Chapter 6
Chapter Six
As soon as Travers had gone and the door closed, Dan couldn’t rein in his curiosity a moment longer.
“What did he mean about coincidence?”
Dan stared at him. “This family keeps cropping up, doesn’t it? What caused the tunnel collapse?”
Gary leaned back, the folder open in his lap.
“There was an inquiry, of course. The collapse was eventually found to be the result of the epoxy used in the construction of the hanging ceiling system. The epoxy wasn’t up to standard, so the anchors embedded in the tunnel’s roof slab began to creep.
Bolts were too short. Basically, it was a chain reaction that ended up with twenty-six tons of concrete on the roadway below.
” His eyes gleamed. “And the company in charge of the tunnel construction, the one that contracted the suppliers of the epoxy, was run by… Gianni DiFanetti.”
Travers had certainly nailed it.
“Then how come that wasn’t the end of the company?”
Gary barked out a laugh. “Maybe they had friends in high places. Not that they came away without a blemish. They were fined, and they had to pay out millions to the family of the deceased. Not long after that, Gianni took over the running of the housing construction company.” He bit his lip.
“Guess his dad thought he needed a change of career.”
“What about the mystery body? Could it be identified?”
“Yes—again, eventually. And this is where things got interesting. The body was that of a male, but it was found with the remains of silicone breast implants. Given the dates of construction, a search was made for missing persons from that time. Dental records were out, obviously.”
“You think that’s why the head was removed? To prevent identification?”
“Whoever stowed that body in the space above the ceiling tiles clearly hoped it would never be discovered, but just in case? Yeah. In the end identification came down to a steel pin in the leg, which led us to only one person—Cheryl Somers, last seen late August 1992.”
Dan blinked. “Cheryl? Was she trans?”
“Yes. Born Benjamin Raskin, 1964. She’d been living as Cheryl since the age of twenty-one, in 1985. According to her medical records, the only surgeries she underwent were the insertion of that steel pin in her leg and the breast implants.”
“Who reported her missing?”
Gary peered at the notes. “Her father, Pete Raskin, and also….” He widened his eyes. “Wow. Talk about friends in high places. Senator William Cain. Apparently she had a connection with the Cain family.” He tapped on the keyboard for a moment.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I read in the notes made me curious. I just want to see….” Gary stared at the monitor. “Oh my.”
“What is it?”
“She was an artist.” He crooked his finger. “Come take a look at this. Her work is stunning.”
Dan walked around the desk and peered at the monitor. Gary scrolled, revealing amazing portraiture. There were individuals, couples, a family group, but all imbued with such vitality that they took Dan’s breath away.
“I see what you mean. So much talent.” He stiffened.
“What just occurred to you?”
Dan gazed at the screen. “It’s just a thought, but… might someone who’s worked in construction refer to a trans artist as ‘that fucking painter freak’?”
Gary’s mouth fell open. “It’s a very good thought.”
“Can I have a copy of the notes?”
“Of course.” Gary got up and went over to the printer-copier to feed the sheets under its lid.
“Travers is right. This is a great case to start with.”
Gary turned his head toward him and smiled. “It’s got your interest, that’s for sure.” The copier spat out the sheets, Gary tapped them into a neat pile, then handed them to Dan.
He scanned the top copy. “How far back do these go? Does she turn up in any police records before her death?”
Gary shuffled through the sheets. “Yes, in 1989. She was assaulted while on a date. Apparently the guy, one Aiden Reynolds, took exception to her being trans.” Gary glanced at the sheet. “He was twenty-seven. Worked in construction.”
Dan grinned. “Oh really? I suppose it’s too much to hope he worked for the DFF group. On a certain tunnel?”
“Yeah, wouldn’t that be fortunate?” Gary chuckled. “Don’t get carried away looking for more coincidences, okay?” He went back to the notes. “It says here Cheryl didn’t want to press charges but was persuaded to do so by Senator Cain. Except this was a couple of years before he became a senator.”
