Never Die

It was a very nice apartment...The type I could see myself living in ,if I was still single...One of the two uniformed police officers led me up to the floor where our latest murder victim was.....When I walked inside...I saw several Crime Scene Investigators, snapping photos and searching for DNA and other trace evidence....

I saw my sister in law, Dr. Monique Talbert, The Forensic Investigator and Chief Medical Examiner...standing over the body of a black male, about my age...with a white foamy substance around his mouth...

"Barney, get another photo of the deceased ..." she said.


"Okay Doc." said the CSI official


"Hi Brother in Law." said Monique, who gave me a soft kiss in the lips..


"Where is my sister?" she asked.

''She's on her way.. What do we have here?" I asked...


Her sister is my wife and my partner, Detective Monica Nellis...I'm Detective Nate Nellis...Her sister and I solve murders...

"The deceased name is Robert Carter....His body is still warm....he's only been dead ,I'd say.. About a half an hour...Looks like poisoning....Uni's got the call about thirty minutes ago....He was on the phone arguing with his credit card ompany about a bogus charge when he started gagging and fell over...The operator heard it and got worried and called the police...When I got here, he was lying on the floor...I didn't get a heartbeat or a pulse..." she said.

"You sure he's dead sis?" I asked.."I could swear I saw his body twitch..." I said.

"Oh he's gone alright...The body will twitch sometimes after death..an involuntary muscle movement.."she said... "Cause of death is that protein shake over there on the table." she said..

I looked at the half drank glass and smirked...

"I always knew those drinks were dangerous...."I laughed eyeing three containers on the counter...

"Ha Ha.. very funny Nate.. This shake was laced with Cyanide.. Smell it.. It smells like almonds.." She said.

"It does...Somebody got to this....before he did.."I said...I checked the refrigerator..There were three more Protein shakes ....


"Hmmmm..We need to have these checked out.. They all seemed to have come from the same place..."I said.

"Way ahead of you...You and My Sister need to talk to these guys." said Monique..

"You're much too pretty to be working with dead people...You should be working with the living." I said smiling..

''Awwwww, Thank you brother in law..I did work with the living...I was a residence at New General Hospital a few years ago before I got into Forensic Science and Investigation..." she said..


Just then my wife and my partner, Detective Monica Nellis arrived with two uniformed policemen..

"Hey Baby." she said and gave me a soft kiss on the lips..."Hi Sis..Where is our victim?" asked Monica.

"He's over there on the living room floor." said Monique..

Monica looked stunned...


"Are you sure ?" she asked..

"Sure I'm sure...Why are you two asking me that?" she asked.

"Not that I would ever doubt you sis..but I'm hearing thoughts coming from him."said Monica..

"Not to mention...He's yawning and getting up!" I said.


Indeed, the Dead man, Robert Carter was yawning...He wiped his mouth off and coughed..


"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....What the hell?  What are all you cops doing here?" he asked..

Monique's eyes got as wide as saucers...Never in her entire career had she ever misdiagnosed anyone before..Usually if she said someone was dead...They were dead.


Several of the CSI people and uniformed officers ducked and had looks of amazement on their faces...The kind you would have when you see the dead rise...


"How are you alive?" asked Monique, incredulous..."You ingested Cyanide...Your insides should be torn out.." she said..


"I thought that Protein Shake tasted funny....I got sick on the stomach and I vomited...That's the last thing I remember before I passed out.." he said..


"Oh My God!..I've never heard of this happening before...but I suppose you are one lucky man...."said Monique...

I ripped open the other three Protein Shakes...and sniffed...


"They all smell like almonds...I think there is Cyanide in all three of these...Where did you get these?" I asked..


Robert Carter, a tall, six foot three ,athletically built man with Hazel eyes scratched his head and said..


"Ohh yeah...I'm a Quality Inspector for Licenses and Inspections....I probably took em from one of the three places I inspected last week...Uhh Two Supermarkets and uh one deli...I can't remember which ones..." he said scratching his head...

"You still need to go to a hospital and get checked out..."said Monique...


He smiled at her...


"Will you go with me?" he asked..


Monique found herself smiling and blushing a bit...


