26 Ollie
Ollie
“Time for trivia!” Ollie announces. He’s very proud of everything he’s come up with.
He spent almost the entire day preparing these questions, googling things even when he was out walking the dogs.
He almost let Linus wrap a curious child in his leash.
But it’ll be worth it for when he unmasks Jon and solves the case!
Though, at this point, he’s not so sure what the case is.
He’s been so focused on Jon, he doesn’t know anything about the dead man.
But Jon is the only lead he has, so if he just reveals a little more about himself, maybe Ollie can figure out exactly what happened that day, and if Jon needs protection or, more likely, if Brandon needs protection from Jon.
Everyone has settled in nicely, too. Brandon was kind enough to bring only pale snacks, and almost everyone else brought cheese, which was weird, but who doesn’t like cheese?
Even Safiya brought some cannabis-infused pepperjack they sell at the store.
She’d shown up before anyone else and given him a kiss on the cheek, which had thrilled him, and the cheese, which had been more confusing—she said it had one of those strains that makes people more alert and competitive, perfect for game night.
Though, now that he thinks about it, Ollie doesn’t think he told anyone it was laced.
He was too busy trying to set up and talk to her and maybe get another kiss.
He glances at the block of pepperjack. It’s half-gone.
He lays out the categories, announcing them as he goes and watching Jon’s face for any reaction, but there isn’t any.
Could he really be an innocent in all this?
Wrong place, wrong time, happens to use a fake name with hookups?
But then why is he here? Shouldn’t he have gone to the police?
Maybe he did. Ollie is prepared for that, too.
The Pictionary cards he made are all police and shooting related: reporting a crime, witness statements, attempted murder.
Very different than the usual kind of Pictionary clues they come up with—Ollie can draw a variety of sex acts and positions with his eyes closed at this point.
But it’ll show how much experience Jon has with things he might have done post-shooting.
And for celebrity, Ollie looked up a variety of famous spies and assassins to put in the bowl.
For now though: trivia!
“Well, I work at a weed shop,” Safiya is saying, “but the street value of drugs isn’t quite the same. Just in case you were trying to win my affection with that one.” She raises an eyebrow at Ollie.
“That would be unfair,” Ollie says, then, before he can help himself, winks. Oh no. That was so cheesy and terrible.
Safiya grins and winks back. Okay, not so bad, then.
“I don’t mind,” she says. “I want to win!” Maybe she’s been the one eating the cheese.
But they start with porn stars, of course.
If Ollie left that one out, it would make people suspicious.
But when Victor gets it, they move right to Guns—perfect.
And Jon gets it! Ollie stares at Jon, feeling like he’s learned something.
Brandon can see it, too, he knows. Until Jon mentions that comic.
Okay, plausible, but then he knows about Operation Mincemeat, too.
He knows stuff. Identity Theft, Hand-to-Hand Combat…
He knows something from every category. So he’s not an innocent victim, right?
It couldn’t just be wrong place, wrong time.
Ollie realizes nothing he’s learning is very specific, but he still feels on steadier ground now—Jon is a criminal, or spy, or something. (He’s also learning Ian’s date is probably a drug dealer, but that’s not important right now.)
What’s most annoying is how few people are staying.
Ian leaves to go to the bathroom, and/or abandon the weird tension between Victor and Tom, and doesn’t come back.
And then Jon and Nicole go to get beers—which Nicole doesn’t drink.
With Jon gone, Ollie isn’t going to find out anything new either.
They need to finish up trivia and move on to the other games, more tests, more information about Jon.
Ollie picks up the lesbian-porn-star-couple question he wrote just for Nicole (well, and himself) and reads it. The half-empty room goes quiet.
“So none of us are into girls except Ollie?” Safiya says after a minute. “Feels unbalanced.” She giggles. She looks so cute giggling.
“So what did you talk to Ian about after their show?” Victor asks Tom.
“Just fan stuff. How funny they were. One thing led to another, and…now here we are. How do you know Ian?”
“We were together for a year,” Victor says. “I’m with someone else now, but I still care a lot about Ian.”
“Where’s your someone else?” Tom asks.
“Working.”
This is not great. Ollie looks at Brandon and then Safiya, then at the cheese she brought (even less of it now) and back at her. She shrugs, still petting Pete.
“Well,” Ollie says, “maybe we should wait for everyone else?” And hopefully give everyone time to mellow out a little.
“I’ll go see if they need help,” Brandon says, popping up and practically running from the room. He’s clearly wanted to since Jon left.
