“Sure. What’s the club?”
“The Haven.”
“I’ve heard of it. Am I looking into this officially?”
“Not yet. I’m not certain who else we can trust with this. The minute I find anything concrete, I’ll bring it in.”
“Okay. E-mail me the names, and I’ll check into it.” Gibson paused, then added, “If Henderson finds out you’re investigating anything on your own, he won’t make things easy for you.”
“What’s he going to do to me?” Walter didn’t have anything else to lose, and he wasn’t on the force anymore. Henderson had no control over his actions. “Thanks for keeping this under wraps for now.”
“No problem. I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.”
They exchanged a few more words about Gibson’s wife and kids. Any hesitation about trusting him lessened as they got back into the swing of the comfortable conversation Walter remembered from his days of working with the man. Gibson was a friend. He could count on him to share the truth of what he learned.
After they said their good-byes and Walter hung up, he retrieved his glass of wine and swallowed a long sip, reclining on the couch. He usually put on Miles Davis while he sorted through his e-mails. Tonight he couldn’t fathom his usual routine. The sparse decor and tan-colored walls of his living room, even the framed prints and sculptured works of art from local gay artists didn’t have the same appeal they’d had years ago when he’d bought the place. The room felt dull, lifeless, boring. Or maybe it wasn’t the space or the stuff in it. Maybe it was him.
Charlie trotted out of the kitchen and over to the couch. He lay down and plopped his snout on Walter’s thigh.
“Don’t get too comfortable. This is temporary.”
Charlie lifted his head and cocked it to the side.
“And don’t give me that look.” Walter bent to the floor beside the couch and retrieved the rawhide bone he’d picked up at the all-night discount store on his way home, along with more chew toys, cans of food, and a giant dog bed in the shape of a love seat. He held out the bone. “This is yours. You chew on that and nothing else in this entire place. Got it?”
Charlie accepted the bone and trotted off, searching out the best location to sit and gnaw. He settled for his new bed in the corner near the fireplace, his back to the wall, his ears and eyes attuned to Walter as he chomped away.
When Walter had left Seth’s apartment, he’d tried to drop the dog at a kennel. He’d even looked up the names and numbers for several open to drop-offs twenty-four hours a day. He was willing to foot the bill until he could track down Seth Fisher, but what if he couldn’t find him, or worse yet, found him in a state no longer feasible for owning a dog? Charlie would end up in the custody of the dog warden. Walter had been down a similar road once. Even if he’d only been a kid the first time around, and even though Charlie wasn’t his, he couldn’t be responsible for something like that again.
The dog sat chewing on the bone, and Walter winced, imagining the pieces of rawhide and slobber that would soon be embedded in his carpet, and of everything in the place the Labrador could destroy.
Did it matter? It was just stuff. Apparently, boring stuff at that.
Except for two things.
He got up and went to the fireplace. On the mantel sat two framed photos. One of him and Gary a week after the night Vargas had introduced them at the Haven. The other photo of him with his father. Walter in his high school graduation cap and gown and his dad in his police uniform. Both pictures were in their original frames from when he’d gotten them as gifts. It was unlikely the dog could reach that high and knock them down. Better safe than sorry. He carried the frames to his bedroom, opened the closet, and tucked them inside a storage drawer. He pushed the drawer shut, reached for the closet light, and halted. He shouldn’t look. How many times had he taken out the locked box and sat staring at it? Too many.
He returned to the drawers and opened the last one.
Still there. Locked up tight.
He’d only actually opened the case a handful of times since he’d first put his GLOCK inside five years earlier, and only then because of his obsessive need to check if the gun was still there, to clean it and ensure it hadn’t been fired. Like a crook would break in, steal the gun from the case, run off, fire the weapon, then return it to the locked security case inside his closet.
That logic didn’t stop him from checking the gun from time to time. Perhaps he’d never gotten used to not carrying it with him.
He slammed the drawer shut, then returned to the living room. The dog was seated on the couch, one hind leg in the air, licking himself.
