CHAPTER 8: CROSSED PATHS

"Good morning New Orleans, the sun has not risen, but the day has begun. The forecast for today, February 15, 1946, is for heavy rain, so pack your raincoat or umbrella and have a great day!"

The sound of the radio echoes throughout the small apartment. An old man, approximately 58 years old, sleeps on top of the sofa, with an empty beer bottle in his hand. Upon hearing the sound of the radio, the man slowly opens his eyes, noticing his blurred vision and a strong headache due to his hangover. As if that wasn't enough, his beer had spilled all over the floor and wet his floor. Standing up, he looks around and sees a huge mess across the room.

Clothes were lying on the floor, many were wet from the rain, some were lying in heaps of dust. Cobwebs were present in several places in the apartment, which had a bad sour smell. Staggering a little, the gentleman goes to his bathroom, so he could take a shower and clean his beard, which was dirty with leftover food and drink. Looking in the mirror, Joshua saw the reflection of his body, marked by the 1st World War, where he served on a frigate. His body is covered by some war scars, especially one on his back, which is due to an explosion that happened on his ship and Joshua jumped towards one of his companions, to get him out of the explosion. Even with his appearance as an old man, Joshua still has a better physique than many young men, but age and his health have weakened him.

What was once a great sailor covered in a few scars is now just a man getting on in his old age, drinking and living life to the fullest. His years in the war caused him many traumas, dear companions lost their lives and he himself had to take the lives of several enemies. Such images trouble his mind for years, causing him to become a more bitter person. And even though he returned as a war hero and with various traumas, his government did not help him at all and he was seen as a murderer. Joshua is currently living on his pension and his hobby is barbering, something he enjoys as he can talk to other people and cut their hair.

After his shower, Joshua leaves the bathroom and goes to his room, putting on a white dress shirt, jeans and combing his beard and hair. That done, Joshua leaves for his barbershop, in which he is a partner. Joshua feared that the rainy weather would affect the number of cuts he would make, as the last few days the number of clients had dwindled as the rain increased. Arriving at his store, Joshua finds the store still closed, around 9 am, he goes to the door with the copy of the key and then enters his store. He goes to the counter to look at the appointments that had been scheduled. It doesn't take long until the barbershop door opens again, ringing a bell that is above the door.

The person who enters the place is Melissa Barcelos, a 26-year-old girl with long, light brown hair, brown skin, a little freckles on her rosy cheeks, and dark brown eyes. The girl is an employee of the place, she works as a hairdresser and started her services about three months ago at the barbershop. She arrives a little soaked due to the rain, her umbrella had broken halfway through and she ended up getting wet a lot. Luckily for her, all employees are given an extra outfit to work in, in case of an emergency. Although she is the only employee, she has a very good relationship with her bosses, Joshua Lumpers and Jossef Loy.

Joshua and Melissa sweep the place and set up the seats before their customers arrive, as the office starts at 10 am. When the first customers start arriving, the real work begins. Around 5 pm, Jossef Loy arrives at the barber shop, his face radiating happiness. Jossef is a white man, with a brown beard, lumberjack style, like Joshua, bald head, small belly and around 45 years old.

"Melissa, you can take the rest of the day off, I have great news" - Jossef shouts enthusiastically.

"What happened? Why all the animation?" - Melissa asked, while taking off her apron and putting away her equipment.

At the same moment, Joshua comes running from the bathroom to see what the screams are about.

"What's going on here?" - Asks Joshua, a little out of breath.

"Calm down Joshua, at your age it's not good to run like that." - Jossef says, joking with his friend and partner.

"I was finally able to buy the other establishment, we will finally be able to open a branch." - Brada Jossef, while jumping for joy.

"Were you able to get the landlord to give up the premises? He was very convinced that he would not sell the place, what changed?" - Asks Melissa, not believing the words she had just heard.

"I couldn't convince him to sell the place, but I spoke to his wife, who happened to want him to sell the place so they could move to another country" - Says Jossef, while laughing a lot and then he continues .

