1 Chapter one: "He's dead"

He got the call on a Friday morning while he was at work. It was from his forty-year-old sister, but it was a strange time of day to talk. They liked to keep contact with each other over the years, because ever since they were kids they had been very close, and they used to do everything together, but a chat in the middle of the week was unusual. He picked up the call anyway and answered.

"Hey, Elaine, I'm actually kind of busy now, so if you could call later-" a pause as he looked at his watch "say in about half an hour, I would love to talk. Just... not now. Elaine?"

But before she even answered, he knew something was wrong. Even on the phone, he could hear that her breaths were unsteady, and after a few seconds, she answered in a croaky and shaky voice.

"Yes, yes I know. It's just...it's just..."

"Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"It's Alan, Patrick. Umm, he's...he's..." she inhaled, before breaking into a stifled cry "he's dead."

***

Patrick quickly got a permit for work leave from his boss and then he rushed down six flights of stairs to the parking underground. Soon he was off in his little Peugeot racing to his sister's house.

Elaine and her family lived in West Village, a nice area of Manhattan. Patrick always loved to walk under the trees there, especially in the fall, when the leaves were yellow and bright. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he was going to do that today, not under these circumstances. He finally parked the car on their street, but before he went in he saw a police car parked on the pavement. They must have been the ones who had delivered the terrible news. But he put them aside and rushed up the steps to the front door. It was slightly ajar so he let himself in quietly.

There was a bunch of people inside. Patrick recognized a few familiar faces here and there, mostly friends of his sister or former colleagues of the deceased man. Elaine herself was sitting on the sofa, bawling her eyes out and surrounded by women trying to console her. But on seeing Patrick she got up in one jump and gave him a big hug, squeezing him tight.

It made Patrick's eyes tear up ever so slightly just on seeing her like this. Her long brown hair was in an untidy mess and her eyes were as red as tomatoes, understandably of course.

Alan had been Elaine's husband for quite a number of years. They had met in a work conference ten years ago in LA, and started dating soon after. Until then Alan had been living in a town near Washington DC, but once they got married, they found a house in Manhattan and had been living there since. The couple even had kids, Jake and Maya. They were now ages six and two. From now on, they were going to have to live without a biological father, something Patrick only realised at that moment. This made him suddenly thankful that he had a father growing up, something a lot of people would just take for granted, including himself at a younger age.

About an hour later, the crowd in the house started to leave. And soon, Elaine and Patrick were left alone.

Patrick made a cup of tea for them both (the third one that day) and then he sat down on the sofa beside his sister. She still didn't look great, but at least some of the colour had gradually returned to her face. They both reclined there in silence.

Elaine seemed to be deep in thought and had stopped crying, so Patrick thought it best to not say a word. Her eyes were staring up at the ceiling, almost lifeless, and her arms were wrapped around a cushion. She held the object close to her chest, almost as if she were carrying a baby.

Patrick couldn't stay in silence any longer so he finally opened his mouth.

"...how?" he managed to say. The situation was awkward and he didn't want to be annoying.

Elaine sighed and rolled her head sideways, facing him.

"They... they said it was suicide."

Patrick raised his eyebrows and tried not to gasp too loudly.

She repeated it, and more tears appeared and rolled down her cheeks. "Suicide, Pat. Suicide!"

Patrick put his arm round her shoulder and squeezed her tight. He had never been very good at these sort of situations, and so he clearly was lost for words.

"I, umm,... I'm sorry, El. I'm really really sorry."

She buried her face in his jacket, and kept on crying. They stayed like that for a while, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence.

He finally got out of her that Alan's body had been found near the shores of the East River, up at Hunts Point in The Bronx. He had been found by a tramp with his wrists slit and a note inside his jacket, dedicated to Elaine. She confirmed that the police were still there, at the river.

"But I don't understand why" she said "They already out ruled it as a... a suicide, so why are they keeping the body?"

"Well, it's still considered a crime scene, even though there are clear signs that the wounds were, umm, self-inflicted"

Elaine raised an eyebrow at him "How do you know so much about this topic? You don't happen to be an undercover cop, do you?"

