“Russ, give me my phone man. Why did you do that for?”
Russell keeps his eyes forward on the road, and ignores Kevin. He then starts to shake his head, and rest his hand across the bottom of his neck. When he reaches a stoplight, he digs into his pocket, and throws Kevin’s phone back at him; landing on his lap. Kevin then quickly picks his phone up and continues to look at videos on it. While they are all still waiting at the stoplight, Jesse then pulls out a sympathy card that Russell gave him earlier, and a pen from his tote bag, and starts to sign it. He then hands the card to Kevin who signs it as well. Russell signs the card and hands it back to Jesse soon after. The signal changes, and Russell continues towards the funeral. About twenty minutes later, they finally arrive.
The procession which is being held outside, has many white chairs across the graveyard. Peter and Jennifer’s coffins are positioned behind the pulpit. Many flower arrangements are around the coffins. Russell parks his car and, they all get out. Russell starts to profile all of the attendees at the funeral. He immediately sees Yvette and her children. Also present at the funeral, are all the other employees at the “Sunset Credit Union”. Sally, Tiffany, Abel, and John. John in particular who is now the manager of the “Sunset Credit Union.” Incidentally, which happened to be Russell’s past position. Russell and John last met on difficult terms. He started to get into a physical fight with him, which led him to resign himself from the bank. Russell on purpose tries not to give any eye contact towards John.
Russell continuing to scan the attendees, also notices not one, but two strange looking gentlemen looking out of place at the funeral seated at opposite sections. These two gentlemen don’t know each other, but Russell seems to have a feeling that he knows the both of them. He has never met them before, but has a feeling as if he has. One of the men is a very handsome well-built man, with short styled hair. He like Russell is wearing a black suit with a black tie. The other man however is very odd and creepy looking. He has very pale skin, and has a very cold straggly face. The man is very unconventional looking. He is wearing a white shirt, with a black tie. Russell however ignoring this strange feeling he has, still feels anxious about it. He doesn’t understand why he feels so uncomfortable over those two men. He, along with Kevin and Jesse all sit together.
The memorial service then begins. Russell starts to feel emotional upon witnessing the funeral proceedings. He starts to cry when Peter’s wife starts to speak about him. Jennifer’s mother and father also say a few words in her memory. Russell remains seated under much sorrow, well aware that the time to give his eulogy is approaching very soon. Things for Russell start to become tense, when he notices John walk up to offer his words. Russell tries his best to calm himself down, as John brings him much aggravation. He starts to remember all of the harsh things that he has said to Peter, and how much John envied him as well. When John finishes, it is now Russell’s turn to offer his peace to both Peter and Jennifer. He walks up towards the pulpit, and gives his eulogy.
“My name is Russell McCoy. Peter and Jennifer worked with me. Peter was a beautiful man, and he was like a father to me. He was. Jennifer, lovely young woman. Going to miss them both very much. I’m going to say a passage for commemorate them both.”
.מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד: יְהוָה רֹעִי, לֹא אֶחְסָר
.בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא, יַרְבִּיצֵנִי; עַל-מֵי מְנֻחוֹת יְנַהֲלֵנִי
.נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב; יַנְחֵנִי בְמַעְגְּלֵי-צֶדֶק, לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ
;גַּם כִּי-אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת, לֹא-אִירָא רָע-- כִּי-אַתָּה עִמָּדִי
.שִׁבְטְךָ וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ, הֵמָּה יְנַחֲמֻנִי
;תַּעֲרֹךְ לְפָנַי, שֻׁלְחָן-- נֶגֶד צֹרְרָי
.דִּשַּׁנְתָּ בַשֶּׁמֶן רֹאשִׁי, כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה
Russell while giving the eulogy, becomes mentally frozen. He reads the passage incomplete. Physically, he is strong enough to deliver the words. However mentally, Russell is currently being reminded of all the events that he and Peter have gone through. He’s being reminded of the beauty Jennifer had. The fact they are now gone and being put under that much depression. Russell continues to give the eulogy, trying his best to remain from crying. More and more flashbacks of Peter and Jennifer run rampant in his mind. He would have never envisioned that this would happen. Russell felt that he could be strong enough to deliver this eulogy, but he now begins to feel this force of depression. He cannot move, and he feels like a concrete statue. One of Russell’s biggest fears he had, was that he would cry during the eulogy. Alongside that, not being powerful enough to deliver the words. Unfortunately, this fear came true.
