Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Sean
Once Jeri headed to the men’s room, I turned to Special Agent Trachtenberg. “What’s the theory the cops have for why Marvin Thompson is after me?”
The large man smirked. “I just spent a week in North Carolina questioning suspects down there. It was a real clusterfuck.
“There are a lot of conflicting stories floating through Camp Brotherhood’s former members, but they all say that your work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community pissed off Thompson because he’s a good Christian man who’s trying to save the world from the scourge of those who sin against God by lying with other men. ”
I chuckled at the bullshit the agent had been told. “That good Christian man used to like me to choke on his cock while I shoved a dry finger up his ass and slapped his balls with my other hand. He’s a pain slut.
“I’m a kinky fucker, I’ll give you that, but if my late assistant Byron Haight wasn’t watching me blow Marv, poor Marv couldn’t come.
He liked someone witnessing the humiliation he believed he deserved because he was in a closet far too deep to dig himself out.
That sound like a good Christian straight man to you? ”
I watched Trachtenberg’s reaction, expecting a scowl or a nasty homophobic slur. Surprisingly, I got neither.
The special agent only nodded. “And if word got out regarding his proclivities, they’d shatter the illusion he’d built with his wife, kids, and church community, I suspect. Do you think that’s why he had the Hill twins plant that bomb in your BMW?”
I nodded. “Oh, I’m more than convinced. Did they admit to killing Byron?” I didn’t want to hear it, but I needed the truth.
“They admitted that they broke Mr. Haight’s neck and put him in your car in your office building. The Hill brothers have loose lips and want to try to make a deal. They’re under arrest in the hospital in DC, and they’re cooperating with the local authorities in hopes of getting a lesser sentence.
“Unfortunately, the twins are fucking idiots and know nothing about the innerworkings of the Defenders of the Faithful. Their security guy killed Heath Palmer and the leader of the group, Martin Dale, before he took himself out.”
My stomach turned. Fucking hell, what was going on. “Do you think you can find them?”
Trachtenberg sighed. “The Defenders have branched out as far as Kansas, and my bosses want to shut down the whole shootin’ match.
They’ve got their fingers dipped into some very non-Christian pies, or so we’ve been told by an anonymous tip, and right now, we don’t know much about the other chapters.
My goal is to turn Marvin Thompson into an inside snitch, but I needed this leverage to get him to do as I say. ”
I nodded. It wasn’t a surprise, and since Byron was dead, I was the only living person who knew the connection between Marv and me that would make him want me dead. “I assume I’ll need to tell this story to someone higher up in your food chain?”
“Say your name and the date, and we won’t bother you anymore.”
“Sean Fitzpatrick. Today is Friday, June 27.”
Trachtenberg turned off the recording app and shoved his phone in his pocket. “Like I said, you have my word that none of what you just said will be in any legal documents used in this operation.
“Right now, a young reporter is sitting in a jail cell in Moore County, North Carolina, who thinks that whole fucking mess was his fault. I won’t tell him what you said, but I will put his mind at ease.
He won’t know who you are, just that you’re someone who provided the information that opened his cell door. Thank you, Mr. Fitzpatrick.”
A gentle hand touched my shoulder. “Is it okay for me to come back?” Jeri was standing beside the booth; his brow wrinkled with concern.
“Gentlemen, I’m going to take off. Thank you for your cooperation. Mr. Fitzpatrick, if you think of anything you’d be willing to share that might help me accomplish my goal, will you please reach out?”
He shoved his hand into the pocket of his FBI jacket and offered me a business card. I glanced at it and tried to connect what I was seeing with the facts of the case as he’d presented them.
“This says you’re from—”
“I’m on loan to the Fayetteville field office. This case is personal to me, but don’t tell anyone.” Trachtenberg gave us a wink before he got up from the table and walked out.
Jeri sat next to me. “You okay? He didn’t threaten you or anything, right?”
He was so damn protective, it made my dick hard. “Let’s go back to the condo so I can pack up my shit, and we can go home...after we fuck.”
Jeri stood and offered his hand, helping me slide out of the booth. I tossed money on the table to pay for the coffee we didn’t drink, and I held his hand as we walked out the door.
For the time being, it seemed as if my worries were over. But then again, now I had to maneuver living with Jeri’s mother while we created a future together. That shouldn’t be hard, right?
