Diagnosis Monkey
By Pamala Rush

Disclaimer: This story is mine, but the characters and places 
mostly aren't. I'm only borrowing them for this story which I hope 
you enjoy. Thank my mom for the title.
*******************************************************************************
	Jessie threw the duffel bag into the back seat of his car 
without even looking and climbed in. He yawned, rubbed his face a 
couple of times and reached down to start the car when he realized 
that someone-- or rather, something-- was sitting in the car beside 
him. 
	He looked over at the furry brown creature and screamed. 
The furry brown creature screamed back and hid his face in his 
hands. It was then that Jessie realized that it was an orangutan. 
The ape had a pair of shorts on and a shirt that had blood on it. On 
closer inspection, Jessie realized that the animal had blood in 
several areas, but did not seem to be injured at all.
	Slowly, Jessie backed out of the car and looked at the 
animal. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said.

	Jessie wheeled the chair through the halls of Community 
General Hospital at breakneck speed. The chair's occupant was 
covered with a sheet.
	Upon finding Dr. Mark Sloan in the doctor's lounge, he 
scooted everyone else out, closed the shades and turned to his 
mentor.
	"I found this in my car," Jessie said as he pulled the sheet 
away.
	There in the wheelchair sat a sad looking orangutan.
	"Jessie, you can't have this here," Mark said.
	"Just take a look at him," Jessie said as he grabbed the 
ape's face and shook it slightly. The animal made its face even 
sadder looking by turning its bottom lip wrong side out. "Look at 
that face."
	"Jessie, he's covered in blood," Mark exclaimed as he 
noticed the ape's state.
	"He's not hurt, I checked," Jessie said. "It's not his blood. I 
took a look around the garage, but I didn't see anything."
	"Maybe we should call Steve," Mark suggested as the door 
unexpectedly opened and Amanda came in.
	A second of silence passed before Amanda finally spoke. 
"New girlfriend, Jessie?" she joked, trying to sound casual.
	Jessie closed the door and stood in front of it to keep 
anyone else from inadvertently walking in. "I found him in my car."
	"Jessie, he's covered in....," Amanda began.
	"I know, I know," Jessie said as Mark's pager began to beep.
	Mark headed to the phone. "You'd better get him cleaned up 
and out of here before Norman catches you with him," he said as 
he picked it up and dialed.

	Steve Sloan stood in the living room of a small house 
looking at the bloody corpse in the middle of the room. The dead 
man had three bloody bullet holes in his chest and several police 
officers were scurrying around him gathering evidence.
	Steve's cellular phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket 
to answer it. "Sloan here."
	"What's up, Steve?" It was Steve's father Mark from 
Community General whom Steve had just paged.
	"I'm about two blocks away and I've got a really good one for 
you this time," Steve said. "The victim is in his late thirties and has 
three bullet holes in his chest, but that's not what's interesting. 
What's interesting is the picture of this guy and his pet."
	Mark glance at Jessie and his new friend. "I don't suppose 
the pet would be, oh, say, an orangutan, would it?"
	"How'd you guess?" Steve asked.
	"Let's just say that he found his way here and into Jessie's 
car," Mark replied. "He's got blood all over but he's not hurt."
	"Keep an eye on him until I get there," Steve said. "I'll be 
there in five minutes."

