Novel Treatments / Laughter can kill you (Analysis)

Chapter 3

Vince was sitting at his desk in the squad room when the phone rang. It was Lissa with the details about the dead guy’s next of kin.  He took down the address, thanked her and hung up.
“Hey Swifty, he bellowed across the room. We got next of kin, time to do the death call.”
“God I hate this part of the job“. Myra said half to herself and half to Vince.
“Worse that witnessing autopsies?”
”Much, dealing with the dead is so much easier than the ones left behind.”
“Shitty, but true. Let’s get this done.”
Our Vic left a wife behind. Fortunately, there were no kids.

The house that the late Dave Feener lived in was a wartime bungalow. It needed paint and the lawn was in disarray.
Vince and Myra pulled up to the house.  They walked up the walk to the front door, and rang the bell.  A young woman, about thirty answered the door.  
Vetters flashed his badge, as did Myra.
“Can I help you? The young woman asked, puzzled.
“We need to talk. Are you Deborah Feener?”
“Yes, what’s this about? Did something happen to Dave?”
“May we come in?”
“Yes of course, sorry for being rude.”

Deb let the two detectives into the room and showed them the couch, and she took the chair facing them.
So what’s going on? What happened to Dave?”
Myra looked at Vince, and decided she would handle this. She moved to sit on the coffee table and took Deborah’s hand. “I am so sorry Mrs. Feener, this is not easy. I am afraid Dave has been killed.”  Myra squeezed, and Deborah looked at her and fell apart.
“What? How? Where? Was it an accident.?”
Myra wished it was that simple. “No I am afraid not. He was the victim of a stabbing. He was found by a derelict in the alley behind the Laff Shak.” It wasn’t a robbery. The killer left his ring and his ID.  Did Dave have anyone who was  mad enough to kill him?”
“Oh fuck, pardon my language but you have no idea how many times I told him not to take that route home, and no I don’t think any one was mad enough to kill him.”
“I am not saying he deserved it by any means. He’s everything to me, and now he’s gone.”
Deborah put her head in her hands and sobbed.
“It’s okay Mrs. Feener; I think I’d react the same way. You’re in shock. She looked back at Vetters, and asked for the throw off the back of the couch. Vince handed it to her. He had to hand it to Myra, she was better at this shit than he was.
“Did he die instantly?”
“Yes, sorry he didn’t have a chance.”  This was Myra’s response.
“Can I see him?”
“Sorry but in the case of a homicide, we have to do an autopsy. It’s ugly Debbie; you really don’t want to see him yet.”
“When; I need to see if it’s really him.  I trust you and all that but I just have to see for myself. You know.
Myra nodded.
“We’ll let you know. You can come and pick up his things when we get done with them.” Vetters said. Is there any one who can stay with you?”
“My Mom lives down the street, I can call her. This is her house. Dave and I rent it from her and she lives with my Grandma.”
“We’ll stay until she gets here.” Myra was quick to reply.  I have to call Dave’s parents. This is going to kill them.”
They wanted him to go to college. He started but that wasn’t enough. He was determined to make it big. The next Robin Williams; he always dreamed about that.”
“I can relate. My brother Phil is a comic. He grew up watching tapes of all the greats, and we got sick of back to back ‘Evening at the Improv’.”
“I can’t believe how calm I am being.”
“It’s shock. We’re very sorry this happened to Dave. Petra at the Laff Shak sends her condolences. She said she’d call you in a few days.”  
“Great, well I better call my Mom. She’ll call Dave’s folks. I can’t do it.”
Myra put her hands on Debs shoulders.  “You need to take care of you too.”
“I know. I loved my husband he was the greatest, but he was a wee bit impractical. Just do me a favor and get the little shit that did this.”
“We are going to do our best.”  

Deb called her Mom. Minutes later she and the grandma showed up. The detectives left.

Vince reached out and grabbed Myra in a hug, and kissed her on the side of the head.
“You were great.”  
“Thanks, but please don’t kiss me again, or I’ll have to take you down.”
“You wound me to the core Swifty.” Vetters laughed.
“Yeah yeah, come on I’ll buy you a coffee. We have to do the paper work on this one.”

Chapter 4

Borneo and Lissa were driving back to the precinct, from the Laff Shak.  Borneo was singing a bad version of Baba O’Riley.

“Out here in the field, I fight for my meals. I put my back into my livin’
I don’t need to fight, to prove I’m right. I don’t need to be forgiven.”

“Mike, please stop. Good thing you’re too old for American Idol. Simon Cowell would have a field day with you.”

“Lissa, you wound me deeply.  Here I thought I had your back.”
“You do, out there, Lissa replied. In here, it’s every cop for themselves.”

“Look, Mike said; what we found in the alleyway was nasty. I sing to erase the bad memory.”
”I understand, but in the meantime you’re wrecking my hearing and my sanity.”
“Funny girl; you might wanna audition as a comic.”
“No not me, that profession might just get me killed.”
“I don’t think that was the reason for killing the dude. I think that the poor fool was just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What about the program from the club found next to the body from the club he was performing at?”
“We don’t get paid to speculate, Lissa ; that’s the D’s job.”
“Yeah; she replied, another year of this shit, I am going for the sergeant’s badge.”
“Great ambition Lissa, good luck with that. I mean that sincerely. You’d do well.”
“I don’t plan to do the squad car rally for the next thirty years. I know being out there in the field, it’s not pretty but it’s more exiting than traffic detail.

Borneo had to agree with this, and went on humming anyway to erase the death scene from his head just the same.

He didn’t envy the Detectives the nasty job of informing the next of kin.  He hated to picture of some officer telling his wife that he may not come home one night.  Poor Dave, the unfortunate bastard hadn’t seen it coming. There went his shot at fame; thanks to a random ass-hole with a knife.

“Hey, said Lissa. I just remembered something. Petra James, at the Club comp’d us two tickets to come in and see her talent.

“Cool why don’t you take a boyfriend? Comedy clubs are great date places.”
“And you would know this, how?” Lissa ribbed him.  
“Back in the day I used to take the missus to YUK YUK’s.  She loved it. She said she knew she wanted me after I proved I had a sense of humor.”
  “How’s that?”
“I’m still married to her.”
Lissa laughed.  “Maybe you should be a comic.”
“No, I think I need to be canonized.”
This made Lissa howl with laughter.

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