THE PROFESSIONAL DETECTIVE - PART 9 (Patreon)

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Note: This story is intended for mature audiences (18+) and all characters depicted are 18 years of age or older.

Part 9: Tyler's Set Up

With a depressed mood, Duke did not know where to go. The house he lives in… he doesn't know if he should call it “home” anymore. He decides to visit the hospital where the leader of The Black Hand gang was once taken to the emergency room. Thanks to the information Danny provided, Duke learned that, during the five years he was in prison, the leader of TBH had not been discharged from the hospital. He had regained consciousness long ago, but his body was almost completely disabled.

Duke will not meet him to apologize. Even though he had just witnessed his wife betray him, he had no regrets because he had broken the law for her in the past. Duke just wanted to meet him to reminisce about the past. After all, they were both great leaders, and now neither of them can retain the glory of that year.

Just asked the nurses a bit, Duke knew where the former leader of TBH was. When he opened the door to the room, Duke saw the former leader of TBH looking out the window. His eyes no longer glimmered with malice as before. Now, it hides more serenity. Hearing the noise, he turned his head to look at Duke. Seeing his old enemy, he didn't seem angry at all. He opened his mouth and said: “Hello, scoundrel leader of The Dark Samaritans, is the prison food good?”

Duke still replied with an emotionless face: “Not really. I wonder if hospital food tastes better than prison food, damn leader of The Black Hand?” The former leader of TBH laughed: “You're still as funny as before, aren't you? But stop calling me the leader of TBH, I'm just a cripple now called Bode!” Duke shrugged: “I'm no longer the leader of TDS.”

Bode just shook his head and said: “It's not the same. TDS is gone, but you'll always be their leader. But TBH is different. TBH still exists and no one will remember the old disabled leader anymore. For them now, there is only one leader of TBH, and his name is Tyler!”

Duke was startled: “Tyler?! Which Tyler guy?” Bode laughed loudly: “That's your old adviser! After leaving TDS, he joined TBH and worked as an assistant for me. But… that was the dumbest decision of my life! Tyler is a dangerous and cunning bastard. He set up everything to become the leader of TBH!”

Duke was still a bit surprised by what he had just heard, he asked: “He join TBH, the enemy of TDS?! But what's his setup you mentioned?” Bode looked at Duke with sympathetic eyes: “Turns out you still don't know anything... Well then, I'll let you know. Do you remember the whore Theia?” Duke nodded, because Theia is his wife's name. But Duke is not angry now when he hears Bode calling her a “whore”.

Bode continued: “She is Tyler's lover.” Duke was shocked: “Tyler's lover? Since when?!” Bode replied: “Since you know her. In other words, her appearance was not a coincidence. It was Tyler who arranged her to come to you and take care of you. A man so cruel that he lets his lover go to other man for his own purposes. At the time, I didn't even know his plan. I only made love to Theia because Tyler said it would make you mad. And everything… was just as he said. You're mad, I'm crippled, and he's just sitting in my chair.”

Duke's eyes were empty, he couldn't believe everything he heard was true. But Bode's story is too reasonable and too coincidental. Combined with what he had just seen at home, it seemed that Duke had found the answer. Duke sighed: “Do you hate me?” Bode said calmly: “No! You are my most interesting and powerful opponent. Being retired from a career by someone like you is enough for me to end my life as a gangster full of satisfaction. My current life isn't that bad. It's also a wonderful thing to see the lovely nurses here every day. But… you can't be like that. Maybe what you heard today will haunt you until you find a new love. Now go away… I want to go to sleep!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Bode closed his eyes. Duke quietly left Bode's hospital room, his mind still thinking about what Bode had just said. Bode is right, this painful memory will still torment Duke for a long time. Duke walked like a corpse without a soul. At a corner of the hospital corridor, because he was not paying attention, Duke accidentally bumped into someone, causing him to fall to the ground.

This collision brought Duke back to reality. He saw in front of him a skinny boy dressed in exactly the same outfit as Sherlock Holmes. He's still rubbing his forehead. Although the collision was not too strong, a skinny boy still couldn't keep his balance when he hit the chest of a muscular ex-gangster like Duke.

Duke pulled the boy up. He forced a smile: “What's the hurry, kid? Practice being a detective?” The boy dressed like Sherlock Holmes smiled and said: “Yes, becoming a professional detective has been my lifelong dream!” Duke shook his head: “What's so good about being a detective? The level of danger is no less than that of being a gangster.” The boy did not seem to take Duke's advice: “I also hope to face danger once. It's too safe to be a detective in this country.”

Duke said: “Everyone wants safety, but you like to face danger?” The boy laughed and said: “Facing danger is just a kind of momentary desire. What I really want as a detective is to help others. Just like you are now... You're trying to smile, but I realize you're not really happy. I don't know what to do to help you right now. Let's see... I give you this! This doesn't represent happy, but when I bought it, I felt very happy to be like my idol, Sherlock Holmes. I hope to spread my happy to you through it. Now, goodbye, I'm taking on my first assignment.”

Saying that, the boy hurriedly ran away. Duke muttered: “What a strange boy!” Then, he looked at what the boy had just given him. It's a new pipe. Duke guessed that this boy just bought it to look like Sherlock Holmes and didn't know how to use it. Duke carefully put it in his pocket…

Time flies, it's been almost eight years. Duke's wife never noticed his sudden change in attitude. That shows that, for a long time, she has not cared about Duke. Over the past eight years, many times, Duke's brain has aroused in him those unhappy memories. They continue to torment him to this day. Duke no longer cares about its purpose in life. He feels that everything in this world has no meaning anymore.

He maintains Cozy Wardrobe because he doesn't want his employees to lose their jobs. Duke has experienced the feeling of being admired by others, and then, their attitude has completely changed. Currently, he is very afraid of history repeating itself. He does not want the employees who like him at the moment to turn to hate him. That's also why Duke doesn't like the feeling of being admired, because he's afraid of “the higher he climbs, the harder he falls.”

Today, the painful memories of the past once again came to Duke’s mind, making him unable to focus on work. But this time, he didn't see them as a memory that tormented him every day. Duke is simply thinking about the past because he is worried that girl can accept it or not. The girl he had only met by chance yesterday, but had left a very strong impression on him.

It was a very pretty, innocent and cute girl that he accidentally met in the elevator yesterday morning. When she buried her face in Duke's chest, the premonition of a longtime gangster made Duke realize that this girl had something unusual. However, what that unusual point was, Duke did not know. Therefore, he waited for her at noon to determine how he felt at the time. At least that was Duke's original intention when he invited the girl to lunch.

But from the moment Duke had lunch with her, he had forgotten his original purpose. He found this girl quite interesting and unlike any other girl in the company he had ever met. She looked a lot like his wife before, but her actions were more natural. It was just a kind of feeling, which Duke had never noticed before. With her, he felt peace. Or rather… feeling safe!

The life of a gangster is always associated with potential dangers. Having become accustomed to this way of life, Duke has always been on high alert. Since discovering that he was betrayed by his wife, he increasingly feels that this life is less and less secure. However, just having a lunch with that girl, Duke's spirit is much more relaxed. So he didn't know when... his long withered heart suddenly had a rhythm of life again...

PART 10 >>