	Steve looked at the ape and the ape stared back. "You're 
sure he's not hurt," he asked the three doctors who were in the 
room.
	"Well, I'm not a veterinarian," Mark said. "But I'd say he was 
in perfect health."
	"What are we going to do with him?" Amanda asked.
	Steve shrugged. "He may be the only witness we have to a 
murder."
	"Amanda, do you have any clothes that CJ has grown out of 
that might fit our friend here?" Jessie asked. "The clothes probably 
need to be checked for clues. And I think he's probably used to 
wearing them."
	"Sure," Amanda said. "I'll run home and get them."
	She opened the door to leave and shut it quickly. "Briggs is 
coming," she whispered.
	The four started frantically trying to figure out where to hide 
the ape. Jessie threw the sheet back over the animal's head and 
wheeled him next to the couch. Amanda dug a child's storybook out 
of a pile of magazines and sat down next to him, opening the book 
to the middle. Steve took the book, turned it over and gave it back 
so that Amanda could start reading then flopped down on the other 
end of the room's only couch with a magazine. Mark and Jessie 
both sat at one of the tables in the middle of the room and 
pretended to discuss a chart just as hospital administrator Norman 
Briggs entered the room.
	"And they lived happily ever after," Amanda said. "Now wasn't that a lovely story."
	The mass shook its head emphatically and Steve and Jessie 
began to cough to cover the laughter which threatened to boil over.
	"Who's this?" Norman asked.
	"This is Joey," Mark said. "One of the children from 
pediatrics."
	"Why isn't he in pediatrics?"
	"Because he's shy and very scared," Amanda said as she 
patted the shoulder of the covered mass. "I thought a tour of the 
hospital would help him feel better."
	"Good thinking. But why is he covered with a sheet?" 
Norman said as began to lift the edge of the sheet.
	"No!" the group yelled.
	"He's really very shy," Amanda said almost calmly with a jab 
to Steve's rib to try and stop his fit of barely controlled laughter. 
"He's hiding."
	Norman nodded in understanding before turning to Steve on 
the other end of the couch. "What are you doing here?"
	Steve smiled with just a touch of mischief. "Waiting for dad 
to get off so we can go get something to eat."
	"What's up, Norman?" Jessie asked.
	"Spending is up," Norman replied. "We need to cut a few 
more corners." He looked around at Jessie, Amanda and Steve, 
who looked a little too amused. "Dr. Sloan could I speak to you 
please?"
	"Sure Norman," Mark replied as he stood up. "What do you 
need?"
	"In private," Norman said.
	Mark looked at Jessie who shrugged. "You think you can 
handle 'Joey' on your own?"
	"Amanda's a mother," Norman stated. "I think she can 
handle a child."
	Steve and Jessie almost lost it again, and when Mark and 
Norman had left and closed the door the three remaining humans 
burst out laughing.

	Norman looked at the door to the room that he and Mark had 
just vacated. He could hear the laughter coming from the other 
side. "Something is going on here and I want to know what," 
Norman demanded. "I don't like being the butt of everyone's jokes."
	"Steve is working on a murder investigation and we're 
helping him out like we usually do," Mark told him.
	"Murder is not a laughing matter, Dr. Sloan," Norman said 
with a nod back to the lounge and the three people who could still 
be heard laughing.
	"No, Norman, it isn't," Mark replied with a pat to his back. He 
turned around and went back into the room.
	"Why is it that no one ever tells me anything that goes on 
around here?" Norman mumbled. "I thought *I* was the hospital 
administrator."

	The orangutan was clean and dressed in some of CJ's old 
clothes and sitting on the couch in Mark's living room. The TV was 
on, but the ape was the only one watching, and he was flipping 
channels with the remote so quickly that you couldn't see what was 
on each channel. The four humans stood behind him deep in 
discussion about what to do with an orangutan.
	"Steve, you can't send him to the zoo," Jessie said. "He's 
lived with humans too long. And, besides, maybe he can help you 
identify the killer of his owner."
	"He's got you there, son," Mark said.
	Steve rolled his eyes. "What are we going to do with him 
then?"
	"He can stay here," Jessie said. "Can't he?"
	"I don't know about that," Mark said. "He's not exactly a 
goldfish. What will we do with him when we're gone?"
	"Call a sitter?" Jessie said.
	Chuckles and head shakes all around were the response to 
that.
	"Jessie," Amanda said. "He's an ape not a child."
	"I know, it's just that, I kind of like the little guy," Jessie said 
as he scratched the animal's head. "I'd take him home with me, but 
I can't have animals at my apartment."
	Mark looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, we have 
an animal trainer living just down the beach," he said. "Maybe he 
could refer us to someone who could take care of him."
	"That's a good idea," Steve said. "I've got to get back to 
work."
	"And I'd better get back to the hospital so I can do the 
autopsy on his owner," Amanda said.
	"We don't even know his name," Jessie said as he patted 
the ape's head.
	"I'll see if I can find that out for you," Steve said.
	"Are you going back to the murder scene?" Mark asked.
	"Yeah, why?"
	"I'd like to go with you," Mark said. "Let me make the call to 
Pete first."
	"All right," Steve responded. "Hurry."
	By now, the ape had found something he wanted to watch, 
the governor giving a speech on cutting crime in the cities, and was 
making rude sounds at every point the man gave.
	"My sentiments exactly," Steve said.

