It was Tuesday and Vinnie had the day off. His morning consisted of a mega-bowl of Lucky Charms, while he studied the morning paper. Fox News was blaring from the TV.
Since he was running out of clean clothes, Vinnie decided to do a couple loads of laundry. As he was finishing up by folding his work shirts, the phone rang.
Missy was calling from Eddie’s place next door. There was nothing unusual about that. Missy and Eddie were in a serious relationship. Missy was upset and excited.
“Vinnie; get over here right now!” demanded Missy.
“What is it?” asked Vinnie.
“It’s Eddie”, was all that Missy said before hanging up.
Vinnie was met outside of Eddie’s house by Missy. She was frantic and Vinnie was having difficulty getting to the reason.
“Eddie’s in the basement. He’s not moving. I couldn’t get him to wake up”, Missy said.
“Call 9-1-1!” said Vinnie, as he started down the steps to the basement.
Vinnie found Eddie lying on his back, next to the furnace. He was blue, but he was still warm. Vinnie felt for a pulse and found none.
Fearing that Eddie may have gotten an electrical shock from the furnace, Vinnie pulled him back a couple of feet. Then he got over him, tilted his head back and blew air into his mouth. When he did, Vinnie got blood in his mouth! He immediately leaned back and spit.
What the hell? Vinnie thought to himself.
Did Eddie bite his tongue or something? he wondered.
Vinnie turned Eddie’s head to the side to clear his airway. That’s when he discovered the blood in Eddie’s right ear.
This isn’t making any sense, Vinnie says to himself.
He looks at Eddie’s pupils. They are fixed and dilated. Desperately, he looks for a light switch. The only light is coming in through a basement window. Under normal circumstances, Vinnie’s pockets would have been FULL of Mini-Mag lights, but not today. Vinnie ran back up the stairs to turn on the light switch just inside of the basement door. Then he ran back down the stairs, missing the last two. He landed next to Eddie with a nasty scrape to the back of his left calf muscle.
As Vinnie got to his feet, he saw something on the washer that he hadn’t seen when he first got there.
“Where are the GUYS?” Vinnie said out loud.
“Vinnie; what’s going on?” yelled Missy from the basement doorway.
“Stay up there, so you can show the guys where to go,” commanded Vinnie. That and he didn’t want Missy down there right now.
“Is Eddie going to be OK?” she asks.
“I need the paramedics here”, was all that Vinnie would say.
But Vinnie knew that it was already too late for Eddie.
Over on the washing machine lay a .22 caliber rifle. The barrel was pointing towards the furnace. Vinnie saw two spent cartridges on the basement floor.
Had Eddie surprised a burglar? Who would shoot Eddie? This is Grandview, for God’s sake. Stuff like this doesn’t happen in Grandview, Vinnie thought, trying to re-assure himself.
Vinnie finally hears voices from upstairs and the first guy down the stairs is Jake. He has a look of real concern on his face. He does a quick 360 and then goes over to the victim. He feels for a pulse and doesn’t find one.
“Mac; need a second opinion”, says Jake.
Mac checks the carotid AND radial arteries to make sure. He shakes his head.
“Vinnie; did you start CPR on this guy?” asks Jake.
“Yes I did and his NAME is Eddie”, says Vinnie.
“When I blew into his mouth, I gotta mouth full of blood back”, says Vinnie, half nauseated.
“You OK? You need to go upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute”, says Jake.
The paramedics get there. They put their time of death at 0905. They called for the coroner.
By now, Missy has figured out that Eddie is dead. She was sitting in a window seat with her knees pulled up into her chest. She was rocking and crying uncontrollably. Vinnie sat down on the floor next to her feet and was trying to console her. Missy wasn’t ready to be consoled. She wanted to cry.
Vinnie could still taste Eddie’s blood in his mouth. He wondered if the taste would ever go away. Then he saw a familiar face at the front door. It was Rev. Vinnie was relieved. Rev could stay with Missy while he went outside. God, do I need to go outside! thought Vinnie.
Jake found Vinnie outside. The coroner pulled up, as did the police. Until they sorted things out, they would treat it as a crime scene.
“Vinnie; can you talk about it?” asks Jake.
“Yeah, but I got this damned taste in my mouth”, says Vinnie.
“Here; take a little of this, but not too much”, says Jake as he hands Vinnie his Skoal. It tasted like crap, but it tasted better than the blood.
“What did you see when you first got to the basement?” asks Jake.
“I saw Eddie lying next to the furnace. I thought he’d gotten shocked from the furnace or something. He was still warm”, says Vinnie.
