The Truth of Yesterday (54 page)

Chapter 23

     I sat at my desk tapping my pen against my notepad, it went everywhere I went and was full of notes on my cases. I was making a to-do list and I was a stuck on what to do about Jake's case. I had a list finished for Paul. There were only three items but they were important. I flipped back a page and read over that list, hoping for inspiration. Number one, I either had to get back into the apartment to look for an address book or something along those lines, or talk to the detective in charge of the investigation and see if he had found anything like that. It could give me the lead I needed for the next two items on my list, which were, find out who Paul was dating, and get in touch with his estranged family.

     I flipped back to Jake's list and stared at the blank page. I found myself completely stumped as to where to go next. My best idea so far was to just show up at the Ball Friday night and hope for the best. Not exactly an aggressive attack, but maybe simple observation would serve me well in this case.

     Thinking about the AIDS Ball reminded me of Haven's Halloween dance scheduled for tomorrow night and my promise to Kane to work on our costumes together. I made a mental note to be at the house when Kane got home from school today so I could live up to my promise.

     I picked up the phone and dialed
Chris
' cell phone number. I got her voice mail and left a message asking her to see if she could make an appointment for me to talk to the officer in charge of Paul's murder investigation.

     
That done, I forced myself to contemplate Jake's empty page once again.
Why was this so hard for me? Was it because I was afraid of what I'd find out? Despite the distance that had grown between us, I still cared about him. I'd had strong feelings for him once upon a time, or at least I thought I had. I'd even risked my life to save his. There was some part of me that wanted that experience to be worth something. I didn't want to think that I had only saved him to become some sort of criminal. But of course, that was unbelievably selfish of me. It was Jake's life and it was his to do with as he pleased.

     And who said being an escort was all that bad to begin with? After all, Micah had been an escort. So had Paul, and by all accounts, he was a stand-up guy, loved by all, a model friend and lover.

     
Lover.
Micah's lover.
Former lover
, I reminded myself. I couldn't let that begin to cloud my judgment now. So far, I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job at keeping things on a purely professional level. Besides, that was a long time ago. They had both moved on. Paul had apparently found a new lover and Micah was with me now. And let's face it; Paul wasn't exactly a threat at this point.

     I realized how my thoughts on one case kept leading naturally back to the other case. They had so many similarities that they almost seemed intertwined. I kept finding myself wondering if there was more of a connection that just the fact that Jake had a picture of Neal in his bedroom. I suspected Jake of being an escort, and I knew Paul had been one. Paul worked for Neal, who did Jake work for, if anyone? Did he work for Neal too? And if so, that seemed a little far away from the base of operation for the Top to Bottom Agency. Maybe it was a satellite business. Did they have those for escort agencies? Maybe Neal was going franchise. I giggled at the thought. He could have branches all over the country, over one million served.

     I finally had something to write on Jake's to-do list. Number one; find out who Jake is working for. The money has to be coming from somewhere; I just had to find out where.

     Of course, if I found that out, I still had to find some way to tell Judy. I was not looking forward to breaking that news. “Well, Judy, it seems your little boy is selling his body to buy electronics and clothes.” Then again, knowing Judy she'd probably say something like, “Oh, thank God, I was afraid he was doing something awful like selling used cars.” She was pretty free-spirited when it came to things like drugs and sex. Some people would probably call her a leftover hippie, but she really wasn't. She was just very open-minded.

     Just having one item on Jake's to-do list gave me a feeling of accomplishment, so I flipped the notebook closed and slid it into my pocket. My work was done here for today. I stood up and took a quick look around the office. It had been very quiet around here since Novak disappeared. I had no idea when he would be back, but my curiosity about his mystery case was killing me. I decided to slip into his office and see if he'd left anything on top of his desk.
After all
, I reasoned,
if he left it in plain sight, it can't be confidential, right?

     I pushed open his door and slithered inside. I eyed the hump-backed couch warily. I was convinced that one of these days it was going to pounce on me and gobble me up. How a piece of inanimate furniture, however truly hideous it was, was going to accomplish that, I didn't know and didn't care, but I was quite certain it was true.

