Margate And Beyond

"Liv, I know this is crazy...but I need you to consider us getting married again....Just for a year, just long enough for me to get on your insurance and be able to pay for my chemo and my doctors...I have a rare form of cancer.." said Elwood Barnes.

"Ohhhh hellllll to the nah..You out your mind Elwood." said her niece, Beverly....

"This doesn't concern you. It's none of your business.." he snapped.

"I'm making it my business...deadbeat. That's my aunt." said Beverly.

I could tell that these two were not members of each other's fan club.

''I was talking to your AUNTAY as you call her...NOT YOU!" he snapped...

"Stop it...both of you!!....Elwood...There is a reason we got divorced, do you remember? The constant womanizing...the lying..Finding panties and bras under the bed...In MY car!!!  What makes you think I would even consider marrying you again?" asked Olivia..

"Please Liv...I've changed...I've grown...I'm not that guy anymore...I got drunk off of my success...Baby please..." said Elwood.

"Yeah and now you're broke off of your failure..." said Beverly....

 

I couldn't help but laugh when she said that....

Elwood looked at me like he wanted to choke me and then asked...

"Don't you have work to do? Who are you?" he snapped...

 

 "Don't talk to him like that...He is one reason why I would never marry you again...This is Mr. Donnie Ray Alexander...He's my firm's Investigator....and he is also my boyfriend...He lives here....I love him...and he loves me.. I've known him for three years and in three years ,he's been everything I ever wanted in a man.. More than you ever were." said Olivia..

He looked me up and down and then smirked...

"Wow Liv, you've really changed...Moved up and then moved back down...Sleeping with the help" he said sarcastically.

"Funny ,coming from you...an unemployed man. You aint even the help" I finally said...Beverly cracked up...

''Tell him D.R." she said.

He stood up abruptly....and then he fell down!!! He began twitching.....

Olivia and I stood over him....

"Oh My god.. Elwood...are you alright?" she said...

"Auntay...he's fine...he's faking...can't you see?  He's not sick." said Beverly....

"I'll pray for you...You...you hateful little bitch." he snapped..

"Who you callin a bitch?" snapped Beverly....I restrained her...She was about to kick him.

''Elwood...Don't you call my niece out of her name. Do you hear me?" snapped Olivia.

"I'm sorry Liv...I'm getting weaker by the day...I'm sick....I know I wasn't a good man...I know I was a cheat and a liar..but...but..but..please....I don't want to die!!!!!!...I'm dying baby...please...think about it....It would just be a year...one year...We get married...I get my chemo and my help and you could divorce me again and marry Jim Bob or Donnie whatever over here if you wanted to." he said giving me the side eye.

I smirked...So Did Beverly...

''Haven't you heard of Obamacare?? You can get health insurance on your own now." said an unsympathetic Beverly...

"I can't get the doctors I need...Doctors that can save my life..." he said, no longer trying to snap at Beverly...and looking as pitiful as ever...

Olivia looked like she was going to cry....

"I'm sorry Elwood, I can't do that...You're asking me to gamble on marrying you and put my man's life on hold...That's not fair to him." she said.

"He's not dying is he? I am... I need your help...I need it...Baby please." said Elwood, now getting himself up...

"You sound like a skipping James Brown record " said Beverly....

I laughed....He looked at both Beverly and I like he wanted to strangle the life out of us.

"Liv please....Don't let me die...If I ever meant anything to you...You'll help me..Please baby..please!" he said..

Beverly pretended as though she was playing the violin.....Elwood ignored her, He looked pleadingly at Olivia...

"Baby please....If I die...It's on your hands...Don't let me die... I love you Liv...You're better than that.....You're better than all of this.." he said as he hobbled out of the office and into his car which was right outside.

''Auntay...He's so full of it...How many times has this guy lied to you?? About women, about money about damn near anything???...Tell him to take a hike." said Beverly...

''I know Bev...but what if he's really sick??....I can't let him die....I'm not going to marry him...but I can't let him die either." said Olivia.

II-

I couldn't waste anymore time on that...I had to find our client...Uncle Eddie's daughter.... Laura Ravenell.

I called the Department of Public records in Margate and got them to fax me Laura Ravenell's birth certificate and any medical records they had...which wasn't much!...

I next called the U.S. Customs house and got them to fax me Laura Ravenell's Passport information...That gave me an address which Beverly and I went to in Margate, only to find that this was Laura's childhood home and that three different families had lived in this house since then...This meant that maybe Laura hadn't left the country anytime soon..

I had a social security number and with that I got access to bank accounts and home addresses...This led me to several different places...None that she had lived in recently and to about ten different jobs the girl had held...the last one being last year...They were mostly waitressing jobs.