	The body had been removed and a tape outline marked the 
place where it had been found. Otherwise, the room looked the 
same as it had when Steve had been there earlier. A bookshelf 
under the window was lined with pictures of the murdered man and 
his orangutan.
	Mark picked up one photo that was different from the others. 
It was of the man and a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen. 
"Steve, look at this," Mark pointed out.
	"Family member?"
	"Maybe," Mark replied.
	He took the back off the photo frame and looked to see if 
there was a name on the back. 'My sister Jennifer, 1988,' was 
written on the back.
	"It looks like her name is Jennifer," Mark said.
	"Bring it along," Steve said. "Maybe we can find out where 
she lives."

	Dressed in surgical scrubs and protective glasses and with 
rubber gloves on her hands, Amanda stood over the dead body of 
Jamie Stephans, former circus performer and owner of the 
orangutan that Jessie had found in his car. Steve and Mark stood 
next to her waiting for her to give her report.
	"His cause of death is pretty cut and dry," Amanda told him. 
"The three gunshot wounds killed him."
	"I feel a but coming on," Steve said.
	"Give that man a banana," Amanda said. 
	"Don't say banana," Steve said. "What else is there?"
	"He had severe bruising and head trauma," came Amanda's 
answer. "Broken jaw, cracked skull, and broken collarbone."
	"So he was beaten before he was shot?" Steve asked.
	Amanda nodded. "I believe so."
	"Have you talked to the man's family?" Mark asked Steve.
	"Not yet," Steve replied. "I found the sister's address. You 
want to come?"
	"I'd like to," Mark replied. "But I have some rounds to finish."
	"Then I'll see you later," Steve replied as he took his copy of 
the file and went out the door.

	Jennifer Neilson was watering her front lawn and flower bed 
in her favorite old overalls when Steve drove up to her front walk, 
parked the car and got out. Jen stopped to watch him as he came 
toward her.
	"What can I do for you?" she asked him.
	"Nice yard," Steve commented before going on. "Are you 
Jennifer Neilson?"
	"Guilty," she said as she again began moving her hose back 
and forth along the flower bed.
	"That's a pretty poor choice of words," Steve said as he 
pulled out his badge and ID. "I'm Detective Steve Sloan, 
Homicide."
	Jen ducked her head and grinned at him. "I would guess so. 
What can I do for you?"
	"Do you have a brother named Jamie Stephans?"
	"Yes," Jen told him. "But I haven't been getting along with 
him since he quit the circus last month and settled down to take 
care of that orangutan. He lives in a little house just down that 
way." 
	Not paying attention, she gestured with her hose hand and 
the spray went past Steve. He jumped backwards and Jen swished 
the hose back in time to catch him on the way back. The water 
caught him at about the chest level and made his shirt, tie and 
jacket wet from the neck to the waist.
	She gasped at her mistake as Steve shook his damp jacket 
off. "I'm so sorry," she exclaimed. "I usually warn people about that. 
Let me get you a towel."
	"Never mind," Steve said as he wrung out his tie. "It's wash 
and wear."
	Jen giggled. "Wash and wear," she said. "That's good." She 
twisted the water nozzle to the off position and wiped the smile 
from her face. "Now what was it about Jamie?"
	Steve quit wringing his tie and looked up at her. "I'm afraid 
he's been murdered."
	Jen dropped the hose in surprise. Her jaw hung open as she 
stood looking at him. "There's got to be some kind of mistake."
	"I'm afraid not," Steve said. "We took his fingerprints, but we 
need you to come down and identify him."
	She looked like she might cry for a few seconds before her 
head jerked up. "What about Eugene?"
	"Eugene?"
	"His orangutan," Jen said. "Eugene is... was... Jamie's whole 
world since Greg, that's Eugene's original owner, died last year."
	"Eugene is safe," Steve said. "A friend of mine found him 
and he is at my house with a trainer that my dad knows. We'll go 
there after we stop at Community General if you'd like."

