Sure. Anything
By Reed Farrel Coleman, first published in Mystery Tribune
In the 1980s, a private investigator and ex-cop visits his close friend, a gay man dying from AIDS, who tasks him with hunting and killing the man who murdered his sister twenty years ago. But when the investigator finds the murderer, he's already close to death.
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Moe, an ex-cop, recalls a visit to his friend Klaus in the 1980s as he was hospitalized with AIDS. Klaus was a very free spirit in his lifetime who loved whomever he wanted. One day, Moe brings Klaus some tapes from his apartment. Klaus shows him a dated picture of a man; he tells Moe to find the man, Wayne, and kill him. Klaus explains that the man killed his sister, Rebecca, and that he moved to New York in order to search for the man. Rebecca and Wayne grew up together and attended the same Bible camp. He always had a crush on her, which she kindly rejected, but when they were sixteen, he became more aggressive in his pursuit. He began to stalk her relentlessly. Rebecca's father told him to leave, but this made him snap; he began spending time with local bikers and doing drugs. Rebecca disappeared in July and her father's car was discovered near the highway. Her body was never found, and as a result, it was treated as a missing person case. Wayne was questioned but the bikers all provided alibis for each other. Klaus slept with one of the bikers as a means of getting information. Klaus discovered that Wayne intentionally ran into Rebecca, apologized for stalking her, and asked her to have a meal with him. Klaus inferred that this is around the time when he killed her. He implores Moe to hunt down Wayne and discover where Rebecca's body is, then tell Klaus' parents, towards whom he still feels a connection despite their homophobia. As Klaus journeyed through the U.S. in pursuit of Wayne--who left town a month after Rebecca disappeared--he learned that Wayne got involved with a group of religious extremists who stand outside of bars and clubs and promote conversion therapy. This led him to believe that Wayne had ended up in New York. Klaus reports to Moe that he saw Wayne two days ago outside the hospital window, so Moe looks up the information of the religious group because he wants to fulfill his friend's dying wish. He pays them a visit in search of Wayne. Moe learns that the man has been excommunicated; a church member claims that Wayne was "found out." Moe visits his old police precinct, which he worked at before he was severely injured. He gets Wayne's arrest report and learns that he has a criminal past. Moe visits Wayne's last known address in a shady part of town. He finds Wayne and learns that he has AIDS and is dying; signs of drug use are everywhere, but the church assumed he was gay. Moe decides not to kill Wayne because he is so near death. He returns to the hospital and is stopped by the nurse; he understands that Klaus is dead and attempts to call Klaus' family.
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