99999999999999999999999999
It was my cousin, Hope!
"Don! How are you?" she asked me, wearing shorts and a lavender shirt. We hugged.
"How have you been?" she asked in a concerned tone. Guess word of my injury had gotten around.
"Let's uh...talk outside" I said, not wanting to be discovered.
"Sure" we walked out.
"I've been doing good, private investigating is uh….pretty lucrative" I smiled.
"That's great to hear! I've met the most interesting person!"
"Really?"
"He's name is Morlock. I'm having a get togetherwith him and a few others interested in improving their lives"
Things were starting to look up. "Could I join you? We can catch up, and my injury has really shaken my world view."
"How?"
I told her a bunch of bullshit, some of it mirroring what Brian had written me.
"Morlock will know how to help you!" she assured me.
It wasn't a surprise that she'd buy into this crap. When we were kids, she liked to takeout her Ouija board, during family gatherings and try to get other cousins to play. She once made the mistake of trying to get Charlie to join her, and he lectured her about why it was impossible that ghosts would exist and that statically, it was impossible for the main piece to not be moved by human hands.
We agreed to meet at an address that she was kind enough to write down, and I left to go back home. .
Dad and Charlie arrived a while later. They weren't surprised either when I told them about Hope.
"Remember how she was obsessed with the ouija board?" Charlie remembered with a chuckle at dinner. "There'd be these fights...and mom would have to intervene"
"Don had a bad habit of teasing his poor cousin" Dad recalled with a smile.
"Mom wasn't so amused" Charlie said.
"She'd make me do extra chores." I sighed, shook my head, and added, trying to imatateher voice "You'll think twice before making fun of your poor cousin, now, won't you?"
Just then, the phone rang, by the tone, I could tell that it was on my line.
"Eppes, Investigations?" I replied.
"Hi!uh...see...I've been seeing this man for a few months..." A young woman's voice began "And I...think he's a lycanthope"
"I beg your pardon?" Did I hear that right?
"A lycanthope. You know, people who turn furry once a month. His name is Tom Perry and I need you to find out for sure"
"I'm afraid I can't investigate him" I said, hearing chuckling in the background, and a crack in the woman's voice. "See, he's the leader of my pack" With that, I hung up, with annoyance.
"What happened?" Charlie asked.
"Crank call" I replied while returning to the dining room. "Some woman claimed that she suspected her boyfriend of being a lycanthrope."
My brother laughed. "That's almost as funny as the one where some guy asked you to see if his fiancee was a dominatrix."
9999999999999999999999999999999999
I finally met with my cousin at someone's house, in Montebello. She, wearing casual clothes introduced me to people of all ages. Hope and I had the same colored eyes, but her hair was dark brown rather than coal black.
"Hi!" a gothish young woman smiled at me. She had dark leather boots, black makeup over whiteface paint, blue eyes, and shirt that had skeletons doing the tango.
"Don, this is Antha" Hope introduced us.
"Where's the famous Morlock?" I asked.
"He'll come when its the right time" Antha said.
"Okay..." this was definitely smelling even more like a cult. The house, had all kinds of new age crap, a dream catcher or two, paintings of dragons with scantily dressed woman near them, posters of band that had weird names, a medium sized tv, and an old sofa. It was just six people plus the host, who served what he called 'fairie sherbet in a puff', but was in fact foul tasting crap.
"What do you do for a living?" Antha asked.
"I'm a private investigator"
"You know, humans aren't meant to be monogamous." a woman, who looked a little older said, wearing sixties style sunglasses, for some reason. We were all sitting at the large couch.
"Either way...the clients who ask me to follow their significant others, thought it was a part of the deal." I said diplomatically.
"Of course, honesty is important." she nodded.
"Besides, I do other kinds of cases" I told her to change the subject. "Like insurance fraud, or employee theft"
Damn! Where's Brian? Where's the runaway?
"So uh... are you guys expecting anyone else, besides, Morlock?"
"No one. Two of our members went on a trip" Antha said.
"Okay" I said. Damn again! Where were they going? I hoped nothing would happen to Elizabeth. At least I would get to met Morlock and make contacts. "Where are they going?"
" San Diego"
"When are they coming back?"
"Few days"
I spent most of that evening waiting for the 'All Wise' Morlock, and talking to Antha. Hope seemed to be enjoying herself with some guy, who wore a Spinal Tap t-shirt.
"Tell me about the weirdest client you've had." Antha requested at one point.
"An agoraphobic who thought that his neighbor was a serial killer" I admitted. "I took the case for a few days for free if only to prove that the neighbor was not a serial killer. " I hadn't wanted to take the poor man's money as it would be nothing short of exploitation.
"Did you ever convince him?" she asked.
"His therapist did, I just helped" I shrugged.
"Maybe your client should sleep in a coffin. That's been very therapeutic for me"
"Really?" I'd find that creepy and morbid. Hope and her friend joined the conversation.
"I've been to her place" Hope said. "There's a heavy duty coffin in the middle of her room!"
"Was it hard to get it delivered?" Hope's friend joked.
"You've got no idea!" Antha sighed.
"I heard that they're selling coffins at Costco now." Hope remarked.
"Oh yeah...I've seen 'em!" her friend replied. "That's a great thing! Funeral homes are so exploitative!"
"They are..." I said, agreeing completely, a I remembered my own experience when Dad and I made the arrangements after mom died.
"I had my coffin custom made" Antha piped up.
9999999999999999
Finally, at ten, the famous Morlock showed up!
TBC