"So she ended up persuading him to sell the place. So we all win, I bought the place for a fair price and they will move where she wanted." - Complements Josef.

"This is great news, we started this business 6 months ago and managed to open a branch in such a short time. The journey was not so easy, but thanks to you Jossef and Melissa, we were able to achieve this dream, I am very happy." - Joshua says, with tears in his eyes and voice a little choked.

"It will still take about a week or two before we can definitely open the branch there, as we will have to furnish it with the right furniture and all the equipment." - Says Josef.

"And another piece of good news is that you just got promoted Melissa, you will now be our branch manager." - Adds Joseph.

A little stunned by the various news, Melissa is only able to be surprised.

"I?"

"I've only been here for three months, I've learned a lot in that time, but I don't know if I'm the right person for this, I still have a lot to learn." - Says Melissa.

"You who helped us achieve this dream, do you think we would hire someone else, instead of giving the opportunity to those who accompany us?" - Asks Joshua.

Crying with happiness and with a choked voice, Melissa can only thank you for all the love everyone has had for her and for everything they have taught her.

"Good Joshua, to celebrate we should go drinking tonight, I made an appointment at a bar that I heard was very good. Let's go on Bouvilexx, go with your best clothes. Be there at 9pm at night." - Says Jossef, while heading to get in his car.

With this wonderful news, Melissa and Joshua close up shop and take the rest of the day off work. Joshua goes to his house, to get some rest and wait until the right time.

As the night wore on, the rain seemed to increase in intensity, as lightning and thunder became more constant, long flashes lighting up the New Orleans sky.

Joshua gets into his car and drives to the Bouvilexx. From the outside, it is possible to see a building of more or less 2 floors, with a large balcony on the upper floor. Beforehand, it is possible to see that very rich people frequented the place, due to the luxury they lavish on their clothes. Even out of place, Joshua gets out of his car and enters the bar, which is not crowded. Inside the bar, he spots his friend Jossef sitting in front of the bartender's counter, talking to the man. Upon spotting Joshua, Jossef gets up and goes to greet his friend.

"You're right on time Joshua, I was talking to dear Mr. Gregory Peck." - Jossef spoke, while bringing Joshua close to the counter.

"Good evening, dear sir, what would you like to drink?" - Says Gregory, in an extremely cordial way.

"Well, I want the strongest whiskey you have here." - Joshua says, with a big smile on his face.

"I'll have one just like his." - Complements Josef.

As the bartender brought their drinks, both men talked about the plans they had made to get there. When the drink arrives, both men clink glasses and start drinking.

"So gentlemen, did you like the taste of the drink?" - comments Gregory.

"It tastes relatively sweet, but the alcohol level appears to be very strong." - Comments Joshua, who had acquired an incredible taste for alcohol.

After a while, Joshua decides to go to the bathroom, his bladder was tight and both men had already felt the effect of the drink. Upon reaching the bathroom, while washing his hands, a man approaches the sink next door and both recognize each other. The man was Mr. Gilbert Dorman, who had cut Joshua's hair earlier.

"Hello Mr Joshua, nice to see you. His cut turned out exceptionally good, I'm meeting a very important man so it's good to look good. Thank you very much." - Says Gilbert Dorman.

"Pleasure is my friend, whenever you want a haircut, just show up at the barbershop." - This is Joshua.

After the short dialogue, Gilbert finishes washing his hands and leaves the bathroom. When Joshua finishes washing his hands and leaves the bathroom, he can see a little way back into the bar, near the corner of a wall, Gilbert talking to a man, but the man was in a place he couldn't see clearly. Returning to the counter, Joshua notices that his friend was very drunk and even Joshua was suffering from the effects of the drink.

Carrying Jossef, both men leave the bar, in the rain and without umbrellas. Joshua is very dizzy and decides not to drive the car, lest there be a serious accident. So he decides to walk in the rain to his house, but first he should drop Jossef off at his residence. After leaving him, Joshua goes to his house, amid the rain that becomes increasingly violent. Upon arriving home, Joshua just throws away his clothes and decides to lay down on the bed and just sleep.

