Chapter Twenty-Nine

The first thirty minutes of the drive to Airdrie were done in silence. A bad accident on Highway 2 had traffic snarled, and Luke had been forced onto secondary roads, which limited his speed. While Luke focussed on driving, Declan continued to text Charlie with no response.

"Why the fuck isn't he answering?"

Luke ignored the question as he ran a stop sign and at the next intersection took a hard right back onto the main highway. "We're almost there."

"If anything happens to Charlie…"

"Don't worry," Luke said, "we'll be there in plenty of time for his knight in shining armour to save him."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on," Luke teased.

"What?"

"How can you not have seen it? He follows your every move with those big puppy-dog eyes."

Does he? Declan wondered.

Luke shook his head. "He's obviously head-over-heels in love with you, and why not? You are about as gorgeous as they get. On top of that, it's obvious that he doesn't like me. But I guess I'm the competition." Luke took the exit towards the hotel. "Are you sure you're a detective?"

Before Declan had a chance to reply, Luke said, "We're here."

They pulled into the parking lot. Declan jumped out of the car and ran to the hotel front desk. Luke was right behind him.

Luke flashed his badge. "We have a potential hostage situation. You need to give me the key card to room…"

"Two-oh-five," Declan shouted.

The young man behind the counter said nothing but, with shaking hands, passed a key card to Luke. As they reached the door, Declan heard muffled yells. Luke drew his gun, tapped the key card to the reader and shoved the door open with his foot, yelling, "Police. Stay where you are. Put your hands on your head where I can see them. Now!"

Declan followed Luke into the room. Charlie was on the bed naked with Justin straddling him. Both had their hands on their heads.

Before Declan could say anything, Luke shouted, "Justin Neves, I'm authorised to take you in for questioning regarding the death of Ian Mann. Please…disengage yourself from Mr Watts and get dressed."

"Charlie, are you all right?" Declan asked.

"I'm fine!" he yelled as Justin dismounted.

"What's happening?" Justin cried.

Luke pulled him away from the bed and said, "Where are your clothes?"

Justin pointed to a heap on the floor. "Please," Justin sobbed. "I didn't do anything. Charlie, tell them I didn't do anything."

Before Charlie could reply, Luke said, "Declan, search his clothes for a weapon."

Justin looked confused. "Charlie…how do these people know you?" His voice was cracking. No one answered.

Declan checked all of the pockets of Justin's clothes, but found nothing except his wallet, cell phone and a keychain with an Axemen tag. He handed the contents to Luke.

Declan looked at Charlie and said, "Go into the bathroom and get yourself cleaned up."

As soon as Charlie had left, Declan watched Justin get dressed. Then Luke put him in handcuffs. He turned to Declan and said, "I'll take care of Justin. Can you get home by yourself?"

"I can use Charlie's car," Declan replied as Luke roughly escorted Justin out of the room.

Declan waited for Charlie as he finished showering and getting dressed.

When he came out of the bathroom, Charlie packed up his things in silence and followed Declan, who dropped off the key card at the front desk. "Room's paid for," he said, then he led Charlie out into the cool of the night.

"I'll need the keys. I'm driving," he said to Charlie, who seemed to not care. His face was an unreadable mask.

As they drove off Declan said, "Why didn't you answer my texts?"

"I was busy," Charlie said, turning his head away and staring out the window.

They drove on for a few minutes before Declan broke the silence. "I checked into the CCTV footage. I saw Justin there. He had some sort of fight with Ian. He had a knife. I was worried about you."

Charlie muttered, "I already knew about the fight with Ian."

"What do you mean?" Declan asked.

"Justin told me about it," Charlie said. "He just wanted the photographs back. Ian wanted to publish the pictures but Justin was terrified that people would find out he was gay if anyone in town saw them."

"So nobody in town knew he was gay?"

"He hadn't told anyone. Keeping a secret like that can eat away at you. I know—I haven't told my folks yet. But I'm lucky. At least I have friends to talk to about it. Can you imagine what it's like for a guy like Justin? Alone out here… Do you even remember what it was like to come out? He's scared, that's all. You have no idea how bad it can be. You're so confident, I bet it was easy for you."

They drove on in silence for a few minutes. Declan glanced over at Charlie and made a decision. He said, "I'm going to tell you something that very few people know. Coming out wasn't easy for me either, Charlie. I still remember it like it was yesterday."

"When did you come out?" Charlie asked.

"I was in grade ten. I was just getting out of English class. It was held in one of the portables behind the school. Greg Delaney, who was the cutest guy I'd ever seen, came up behind me. We were the last to leave the class. He called out my name.

"He was the kind of guy who normally wouldn't waste his time on a little kid like me and he was at the centre of every one of my fantasies. He asked me if I had a sec. I remember my voice cracking when I said ‘Sure.' I knew I'd be late for math class, but who cared? Greg Delaney wanted to talk to me.

"He took me behind the portable and made me swear not to repeat what he was going to say. I remember he put his hand on my shoulder when he asked this. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I would have sworn on a mountain of Bibles that I would keep his secret if it would have given me a few more minutes with him."

Charlie nodded. "I know what that's like."

Declan continued, "He said he had a wrestling match that afternoon and he told me he couldn't go on like he was. He took my hand and put it on his crotch. He had a full hard-on. He claimed he could only get rid of it if he had his cock in someone's mouth. He begged me to help him out, saying he couldn't go out there like this, and if he didn't wrestle today, he'd be kicked off the team."