Dan’s mind suddenly shifted into gear. “Maybe that’s how she died. Another date, but one that went wrong? Or maybe Aiden Reynolds decided he hadn’t gone far enough and came back to finish the job.”
Gary gazed at him with wide eyes. “Three years later? I think that might be a bit of a stretch.”
Dan shrugged. “He might be the type who bears a grudge. I still think we should interview him. In fact we need to interview everyone we can find who was connected to her. People who knew her from college, friends. And here’s another idea.
” Dan cocked his head to one side. “Does Benjamin Raskin appear in police records?”
“Let’s take a look.” Gary tapped on the keyboard, then stared at the monitor.
“Yes, in 1983. There was a traffic accident involving two vehicles. Raskin was driving one of them. The other driver, Connor Brightmore, was killed at the scene. Raskin received injuries to his right leg and was in bad shape, but he pulled through. According to all the witnesses, Brightmore was at fault.” He frowned.
“Brightmore. I recognize that name. An old Boston family, I think. I recall seeing that name in the local news.”
“Is that all we have so far?” Gary nodded, and Dan straightened the sheaf of notes. “Then maybe our first port of call is Cheryl’s father.”
“As soon as we’ve located him, yes.” Gary smiled. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this case has grabbed my interest.”
“Just don’t get your hopes up. There will be much more mundane cases to solve, I’m sure.”
As far as Dan was concerned, Travers’s suggestion had been perfect, and he couldn’t wait to get started.
His thoughts went back to their visit to the hospice.
“You know what would be wonderful? If Travers is right, and it turns out this case and the death of James Sebring are linked. And I don’t mean wonderful because it would sew everything up in a neat little bow. I was thinking of Linda Sebring.”
“I know what you mean, but I think you might be asking a little too much. Let’s concentrate on locating anyone who knew Cheryl Somers and see where that leads us.”
“Starting tomorrow.” Dan placed the notes on the desk. “But for tonight? No more work talk. You’re all mine.”
Gary’s eyes sparkled. “I like the sound of that.”
Dan stacked the dishes and carried them into the kitchen. “Coffee?” he called out to Gary in the living room.
“Please.”
He set up the coffeepot, then loaded the dishwasher.
“Dinner was delicious, by the way.” Gary stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
Dan smiled. “Anyone can cook pasta.”
Gary chuckled. “You wouldn’t say that if you’d been on the receiving end of some of Brad’s first attempts at cooking.”
Dan had a feeling the mention of Brad wasn’t altogether coincidental.
He closed the dishwasher and turned to lean against the sink. “I’ve been meaning to talk about him. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to tell you much, except for the emotions connected to his sweater.”
Gary swallowed. “I think you told me plenty, don’t you?”
“I only told you he’d known the person who killed him. And I so wanted to tell you more than that. Perhaps….” He clammed up. He didn’t want to push.
“Perhaps what?”
“It might help if I could touch things that had belonged to him.” Except Dan knew what that would entail, how much turmoil that would subject Gary to.
I don’t want to put him through the wringer.
Gary became still, and Dan knew he’d pushed him too far. “That would mean a visit to my parents, and I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
“I can wait,” Dan assured him before adding, “as long as you can.”
Gary walked over to the coffeepot and grabbed two cups from the cabinet above it. “Had any visions lately?”
Dan managed a smile, despite his quaking heart. “What you really want to know is do I still get the vision of you and me making love?”
“Do you?”
Dan shook his head. “Not for a while now. I guess it served its purpose. It prepared me to meet you, opened my eyes to show me who you were. And as for other visions… not as such, no. But have you ever woken up with something in your head, and it won’t leave you?”
Gary huffed. “Sure. Usually song lyrics.”
Dan shook his head. “This is a movie. It’s one I’m familiar with, but I have no idea why I keep thinking of it.”
“So what’s the movie?”
“Cape Fear.”
Gary frowned. “Not sure if I’ve ever seen it.”
Dan shivered. “It’s a really creepy cat-and-mouse kinda movie. You know, one of those where you’re sure the bad guy has bought the farm, but then he turns up alive again and twice as dangerous as before.”