	Jessie and Pete had been looking everywhere for the animal 
they had dubbed 'Joey,' but he was nowhere to be found. Steve 
came in the front door with a woman with bright red hair and 
dressed in bib overalls. She looked a bit distraught, and Jessie 
guessed that she was the owner's sister that Steve had warned him 
was coming.
	"Where is he?" Steve asked.
	"That's the problem," Jessie said. "We've looked 
everywhere, but we can't find him."
	The woman passed him and went into the office area of the 
house. She put her fingers into her mouth and let out a shrill 
whistle that made Steve, Jessie and Pete all plug their ears. 
"Eugene!" She called loudly.
	The ape came out of the kitchen a few seconds later and 
crawled into Jen's waiting arms. Abruptly, Jen sneezed, and put the 
animal back down on the floor. "Sorry, critter," she said. "You forget 
I'm ah... ah... ah..." she sneezed again, this time into a hankie she 
had produced from somewhere. "Allergic."
	Jessie looked back at Steve who shrugged. "We had been 
hoping you would take the animal off our hands," Steve said. "But 
considering you're allergic..."
	Jen sneezed into the hankie again. "I love the little guy, but I 
just can't be around him."
	"His name is Eugene?" Jessie asked as he watched the 
animal in question wrap his long hairy arms around Jen's legs.
	Jen held the hankie over her mouth and nose and tried not 
to sneeze as she nodded. "I could never figure out why Greg gave 
him such a name," she said through the hankie.
	"At least we know his name now," Pete said as Jen sneezed 
again. "I'm Pete Wiltshire."
	Jen shook his hand and turned back to the ape. "Eugene, go 
watch TV."
	The ape did exactly as he was told.
	Jesse watched him go. "You mean, all we had to do was 
whistle like that and yell his name?"
	Jen blew her nose and wiped it before stuffing the hankie 
back into her pocket. "Of course it would have helped to actually 
know his name."
	Jen was only about an inch shorter than Jesse, but she was 
all spitfire. "My brother kind of inherited him," she explained to the 
three men who seemed to hover around her. "Him and the 2.4 
million dollars Greg had in the bank."
	Steve let out a whistle. "There's a motive for murder if I ever 
heard one." He paused. "You said that you had not been getting 
along with your brother since he quit the circus. Would you 
explain?"
	Jen looked at Steve. "I thought he should get a bodyguard 
for himself and Eugene. He was sure he could keep them both 
safe." She sighed and shrugged. "As you've seen, he couldn't."
	"Who do you think would kill your brother?" Jesse asked.
	Jen looked thoughtful. "Todd Teppord. He was supposed to 
get Eugene, but when Greg caught him mistreating some of the 
animals on the circus, he changed his will."
	"Was there anything that Jamie might have known that 
someone would beat him up for?" Steve asked.
	"He told me before Greg died that he had seen Todd buying 
drugs," Jen replied. "Jamie said he was going to try to gather the 
proof he needed to get Todd fired."
	Steve looked thoughtful. "If this Todd was buying drugs, 
then the proof you're talking about could not just get him fired. I 
could send him to jail." He glanced down at his watch. "I've got to 
go," he said.
	"Thank you for your help," Jen said as she shook his hand.
	Steve walked down the front stairs and out of the house as 
Jen turned back to Jesse. "I don't know about you, but I want to go 
look around at my brother's house. You want to come along?"
	Jesse turned back to Pete. "You think you can handle 
Eugene?"
	"I'm an animal trainer, Jess," Pete said. "I can handle an 
elephant."
	Jesse shook his head. "Your car or mine?"
	"It'll have to be yours," Jen said. "I rode over here with 
Detective Sloan."
	"Ah. An alterior motive for getting me to go with you," Jesse 
said with a sly voice. "You need a ride."
	"Well, I try," Jen said as Jesse led her out the front door 
leaving Pete to shake his head at them. Eugene blew a rasberry at 
their retreating backs and flipped to a new channel.

