Blood Friar - Where is he?

[Posted by Ted H]

Life has a way of getting in the way or regular writing. I attempted NaNoWriMo 2023 but after a few days I realized that other things like work and such were gonna be in the way too much to come close to 50K words. But I was still able to pound out the opening to a story, so I figured why not?

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[Blood Friar - Where is he?]

“Where is he?”

John gave a slow blink, more as a stall tactic to wake up rather than needing time to think. It had been a late night on a tail job before he finally felt the embrace of his bed. He wasn’t certain for how long he managed to get some sleep before the pounding of the apartment front door disturbed him. He didn’t quite know the time but the color of the sunlight outside suggested it was still much too early in the morning. None of that mattered for Matthew, currently standing on the other side of the slightly ajar front door.

 “Where is Blake?” Matthew reiterated his previous question.

“I don’t know,” John finally responded “Sometimes I never know. This is one of those times. Shit, just call him up or text him.” Matthew made a huff. “Think I hadn’t tried that already?” he asked. “Ah,” John responded, “And here I was thinking it was only me he ignored.” Matthew rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself. John considered his options, and upon figuring that he’d never be able to get back to sleep at this point, shrugged and opened the front door more. “Care to come in?” he asked with only a hint of sincerity and mostly sarcasm. He figured that if Matthew was calling out in person, then it was either about a job or how Blake had stirred up a hornet's nest. Either way, John wanted the details.

 Matthew usually had better things to do, but after a moment to ponder, he gave a shrug and walked inside. “Any idea when he’ll be back?” he asked as he let John close the door and lead the way to the kitchen. “I don’t even know when he left,” John said, “Sometimes Blake is a total enigma, but he usually turns up before long.”

 “Such close roommates,” Matthew commented as he took a seat at the kitchen table. “He has his odd jobs,” John responded, “And other...personal projects,” he gave a knowing smirk at that last part, “And I have my private investigator side hustle to keep myself occupied in between our big jobs.” As he talked, John searched for a clean coffee cup to offer Matthew. He already knew there would be coffee in the pot to pour; Blake was always very meticulous about having coffee at the ready, day or night.

 “Is that what you were up to?” Matthew asked as he gestured to John’s attire. John glanced down at his wrinkled T-shirt and jeans he had slept in after his late night. Matthew, of course, was dressed very astutely in finely ironed dress clothes, complete with a vest that added to his college professor look. “Yeah,” he said half-heartedly as he poured a cup of coffee and placed it in front of his guest. “Some twenty-something girl hired me to check out her new boyfriend. Make sure he wasn’t hiding a secret family from her.”

 “And she’s that paranoid, yet lazy, that she’d hire a private eye to make sure?”

 “I don’t question it. I just take their money.”

 “Say no more,” Matthew said with a grin as he glanced at his cup. “Is this cold?” he wondered. “Probably,” John answered, “We had a hotplate, but Blake broke it. I can microwave it if you’d like. I forget sometimes since Blake could chug it hot or cold.”

 “How do you two function? You can’t possibly live hand-to-mouth.”

 John shrugged as he pondered a cup of coffee for himself. “Oh,” he remembered “Neither of us use cream, but we might have milk if you need it.”

 “This is fine,” Matthew quickly said, not sure if he should take any more chances with his drink. But curiosity got the better of him as he asked “No cream?”

 “Well, I drink it black. Blake only needs sugar.”

 “Blake doesn’t strike me as a guy who needs sweeteners in his drink,” Matthew observed with a smile.
“Depends on his mood,” John opined, “But I lose track of where he stashes his supply, so you’re stuck with cold and black.”

 “There’s a poor taste joke in there.”

 “Probably,” John said as he pulled his own mug out and emptied the rest of the coffee pot into it, then setting up a new batch. He didn’t want to hear it (again) from Blake if he left the pot empty.

 “So,” Matthew said after a bitter sip of his cup, attempting to get off the topic of coffee “Did your night bare any revelations? Or was your client just a paranoid girl who needs to learn to trust?”

 “Not quite ready to call a conclusion to this guy,” John conceded “Some people appear innocent but will always show you the truth if you watch them long enough.”

 “And how much have you seen of him?”

 “Some,” John shrugged as he said, “Last night he did a rare social night. Place to place, nothing crazy, but I did see him hanging predominantly with a female friend. Gonna have to look into that a little more before I report back to my client with a final analysis.”