That was good..I knew that at least she had been alive last year. I could see how going through normal channels had yeilded me nothing...Some people could really vanish....without trying.

This girl had to own a piece of property, a car, something with her name on it...she had to lay her head somewhere.

I checked a number of hospitals....Checked the morgue...Checked to see if there were any death certificates..Nothing....

How did people simply drop out of sight in this day and age?


They Didn't!  I got lucky...Like most young women , she had a smartphone... After checking all of the providers...I found hers and I found an address where she accepted her mail....It was a post office box...Smart!

She had a Debit card and a bank account and that yeilded an address....I checked that for movemant and pin pointed an area where she made purchases......It wasn't in Margate though...

It was in nearby Ventnor City...just a few miles from Margate...

 

All this time, she was right in our backyard.....

''Ever been here before Bev?" I asked as we drove through the sleepy little beach town..

''Nope...It looks like Atlantic City...minus the casinos on the boardwalk." said Beverly...

"Hungry?" I asked..

"Yeah..."she said.

"Okay..Let's find a spot and get something to eat before we go any further.."I said.

"D.R.?" she asked looking at me seriously...

"Yeah Bev.." I said.

"Why don't you ask my Auntay to marry you??....I know you want to and I know you love her...and she loves you too!...She tells me how much she loves you almost everyday..." said Bev.

This kind of took me off  guard, the way she had said it...It shouldn't have...but it did.

"Oh yeah?" I said.

''Yes...If you ask her to marry you, she will  say yes...andddddd, she'll move upstairs with you...like you want her to. Please marry her soon, so that that bum Elwood can't get a foothold back into her life." said Beverly...

"You really don't like your uncle do you?" I said with a half smile..

''He wasn't no uncle of mine...He was the jerk my Auntay married..He couldn't stand me and I couldn't stand him...He resented it, when  Auntay brought me into the public defenders office to work with her after I passed the bar...He used to put her down all the time for even being a public defender...He was always so snooty...because he was this big corporate attorney....He looked down on other hard working attorneys...Was always telling me that I should go off on my own and make a way for myself without my Auntay's help...That's because I used to call him on his bullshit...That was one thing...The other was that I busted him a couple of times with other women and I told my Auntay....That's why he really didn't like me.. He was trying to make time with one of the lawyers from my office."

"Auntay didn't believe me at first...but eventually, she rode around with me and she saw for herself...

They had terrible rows D.R. Terrible...I can't tell you how many times she left that man and I would drive over there and get her and her stuff and drive her to my place....Sometimes with a police escort!, But he'd always come over and beg and plead and she'd eventually go back to him..." said Beverly..

"She left him finally when SHE got tired of his lying and cheating....She divorced him...Within weeks D.R. , Weeks..He was engaged to some other Chick.....The ink wasn't dry on the divorce papers yet.

The white chick , Glenda, who he claims left him was one of the lawyers that worked in my office that he was making time with... Looked down on Attorneys that worked for the D.A. or the Public defenders office, but didn't mind sleeping with them...What a hypocrite!..Now here he comes with that cock and bull story about him being sick and having the nerve to want Auntay to remarry his sorry ass again.." she continued..

"You think she'd consider it?" I asked.

"Noooo.... Are you crazy?  It took her nearly a year to get over him after they divorced...I know Auntay wouldn't dream of going back down that road ever again. She loves you D.R. and for what it's worth...I love you! You're a good guy...You're good to my Auntay and not just in the bed." she said and winked...I cracked up.. So did she!

We wound up going to a little seaside diner....

''What do you want?" I asked.

''A Burger and Fries..and a milk shake." she said.

I smiled...

"A Burger, Onion Rings and Coffee for me." I told the waitress...

Beverly looked at me and smiled...In that moment she seemed like a daughter I never had or more rightfully....a niece!!!!

"I'm not a high maintenance girl....Neither is my Auntay...She'll make you a wonderful wife" she said like an innocent little school girl...

I felt a closeness to her like I'd never felt before...The closeness of a confidant that I could tell anything to.

''I see.. That's an admirable quality you have....I know your Auntay will make me a good wife...But you know her...she has her rules...She will probably think that this is too soon in the relationship." I said thinking of Olivia and wanting to be with her right now...

"Is that what you think D.R.?" Beverly  asked.

"That's what I know...But when the time is right...believe me...I'll make your Auntay an honest woman...Maybe I'll ask her after Elwood's Funeral....He doesn't look like he'll make it through the week." I said and winked.

We both looked at each other and laughed.

(TO BE CONTINUED)