	Jen stood in the doorway of her brother's little house with 
Jesse standing behind her. She stared at the white outline and red 
stains marking where her brother had fallen when he was shot.
	"Are you sure you can handle this?" Jesse asked softly.
	Jen glanced back at him and nodded. She made her way 
forward with a sneeze. There were rows of photographs of Jamie 
and the orangutan and Greg and the orangutan and Jamie and 
Greg and the orangutan sitting on the shelf by the living room's 
only window. Unsure of whether she could touch anything, she 
didn't, but the urge to cry was incredibly strong. The urge to sneeze 
was even stronger and she sneezed several times before Jesse 
asked if she was OK, and she answered that she was.
	She went down the short hallway to the right and into 
Jamie's bedroom, Jesse following, not quite sure what she was 
looking for. Jesse gave a mental shrug. She was probably trying to 
find something for Eugene, or something out of place. She was 
silently going through everything up to and until she looked under 
the edge of the bed.
	She got a puzzled look on her face and turned to Jesse. 
"Help me move the bed," she ordered and began to push the bed 
aside.
	Jesse shrugged and helped then watched as she got down 
on her knees to pull a floorboard that was slightly askew away. 
There was something underneath it that Jesse couldn't identify until 
Jen had pulled it out and away from the hole. It was an accordian 
fold envelope stuffed with papers and tied with a shoe string. Jen 
quickly undid the lace and opened the envelope before looking up 
at Jesse.
	"My brother left a will," she told him then shook her head. "I 
don't know whether I should read it or not."
	Gently, Jesse took the envelope from her hand and looked 
through the contents. Jen was right, there was a will written by her 
brother and a copy of Greg's will, which Jesse unfolded and read 
while he handed Jamie's will to Jen to read.
	There was a stipulation in Greg's will that Todd Teppord 
would get the money and the orangutan if anything ever happened 
to Jamie and if Jamie didn't have a will leaving the care of the 
animal to someone else.
	"I think we'd better get this to Steve," Jesse said as he 
looked up to see Jen's shock. "What?"
	"Jamie left Eugene in my care," she said. "I'm supposed to 
find him a good home."
	"That means all the money is yours," Jesse said.
	Jen nodded slowly. "What now?"
	"Now we take this to Steve," Jesse said.

	Steve held the weapon which was encased in a plastic zip 
bag up for his father to see. "They found it in the gutter near Todd 
Teppord's house," he told him.
	Mark took the gun from him and looked at it. "Any prints?"
	Steve shook his head. "There was some kind of film along 
the grip, but no prints. Wiped clean."
	Mark looked at the gun thoughtfully. "They test the film?" 
Mark asked.
	"Not yet," Steve said. "They've got a sample. They just 
haven't tested it yet."
	Mark nodded and handed the gun back to his son. They 
were in the living room of the beach house discussing the case and 
watching the orangutan make rude noises at the television.
	Jesse and Jen came in at that moment and Jesse handed 
the accordian envelope to Steve. "We found this under a 
floorboard at Jamie's house," Jesse told him. "We decided to bring 
it straight to you."
	Steve opened it up as Mark greeted the two and offered 
them something, which both refused. Steve sat down on the couch 
and spread the contents on the coffee table as Jesse sat down in a 
nearby chair and Mark sat down beside him and placed his glasses 
on his nose so he could look over his son's shoulder at the papers. 
Eugene sat on Steve's other side flipping channels on the TV.
	They had just started to look at the papers when Jen's 
sneeze made them look up. "I'm sorry," she said. "Go ahead. I'll be 
in the other room."
	Eugene kept flipping channels as Jen went into the office 
and Mark and Steve looked back down at the papers. "Looks like 
his will," Mark said.
	"And a copy of Greg's will," Steve continued as he picked up 
the stack of paper. A small black book slipped out of the fold of the 
will and Steve picked it up. "Jamie's bank book," he said as he 
opened it.
	It had the normal use of withdrawls and deposits up until the 
transfer of several million dollars around the time that Jen had said 
Greg had died, then the withdrawls and deposits continued at 
about the same pace as they had before. More money was being 
deposited than withdrawn, until a date two weeks before Jamie's 
death. An incredibly large amount was taken out of the account.
	"This is unusual," Steve said.
	"What is it?" Mark asked.
	"More that one hundred thousand dollars was taken out of 
the account about two weeks ago," Steve told him.
	"Where was it transferred to?"
	"It wasn't," Steve said. "It was completely removed from the 
account."
	"That _is_ strange," Mark replied. "I wonder what he did with 
it."
	"Who knows," Steve said. "I'm going to have a talk with Mr. 
Teppord. Maybe he can shed some light on things."