Although he started the eulogy off well, Russell all of a sudden cannot control himself, and begins to sob during the last line of the scripture. He stops reading the eulogy and looks out into the audience, continuing to sob. He looks down at his Tanakh and tries to speak out the words, but he cannot. As he continues to cry, Yvette then notices how hurt he is. She puts her past differences of Russell aside, and walks up to the pulpit and hugs him tightly. She then kisses Russell on the cheek several times, as she continues to hug him. Kevin starts to shake his head, and also feels sad seeing Russell in this condition. Jesse begins to cry and feel upset as well. Yvette continues to comfort and calm Russell down, as Russell cries and is choked up on his words. A few moments later, Russell with the help from Yvette, has pulled himself together, and manages to finish the eulogy.
;אַךְ, טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי-- כָּל-יְמֵי חַיָּי
.וְשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית-יְהוָה, לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים
Yvette then kisses Russell on the cheek again, and holds his hand as they walk away from the pulpit. Russell was disappointed with himself that he wasn’t able to give the eulogy, without having a mental breakdown. He was thankful and glad that he was able to make amends with Yvette. When he returns to his seat, Kevin starts to rub Russell’s shoulder. They both stare at each other, in which Russell has a stoic face. Kevin gives him a smile nevertheless. Jesse also does the same as Kevin, and rubs Russell shoulder, but Russell gives Jesse a cold stare as well. Russell then takes out his handkerchief and begins to wipe his face.
Shortly after Russell’s eulogy, the funeral continues with a couple more speakers coming up to talk and offer their respects. The memorial service was soon over and finished after that. As the funeral was concluding, patrons began to hug, and then walk towards their car to leave. Jesse walks over to Yvette, and they both hug and kiss and say goodbye. Russell signals for Kevin and Jesse to follow him. Russell decides to walk over to one of the guys he had a strange feeling about, the handsome one. The man is sitting by himself looking very nervous and unsure of himself. Russell decides to approach him, and sticks his hand out for him to shake it.
“Excuse me, I have weird feeling that we’ve met before. I’m Russell McCoy. I was a very close coworker to the deceased. I don’t know why I feel like I’ve met you before.”
The man shakes Russell’s hand and introduces himself, yet fibbing about his name.
“I’m Martin. Martin Caputo. I look familiar? Funny, you look familiar as well. I can’t put my finger on to where I know you from though. But you look familiar as well.”
Russell looks at the man very suspiciously, and presses him some more.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how are you in relation to the deceased?”
The man then starts to rub the back of his head, and stops for a couple seconds. He then starts to laugh and grin. He then responds with another fib.
“Oh, well I’m an old golfing buddy of Peter’s. Me and him go way, way, back. Yeah. He was such a nice friend to have. I’m gonna miss him.”
The other man Russell seemed to have a feeling
that he recognized, the unconventional creepy one, remains in his seat, listening to Russell speak to this man. Russell snaps back at the man exposing him.
“Peter never played golf. In fact, hated it very much. He always thought it was boring, and Peter was more of a hang-gliding and more extreme sport type of guy. So why don’t you start to tell the truth now. Just stop lying, because you’re clearly bad at it.”
The man then looks around, and continues to rubs the back of his head. He waves his hand signaling for Russell to follow him to a more intimate area.
“Okay, Okay, you caught me. My name isn’t Martin. Tell you what, why don’t we go out for a drink? Does that sound good, and we can talk about this more?”
Russell stares at the man for a few minutes, and then responds.