     I approached the desk while keeping an eye on the couch. I knew it was extremely unlikely that Novak had left anything on his desk. It would have been very much out of character for him. He was meticulously neat with his desk, and just as scrupulous about the facts of his case. I wasn't surprised to find the top completely clear except for his computer; he'd even put the phone away in the top drawer.

     
Well, since I'm here, it wouldn't hurt to look in the drawers
, I thought.
After all, he wouldn't leave something confidential in a drawer that was unlocked, would he?

     It's just amazing what you can convince yourself of. The middle drawer contained the usually assortment of pens, paper clips, rubber bands, and other assorted office paraphernalia. Perhaps Novak's was a little more organized than most desks, but it was all here. The top right-hand drawer held the phone and a ream of paper. To my disappointment, the rest were securely locked.

     
I know where the key is
… I stopped myself at that thought. Even I knew that would be going too far. Whatever he was working on would have to stay a secret until he chose to tell me.

     In the meantime, though, I really missed our chats. I could have used one today. I sat down in Novak's chair and propped my feet up on the desk.

     “So kid,” I said to the empty room, “what are you going to do about this case with Jake? Are you going to tell Judy what you find out?”

     I swung my feet down with a sigh and sat up. “What choice do I have? She deserves to know the truth.”

     I rubbed off the scuffmark my shoes had left on the desk and let myself out of the office, shutting the door behind me.

* * *

     I was waiting at home when Kane got home from school that afternoon. His face lit up when he saw me.

     “What are you doing here?” he asked.

     “Did you forget about the costume party tomorrow night?”

     “No, but I figured you would.”

     “Well, I didn't. Do you have any ideas for costumes? We'd better get working on them if we want them to be any good.”

     “Well, Micah's going, right?”

     “As far as I know, although with all this stuff going on with the paper, I should probably check with him just to be sure.”

     “Well, if he is, I was thinking that maybe we could go as some famous trio, like the Three Musketeers or...well, I can't think of any others.”

     “What about the Three Stooges, or the three little pigs, or Huey, Dewey, and Louie?” I suggested. He made a face. “You don't like my ideas?” I asked.

     “If you think it's a good idea just say so,” he pouted.

     “No, I think it's great. I was just kidding around. I'd rather not wear tights though, I did that once before and I didn't care for it.”

     “Well, so much for the Three Musketeers. I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to tights either.”

     “Well, before we decide, let me call Micah and make sure he's still going.”

     I went to the phone and dialed Micah's number. He answered on the third ring.

     
“Yeah?
What do you want?” he snapped into the phone.

     
“Micah?”
I asked uncertainly.

     
“Killian?”
His voice softened. “Sorry about that. It's been a bad day.”

     “What's going on?”

     “It's just this story. Things are getting messy, the paper's getting scared,
they
want me to back off.” He growled. “I'll tell you about it later, this isn't a good time. Were you calling for anything in particular or just checking to make sure I was still alive?”

     “Well, actually, I was calling about the dance tomorrow night at Haven...”

     “Oh, damn! I'd forgotten all about it. Kill, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it. I'm sorry.”

     “It's ok,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. “What about the AIDS Ball?”

     “I think I can still make that. It's just that I have an appointment tomorrow night. I'm really sorry, Killian.”

     “Really, it's ok.”

     “Are you sure?”

     “Yeah, Kane is going with me. We'll be fine. Work comes first.”

     He sighed. “No, work shouldn't come first. You should come first; it's just that right now...”

     “Work has to come first,” I finished. “Micah, I understand. It's just for now, it won't be like this forever, and this story is important to you.”

     “I don't know what I did to deserve you,” he said.

     “That goes both ways, mister,” I shot back.

     “I love you.”

     “I love you, too.” I hung up and turned to find Kane leaning against the wall.

     “So it's just the two of us then?” he said.

     “Looks that way,” I shrugged.

     “So, instead of famous trios we should be thinking famous duos?”

     “Sure,” I said cheerily, trying to shake off the heavy feeling that had settled over me as soon as Micah had said he couldn't go. We walked upstairs to the bedroom we share, talking as we went. “What are we going for?
Funny?
Sexy?
Clever?”