Gone, but not forgotten

 

Jan. 20, 2012

 

I miss him.

He was my eyes up in the northern part of Hudson County after I came down to the lower part on a new beat eight years ago.

He was always filling my head with details of who did what and who was connected to whom, up in that dirty part of the world where nasty politics was normal.

So it’s more to wonder what happened last autumn when the police found his body in a cheap Jersey City motel room.

Maybe I’m too suspicious. He was an older man, and out of shape, but only lived a few blocks away from the place he died in, and even after I spoke with the motel clerk, I learned very little as to how he ended up there.

The indignity of life. To die alone.

He was old school, so I can’t imagine his being a threat to anyone. But in this little world of our, someone may have wanted to compromise him and his death came merely as an accident.

Again, the motel clerk would tell me nothing, and got more than a little annoyed when I asked if my friend had checked into the place alone.

Maybe he was even scared.

In the end, I had to settle for not knowing, and for letting his spirit rest.

But his passing is my loss, and as much as I miss my sight in my right eye (I’m still wearing a patch after surgery) I know I’ll see again, when his voice in my ear daily about goings on in North Hudson has been silenced forever.