just like your friend...Mr. Foxworth...I'm also a C.P.A.  ..I got in on a business deal with the late Colin Huxley and a man named Sylvester Hemlock...We became partners in a Bio-Tech company with several government contracts." he said.

''Whoa...Whoa..Whoa...Slow down ..This is all a bit much." I said as we stood in Meaghan's empty apartment....Just what had I gotten myself into? I thought. What started out as a simple case now seemed to be balooning into something way above my head.

"Look Kevin...Colin was the rich boy...our pal...It was his front money that bought me and Hemlock into the deal...We added our share...but nowhere near what he brought to the table...Before 9/11 and in the years afterwords...Our Bio-tech company made a lot of nasty Bio-Chemical products to be used by our government for war....Yeah ,I know..I know what you're thinking...We started out as a research organization...but under Hemlock..It grew into something far more sinister....Anyway...in 2008..We were told to close it down...The whole thing....We stood to lose a pile of money...Colin was just a partner...He never knew what was actually goin on....Just like we didn't know that he was killing young girls on the side... But I knew what Hemlock was up to..He was making side deals with foreign governments to keep our company going..." said Shane.

"You called him on it...I'm bettin that he saw you as a thorn in his side and that's why he has poisoned you right?" I said.

"Something like that." said Shane.

"What's this got to do with Meaghan?" I asked.

"Nothing...She knows nothing about it.....But...during this entire time...I neglected her and I wasn't so nice to her...Eventually, Colin , who I thought was my friend, began seeing her and we broke our engagement off...I've regretted it ever since and I have to see her before.....before I die." said Shane.

"For what?  She's apparently moved on with her life....Why don't you let her be?" I said.

"I have to do this...I have to try to make this right...She was a good girl..a good person..I don't want to die without her forgiveness...I need to know that she 's forgiven me." he said.

"It's that important you huh?" I said.

"Yes, it is...Look at this photo of me." he said and passed me a photo of him that appeared to be taken a few years before..He was heavier, muscular and had a head full of hair.

"I look a lot different don't I?" he said.

"Yes, you do." I said.

"That photo was taken a month ago." he said.

"WHAT??" I asked incredulously...

"After I got poisoned...I began losing weight rapidly and then my hair fell out and I have night sweats and horrible bouts of nausea and vertigo at times...I don't feel as though I have much longer to go..." he said.

''Ohh hell man....Do you have any idea how you got poisoned?" I asked.

"I don't know...It could have been put in my food...but I don't know how...All my food has been at restaraunts...Nothing home cooked..." he said.

"It had to be within the last few weeks or days." I said.

"Kevin, I've been wracking my brains....I don't know...I've just got to see Meaghan.." he said.

"Okay...I'll ask around...I'm sure she'll turn up....You got any proof that this guy,Hemlock is behind this or that he's still involved in peddling these chemicals?" I asked.

"Look....There's a guy I know....His name is Tom Constanoble....Used to be in the CIA." said Shane.

"Peeping Tom...I know him real well." I said.

Shane looked surprised.

"You know him?" he asked.

"Sure do...it's a small world isn't it?" I said.

"I'm going to give you this envelope...Don't open it.....The less you know, the safer you are...These people are dangerous....Just give him this envelope..He'll know what to do." He said and he passed me an envelope.

"Okay...Is there anyplace I can take you?" I asked.

"No...I came here in my car....You just call me at this number when you've found Meaghan." he said.

I kind of liked the fact that he was trying in his way to look out for me...I felt sorry for him and scared for him at the same time...I wanted to help him...

II-

I checked him out thorougly first....Robert Foxworth, Chance Howard and Cole used their friend in records and their resources and from what we found out...All of his information checked out... Hemlock appeared to be a Lawyer who worked on government contracts...There was nothing shady in his background... But at least I had an address for him and the Bio-Tech company that he owned...I planned to use that for a future date.

Meaghan Hearst was another matter all together..All of her records still showed her living at the empty apartment, which meant it hadn't been that long since she moved...
I went back to the apartment complex she lived in....I talked to several people who told me that she had been involved with a Black man who lived down the hall form her.

One person told me that she and he had moved in together..That he had gotten a job cooking at a big time seafood bistro on the other side of town and that he had talked her into moving in with him...which still didn't tell me enough.

III-

That afternoon, I was in front of my house washing my car, when Clerow drove up.  he parked his car and went in his trunk...he had two cold coronas..he tossed me one.

"Thanks Clerow..but how am I supposed to open this?" I laughed.

He produced a bottle opener!

"My man..." I said as I opened the bottle and took a break....We both sat down on my front steps..

''So what's been new boss...?" he said as we drank the beer...

"Remember that white girl....Meaghan Hurst...who gave me the panties with the DNA that helped us crack that case against the guy who murdered two girls a few months back?  Well a guy has hired me to find her...only she's vanished." I said.

Clerow looked perplexed a minute, then he snapped his fingers...

"Nah boss, she aint vanished.....Owen and I just moved her stuff about a week ago..
She's livin in one of my rentals with this African guy over by "Bottom of the C" he said matter of factly.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah..he's a cook...Cool brother...His name is Jacques...he's a friend of Ralph Scallion. Ralph got him a job at Dollar Bill's joint...Bottom of the C and she  and he moved in together." he said.

"Oh mannn, this is great." I said.

"Can you take me over there?" I asked.

''Sho." said Clerow...

"My Mann.." I said.

Things were looking up...or so I thought!

(To Be Continued....)