Hey, second chapter here. Hope you like it. And where are my reviews? Come on people, tell me what you think. Like it or hate it, I want to know!
Disclaimer: What can I say, I'm poor. Even if I owned them I couldn't pay to feed them. Not that I think some of them would eat much. But still.
"Collins?"
He didn't stop. Mark hesitated, glancing at the others. They looked just as bewildered. Why was Collins…?
Maureen stepped forward and grabbed his coat sleeve.
"Collins!"
He faltered and looked at her, confused.
"Um, no," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes.
"Ed!" The other man who was with him, a much older guy dressed in a grey suit, stopped and looked back impatiently, "Come on, what's the hold-up?"
"Coming Lennie!" he called back. He turned back to them, warily, "Look, I think you have me confused with someone else…"
"What are you talking about?" Roger asked.
"Yeah, and what is with the suit?" Mimi piped up. "And who is that guy?"
"You been holding out on me, Ed?" Lennie joined him, eying Maureen and Mimi appreciatively. "Friends of yours?"
By now they had the rapt attention of the small crowd of onlookers.
"I have no idea who they are," Ed stated firmly, "Look I could show you my badge…"
Before he could finish his sentence they heard a commotion from the edge of the crowd.
"What is going on here?" A rather strangely-pitched voice rose above the other noise. The crowd parted to let through Angel and…
"Collins?!" Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen and Joanne felt their jaws drop.
"Thomas?" Ed asked incredulously.
Collins broke into a huge grin. "Well, what d'ya know?"
Lennie scratched his head as he looked back and forth between his partner and Collins. "Oh boy."
Angel, however, lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw Ed. "Hey, dreams really do come true!"
Lennie and Ed's eyes both widened briefly as they got a second look at the bubbly drag queen, then Ed's eyes snapped back to Collins.
"Thomas, is it really you? Man, I haven't seen you in, what, 10 years?"
"12," Collins corrected, pulling Ed into one of his signature, crushing hugs which Ed returned somewhat more reservedly. "And it's Collins," He said pulling away.
"And he is…?" Mimi prompted.
"Oh right! Guys, this is Eddie Green, my half-brother. He…" Just then, Lennie broke in.
"Look, I'm sure it's a great story, and I for one would love to hear about it, but right now we kinda have a murder investigation to get to," he intoned.
"Oh yeah," Ed suddenly remembered why he was there. He turned to Collins. "Look I gotta go, but you wanna grab a bite to eat later?" He fished a card out of his pocket.
"Yeah, sure, here," Collins felt his pockets for something to write with. Ed handed him a piece of paper and he wrote down the loft's number. "I gotta Life Support meeting at 4, but after that I'm free. Call this number and leave a message and someone will pick up."
Ed's investigative mind itched to ask about a million questions, but he knew he'd have to wait until later. They had a lot of catching up to do. Clearly a lot had changed since he had last seen his younger stepbrother, which had been the summer he left for the academy. He took the piece of paper and said good-bye, then went to catch up with Lennie, who had already started questioning the cops who had responded to the call.
After he left, Collins turned to see Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, and Angel all looking at him expectantly. He grinned weakly. "Well, this place is obviously out. Chinese then?" They didn't budge. He turned to Angel. She just smiled sadly and gave him a look that said "You are getting way with this one." "Okay, but food first. Then I'll explain." He turned and started off in the direction of a little Chinese place they ate from time to time. The others glanced at each other and then followed.
Lennie looked up when Ed arrived, with the same questions in his eyes. Ed shook his head and gave his partner a "I'll tell you later" look. Right now they needed to focus on the case. The on-call M.E. was still examining the body. Ed squatted down, pulling out his notebook. "What do we have?"
"Single 22 to the back of the head, fired I say from about 10 feet. Judging by how he fell, I'm guessing the shooter was standing over there..." She pointed to the alley next to the cafe. "...but I can't be sure."
"He must have waited until no one was watching, popped the guy, and ran," Lennie observed. "No one would have seen it coming."
"Well, we'll have to see if anyone saw anything," Ed said, his eyes scanning the small crowd of witnesses still sticking around. Some of the beat cops were in the process of questioning them. Somehow Ed doubted anyone would have any useful information. It was New York City in the middle of the day. Most of them were just concentrating on grabbing some lunch and then getting back to the bull pen.
"I have something else that's kind of interesting," the M.E. continued. Carefully she lifted one of the boy's arms where she had rolled the sleeve up.It was spotted with trackmarks.
"This one is fresh," she said, pointing. "I'd say no more than a couple hours."
"Well," Lennie said. "At least he died happy."
Ahh, how refreshing, a Lennie quip. Now this is the part where you mosey on down and review and then I love you forever.