“Nice to see you’ve made yourself at home.” Charlie halted the licking and cocked his head. “You think you’re cute? You were just licking your balls.”
Walter sat beside him and booted up his laptop. He’d called Vargas earlier to ask him about the offers to buy the club Kevin had mentioned.
Vargas had said anytime talk turned to revitalizing that area downtown, he got offers on the club, but even he had to admit the ones in the last year had gotten pricey. He’d given Walter the names of the companies who’d made the highest offers.
Kevin may have been asking about them in order to tie Vargas to the missing men, but that didn’t mean the offers to buy the club weren’t somehow related to everything that had been going on.
The odd occurrences at the Haven over the past six months had been bothering Walter since Vargas first told him of the thefts. There was no pattern to any of it. Like it was more about a specific outcome as a whole rather than the individual acts.
The thefts, the drugs—especially with Vargas’s firm stance on a drug-free club—it all said something to Walter. That someone was fucking with Vargas. Which went along with someone wanting to buy the club.
But the missing men… That didn’t fit. Or did it?
He did a quick search online. Nothing indicated any of the companies on Vargas’s list owned property in the area of the Haven.
A half hour later he’d found something else, though. One of the companies was owned by another, and that company was owned by another, and so on. Several companies later, he came to one that owned a vast amount of real estate in the city. Condos, office buildings, but nothing in the downtown district near the Haven. Still, the trail of companies seemed like overkill. Time to check with a friend who wasn’t a cop.
He dialed Luke’s number and leaned back against the couch. Luke was the one person he’d met at the club in the last five years who hadn’t acted like sleeping with Walter would earn him a trophy.
Well, the only one until Kevin Price tripped over his shoe.
The phone rang, and one of Luke’s partners answered.
“Richard, it’s Walter.”
“Hey, Luke was just talking about you. He was planning to give you a call soon so we can have you over for dinner. Matthew will cook. Not Luke. I promise.”
Walter laughed. “Sounds good. How’s everyone doing?” A part of him could never hold back from asking. It couldn’t be easy being in a three-way relationship. Even more so for Luke. The guy had made a career out of being alone and putting up mammoth-size walls around himself.
“Real good,” Richard said. “Matthew’s starting another round of classes tomorrow. And Luke’s teaching him how to drive.”
“The kid doesn’t drive?”
“He never learned. He’s never even been behind the wheel. Luke had this brilliant idea to borrow a video-game setup that has a steering wheel and pedals to teach Matthew the basics. It’s a riot watching them. Luke’s trying desperately to stay calm and give advice so Matthew will stop crashing, and Matthew’s laughing as the car flips over and over.”
Walter laughed again. He liked hearing about Luke’s life, liked knowing his friend was happy and that things were sailing along smoothly.
A heaviness landed in Walter’s chest, shocking him with its intensity. He’d lost that comfortable companionship of having someone in his everyday life, someone to come home to and talk about his day with, someone who made him laugh, who made him feel alive.
With that thought, he was back in Seth’s apartment with Kevin, and in the room at the Haven, kissing and touching, talking and laughing. He forced the thoughts aside. “So when will Matthew hit the road?”
“Luke gave up on the video game. He says Matthew’s ready to head out now.” Richard let out a deep chuckle.
He could make a joke of it, but Walter knew better. Matthew would not be driving anywhere until he passed his driver’s test, and even then, Richard would probably conduct his own test. That man knew how to protect the people he loved.
So much for not thinking about his own life. The tightness in Walter’s chest grew. He could tell himself he’d done his best, but in the end it didn’t matter. He’d lost so many of the people he’d tried to protect. Whether he’d done all he could to save them or not.
“You want to talk to Luke?” Richard asked.
“Actually I called to ask you a question. Thought maybe with your real estate connections you might be able to help me out with some research.”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I’m helping Vargas with a security issue at the club and something came up. Do you know if there are development plans for the downtown area near the Haven?”
“Nothing I’ve heard about.”
“Any reason you can see why someone would want to buy in that area?”