“And you keep dreaming about it?”
“Yeah. Not scenes from it. It’s more like… seeing it on the cover of a DVD or a movie poster.” Another shiver trickled through him. “I think I need that coffee.”
Gary filled the cups, then handed one to him. “Can I ask…? Why do I keep finding Brad’s sweater out of its drawer?”
Dan sighed. “Because now and again I sit with it, trying to see if I can pick up anything else other than the knowledge that Brad knew his killer.”
“And can you?”
Lord, the hope in Gary’s eyes….
“You know better than to ask that. I would never hide anything from you. Not now.” He understood the question. They were still feeling their way around each other, learning the ground rules. Gary was coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t straight, but bisexual.
Dan was coming to terms with the idea that some higher power had determined he and Gary were meant to be together, something which he found both exhilarating and scary as fuck in equal measure.
“You’re right. I do know that.” Then Gary took him by the hand, and a surge of desire crashed over him, leaving him aroused and trembling, in no doubt as to what was coming next.
“Yes.” The word left his lips in a breathless whisper.
Gary stilled. “Yes what?”
Dan closed the gap between them until he could feel the warmth radiating from Gary’s body, the need rolling off him in waves. “I want you too. Now. Inside me.”
All thoughts of skeletons, cancer, corruption, and tunnel collapses were swept away as Gary led him to their bed. Work would still be there in the morning.
The night belonged to them.
“Oh God.”
Dan bowed his head toward the bed as Gary’s lips grazed his neck, his back…
“Like that?”
He groaned. “No, I love it. Harder.”
Gary thrust deep, his body slapping against Dan’s as he filled him to the hilt. His grunts mingled with Dan’s moans that grew louder when Gary reached under him to brush his fingertips over Dan’s nipples. One hand remained on Dan’s hip, gripping him there, holding steady as Gary fucked him.
“Was this how it was in your vision?”
A shiver ran deep through him. “Y-yes.” Except this was way hotter than any vision.
“Want me deeper?”
Dan shuddered. “As deep as you can get.”
Gary leaned over, his damp chest against Dan’s back. “Turn over, sweetheart.”
A heartbeat later, he pulled free of Dan’s body, and Dan flipped onto his back.
Then his calves were on Gary’s shoulders as Gary slid into him, only now there was no urgency, nothing but languid strokes of his cock in and out of Dan’s hole.
Gary’s face was inches from his, and Dan reached up to cup his cheek.
“There you are.”
Gary’s slow smile was beautiful to behold. “And there’s the man I love.” He rolled his hips, a fluid motion that made Dan cry out as Gary nudged his sweet spot. Gary’s brow was beaded with a sheen of sweat, and Dan wiped it with gentle fingers.
And then they were moving together, a leisurely rhythm that made Dan’s heart sing.
“Yeah, just like that,” he whispered. “Don’t stop.”
“I could make love to you all night long.” Gary nuzzled his neck, then pressed his forehead to Dan’s as he rocked in and out of him, taking his time, his thrusts punctuated by kisses.
And when Dan pleaded to come, Gary wrapped a slick hand around his shaft, tugging gently on it until Dan shot hard, shaking and crying out as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over him.
“Love you,” he gasped.
Gary’s chest and neck were flushed, his breathing ragged as he picked up the pace. “Love you too.”
Dan rolled his head back into the pillow as Gary’s cock throbbed inside him, a sensation he knew he would never tire of.
“Can you feel how much I love you?”
Dan clung to him, his heart pounding, tremors rippling through him as he came down from his orgasm. He could feel Gary’s emotions, so close to the surface, a tide that swept him up and carried him along.
“Oh, yeah. I feel you.”
The last time he’d seen them like this in a vision, Gary had begged Dan to heal him.
If only my love for him could do that.
It would take more than the power of love to find Brad’s killer.
But in these precious moments when Gary was a part of him, his heart beating against Dan’s as they kissed, Dan truly believed the truth lay within his grasp.
He sent a silent message to that higher power.
Let it be soon. Gary’s waited long enough.