Chapter 1
It was raining that day. My clothes were soaked through because my umbrella broke three days earlier. I hate the rain. I walked into my pathetic office and slew my water soaked trench over my wooden desk chair. I went to switch on the lights, but there was no juice. Shit! I forgot to pay the bill again. Truthfully, I didn't forget, I don't have the cash. There's not much work for a Private Investigator these days and most of the money I did have has been lost on the dog races and my good friend Jack Daniels. I guess I should have saved for a rainy day or something mature like that. Oh well, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. My ammunition of choice, of course, is alcohol. I would go downstairs to the Clover if I could, but Duo won't let me drink this early. He thinks that 10:00am is to early in the day to start drinking; I say it's a good start to a crappy day. Ah well, it's raining anyway; besides, I got a flask of brandy in my desk. I reach into the wooden drawer and retrieve the crystal flask and a large brandy glass. I pour myself the first glass of the day, shake the amber liquid, sniff it and down the whole glass. This is a wakeup better than coffee.
Suddenly, I feel like celebrating. I open the top desk drawer, throwing old bills and various other papers frantically searching for a cigar. Finally, after a few minutes of searching through this mess, I find the cigar and am now elbow deep in trash. Jesus, my office is shitty, it's falling apart. There are more cracks in the ceiling leaking water than I can count, the squeaky, ceiling fan is two rotations away from stopping, and now the lights don't work. I should make the landlord pay me.
I sigh, scratch my head and pull up a half-full trashcan and start to clean the mess off my desk. I pull out my lucky Zippo and light the cigar, steadily puffing the cigar and shuffling papers from my desk to the trash; until something catches my eye. It's an old picture, the back is worn and brown and the picture is torn on one corner. I slowly flip it over and I see her: Cathy. I don't think I can breath. I thought I'd gotten rid of this damned thing a long time ago. I quickly dump all of the paper out of the trashcan, pull out my Zippo and light the picture, watch it burn for a second and toss it into the trash. Instead of putting out the small fire, I pour myself five more glasses of brandy, down them all and pass out on my desk.
*****
It had been Cathy's idea to start the detective agency. I can hear her voice now:
"Trowa, you're so good at it, why don't you just quit the police force and start your own agency. We can open it together and I'll be your assistant." She was always so damned optimistic and her work ethic was unbelievable. She finally convinced me. Three months later I quit the force and the Barton-Bloom Detective Agency was born. It was, admittedly, the happiest day of my life.
She didn't do much detective work, she merely worked as my assistant as I tracked down the criminals and locked them up. We were a successful team; she even went out and bought a police radio so that we could keep up with the latest mysteries, hoping that those people would put their trusts in us to solve their case. With Cathy's blue eyes and red hair and my expert detective skills, we always had customers and cases and we always solved them. Life was good.
A year after that, my partner on the force, Duo Maxwell, had to resign because he was shot in the leg and would walk with a limp and a cane for the rest of his life. Actually he was shooed away because he was injured and the only thing that they gave him was two months severance pay and a cheap gold watch. I wanted him to come join me in my gumshoe work, promising that he'd get a better deal than a cheap time-keeping trinket. He took me up on the offer and we were partners for about two months until his leg got really bad. On the bright side, he did get a better trinket than a cheap gold watch; he got my sister. She took care of him for two months while he had his bum leg and a romance blossomed. I always knew that Duo had the hots for her, but I never saw Cathy as receptive to his easygoing personality. I, on the other hand, had a stream of beauties ranging from lonely widows to young, struggling actresses. While Duo and Cathy were making wedding plans and picking out China patters, I was fighting off girl after troublesome girl.
After the shortest and smallest wedding known to man, Duo and Cathy decided to get an apartment a block down from mine. Also, Duo decided to open a bar called Clover's below the agency, which incidentally gets more clientele than my business but who cares. We were like stars in this town, everyone knew us and everyone wanted to be us and we were inseparable; so we thought.
It was the summer; the breeze was blowing and smelled of sweet honeysuckle. We were all together then, Duo and Cathy and me and my sweetheart of the time. The park was a nice place to be that day; it was just perfect for flying kites, something that Cathy loved to do. We decided two days earlier that all four of us would have a picnic. Cathy and Duo would bring the chicken and the alcohol and me and my girl of the hour would bring ourselves. We were all inseparable in those days, Cathy, Duo and I.