“He was warm, because the furnace was on”, says Jake.
“I realize that NOW”, says an embarrassed Vinnie.
“Didn’t you see the gun?” asks Jake.
“Yeah; after I turned the lights on. That’s also when I saw the blood in his ear”, says Vinnie.
“Did you touch anything?” asks Jake.
“Just Eddie. I moved him a couple of feet away from the furnace”, says Vinnie.
“Did you handle the rifle?” asks Jake.
“Naw; I don’t like guns”, says Vinnie.
“Did you know him?” asks Jake.
“Sure; we hung out together. He’s the same age as me. We had a lot in common. Me, him and Missy were together a lot at each other’s houses. This doesn’t make any sense. Who would kill Eddie? Everybody I knew liked him”, says Vinnie.
“I think Eddie killed Eddie, Vinnie”, says Jake.
“No way! Eddie was cool and besides; there’s TWO spent cartridges”, says an agitated Vinnie.
“Vinnie; a shooter isn’t going to leave his gun on the washer”, Jake says matter-of-factly.
“But, two shots–”
“Vinnie; Eddie shot once to see if he could do it. The second shot, he put into his right ear. The blood pooled in his mouth and into the back of his throat. That’s why you got his blood in your mouth”, says Jake.
“Eddie had no reason to kill himself. He had a good job, money and a great girlfriend. I want to hear what the cops have to say”, says Vinnie.
“Hell, I don’t blame you. I’m no Kojak. I’m gonna see if the crew’s released yet. You want me to stop by later?” asks Jake.
“If you want”, says Vinnie.
Jake slaps Vinnie on the shoulder and goes back into the house.
As the crew walks by Vinnie, they all give him re-assuring looks and Rev stopped for a minute.
“Vinnie; you going to be OK?” asks the Rev.
“Yeah; how’s Missy doing?” inquires Vinnie.
“After the dust settles, she is going to need your companionship. She is very confused by all of this”, says Rev.
“I suppose I’ll have to give my statement and then I will go to her”, says Vinnie.
“We’ll get through this together”, says Rev.
“Thanks, Rev”, says Vinnie.
“Thank God”, says Rev as he leaves.
Vinnie gave his statement to the police and to the coroner. He helps the coroner with Eddie’s body. Missy broke down again, upon seeing the coroner’s car pulling away.
Vinnie went over to Missy and put his arms around her. She is shaking like a trailer in a tornado.
“It’s all my fault, Vinnie”, says Missy.
“Don’t say that. It’s nobody’s fault. Only Eddie knows the real reasons”, says Vinnie.
“You don’t understand, Vinnie. Eddie killed himself because of ME. I wanted to take things with us a little slower and Eddie started drinking more and more. I guess that he drank to fill the times that we weren’t together. I asked him to ease up on his drinking, but he must have thought that his drinking would keep me in his life, because I cared about him. I told him on Sunday that we should stop seeing each other for a while. He seemed OK with it and even said that a break might be good for both of us. I came over today to pick up some things. I was going to let myself in, because I thought he’d be at work. But I saw his car in the drive…” Missy’s voice trails off.
“Missy; Eddie’s head was stronger than that. You’re putting too much blame on yourself. Eddie must have had other demons. I mean; we’re young. We have a long ways to go in this lifetime. Lots of things to see, experience and feel. Was he really THAT serious about getting so serious so soon?” asks Vinnie.
“I don’t know what to think right now”, says Missy.
“You weren’t seeing another guy or something were you?” asks Vinnie.
“No; not really”, says Missy, while looking down at the ground.
“Missy; look at me. Was there somebody else?” asks Vinnie.
Missy started crying again.
“Missy?” asks Vinnie.
“Vinnie; I told Eddie that there was someone else, but I thought he would understand. He seemed more interested in partying, so I didn’t think it was such a big deal”, says Missy, in between her staccato breaths.
“Do I know the guy?” asks Vinnie.
“You got to understand that I didn’t mean for it to happen, but the more time that I spent with you, the more time I wanted to spend with you”, says Missy.
“So; who’s the g…WHOA!” says Vinnie.
Vinnie felt sick…
The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© is pure fiction. Any similarities to the people, places or situations portrayed in the continuing saga are purely coincidental. The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© is the intellectual property of Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason and cannot be re-produced in any form without the expressed permission of the author.
Also on Chief Reason …
- The Answer Might Be That There Isn’t One – Episode #32 – September 21, 2009
- The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© – Episode #30 – May 16, 2009
- The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© – Episode #34 – November 9, 2009
- The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie©-Special Sports Edition – October 17, 2009
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