“I haven’t seen you at any of Ian’s shows,” Tom says to Victor. He’s getting condescending, while Victor is just looking angrier.
“I haven’t been in a while,” Victor says.
Ollie swallows. “This cheese is good, right?” he says, cutting a slice off the weed pepperjack. “Safiya brought it from her store. The weed just tastes a little grassy, right?”
Victor turns to Ollie as he pops the slice in his mouth.
“The cheese has weed in it?” Victor’s anger seems focused more on Ollie now.
“Just a little,” Safiya says, leaning back from him, wary.
“You drugged us without telling us? I could get fired for this.” His face falls, and he rubs at his temple, anxiety washing over him, and Ollie starts to feel guilt in him like worms.
“What?” Safiya says, now scratching behind Pete’s ears. “It’s legal.”
“In New York, but I’m a federal employee. If they randomly drug test me tomorrow, I’m screwed.”
Ollie and Safiya exchange a glance. Safiya grimaces.
“Sorry,” she says quickly. “I didn’t know. I thought everyone knew the cheese—” She shakes her head, frowning. “Okay, wait, I know this. You need to drink lots of water, work out. It should be out of your system faster that way. Do they randomly drug test you a lot?”
“No,” Victor says.
“What if someone calls something in?” Tom asks—trying to tease, Ollie thinks, but badly misreading the situation.
“Fuck you,” Victor says, standing. “I came because I missed these guys and Ian asked me to and I thought we were all going to be friends, finally, but…” He shakes his head, falling forward slightly, head in hands.
“I cheated on Ian, you know. I’m an asshole.
And I mean it, I care about them, but we’re not good for each other.
” He looks up. He’s so much sadder than Ollie remembers him.
When he and Ian were together, it was, well, yeah, a lot of drama.
But when they weren’t fighting, they were crazy about each other.
Tom sighs and gently pats Victor on the back, which makes him twitch and look up at Tom, who pulls the hand back. “I didn’t mean I would.”
“Then what did you mean? And what’s your deal? I need to protect Ian, to make it up to them.”
“I’m not dangerous, I promise! And I’m not a cheater.”
“You do know a lot about drugs though,” Safiya says nonchalantly as she scratches Pete’s ears.
“My roommate in college was a dealer,” Tom says. “I haven’t actually done much besides some edibles. Oh, and once I took a mint from his tin before a date, but it turned out it wasn’t just a mint.”
“What was it?” Safiya asks, leaning forward.
“Acid.” Tom laughs. “I thought this guy I was on the date with was supernaturally hot that night. Not so much the next morning.”
Safiya laughs, and even Victor snorts, his posture loosening a little. The pressure in the room seems to go down a little.
“We all missed you,” Ollie says, not sure what’s happening. This was supposed to be a big detective night. He reaches out and pats Victor on the knee, but Victor grabs his hand.
“Thanks,” he says. “I really missed you guys, too.”
“Why don’t we get you that water?” Safiya says, putting Pete on the floor and standing. “Everyone is downstairs anyway, so maybe we can go refill our drinks and stuff?” She reaches out for Ollie’s hand, pulling it off Victor’s and squeezing.
Ollie looks up at her, so grateful. He wants to kiss her so badly.
“Yeah,” Victor says, standing. He heads out into the hall, and Tom follows with a shrug. Ollie hangs back for a moment, holding Safiya’s hand.
“Thanks,” he says to her softly. Pete wanders through their legs, going downstairs with everyone else. “This is not the night I thought it would be.”
“Might be my fault. The cheese can be a little weepy, too. I didn’t realize you hadn’t told them it was laced.”
“I was so focused on the games.”
“I was distracted by Pete.” She grins. “And you, of course.”
He goes for it: He leans in for a kiss, on the lips this time, not the cheek.
She lowers her chin to let him but doesn’t lean in, and when he wraps his arm around her waist, she doesn’t step closer, so it ends up being soft, lips brushing sweetly, but maybe not the sexy open-mouth action Ollie was sort of hoping for.
She’s smiling when they break apart though. “Let’s go find Pete.”
As they step into the dark hallway, Ollie hears voices downstairs.
Victor and Tom are just in front of them, and when they get into the wide-open kitchen and living room, Ollie is sure they all see the same thing: Ian on the ground, Jon looming over them like he maybe just hit them.
Ollie gasps at the image, and that seems to reaffirm the scene for Victor, who charges forward.