“What did you and Senator Collins decide about her cheating husband?” Jeri asked. I chuckled as I thought about the discussion I’d had with the senator earlier that day.
Leslie Collins was a woman filled with vengeance over the bullshit hand her husband had dealt her. I had to get Spencer on the phone so he could help me talk her off the ledge before she blew up her future. I couldn’t have that happen because her man done did her wrong.
She had a lot of ideas regarding how she wanted to make Harmon pay for his infidelity, first by sending Child Protection Services to his girlfriend’s parents’ home, along with a reporter, to verify that Brandy was over eighteen.
“Leslie, seriously, the girl is a junior at Georgetown, so you know she’s over eighteen.
Harmon has questionable judgment dating a woman twenty-five years his junior, but that isn’t a reason to tax social services.
People will see him for the old fool he is when he steps out with someone so young,” Spencer Brady had told her. He was spot on with that assessment.
“Do I look like an old fool with you?” I turned to Jeri who was driving us back to Davidsonville.
I had called Mrs. Lambert to tell her I would be working remotely and if any emergencies came up, she should call my cell. I had her purchase hours with a private helicopter service in DC so I could get to town a lot faster than driving back to the office. It seemed like a viable option.
“Old fool? Where’d that come from? You’re forty, and I’m thirty. That’s only ten years. That’s far from old-fool territory.” He reached over and took my hand that was resting on the console.
“Harmon Collins is dating a young woman named Brandy. She’s in college at Georgetown where he teaches Economics. He was on the Bush Economic Council back in the day, and she’s twenty-five years younger than him.”
“Wow! What’s that saying about getting your meat where you get your bread and butter?” Jeri joked, making me laugh.
“Yeah, be careful about that biting you in the ass. You were assigned as my bodyguard when we met.”
“Clearly, it was the universe’s way of getting us together. Anyway, is she going to drag him through the mud?” Jeri lifted my hand and kissed the back of it.
I loved his affection more than I ever thought I would. I’d always imagined it would be embarrassing to hold hands or kiss another man in public, but with Jeri it wasn’t at all.
“Oh, Leslie wants to, but I had to remind her that some scandals take on a life of their own, and it might affect her committee memberships if she’s too much in the press, so she agreed to back down.
I also reminded her that she has a son and a daughter with the man and asked her how much embarrassment she wanted to cause the kids. She agreed.
“We left it that he was going to have to live with his choices and she should take the high road and let him flounder all on his own.”
I understood her desire to humiliate him, but men like Harmon Collins seemed to be good at doing that all by themselves. I could point the finger at myself and my current predicament, but I told myself our relationship wasn’t like Harmon’s.
“Have you ever cheated on anyone?” Jeri’s voice sounded a bit wary. I was sure he didn’t want to ask but felt he should.
“No, but I’ve never had anyone to cheat on. That’s not to say I haven’t been with married men. I’m ashamed of it now, but until you came along, I didn’t care who I hurt.”
Jeri turned onto I-295 to take us to his house. “Do you think you’ll be tempted to cheat on me? I mean, uh, you’re certainly within your rights to do what you want. We haven’t said we’ll be exclusive.”
Fuck no. That wasn’t going to fly with me.
“I promise I won’t cheat. We’re exclusive, you and me.
If we’re not, this will never work. I’m toying with the idea of keeping the helicopter service on retainer and using it to take me to DC on Monday nights and bring me back to the ranch on Thursday evenings, unless you want to come to DC on occasion and spend the weekend.
” I’d been toying with the idea while we were loading the truck.
It wouldn’t be cheap, but it would be the most efficient way to travel back and forth and cut down on the time I was away from him.
“That sounds expensive. I’d be happy to drive you down on Monday night and pick you up on Thursday.”
The sweet man would go out of his way to do whatever I needed, but that wasn’t fair to Jeri. He needed to be at the ranch to work with the horses and look out for Gayle.
“Nope. You need to be at the ranch, not driving my lazy ass around. Besides, the time it would take to drive it twice a week is time we could be spending in bed. It’s like a fifteen-minute flight, then I’ll get a rideshare out to the ranch.”
Jeri got a gleam in his eye. “Can’t they land elsewhere? Does it have to be at an airport?”