“Alright, you seem innocent enough. I want to get to the bottom of this right now. Something fishy is going on. But yeah, we can talk about this over a drink.”
The man smiles back at Russell and replies to him.
“I know this really good bar; it has a good vibe. The drinks are nice, it’s really good. It’s quite far from here though. Just follow me and I’ll take you there. Okay?”
Russell, Kevin and Jesse then walk towards Russell’s car. Russell notices that the man gets into a luxury Mercedes that has no license plates. He shrugs this off, and gets in his car and starts the engine. Russell starts to follow this strange character to the bar he recommended to them. He continues to caravan behind this man for almost a half an hour. Kevin starts to get suspicious and screams and hollers at Russell.
“Russ, this guy could be a psycho killer and you’re just following him. I mean, at first I thought it was cute that he wanted us to go for a drink with him. But the longer we drive, the more I think this man is just plain creepy. I don’t about this Russ.”
Russell ignores Kevin, and continues to follow this strange man. Russell was on a mission to find out why this man seemed so familiar to him. As soon as he noticed him at the funeral, Russell began to have so many thoughts in his head. He somehow is connected towards this man, and the fact he is still in mystery over the circumstances around him, Russell feels determined to find out the ties that they both share. The more minutes that pass driving behind this man, is the more anxious Russell gets. He anticipates breaking this guy, and cracking the code towards his ambiguity. Russell looks at the passenger seat and notices Kevin acting scared.
“Russ, I think we should stop following him. Let’s just leave him alone. The reason he looks familiar; is you probably saw him on Unsolved Mysteries or something Russ. He’s a psycho and that’s why his face sticks out. Russ, I’m your old college buddy listen to me. You’re gonna follow and listen to this guy you don’t even know, and ignore me Russ? I don’t believe this at all. You’re starting to scare me Russ.”
Jesse remains in the back seat quiet and under anxiety as well. He doesn’t question Russell at all, only trusting his intuition. Russell continues to follow the man. Kevin then continues to worry and try to convince Russell to stray away.
“Russ, listen to me man. This guy is bad news. You’re gonna look back at this and say to yourself, ‘I should have just listened to Kev’. Russ you’re starting to scare me and Jesse.”
Russell then gives Kevin a very terrifying grin and begins to laugh. Jesse starts to frown and worry, yet continues to stay silent and not speak at this time. Russell continues down the road following behind the mysterious man in the Mercedes. Kevin continues.
“Russ, pull over. I can’t do this. I don’t want anything to do with this man. I hate it when you get like this Russ. You’re transforming into some evil devil, and I want nothing to do with this Russ, so just pull over and let me out because I don’t want any part of this.”
Russell turns his head towards Kevin and laughs at him.
“Kev, shut the fuck up. I know what I’m doing okay. I would never put you or Jesse in any harm alright. This guy isn’t going to hurt us either. I do want to find out who he is though.”
Kevin looks down towards the floor and takes his glasses off. He starts to cover his hands with his eyes, and continues to scream at Russell.
“Russ, I can’t watch this. This is nothing but trouble. You’re gonna get us all killed man.”
Russell laughs at Kevin and continues to drive behind the man. Jesse remains silent in the back seat, also in fear of Russell’s actions. Russell is fired up now, and nothing is going to stop him from pursuing who this strange man is. He doesn’t sense any danger from him, or else Russell would have distanced himself. The mysterious feeling he had at the funeral however, had to have meant something and held some type of value. Russell also feels that he has travelled too far at this point, to turn back and leave this man alone. He has wasted too much time already to give up and leave the man alone. He has been following this man for over two hours, since they have met at the funeral, so Russell felt he deserved to resolve this particular issue. If he honestly felt that Kevin and Jesse were in immediate danger, he wouldn’t proceed. Russell didn’t feel that way. He knew that wasn’t the case with this man, this was something more ethereal than that.