"Holy shit," Charlie said.

"Delaney promised to suck me off after the match, which he said he'd win for me. He pushed me down on my knees and shoved my face into his crotch. I can still remember the smell of sweat and denim… And I can still hear a voice yell out ‘I told you he was a fag.' I looked up to see a dozen kids standing there, yelling out insults. Delaney was laughing his guts out. He'd set me up."

"That's awful. So what did you do?" Charlie asked.

"I just wanted to run, but my muscles froze and I couldn't move. I just stayed there on my knees until Mr Johnson, the phys-ed teacher came around the corner. One kid yelled out that I was trying to do things to Delaney. Delaney freaked out. I guess he never thought a teacher would get involved. I remember Delaney yelling, ‘Get away from me, you fucking perv,' and he kicked me to the ground."

Charlie shook his head. "Jesus. That's rough."

"It got worse. They called my parents. I got a two-week suspension and a few beatings from my father."

"But you didn't do anything."

"It didn't matter," Declan said. "My dad asked me if I was gay, and I couldn't lie to him. We used to get along before the world got pulled out from under my feet. From then on, he blamed everything that went wrong in the family on me being gay."

Charlie put his hand on Declan's leg. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

Declan took his eyes off the road for a second and looked at Charlie. "I think what I learned was it's all about control. If you don't choose your own time and place to come out, someone will take that power away from you. So, maybe I do understand what Justin's going through, but we have to make sure he didn't kill someone to keep his secret. And as for you, Charlie Watts, you choose your time coming out to your parents, but don't leave it so long that it winds up hurting you."

"Well, that time's not right now. I had another fight with them about working with you and I moved in with my friend Carrie."

Declan took the exit off the highway before he said, "Look…I'd understand if you decide that family's more important than this job."

Charlie smiled. "I'd sooner die than give up this job."

"Let's hope it never comes to that. You've already been hit by a car and slept with a possible murderer."

"Please…don't mention that. You could have at least called and warned me you were coming."

"Maybe if you'd answered your texts…"

"Well, I was…"

Declan laughed.

"And I still think you've got it wrong," Charlie said. "I don't think Justin could have hurt Ian. I believe him."

"Let's wait to see what Luke finds out."

Charlie said, "Turn right just up here. Carrie's place is the second one from the corner."

Declan parked the car then helped Charlie pull his belongings out of the trunk. "I'll leave the car with you. I can walk to the office from here. Why don't you take tomorrow morning off and I'll see you in the afternoon. Oh, and I'll let the coach know that you've wrapped things up and won't be in for practice."

As Declan went to leave, Charlie hugged him and didn't let go for a full ten seconds before he said, "Thanks…for everything," then walked into the house.

* * * *

Luke drove towards Calgary while Justin sat handcuffed in the back seat of his car.

"We have CCTV and fingerprint evidence that prove you were at the house where Ian Mann was last seen on Thursday, July seventh. Wanna tell me what happened?" Luke asked.

"I didn't do anything. I just wanted to talk to him. He had something of mine, and I wanted it back."

"What did you want so badly that you pulled a knife on him?"

Luke watched Justin in the rear-view mirror. He was chewing his lower lip. It was like he was deciding on what story to tell. "You can start now, or we can wait'll I get you down to the station and we get your folks involved. Maybe they'd be interested in hearing about your hotel buddy."

"No. Please don't call them. There were some photographs Ian Mann took of me and I wanted them back, that's all."

"Naked photos? Was that what he was into, taking naked shots of teen boys?" Luke asked.

"No. I was just…dressed up, and I thought if anyone else saw them, they'd think maybe I was…gay, or something. I can't have people saying that about me. I'd be dead." Justin stared at the floor as he spoke.

"And you pulled a knife on him?"

"Just to scare him. I wasn't gonna use it. And it worked. He said he was sorry he'd upset me so much, and he promised not to show anyone the pictures. Then he said he'd give them to me."

Luke probed, "What did you do next?"

"I left the way I came."

"How did you know he was going to be at that house?"

"I knew where he lived. I went there to ask for the pictures but when I got there, he was getting into his car. I followed him. I couldn't get in, because the gate closed behind him, so I had to climb a wall. That's the way I got out, too."

"Did you follow him when he left?" Luke asked.

"No." Justin paused. "But I did see something."

Luke tightened his hands on the steering wheel. "What did you see?"

"When Ian left, there was a car just down the street. A guy got out of it and stopped him."

"Did you see what this guy looked like?"

"It was too dark to make out anything clearly. He was a muscular guy. About your size."

"How about the car?"

"I don't know. It was a car, not a truck."

"See if you can remember anything else."

"I got spooked and drove away. I just saw someone stop Ian's car, and then I left. I don't know what happened after that."

Luke glanced at Justin in the rear-view mirror. His eyes were closed. Streaks of tears marked his cheeks. Then Justin opened his eyes. He looked at Luke with a strange expression on his face. "I'd like to make a phone call. I'm allowed that, right? When we get to the station, I'll need my phone."

Luke stared back and said, "No. I don't think so," as he turned off the highway away from the police station, and drove towards a place he'd been one time before—a boarded-up store between a bistro and a condo under construction.