	Todd Teppord was smoking a cigarette on the steps of an 
old, run down apartment complex when Steve drove up. Todd 
watched as he parked then threw the cigarette on the ground and 
crushed it beneath his heel.
	"I'm looking for Todd Teppord," Steve said to the man.
	"Depends on who's askin'," Todd replied.
	Steve pulled out his I.D. and showed it to him. "Detective 
Steve Sloan, Homicide."
	"Then it's me," Todd replied.
	"Did you know a man named Jamie Stephans?" Steve 
asked.
	"Why?"
	"Because he was murdered this morning," Steve replied. 
Todd's head jerked up in surprise. "I was told by his sister that you 
might have something to do with his death. And we found the 
murder weapon in a garbage about a block away."
	"So that's what the cops were doin' down there this mornin'," 
Todd stated. "I didn't kill him."
	"Did you see him this morning?"
	"Yeah," Todd said. "I got in a fight with him over Eugene. But 
I didn't kill him."
	"What about Eugene did you fight about?"
	"Greg was goin' ta leave the little ape to me," Todd said a bit 
amusedly. "I'm pretty fond of the little guy."
	"I was told you were into drugs," Steve said.
	"Ancient history," Todd replied. "I was an addict back when I 
was a teenager, but Greg got me off the streets and working with 
the animals in his circus. Eugene and Greg were inseparable, and 
so were Jamie and I -- once upon a time."
	"What messed things up?"
	"Red," Todd said. "She was a manipulator. Had Jamie 
wrapped around her little finger."
	"Was Red her name?" Steve asked.
	"Don't recall what her name was," Todd replied. "Everyone 
just called her Red. Greg was in love with her for a long time until 
she manipulated him into leaving Eugene in Jamie's care. 
Although, Jamie was as close with Greg as I was."
	"How did that come about?"
	"Jamie's parents were killed," Todd explained. "They 
separated him and his little sis. Put them both in foster care. He 
used to talk about her all the time until Red showed up."
	"You were supposed to get the orangutan," Steve said. It 
was not a question.
	"Yeah," Todd said. "Greg said that Jamie had other things to 
think about. His baby sister, for one."
	"Do you remember what Red looked like?"
	Todd smiled. "That's a toughie. The one thing I remember 
most about her was her bright red hair."
	Steve looked thoughtful. "Did you happen to know if Jamie 
had a will?"
	Todd shook his head, no. "I know for sure that he didn't. He 
said everything had been taken care of by Greg's will. There was 
no need for him to have one."
	"One more thing," Steve said. "Do you know why Jamie 
would take one-hundred thousand dollars out of his accounts?"
	Todd shook his head. "When did this happen?"
	"About two weeks ago," Steve replied.
	"I went to lunch with him a couple weeks ago," Todd said. 
"He was upset, but wouldn't tell me why."
	"You saw him two weeks ago?"
	"Yes."
	"I thought you two hadn't been getting along?"
	Todd laughed. "We were like brothers until this morning. 
Red was making threats, and I was worried she would do 
something to Jamie or Eugene. We got in a fist fight, and I'm afraid 
I hurt him pretty badly." He held up his fist so Steve could see the 
bruised and bandaged knuckles. "He's prone to broken bones, and 
I think I might have broken his jaw. He wouldn't let me take him to 
the hospital. He thought they would arrest me....say, did he die 
from those injuries?"
	Steve shook his head. "He was shot."
	"That's right," Todd said remembering. "You said they found 
the murder weapon near my place. I didn't shoot him."
	"I'm not sure whether to believe you or not," Steve said. 
"Too much conflicting information." He pulled out a card and 
handed it to Todd. "If you think of anything else, give me a call. 
And don't leave town. I may need to talk to you again."
	"Whatever you say, sir," Todd said as he saluted jauntily.

