Not an Ordinary Love Story

*Flatline sound*

He's gone before I arrive, before I can tell him I love him. This person who once was my fiancé has left me with no warning. How is it a man so healthy just collapses and passes away? How am I expected to walk into that room and say my final good-bye? I don't want the last image of him to be his body just laying lifeless in the bed, but at the same time I don't want to leave his body alone.

I take a deep breath, I hear other heart monitors beeping and I just wish his was one of them. I reach my hand out to slide the foggy glass door when I get interrupted by a nurse, "Excuse me sir, what is your relation to the patient?" I replied, "I'm his fiancé miss, I was told his....his body is here." She looked at me perplexed before saying, "You must be Michael. I'm the one that called you, I'm so sorry for your loss. If you'd follow me I'll bring you to him. This is the wrong room." For a brief second I felt relief when she said 'patient', but that would not be my luck as she brought me to Richard.

We arrive in front the room, she explained that hospital is so busy they are still waiting for someone to move the body down to the morgue. I thought that's great I can see him as he was before he passed. As I enter the room the first thing I see is a pale foot, that's when reality hit me. My Richard had such beautiful skin, he was blessed with the perfect tan. The further I walk into the room the more I see. His legs had the blood settled in the calves while the top part was really pale, I reached out to touch him and he felt as cold as ice. What a strange feeling because he was always hot, it could be 20 degrees outside and he would wear a spring jacket. What could have happened? I'm watching each part of his body as I walk towards his head, his grey shorts covered in dirt as if he's been in a fight. His black t-shirt cut open so his torso can have EKG leads. I finally look at his face and I can no longer keep it together. I start crying while seeing a tube coming out of his mouth not connected to anything, his face is pale and cold, his ears look almost purple, I see the scar above his right eye brow from when we went paint balling and that's enough to make me drop to hug his body.

I finally reach a moment when I can maintain my composure. As I glance at his face I reach out to fix his dark brown luscious hair, I always loved his curls especially when he would have one specific curl rest on his forehead. While fixing his hair I realize that it's sandy, which makes no sense if he was suppose to be at work. Thinking back... he shouldn't have dirt on his pants either since his job consisted of being in an office. This is all extremely weird to me but I try not to think too much into it and start fixing his shirt. I got the right side of his shirt on his torso but the left side is stuck under him, I roll his body just a little to get the shirt and notice scratch marks on his lower back. This morning his back had no marks on it, what the hell happened to my fiancé?!

*knock, knock*

"Come in." I said while putting Richards shirt back on his torso.

"Michael? Right?" Asked by a tall woman, she looked as sad as I felt but with her blonde hair in a bun she couldn't hide it.

"Yes, that's me. Are you the doctor that tried to save Richard?"

"Yes, I am. My name is Dr. Whitmore and I am so sorry for your loss, there are people here ready to move his body. Before that happens would you like to speak some where more private?" She said with such concern for my well being.

"How am I suppose to just walk away and let them take him?" I replied slightly frustrated at her question.

"Lets try this, take my hand and let me help you. Don't think of it as you're leaving him behind." She extends her hand out and I noticed a wedding band on her finger.

I wipe my tears away, look one last time at my Richard, kiss his forehead and whisper, "I love you always." Before leaving with the doctor I ask her a question, " Are you married doc? I couldn't help but notice your wedding band."

She looked at her hand, rotated the ring and responded, " I was married. He passed away... two years ago.. cancer. So I understand completely the pain you are feeling. Profession aside.. you're just torturing yourself by staying here with him. The best thing you can do is prepare something that can allow him to rest in peace. So what do you say?" Extends hand again to lead me out the room. Deep down I know she's right, I also know I have questions about his passing that I need answers to.

"Okay, you're right." I grab her hand while looking at his body. Before fully leaving I kiss my hand and touch his foot. Once we exit the room she nods to these two guys, one is heavy built with a long beard and no hair, the other guy is medium built with a buzz cut and nicely trimmed facial hair. Both of them nodded towards me not for approval but out of respect. Walking away from him ached my heart more than seeing him like that. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. When I thought it couldn't get weirder Dr. Whitmore added to it.

"As of right now we do not have a cause of death, with your approval we would like to do an autopsy to find out what happened. Is this something you would be okay with?" Dr. Whitmore asked eagerly while waiting to write down my response on her I-pad.

" Yes, do what ever it takes to find out what happened, I need to know. It just doesn't make sense." I drop my head into my hands still trying to wrap my brain around what has happened.

" Michael..when he was brought in the woman with him..." I cut her off immediately

" Woman? What woman? I thought he was rushed here in an ambulance?"

" No sir, a woman brought him in. He was in really bad condition. She didn't give us her name, she came in gave us his belongings and told us that he was at a bbq, and left right away. We rushed him into a room, he was barely conscious and just kept repeating 'you can't do this'. Ultimately he went into cardiac arrest and we tried everything we could to get him back."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "he left this morning to retrieve some paperwork he forgot at the office, and then he was suppose to meet me at the bakery to do cake testing. I have no idea who that woman is that you're talking about and I definitely don't know anything about a bar-b-q. Did he say anything else? I don't know what he meant by that." At this point I grow worrisome, how is it that a man I knew for 12 years, dated for 5, and engaged for 2, has left me in the dark? What else is there that I don't know about?