The next day, Joshua wakes up with a terrible headache, but he's still alive. He takes a shower, breakfast and then leaves for a walk around the city, which is still a little rainy. He stops by Jossef's house first, barely manages to get out of bed, luckily Joshua had a copy of the apartment key. He realizes that Jossef was very bad and with severe headaches. Joshua takes his friend to the hospital and runs some tests on him. Due to his work, Joshua couldn't stay for long, but he only left the hospital when his friend showed signs of improvement.

After leaving the hospital, Joshua goes straight to his barbershop, but when he passes in front of the French Quarter police station, he hears a man talking about a suicide that had occurred there.

"Last night a man jumped from the building here on the other street. Unfortunately, the body was only found hours later, there was no possibility of medical help." - Said one of the policemen.

"I found out, Jorge told me earlier. It looks like they didn't find any documents on the man and supposedly a house was arsonized as well." - Said another policeman.

Very curious, Joshua decides to enter the police station and speak with the investigator in charge of the case.

"Good morning, I would like to speak with the investigator in charge, yesterday I was in the French Quarter, very close to here, so I may have seen or know who the person is." - Joshua said.

A soft, gentle voice from behind speaks to Joshua. He was a man of 1.6 m, with a thick and thin mustache, with a panama hat on his head.

"Good morning sir, I'm the investigator in charge of the case, my name is Wilson Collins, nice to meet you. Please give your ID to the secretary and follow me." - Said the man.

Following Wilson, Joshua is taken to the morgue room to recognize the body. When he sees the man, he is even amazed.

"I know this man, he is Mr. Gilbert Dorman. He had cut his hair with me yesterday afternoon and that night he was at the same bar as me." - Joshua said, half amazed.

"Did you say Gilbert Dorman? Things got even more suspicious then. We were deducing suicide, on account of the place where he died and the injuries he had. However, last night, a rented house suffered an arson attack. And the man who was renting the house, his name was Gilbert Dorman. I think he might have been murder. For the estimated time of death is very close to the time the house caught fire and he could not have been in both places in such a short time." - Speak Wilson.

"Well, where was he found? Maybe it was close to where we were yesterday." - Answers Joshua.

"He was found in front of the Haboil restaurant." - Says Wilson.

"I know it, it's right next to the Bouvilexx bar, which is the bar where we were yesterday." - Comments Joshua.

"Good sir, thank you very much for your information, it was very useful for our investigation. Any additional information just let us know." - Says Wilson, thanking you for everything.

Leaving the police station, Joshua notices that the rain has finally stopped, a scorching sun has emerged in the sky, taking advantage of this gap, Joshua decides to head to the restaurant where the man was found. Upon arriving at the site, he sees a small building, approximately three stories high. With his military knowledge and having seen many wounded, Joshua realized that the man's injuries did not match the height of the building. Finding it very suspicious, Joshua climbs the emergency stairs and reaches the top of the building. The sun had warmed up the day a lot, it was very hot and it was almost possible to see mirages.

"Damn strange weather, one moment it's raining and very cold, suddenly it's sunny and infernally hot." - Complains Joshua, while looking for clues at the top of the building.

Looking this way and that, Joshua sees that the top of the building was wet and there were no footprints. However, he spotted a kind of broken pigeon cage. When approaching her, Joshua steps on something that almost makes him fall, looking at that thing, he sees two huge footprints of a bird. Each footprint is about 60 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide, something absurdly surreal. The footprints were formed by a kind of dark mud.

As he looked at those footprints, Joshua felt a brief shiver run up his spine and a bit of dizziness hit him. Regaining his consciousness, Joshua returns to the Bouvilexx, where he discovers that the Gilbert was investigating a case of a waitress who worked there. So he goes to the girl's house, where he comes across four men, who talk to him and one of Joshua's phrases, quite shocks one of the men who were there.

"Well, your corpse is at the police station, the police initially assumed it was suicide, but now they are investigating on the pretext of murder. The main culprit is a non-American male who, according to them, was a suspicious person and was not a white male." - Joshua answers, staring into Don's eyes.

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Continued in the next chapter...