''Well I'm a..a coroner...I-I-I don't usually uh do that, but uh...Uh...I do want to find out what they uh find...I-I suppose I-I could uh go with you.." she said.

Her sister, Monica turned her head, but I saw her laughing...When she composed herself...She asked Mr. Carter...


"Mr.Carter, do you have any enemies?" asked Monica...


He looked at her and smiled..


"I just realized something...You two are identical twins....You're sisters!!! One is a Homicide Detective and the other is in Forensics....Wowwwwwwwwwwww!"he said with almost childlike glee..


He stared at our ID badges...


"Ohhhh you're Nellis and She's Talbert...Okay...and he is Nellis too..So I'm guessing.. You two are married right.. and your sister is not!!" he said.

"You're very observant.."I said.


"I have to be...It's my job...I'm a stickler for details...

"Uh..I'm ...I'm not single...I -I have a boyfriend.."said Monique...Then she caught herself.."Why am I telling you this?" she asked aloud..


"I appreciate you telling me that...You're an honest girl..I don't meet too many honest people in my line of work..."he said.


"I'll still go with you to the hospital." said Monique...


"Good...It's not often one comes back from the dead." he joked...

Monica was still laughing to herself...She whispered in Monique's ear...


"Ouuuuu fresh thing you."

Monique slapped at her sister's arm and whispered...


"Hush up!"

I smiled myself...The whole thing was hilarious...We had come thinking we had a murder and all we had was an attempted murder...


II-

At a downtown hospital -Monique and Robert Carter conferred with a female doctor..
Dr. Cassandra Barnes...

"I've never seen anything like it Dr. Barnes...He had no pulse...his skin was a little cold to the touch...He didn't even appear to be breathing...I was 100 percent sure that he was dead.." said Monique..


Robert Carter smiled and shrugged his shoulders..


Dr. Barnes , who was black and very shapely and attractive smiled at him and then turned to Monique..


"I've never seen anything like this before in my life...He ingested enough Cyanide to kill him...but his body totally rejected it and thus he vomited.. but the shock to his system rendered him unconscious...in a semi coma like state...Thus you thought he was dead...It's understandable Dr. Talbert...but still...I have never in all of my years of practice seen anything like this.." she said.

"He is the luckiest man alive." said Monique.


"I'd like him to stay here a few hours...We are going to flush his system and I want to take some blood and urine samples.." said Dr. Barnes...looking at him salaciously..


"I've got to take him back to the precinct...The Detectives want to question him..."said Monique defensively...


"It'll just be a few hours...Uh You can come back and get him when I'm through.."she said..


Monique frowned...


"No..I'll wait." she said.


III-

While in our squad room.. Monica sat across from me giggling..

"My sister, my sister....My mom always used to say she was Hot in the panties..When we were teenagers..."laughed Monica.

"I take it she was more boy crazy than uh you.."I said.

"Not really...I was better at hiding mine...When she liked a guy...It was written all over her face...Like tonight...Our would be victim really got her turned on.. She thought he was hella cute.." laughed Monica.

"I guess she misses Lt. Cotton...He's been out in Vegas at that Police Convention for about a week now.." I said.

"Yeah and it's been two weeks since they uh had sex.. So she is climbing the walls right now.. She always acts like he's the one who is so turned out over her and he is..He's crazy about my sister...but she's just as turned out by him as he is of her.."laughed Monica.

"So ole boy doesn't have a chance tonight huh?" I said..

"Oh No...She wouldn't sleep with him if that's what you mean...but she does find him very attractive and she is very horny tonight..but she's no slut..."said Monica.

"Perish the thought...I would never say that about her...I'm just sayin..An attractive guy,lonely attractive woman....Hot summer night..." I said.

"Never figured you to be the type of guy who reads romance novels Nate." laughed Monica..


A Little after midnight...Monique walked in with Robert Carter...

''Sorry we took so long...The doctor drained his system and took ,Blood and Urine samples...Even she said it's a miracle that this man is alive.." said Monique..


''What can I say.. I'm half man, Half amazin."laughed Robert Carter..

"Mr. Carter...Do you have any uh enemies?" asked Monica..