She looked at me shocked and couldn't find anything to say besides, "Oh. Uh...yeah I don't know what the real story is I can only inform you of what we're aware of. Before he went into cardiac arrest he did mutter your name. .." her phone starts ringing, " I'm so sorry Michael I have to take this. I am truly sorry for your loss and I hope you can get answers to your questions." She then gets up and storms off while answering her phone. She left his belongings in the seat next to me. Confused, heartbroken, and a little frustrated I hope something in his belongings can lead me to some answers.

I pick up the bag and pace back and forth, I decide I want to open this bag back at home with no interruptions or distractions. As I start walking towards the exit a man in a grey suit and black tie approaches the nurses desk asking for Richard. When the nurse asked him his relation he said "no relation" and pulled out a badge. The nurse then informed him that Richard didn't make it, and he leaned on the desk rubbing his forehead with his hand. He doesn't appear to be sad but more angry. Why would an officer be looking for my fiancé and why would he be so upset about his passing? What do I not know about my Richard, if he really was my Richard.

I see the nurse pointing in my direction, and he glances over towards me. I realized that I know this man! Richard introduced us a year ago, but he wasn't an officer he was Richards partner at his design marketing firm. His name is Kevin... Kevin Wilson. Once he realized that I was there he took his shades off and those unforgettable blue eyes confirmed that he is Kevin. This makes no sense! I saw Kevin last week at the firms picnic so how is he standing here claiming to be a police officer?!

Kevin takes a deep breath and walks towards me, he said with a mixture of guilt and sadness; " Hey Mikey. I guess the cats outta the bag now huh?" He scoffs and shakes his head knowing he's been caught in a huge lie.

I'm shocked, for the first few seconds I couldn't even say a word. Then all of a sudden I just shot out a question. " What the hell was my fiancé into?! Why are you here showing a badge?! Why did he lie and say he was going to work when he was with some lady?! Kevin what the hell is going on?!" Once again breaking down crying.

"Mikey, I know this is hard. I just lost my best friend as well. Look, let me get you outta here so we can talk. I'll answer all your questions but not here." He says while pulling me in for a hug. I need to know what's going on so I have no choice but to accept his offer to get out of here.

I step back wipe my tears and sniffle. " Let's go, but if you lie to me one more time I'm walking away." He nods his head in agreement. We start exiting the hospital and we go into his car. " When did you get this car? I've never seen you driving this."

"Oh, yeah. This is my government issued car. The car you seen me driving in was just for my cover. Since we're in my car and I know it's safe I gotta ask you if you know what happened?" We pull out of parking and he drives off watching around him as if he thinks someone would be following him.

" What do I know?" I exclaim frustrated " Clearly nothing! How about you tell me what the hell is going on Kevin? Start with when the hell did you become a cop?"

He reaches into his jacket and takes out his badge, "I'm FBI Mikey, I've been an agent for 5 years. I work with Richard and trust me he wanted to tell you, but if he did he would have been removed from this assignment..."

" Richard is FBI? How? When?" At this point I'm very confused.

" We were both recruited after college, it's a long story but Richard was working with me to investigate 'New York's Finest Design Marketing'. We believe that the owner of the company is using that firm to launder money for a criminal organization. The FBI has been trying to find a way to take down this organization and has come up short each time until now. This morning Richard was suppose to go to the firm for a bbq which we believe is code for a meeting with the company's owner and the head of the organization...."

" Wait...bbq? Dr. Whitmore told me a woman dropped him off at the hospital she said he was at a bbq I thought she just meant Bar-B-Q."

"Are you sure? Did she happen to tell you what this woman looks like?"

" No, she gave the doctor his belongings and then left."

" Do you have his belongings with you? I'm gonna need you to go through it and see if there's anything suspicious. I'm going to call my office to search the cameras at the hospital for that woman." He said this urgently while getting his phone to place the call. I quickly grabbed the bag of Richards belongings and started going through it. I first started with his wallet, nothing unusual there it has money, 2 credit cards, and a picture of us. If I didn't just get informed that my fiancé was most likely murdered I would have dwelled on that picture. Next is a bunch of gum wrappers, nothing unusual or at least I thought that. He always had a habit of storing gum wrappers in his pockets, I thought nothing of it until now. One wrapper was left open with the letter 'u' inside, that made me open up all the other wrappers. It revealed the letters, 's, t, e, y, h, o, r, n, o, t, r, e' I had to let Kevin know.

" Kev! These gum wrappers has letters in it."

Kevin smiles and just says; " Atta boy Richie! We use to do this thing is college so no one would know what we were talking about. Go in my glove box there's a pen that has a blue light on it, point the light at the wrappers it should show a number on it that way you know what order it goes in." I do just as he told me and he was right.

" The message says, 'They're on to us' What the hell Kevin! Did they hurt him?"

He hesitates to respond, we both have an unsettling feeling. " Probably Mikey, probably." His phone then rings and he answers anxious to hear the news. "Yes!! We got them, I'm with Richards fiancé right now. I'm two blocks away from his home, I want a whole team including SWAT and local police mobilized and ready to go on my say so." He hangs up the phone and excitingly informs that the woman from the hospital footage has been identified as the owner of the design marketing firm. He also informed me that before passing Richard was able to send over information that can bring them down.

Such a bitter sweet moment, I don't know if I should be angry at Richard, the love of my life for lying to me or if I should be happy that finally know the truth. I almost feel guilty for being mad at him, for questioning his love for me. As we approach my home I just miss him, I wish he was here next to me. I wish I knew what was done to him, why it was done, and how many times he wanted to tell me the truth. There's always multiple sides to a story, this one is mine.