Patrick half-laughed, not sure whether that was her objective or not.

"I, uh, dated a cop for a while, remember? Hill, Joana Hill."

"Oh yeah, Joana. When did you guys break up?"

"A while ago, a few years now, El."

"Right, right..."

Patrick suddenly noticed a newspaper sitting out on the coffee table. On the front cover, there was a photo of Alan himself, surrounded by reporters.

Elaine saw what he was looking at. "Ah, yes, and then there's this."

The newspaper read:

U.S. Department of Commerce restricts commercial technological flows with Oman

Over several years there have been numerous law-related commercial incidents in the past with the Middle East, including violations of the Export Administration Regulations.

This has caused the head of the Office of Export Enforcement (a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce), Alan Chamberlain, to speak out against the exportation of certain products to such countries.

"We can no longer control and regulate with detail the commercial flow with several countries in the Middle East, potentially causing the destabilization of our own internal security." affirms Chamberlain.

The OEE then recommended the restriction and decease of commercial flows with Oman, that, according to Chamberlain, was one of the worst cases in the whole situation. The Department of Commerce agreed to the appeal, and last Friday, the U.S. Senate approved the recommendation in court.

This obviously caused protests in companies and businesses that had dealings with Oman, now that the exportation process is much slower, and not enough products are sold. In this last week there have been many many workers that have gone on strike, and we hope the statistics will be revealed soon.

What are we to expect for the future? Will more and more barriers in our external economy be established, as the government shuts down more and more commercial relations with other countries in the Middle East? We expect further news and announcements from the OEE soon.

Patrick scanned through the article, even though he knew about most of its content. He had seen a copy of it earlier that morning on his way to work. He then looked at Elaine with concern.

"Yes, yes, I know" she said.

"El, your husband received a lot of pressure for this. He was the man that put the whole thing in action, at the heart of it all."

She sighed "I guess the pressure and hatred got the better of him in the end."

"I guess" said Patrick slowly "I hate to say it but this does seem like the most likely cause of... what happened."

"But I just don't understand why, why didn't he tell me about it? Not one word! I'm his wife, for God's sake!"

Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence, and Patrick realised she was about to start crying all over again.

"Oh hey, hey it's ok" was the first thing he blurted out without thinking.

"No Pat, it's not ok at all! My husband is dead and now I feel like I didn't do anything to stop it happening!"

"El, making you feel guilty is his fault, he shouldn't have done that. You had no idea, what were you supposed to do?"

"But I was aware of the situation, Pat, with the OEE and all, I just didn't realise the consequences were going to be so brutal. Oh, it's all so... messed up!"

Patrick decided not to continue arguing anymore, even though he felt that the discussion was heading the wrong way. His sister was sad enough, and he didn't want to worsen her day even more (if that was even possible).

They sat for another while in silence, Elaine softly crying into Patrick's shoulder, while he read through the newspaper article once more. She then noticed.

"What are you doing?" asked Elaine.

"Oh, nothing" he answered quickly, folding the paper and dropping it on the coffee table again.

"Why were you reading it again?"

"Oh, just, uhh, checking to see if I missed anything important."

"Important? Wha-"

He waved a hand, clearly trying to change topic.

"Listen. I've talked to my boss and I've decided that I'm coming to stay with you guys for a while."

"What?"

"Yeah. Look, the next couple of weeks are going to be hard for you, you know, coping with it all, keeping up your job and raising the kids and whatnot. So, I'm here to help."

Elaine's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, just for a while, as you get into a new routine"

"That would be great, thanks. Oh, Pat!"

She gave him another hug.

"Think of it as a doctor's prescription" he said, and then added in a funny voice "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you you need to spend more time with your little brother (who you owe five dollars by the way)."

At this, Elaine even smiled a little, something Patrick was glad of.

"Let me get my stuff from my apartment in Brooklyn, and I'll see you tomorrow!"

They both got up, and hugged each other once more before Patrick left out the front door.

But Elaine didn't even notice that when she came back into the living room, the newspaper that had earlier been on the coffee table was now gone...

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