He smiled..


"Of Course I do...I work for Licenses and Inspections...I do quality control...I shut places down...I have a lot of enemies.." he said..

"Any one in particular...Somebody did try to murder you tonight..."I said.


"Uh...Maybe Benjamin Peters..." he said.


''Who is Benjamin Peters?" I asked.


"He works at L&I with me...I caught him cutting some corners in a few inspections...One in particular...At The Factory I picked up those Protein Shakes...Which was Why I took over the investigation....I shut em down....and I reported him to our supervisor, which got him written up...His second write up of the quarter...Needless to say...He was pissed." said Robert Carter.

"I could imagine he uh would be.." said Monica.


"Here..He left me a nasty message on my phone..." he said and played it for me...


"Hey Bobby, you snitchin ass bastard...You got me wrote up and you shut that factory and warehouse down...You prick...You better watch your back...You have no idea what you're getting yourself into..You need to back the hell off...You could wind up dead ,ya snitchin ass bastard!"

(Click)

"He left that message on my phone a few nights ago.." said Robert Carter..

"And you didn't think to call the cops? This is a direct threat on your life and tonight.. He almost made good on this threat.." I said.


"Awww  nahhh, Bennie wouldn't do nothing like that...He's all talk...."said Robert..

"Sure didn't seem like it tonight...You're lucky to be alive.. Look....Have you got somewhere you can stay tonight...It might not be a good idea to go back to your apartment.." said Monica.


"Heyy, that's where I live." he said.

"Hey man, somebody tried to murder you tonight...only they screwed it up...Sooner or later they're gonna come back and finish the job they started and you may not be so lucky the next time...You got any friends you can call, that will let you crash with them for the night?" I asked.


He stared at Monique salaciously....

Monica read the thought in his mind...

She gasped..

Monique..was no fool...She picked up Monica's telepathic thought... She looked at him like he was crazy....


"Ugh Ugh...Get that thought out of your mind...I don't even know you...And besides...I told you I'm seeing someone." she said.


"We met tonight and we've been together for a few hours...I thought we got to know each other quite well...Look.. I'll sleep on the couch.. I won't go in your room.. I promise you." he said.


"I don't think my boyfriend would like that very much, knowing you were staying at my place.." said Monique, laughing a little bit and secretly liking this guy's initiative..


''We wont tell him!" he said.


"Nahhh, that's not gonna happen."she said...but thinking to herself...If she wasn't involved with Frankie...this guy could get it...all night long!


He sighed...


"It's cool...I'll call my cousin...He'll come and get me..."he said....

"I have a feeling this happens to you quite a bit..." I whispered to him,out of Monica and Monique's earshot..


He looked at me..


"You know huh?" he said.


"Yeah..I was you at one time..."I said.


"How did you get that fine Detective Monica Nellis??I mean.. She's your wife right?" he asked me..


"Yeah we been married a few months...Her?? I got lucky...She turned me down at first ,but after awhile...I kind of grew on her..."I said.


"I'd like to grow on her damn sister...All night long...Is she really seeing someone?" he asked.


"Yeah and it's pretty serious..."I said.


"Well Where is he? If she was my girl...I wouldn't go to work..I'd spend my every waking moment gazing in her eyes..."he said.

"Robert...Your cousin is here.." said Monica..


"Here I come....Well Detectives.. thanks for everything.. You have my number...

He looked at Monique....


"Damn Girl...I wish.....But uh ,Nice meeting you anyway Dr. Talbert..."he said and smiled and ran to his cousin's car...He waved as they pulled off into the night...


The night shift detectives came in..I looked at my wife and Sister in Law...

"Well girls...ready to go home?" I asked.

"After a night like tonight...YES!"said Monique...

"I'm kind of wound up....Let's get something to go first...."said Monica.

"Good Deal babes..."I said..."Tomorrow we talk to this Bennie person..."I said.

Monica kissed me...


"Wow!  Imagine that....Returning from the dead...What a lucky guy."said Monica..

What we couldn't know was that Luck and Robert Carter would not neccesarily be synonymous in the coming days...


(TO BE CONTINUED)