“There’s been talk on and off for years about rebuilding down there, but nothing ever comes of it. That’ll change soon enough. I can’t see that area staying empty much longer.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I’ve got a list of companies who’ve made offers to Vargas during the past year. If I send the names, could you find out if they’ve made any real estate purchases lately? Specifically anything near the club? Say a three-block radius?”
“Sure. I’ll check into it. Is everything okay?”
“Just a hunch right now. Speaking of which, though, do the three of you still have memberships to the Haven?”
“Yeah, we like to go every once in a while, have dinner, sort of relive the night we met.”
“Do me another favor, then. Don’t go for a while. Especially Matthew. Something’s going on.”
“All right. But why Matthew?”
“There are some younger men missing. All members or employees of the club. I’m not sure yet what’s happening.”
“Should I get him to cancel his membership?”
“I don’t think so. These guys were all working there or were active members. So long as he’s not—”
“He won’t be going anywhere near the place. I’ll tell him as soon as I get off the phone.”
“Good. Tell Luke I’ll give him a call soon.” He thanked Richard and hung up.
Charlie stood beside him on the couch, spun in a circle twice, then plopped down again, his head landing on Walter’s thigh.
He gave in and patted the dog. “Sucks when they leave us, huh?”
When did he get so damn lonely he spent his time talking to a dog?
Apparently it didn’t disturb him too much. He kept talking and stroking Charlie’s fur. “I’m going to find Seth. Or figure out what happened to him.”
He leaned back to rest his head on the couch. It had been a long day. Yet, despite why he’d gone to the club, he couldn’t ignore that it had been the most interesting day he’d had in a long time.
And just like that, with thoughts of one man, a specific part of his body sprang to life.
What would it be like to experience Kevin, a man that sensual and eager, as he learned how to suck cock, how to fuck another man for the first time?
Walter was fairly certain Kevin Price hadn’t done either.
Yet.
Chapter Eleven
“Do you know every guy in this place?”
Walter set his cup of coffee on the table and pondered the reason for Kevin’s question. It didn’t take long to hit on what he’d probably meant to ask.
They were seated in a booth across from each other in the back of a diner two blocks from Seth Fisher’s apartment. The place was owned by a local gay man who’d been running the restaurant for years. It wasn’t all rainbows and condom dispensers, but it did attract a fair number of gay men in the city.
“No,” Walter said. “I don’t know
every
guy here.”
A man walked by their booth and gave a nod in Walter’s direction. “Simon.” The third such greeting since their food had arrived.
Walter silently returned the hello, and Kevin rolled his eyes.
“Okay, I know him, but I’m guessing what you meant to ask was did I fuck all these guys?”
Kevin’s jaw dropped.
It was entertaining, seeing how many reactions Walter could pull from him.
Kevin shifted in his seat and glanced at their fellow patrons in the diner. He had seemed uncomfortable when they’d first sat down. Now he looked downright embarrassed.
Or excited.
It had been a long while since Walter had spent this much time with a man who was just figuring out he was gay. The thrill at the possibility of being with Kevin as he explored his desires was something Walter had to keep forcing from his thoughts.
They’d spent the past two days knocking on doors, talking with family and friends of the four missing men, confirming what Kevin had already told him, and also learning none of the men had been in contact with anyone since their disappearances. Kevin had taken personal time off from covering his regular beat on the paper, and they’d spent both days together conducting the interviews and searching the club for clues.
Walter had also gotten in touch with a friend who owned a private investigation and personal security firm he’d subcontracted to in the past. Tucker had a lot of experience running background checks and had agreed to look into each person on the list of new and high-profile members from Vargas, as well as the companies who’d made offers on the club.
Also that morning Gibson had contacted Walter about the missing person’s reports. As Kevin had learned, the reports did not include any information about the Haven. The cops who’d filled out the reports were all ones Gibson knew and trusted, and he didn’t believe they were involved in anything illegal. He promised he’d keep an eye on them and see what more he could learn.