Me and this sexy blonde (I forgot her name) with nice tits and a matching ass met them at the park about an hour later. My auburn hair was messed up, I had large, red lipstick marks all over my face, and her panties were in my suit jacket pocket. Needless to say, when we arrived, I had a huge goofy smile on my face. Luckily Duo had an even larger bottle of White Zinfandel chilling. Cathy already had the citronella candles and blankets laid out and she had just started working on setting out the food when my panty-less blonde and me arrived.
"Trowa, what's up man?" Duo said giving me a hearty hug. Cathy squealed and hugged me just the same. She loved her little brother.
"Who's this?" Cathy asked, eyeing the blonde. She then looked up and noticed that her equally red lipstick mark joined other lipstick marks in a paler shade of red. I didn't blush, but she did. Cathy knew that I was a cad, but loved me anyway.
"This is (insert sexy blonde name here)" I said, I don't think I got her name right that day either. It was Tiffany or Tammy or something equally ditsy sounding and I think she hit me with her purse for forgetting her name.
After the whole awkwardness of forgetting Blondie's name, we sat down and ate. We discussed petty things like the weather, serious stuff like the war, and even Blondie's job as a shampoo girl for the famous actress Roxy Philips. We laughed, we cried, we debated, and we drank; that day was a good day.
"So, why did you two call this meeting of the Three Musketeers?" I asked after my third glass of wine. There was silence and Cathy blushed and stared between me and Duo. She looked demure and I noticed a glow around her that I'd not noticed before today.
"Well, if you haven't noticed, I haven't been drinking today Trowa…" my mind drifted; could my sister be telling me what I think she is? "Well, there's a reason for that. I'm pregnant, we just found out Monday." It was Saturday. I didn't know what to say, my sister and my best friend were married and were now bringing a child into this world. I was going to be an uncle. This was unbelievable; I don't think I'd ever been so happy before that moment.
"I was speechless too when I first found out." Duo said, patting me on the back. I almost tackled Duo in a manly hug and then hugged my sister in complete happiness. I even hugged Blondie that was sitting next to me congratulating the couple.
"This calls for a celebration. We should make a toast, even you Cathy." I said, pouring the pregnant lady a glass first.
"Trowa, I can't drink when I'm pregnant." She protested and pushed the glass away from me.
"Oh please, mom drank when she was pregnant with me." I continued giving her the drink.
"And look how you turned out." She wouldn't take it.
"One drink is not going to hurt you, especially one toast from one drink." I said, giving her the largest green puppy dog eyes that I could. She conceded and we made a toast to the future and that we'd always be together. We were happy; little did we know that all of that was going to change.
After a few more drinks, I was completely toasted and Blondie had to take me home. It was late anyway, around 6:00pm, and Cathy was busy packing up the stuff. I hugged my best friend and my sister and Blondie drove me home where we proceeded to do it like bunnies until we both passed out.
I didn't wake up until I got the fateful call. It was late that night, I guess around midnight when Duo called me and told me that Cathy was… she was… after all these years I still can't say it. Anyway, I shot up from the bed, kicked Blondie out and got over to the crime scene which happened to be the office. I can remember it so clearly, the sights, the sounds, the smells. It was as if everything and everyone was moving in slow motion. Her blood was everywhere, coating the walls, the floor, the ceiling, but that was all I saw until I stepped into my office. Her beautiful body, her radiant auburn hair, her shimmering blue eyes were all lifeless and dull in a puddle of red blood. I couldn't contain myself; I fell to the ground and cried like a tall, lanky baby. Cathy was all I had, my only connection to childhood and happiness and beauty. She was my life and now she was gone. Duo told me that she'd come down there to pick up some cases to get ahead before Monday. The cops told me she'd been raped and killed and that the killer left a note. I still have it. It's not a note; it's more like a riddle:
What is black and White and Red all over?
Or blue or green or some other surreal dream color.
We can be enemies, I've always wanted to battle the best.
I hope this got you interested.
