Chapter Six #3
Uh, so they lost a gun?
That didn’t sit well with Gene, but he wasn’t going to bust balls ten minutes in.
That was tomorrow Gene’s problem.
“Who called the cops?” Gene asked, as now there were people starting to congregate from the resort to see what was going on there on the beach.
Lucas was honest.
“We have to notify them. There’s a dead body. I spoke to the one detective there, and they offered to block the scene. They wanted the case, but it’s a Fed, so…”
Yeah, he understood that.
Gene was hella curious why the local agents were so willing to pass off cases to the local police. Was it because the homicide captain was a ballbuster?
Tomorrow, he’d have to find out.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll be visiting them tomorrow to see if they have any similar cases. I’ll introduce myself then.”
Lucas glanced at his watch.
“See you tomorrow in the office then,” he said. “If you need my help, let me know. Like I said, any or all of us are willing to jump in if you need us. I’m going back to working the cases on my desk,” he offered. “Night shift doesn’t stop,” he joked.
No, it didn’t.
Again, he’d keep his offer in the back of his mind.
As Lucas handed Gene the laptop, he nodded and headed away.
Then, surprisingly, the ME broke down and gave him a few breadcrumbs to get him started.
“I’m going to put TOD at late Friday into early Saturday morning,” Ben admitted, tucking away his liver probe. “He doesn’t have skin slippage, but there is some bloat. I’ll get positive ID even after the tattoo ID, and go from there. I’ll send it over to Gabe once I do in my report.”
He was curious.
“Did you know him personally?” Gene asked Ben.
He nodded.
“Yeah, but not really well. He handled the homicide cases here, but like I said, we don’t get a lot of them.”
“How many are we talking?” Corbin asked, finally getting serious.
The man seemed to be adding them up in his head.
“This month, I’ve done nine autopsies,” he offered. “The month is already half over. So maybe every other day. The office isn’t huge. There are few feds working out of it. The police tend to carry the weight unless they need help.”
Yeah, so they had both mentioned.
“I appreciate the TOD,” he said. “At least we have a ballpark on when he went into the water.”
That they did.
They also knew that the man submitted a report sometime Friday night. Now, they had to figure out when he met his maker.
As he and Corbin moved away from the ME, so that they could talk, he kept his voice low.
“Tomorrow, I need you and Will to take a little trip to the police station. Introduce yourself, and tell them you’re helping the FBI with this case.”
Corbin could do that.
“I have my badge in the room. I remember rule twenty-four. Always bring your badge with you, even if you have no plans on using it.”
Well, it was about time that the man actually paid attention and listened to him. It was clear that his little talk snapped him out of the stupor.
For now.
Maybe you could teach the new baby detective a few old tricks.
“Let’s head back to the room. I want to do some research before we hit the ground running tomorrow.”
He was curious.
“And we’re helping?” Corbin asked.
The man gave in.
“Yes, because you’re just going to annoy me if I say no, and I really have zero patience for being annoyed.”
He laughed.
“You never have patience when you’re being annoyed. Ethan is the calm one. You’re the spaz.”
He rolled his eyes.
Honestly, Gene wasn’t sure what Corbin expected. His vacation got screwed over the first time, when Corbin was hurt, and now, it was being boned again.
That was two too many times.
“Let’s just work this case and get it done as quickly as possible. I’ll call the cops ahead of your arrival. Find me something that ties this case to any potential ones they have.”
That worked for him.
If Gene didn’t get some vacation time, Corbin knew the truth.
He’d be a bitch to deal with back in Philly, and no one wanted that.
No.
One.
* * * Blackhawk & Cantrell * * *
The Hotel Room
Same Time
Will watched as Ethan paced back and forth, moving across the floor in an erratic pattern as he waited for his partner to show up.
It was crystal clear where he wanted to be, and it wasn’t in the room.
Someone looked as if he was ready to make a break for it and head down to the beach.
No.
Doubt.
“Are you nervous or irritated? I can’t read you right now. You have resting blank face and look a little bit twitchy.”
Ethan stopped.
Oh, he was plenty irritated.
“I want to be down on the beach. I like the idea of helping, not being tucked away. Sometimes, I wish we could just be out,” he said. “It’s more difficult pretending we aren’t who we are.”
Oh, Will knew that feeling.
Unfortunately, that was the story of his life, and the lives of gay men everywhere.
Since he brought this up, that seemed to open up the discussion, and that was important. Will knew that Ethan was a man of few words, unless he wanted to have them. To him, that was an invitation.