The man finally pulls up to a deserted saloon in an industrial area of San Pedro. An area located South West of Los Angeles. There are many factories and warehouses adjacent to the bar. Russell, Kevin and Jesse get out of the car, and the man gets out of his car. All four men then walk inside the bar. Upon entering the bar, Russell starts to notice the art style and how extravagant the interior looks. The bar has a Wild Wild West theme, and it shows as there many frontier and western influenced decorations and styles scattered all across. The bar stools look like they were made in the 1800s, and have a classical vibe towards them. There are many cowboy hats hung up on the wall. The dark brown wooden paneling the walls have, add to the ambiance of the building. There is an old style jukebox, and most of the popular playlists are of country western music. All of the booths and tables of the bar look like stagecoaches to pay more homage to the western vibe. There is also a pool table located in the bar.
Russell approaches the mystery man who’s looking smug.
“Okay, now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Tell me who you are. Now!”
The man looks at Russell and begins to smirk and chuckle to himself. He then walks over to the bar, and orders drinks for everyone.
“Let me get a double shot of scotch, and what I can get you?”
He turns to look at Russell, who gives him his drink order.
“I’ll take three Jägerbombs.”
The mysterious man then turns to look at Kevin and Jesse wanting their drink order. Kevin gives his drink order to the mysterious man first.
“I’ll have a Long Island Iced Tea.”
Jesse then gives his drink order to the man.
“I’ll have a double shot of Jack and Coke.”
The mysterious man then turns towards the bartender, and hands him dollar bills.
“You heard what they wanted, now fix us all up.”
The bartender quickly serves their drinks. Russell takes one of his shots, and turns to look at the mysterious man grinning at him ferociously. He then screams at him.
“Okay, now you tell me who you are. No more playing around.”
The mystery man laughs at Russell, and starts sipping on his cocktail. Kevin and Jesse sip their drinks and watch Russell and the strange man with fear and in confusion. The man then starts to walk towards the pool table. He takes a pool cue and begins to rub chalk on the end of it.
“Do you play pool?”
Russell beings to scrunch his face up at the man, and marches over to the pool table. He takes his suit jacket off, handing it to Jesse. He then proceeds to take a pool cue and also begins to rub chalk on the cue stick, staring at the man while doing it.
“Unfortunately for you, I do. I can also play it quite well. What’s the deal? You want to play a game? I’m down. I’m gonna beat you, but I’m down.”
The man t
hen gives a devilish laugh towards Russell and puts quarters inside of the pool table. He then begins to set up the pool balls. As he’s doing it, he starts to make a bet with Russell.
“If you win, I’ll tell you where you know me from, and believe me you’re gonna flip once you find out. However, if I win, you and your friends not only have to buy the next round of drinks, but I won’t tell you my name, and you’ll never know who I am. You’ll always be in suspense about me, and wouldn’t that be a damn shame?”
Russell gives the mysterious man a very competitive look and starts to crack his knuckles. Kevin then starts to give Russell words of encouragement.
“You can do it Russ, kick his ass. I’ve seen you play pool a bunch of times before, you used to always whoop me in it. You got this Russ, you can beat him!”
Russell ignores Kevin, as he watches the man of mystery set the balls on the table. Russell is indeed very skilled in billiards. However, he does not know the skill level of this man, and he could be more advanced than Russell is. Russell is well aware that he must win this game if he wishes to know who the identify of this man actually is. The mystery man goes first, breaking the balls originally quite well. He is having great accuracy with his shots, and is giving Russell a run for his money. The man continues to sink his set, hitting every correct pattern accurately. He is down to only one ball left. However, the man suddenly misjudges the aim of his shot, and sinks the 8 ball into the hole. It is now Russell’s turn to shoot. Russell begins to sink the first of his balls perfectly. Russell is completely focused, and has his eye on the prize. It all comes down to the moment where the mystery man made his mistake. Russell only has to make this shot, without the 8 ball or the cue ball being sunk. Feeling extremely confident that he can win, he prepares to take his final shot. Russell successfully manages to sink his last ball into the hole. Kevin immediately goes up to hug Russell, and Jesse as well applauds for him. Russell then gives the man a triumphant look, and talks to him.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Page 20