That was five years ago and I've been looking for that bastard ever since. Everything that Cathy and I built has gone down the tubes and Duo even has to help me pay the rent. I've turned into an all out drunk and spend most of my nights eating TV dinners and studying the hell out of that note from the killer. My life is nothing without Cathy.
****
"Wake up!" I hear a familiar baritone scream and feel splashes of cold water over my face. I look up groggy and I see the characteristic smile of my good friend Duo. He's a bastard sometimes and this is one of those times.
"Go away asshole, you see I'm on a hangover." I say, looking over at the clock and realizing that it's only been two hours since I passed out.
"What did I tell you about drinking so damned early in the morning." He said and splashes me again with the water. I growl and stare at him again.
"Why are you up here?" I asked.
"I smelled smoke and figured you'd finally given up and killed yourself. Really Trowa, if you were going to kill yourself, did you really have to try and take the Clover down with you?" he asked and remembered the picture that I burned before I passed out. I look down at the soot-stained trashcan and slammed my head back onto the desk again.
"You look like shit man and so does this office," he says pulling up a chair and straddling it.
"Don't you have a fucking bar to run?" I ask.
"That's what I was doing until I became a volunteer firefighter." He's always a smart-ass with me, "Really Trowa, you need to think about hiring a maid or someone to clean this shit up." He says, his violet eyes scanning the room.
"If I had money for a maid, I would do that. The Detective business is slow." I say muffled from my head being placed on the desk.
"You should just ask man, because this is some repugnant shit. If Cathy were here…" I stop him by slamming my hand on the desk angrily.
"Cathy's not here, Duo. She'll never be here again."
"Look, I know you're still mourning her, but Trowa you've got to move on. If you stay stuck on this you're never going to be happy." He says and I look up at his genuine face.
"There is no happiness without Cathy. I'm sorry that I can't be so flippant about loosing a loved-one." I say. I've hurt him and I know I have. His violet eyes begin to tear and he swallows deep trying to hold the tears inside. I see his lower lip tremble and his fist clench and unclench holding back the anger I'm sure is ready to burst from him.
"Fuck you, Trowa. I miss Cathy too as much as you. But I know that she wouldn't want us to mope around like this. She was always so happy and optimistic and I know she would want us to move on, especially you." Duo's voice is calm. Too bad, I wanted to start a fight today. I guess he's not falling for my tricks this time, so I just lay my head back on the hard mahogany wood and try my best to fall asleep.
"Get up you lanky bastard." I hear Duo say as he splashes more cold water on me. I am more than annoyed and ready to soc Duo in his jaw if he didn't back away quickly. When I'm drunk, I'm a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.
"Duo, let me go or I'll knock the shit out of you." I say pushing him away from me.
"You'll do no such thing." He says handing me a cup of hot coffee, a cold compress, and a couple of Aspirin. He smiles as I take the coffee and the Aspirin together and put the cold towel over my head.
"I fucking hate you." I say, not meaning a word of it.
"Yeah, well I hate you more." There is a silence while I let the coffee take affect. Duo's still staring around the room and my eyes land on the burnt trashcan again.
"You wanna know what caused this drinking binge? Well, I found that picture of us at the park the day that Cathy was…" my voice fades off as the memories of that night flood. Duo puts a strong arm on my shoulder as my eyes begin to tear.
"Look man, you'll never get over it until you can say it."
"I'll never get over it until I can catch the bastard who did it."
"I guess we all live through grief in our own ways." There is another long silence as we both try not to make eye contact with one another. I can see Duo straining to find something else to focus his eyes on instead of me and failing. At least the awkwardness is broken by the sound of the front door of my office clanging. I can almost hear Cathy's voice greet the prospective client, but Cathy's not here and she never will be again.
Duo sighs in relief at the sound of the bell clanging someone's entrance and decides that this is a good time to get back to his bar.
"Well, I guess I'll get going. You have client and don't fuck this one up like you purposefully did the last two. I'm getting sick of paying your rent. How's about I take you out tonight and we can finish our earlier discussion." I accept his invitation and Duo is out of the door. Just like that, Duo and I are friends again. I get up from my desk and straighten myself up for my client.