“Then why don’t you come out?” he asked.
Oh, let him rattle off the reasons, and start with the big, douchiest one.
Gabriel Rothschild.
The asshole.
Ethan didn’t hesitate to answer the question.
“My boss doesn’t allow people who are in relationships to work with each other. That’s one of his hard and fast rules. If he finds out you’re having a sexual relationship with any Fed, he puts space between the people. He feels like it’s safer that way.”
Was it?
Hardly.
If Ethan had to put space between him and Gene, he’d feel far more worried and nervous. The man calmed the demons in him, and always would.
At his explanation, Will understood.
“How about you?” Ethan suddenly asked.
Will was honest.
“I don’t come out because my parents don’t know I’m gay. They’d be disappointed in me. I’d love nothing more than to be able to bring Corbin home to meet them, but that would never end well.”
Ethan sat on the edge of the bed.
“Are you okay with what happened earlier?” he asked, making sure.
Will nodded.
“Yeah, because I can always count on Gene to put Corbin right back on the correct path.”
That he could.
It was always evident that Gene was a good brother with his biological siblings because he could be one with people who needed one.
As an only child, Corbin sometimes needed that.
Gene cared a great deal about the man, and he would do anything for Corbin—even use tough love when it was needed.
“Are you ever going to come out?” Ethan asked.
Will considered it.
“I mean, when they read it in the paper when we apply for a marriage license one day, I think they’ll figure it out,” he admitted.
Well, yeah.
Ethan wished he and Gene could apply for a marriage license, but that wouldn’t ever be able to happen.
And it sucked.
“Does your family know?” Will asked, trying to get to know the man. While they were living with them, Ethan was very quiet more times than not.
He didn’t overly share.
Will knew the basics, but not everything about him. It always seemed rude to just ask.
Ethan shook his head.
“My mother died young—when I was twelve—and my sperm donor is a raging alcoholic who knocked another woman up while I was a newborn. So as you can imagine, he’s not exactly on my radar for caring what he thinks. I could be fucking half the reservation, and he’d not care. He might try to outdo me.”
Will was curious.
“So you have a sibling? Or aren’t you close because he’s the product of an affair?”
He laughed.
“Nah. When you grow up on a rez, you’re accustomed to a few things. Baby daddies, poverty, and alcoholism—none of those three really make you want to not know your blood relatives. Everyone is in the same boat.”
That was sad.
Will had a good life.
His parents were relatively normal, and the family had money. So he didn’t have the same experiences that Ethan had.
Ethan did explain why he wasn’t part of his brother’s life. It would come up at some point.
“My brother and I aren’t close, but that’s because he had sex with my girlfriend, and it blew us apart.”
Will blinked.
That surprised him.
He wasn’t sure why, but it did. Maybe it was because Ethan was very much into Gene, and he couldn’t imagine him not being gay.
“Oh, so you go both ways?” he asked.
The tone said it all.
Now, Ethan was amused.
“I go one way, as of late. Once upon a time, I went the other way. I like this way better. Gene would never hurt me in any such way. I’ve been burned too many times in my life.”
He believed that.
Gene was a good person, and so was Ethan.
Now that the man was talking about his personal life, it seemed like a good time to get some advice about his own relationship.
“Can I ask you a question?” Will inquired.
Ethan just waited.
He wasn’t sure what the question would be, but he’d answer if he could.
Blackhawk genuinely liked the man.
“Corbin and I were talking, and he said I could retire from the DA’s office and work as my own boss. Do you think Corbin’s serious about us because I was positive until tonight’s little meltdown?”
Ethan considered it.
“Yeah, he is. Don’t let tonight freak you out. He genuinely loves you. Nearly losing you and him almost dying puts a lot into perspective. He’s just working on this last part of him to heal.”
Oh, he hoped so.
About that.
“Is it selfish of me to wish he would give more time to show me affection—even if he can’t have sex? I don’t want to be unsupportive, but sometimes, I feel like he has stopped trying and caring. I fear he’ll let this assault become his crutch, and that’s not good.”
Oh, boy.
This was a slippery slope.
Not because of the topic, but because of his inability to give good advice.
What did he know about dating quagmires? His whole existence was one, and he’d never been able to avoid it.
Only, Will looked hopeful, so he’d try.
“I’m horrible at relationships, but I can give you my perspective,” Ethan offered.
And by perspective, he meant what he’d learned by watching Gene deal with people.
He was far better at it.
“Okay.”