	Jesse sat across the table from the red-haired sister of 
Jamie Stephans. She was dressed differently that she had been 
before. The braids were gone, but her hair was a bit wavy from 
their presence. She was wearing a sleeveless sun dress instead of 
the green bib overalls she had been wearing when Jesse had first 
met her. Jesse thought she was pretty, even with her hair a mess 
and her clothes dirth from working ing the garden. She sure cleans 
up good, Jesse thought.
	"So, you're a doctor," Jen said, trying to begin a 
conversation.
	Jesse nodded as he took a bite of his meal. He chewed and 
swallowed before saying anything. "Yes, I am. You like doctors?"
	"Not when they're poking and proding," Jen replied with a 
smile that made Jesse heart warm.
	"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to find out what's wrong when 
you aren't poking and proding," Jesse replied with a smile of his 
own.
	Jen leaned back rather suddenly and very solemnly. "You 
OK?" Jesse asked.
	"I feel a bit silly, having so much fun with you," Jen said. 
"When my brother is dead. I guess I just can't believe he's gone."
	Jesse took her hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wish there was 
something I could do."
	Jen shook her head. "All you can do is help me find a good 
home for Eugene. He's the one we've got to be concerned with 
right now."
	Jesse nodded. "Losing two owners in the space of a few 
weeks must be kind of hard on the little guy."
	"I wish I could take him," Jen said. "But I don't think either of 
us would like my sneezing."
	"Maybe I can help there," Jesse said, sitting straight.
	"I don't understand," Jen said.
	"I could perscribe you some allergy medication," Jesse told 
her. "Something that doesn't make you too drowsy."
	"Could you?"
	"I'd have to look at your medical chart first, but I don't see a 
problem with that."
	Jen smiled. "That would be SO great," she said as she 
leaned over and kissed him.
	Jesse grinned. "You are welcome," he replied.

	"That's all he said?" Mark asked.
	"That's it," Steve said. "I don't know who to believe."
	Mark could only shake his head. "Did you get the report 
back on the film on the gun?"
	Steve nodded and handed him the file. They were sitting in 
the office of the beach house, Mark at the desk, and Steve 
standing near it. Steve sat down on the edge of the desk as Mark 
opened the file and placed his glasses on his nose so he could 
peruse the file, then looked over both the file and his glasses at his 
son.
	"Saliva?" Mark asked.
	"That's what they said it was," Steve said. "Don't ask me 
how it got there."
	Eugene crawled into one of the chairs nearby and watched 
Mark and Steve as they talked back and forth. Mark glanced over 
at the orangutan with a smile in time to watch as he sneezed. 
Mark's smile dissapeared suddenly.
	"Sneezing!" he exclaimed. "That's it?"
	"What's it?" Steve asked.
	"That's how the saliva got on the gun," Mark said.
	Steve thought about it for a minute, then his face lit up. "I get 
it," he said.
	"I know who killed Jamie Stephans," Mark said.