 “Sounds thorough,” Matthew commented.

 “Well, I can half ass it and just say he’s got a female friend that she didn’t inform me about, or I can follow up and have a definitive description of those two to report back on.”

 “Hope she’s the patient type.”

 “As long as it takes,” John said, repeating the instruction his client gave him when she hired him.

 “So, if you were to become suddenly preoccupied with something else, then your client wouldn’t mind the wait?”

 Usually how it rolls in my line of work,” John said as he took a drink of cold coffee and put the mug down, “Which I assume is where you come in with why you’re looking for Blake.”

 “Consultation,” Matthew said, “Requested by a cop, which you know means most people in our business shy away from for valid reasons.”

 “A cop?” John asked, “You sure this isn’t a trap or a sting operation to get Blake arrested?”

 “The cop has been looked into. I would never refer a client if it were suspicious. Besides, has Blake done anything where law enforcement would be looking for him?”

 “I mean, not that I know, but Blake always maintains that there is no defense quite like plausible deniability.”

 “Look, I don’t know about any current warrants for Blake, but *this* cop is not looking to arrest him...yet.”

 “So, a cop needs help and you point him in our direction based on history?”

 “No,” Matthew corrected, “This cop is asking around for help and asked for Blake by name. Enough people want nothing to do with the police and instead referred him, especially since he works with ex-police.”

 Well then, I guess my reputation can help almost as much as it hurts.”

 “Which now brings us back to my original issue,” Matthew said after another attempt to sip his coffee before pushing his mug away. “When will Blake be back?”

 “When he turns up, I’ll pass along your ‘consultation’ message,” John reasoned, “He’ll reach out to you, and we’ll go from there.”

 “No, this can’t wait,” Matthew said, “That cop is on his way out here now.”

 “Well shit, I don’t know what to tell you.”

 “Where could he be?”

 “A number of places. Some of them we can’t just walk right into either.”

 “What are the likeliest places?”

 “Bed. But his coat hasn’t been tossed by the front door, so he sure as hell ain’t home.”

 “He didn’t sleep in his clothes like you did after sneaking home while you were asleep?”

 “He’d have been lured out by now by the smell of the fresh coffee I’m making.”

 “Where could he have gone last night?”

 “Bars, likely. Though not at any of the bars my target was frequenting last night, or at least not at the same times.”

 “Where can we check real quick for him?”

 “Real quick? How much time do we have, anyway?”

 Matthew checked his watch and bit his lip. “This is fucking stupid,” John declared without waiting for Matthew to answer, “Tell this cop to come by when we find Blake.”

 “He can’t just swing by Syracuse any time,” Matthew defended.

 John groaned and rubbed his eyes. The two men sat in silence for a moment before John finally said, “I’ll meet him, then.”

 “He wants to meet Blake,” Matthew countered.

 “Did you explain to him that Blake is not a solo act?”

 “Not exactly an apples to apples kind of partnership.”

 “You know what I mean, though,”

 “He asked for Blake. That’s the name associated with the paranormal. Believe me, if anyone ever requests John Praque by name, I won’t direct them to anyone else.”

 “Well, unless Blake stumbles through that door in the next five minutes, we don’t have many other options now, do we?”

 “Even when that man isn’t around me, I still get headaches from him,” Matthew complained as he stroked his bearded chin before finally relenting to John’s solution. “Fine, you’ll meet him in place of Blake.” He then looked around the kitchen. “Just not here.”

 “What’s wrong with the apartment?” John asked, “We kinda keep it clean.”

 “What if he wants cream in his coffee?” Matthew countered.

 “True,” John admitted “Better head to Denny’s.”

 “Seriously?”

 “It also happens to be one of the most likely places to find a missing Blake,” John added.

 Matthew nodded to that point. “Alright, then,” he announced as he rose from his seat, “I’ll advise the cop where to go and you can take it from there, assuming you don’t find Blake in the next hour.”

 “Word,” John said as he remained seated and toasted with his mug before taking a drink.

 “You are planning to change clothes, though, right?” Matthew finally asked.

 “Why?” John asked, ignoring the wrinkled mess of his day-old attire.”

 “Would it kill either of you to at least pretend to be professional?