	 "I don't know why Mark wanted to meet us here," Jesse said 
as he led Jen into Jamie's house. "He just said that he's got some 
new evidence."
	Jen looked a bit uncomfortable as she shrugged and 
followed Jesse into the house. Mark was in the livingroom looking 
at the rows of photographs on the shelf onder the window. The 
tape outline was still on the floor marking the place where Jamie's 
body had been found.
	Jen sneezed as she came into the room. "Dr. Sloan, can we 
get this over with," she said. "Eugene's hair is everywhere in this 
place."
	Mark nodded. "Of course we can," he said as he handed her 
a gun wrapped in a plastic bag. "Do you know what this is?"
	Jen looked at it before handing it back to him. "No," she 
said. "What is it?"
	"The murder weapon," Mark replied.
	"Why are you showing me this?" Jen asked.
	Mark went on. "They found it near Todd's apartment 
building. No prints on it."
	"Then how does this help find Jamie's killer?" Jen asked 
then sneezed violently a few times.
	When she was finished, Mark went on. "There were no 
prints, but there was some kind of film on the gun that when tested 
turned out to be saliva."
	Jen looked back at Jesse. He had a carefully neutral look on 
his face. She turned back to Mark. "What does that mean? That 
they wiped the prints using their own spit?"
	Mark started across the room. "That's a good point," he said. 
"But I don't think that's what happened."
	"OK," Jen said as Steve came from the hallway to stand on 
the other side of the room. "What happened."
	Mark pointed at a small round hole in the wall. "See that?"
	Jen shook her head. "You brought me here to show me a 
hole in the wall?"
	"That's a bullet hole," Steve commented holding up a bullet 
in a plastic bag. "From this bullet."
	"Fired from this gun," Mark said as he held up the gun.
	Jen looked a bit skeptical. "I'm leaving," she said and turned 
to go.
	Two officers stood just outside the open door where she 
could see them. "Let me guess," she said. "You want me to stay 
until you're done playing your silly game."
	"This is not a game," Mark told her. "It is certainly not very 
fun."
	Jen swished her hand in a circular motion. "Get on with it, 
doctor," she said.
	"Your brother gave you one-hundred-thousand dollars," 
Mark said. "Do you want to tell me why?"
	Jen opened her mouth to answer, but sneezed instead. 
Squeezing her nose shut, she answered, "I don't think that it's any 
of your business. How did you know anyway?"
	"We found Jamie's bank book folded in Greg's will," Mark 
told her.
	Steve held the book up. "When we saw that he had removed 
so much money from the account, we knew he had to have done 
something with it, so we checked your finances and found that you 
had opened a new account three days later. It had a starting 
balance of one-hundred-thousand dollars."
	"So my brother gave me some money," Jen said with her 
hands on her hips. "So what?"
	"So you wanted more," Jesse finally spoke up. "You wanted 
it all."
	"Now you're accusing me of killing my own brother."
	"The peices fit," Mark said. "I think you killed him, but when 
you fired the gun, you sneezed and one of the shots went astray." 
He pointed to the hole. "There."
	"But it's all circumstantial," she replied, holding her nose to 
keep from sneezing again.
	Mark nodded. "That's true," he said. "Except for the fact that 
Jamie didn't have a will."
	Jamie sneezed again, before laughing and saying, "That's 
wrong, you saw it."
	"I saw a forgery," Mark said as he pulled the object of their 
discussion from his inside jacket pocket. "The signature is not your 
brother's."
	"Let me see that," Jen said as she held her hand out.
	Mark didn't hand it over, but walked back to the shelf of 
pictures. He picked up the photo of Jen and her brother that Steve 
had removed from the frame. "This photograph of you and your 
brother, who labeled it?"
	Jen shook her head slowly. "Jamie did, so what's your 
point?"
	"The handwriting is different," he told her. "From what's on 
the will. Look." He held out the picture, face down, and she took it. 
He showed her the signature so she could compare handwriting.
	The two samples of handwriting were nothing alike.
	Jen looked guilty, but said nothing. A few seconds of silence 
passed before she sneezed again. "He always cared more about 
the animals then he did about me. I never really liked the stupid 
orangutan anyway."
	"So you killed him so you could have the money," Mark said.
	"It was more than that," Jen said. "Greg told me he'd give me 
the money when he died. Then he found out I was allergic to the 
big ape and..." She sneezed again. "Gave it to Jamie." She rubbed 
at her nose trying not to sneeze again. "He made sure that he was 
taken care of, but the stipulation in his will made it unnessesary for 
Jamie to have a will. I tried to manipulate him into making out a will, 
but he said my allergies made it impossible for me to care for him 
properly."
	"So you forged the will," Mark said.
	Jen nodded. "I came over to try to get more money from 
Jamie and found that he was hurt... I guess you know the rest."
	"Then you wiped your fingerprints off the gun and dumped it 
near Todd's place," Steve said.
	"That's what I did," Jen said.
	Steve took her arm and started out the door reciting the 
miranda to her. "You have the right to remain silent...."
	Jesse stuffed his hands deep in his pockets. "Easy come, 
easy go," he said.
	Mark smacked him on the back and led him from the room. 
"Women are a dime a dozen."
	"I should know," Jesse said as they went out the door.

	Todd Teppord picked up the orangutan and rubbed his 
head. Looking over at Mark and Jesse, he smiled. "Eugene is back 
where he belongs," he said. "With someone who cares.... not that 
you don't."
	Jesse smiled back as Steve walked in. "I'm glad he's out of 
my hair," Steve said with a smile.
	"He can be cantankerous," Todd said. "But after all, he's 
only an orangutan."
	Mark shook Todd's hand. "Good luck with what ever you 
have planned for the future," he said.
	Eugene responded with a rassberry. The group responded 
with laughter.