32
At McDonald’s, Jem had a french fry halfway to his mouth and then stopped and said, “You know what I don’t get?”
“I don’t know,” Tean said. He was considering the salad in front of him.
He’d separated out the chicken and the crunchy stuff—fried onions, maybe?
—and set the dressing packet aside so he could pick at the lettuce.
And because Jem was still in the doghouse he was letting him get away with it.
“What I don’t get,” Tean said, “is how you tricked me into coming to McDonald’s. ”
“We had to eat dinner somewhere.”
“I had everything to make quinoa salad at home.”
“Plus you were being extra sweet to me,” Jem said.
“You asked if I was hungry, and I shrugged, and then you asked if I’d eaten anything all day, and I did that face that I know makes you immediately jump to the absolute worst possible conclusion, and I opened all the cabinet doors to see if we had anything good, and when you offered to make quinoa, I said, ‘That’s okay, I’m not really hungry, I guess. ’”
Tean held a piece of lettuce between his fingers, watching him.
“Uh,” Jem said. “Not really important.”
“It’s very important,” Tean said. “What else did you do?”
“You know the lettuce is even better if you put the bacon on it?”
“I don’t think it even is bacon. I think it’s some sort of carbohydrate they dyed red and immersed in liquid smoke.”
“Okay, but if you’re not going to eat it, I’ll take it.”
But when Jem reached for the bacon crumbles—still sealed in their little packet—Tean put out a hand to stop him and said, “Show me the face that makes me suspect the absolute worst.”
“What face?”
“The one you said you used to get me to do whatever you wanted.”
“Babe! That’s so mean! I never said that. In fact—”
“Jeremiah.”
“—I don’t even remember what we were talking about.”
“We were talking about how you—”
“What I don’t get,” Jem said over him, “is why they killed Tess.”
The mixture of amusement and watchfulness on Tean’s face disappeared.
He ate a few more pieces of lettuce, chewing slowly.
Around them, the dining room was steadily busy without being crowded: a man with stringy hair and a leather jacket picked up an Uber Eats order, a woman leading a chain of children waited for their turn at the counter, a little boy was banging a toy dog on a nearby tabletop and screaming while his dad looked at something on his phone.
It was a site called Leather Ladies; Jem had spotted it over his shoulder when he’d gotten up for more ketchup.
“Never mind,” Jem said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“It’s a buzzkill. It just popped out of my mouth; I’m sorry.”
Tean shook his head. “We need to think about it, Jem. We’re not any closer to finding them. If anything, we’re further from it. And they know we’re looking for them. They’re trying to stop us.”
He didn’t say, I almost died, but only because he was Tean, and he was trying not to make Jem feel bad.
“I’m sorry about Amy,” Jem said.
Tean nodded.
“It sucks,” Jem added. “And it’s crazy. How did they get her?”
“Who knows?” Tean said. “They might have contacted her and lured her out. They might have called around to every hotel in the city. For all we know, she really did need medication, and when she went back to her house, they were waiting for her.”
“Do you think it was him the whole time? Texting us with her phone, I mean,” Jem said. “Because that’s some weird shit.”
“He’s delusional,” Tean said. “And probably decompensating. Nothing he’s doing at this point is rational.”
“Yeah, he’s crazy. But he still almost got us.”
Tean nodded. “Whatever she knew, or whatever information she had, they didn’t want her sharing it.”
“Why do you think they killed her?” Jem asked.
Tean blinked. “Because she wasn’t going to stop investigating.”
“No, not Amy. Tess.” Jem waited a beat, but then he said, “It doesn’t make any sense. She was part of their group. Their pack, I guess. She helped them.”
“Maybe she wanted out,” Tean said. “I’m sure that the experience of living on the run, hiding out at an abandoned ranch, being cut off from her life and the comforts she was accustomed to—it wasn’t nearly as exciting or thrilling or whatever she’d hoped it would be.”
“Maybe.”
“Kai isn’t the kind of person to let someone leave. Especially not if they might lead someone back to him.”
Jem nodded.
Some of his doubt must have shown on his face, though, because Tean said, “You don’t agree?”
“No, I do.” He shrugged. “It just bothers me. I don’t know why. It’s not logical. I don’t have any reason for it.” He tried for a smile, and it felt cracked. “Plus, turns out I’m crazy, so you definitely shouldn’t listen to me.”
“You’re not crazy.” Tean frowned. “What I don’t understand is why they’d kill that man. Wendell. Do you think they followed you to his house?”
“Uh, no. I don’t think they needed to.”
“But the only other point of contact would have been at Rainbow House. We know they know about Rainbow House, because they’ve followed Daniel there before.
One of them even tried to break in. And I suppose they might have targeted Wendell because he’s a gay man and he’s affiliated with an LGBTQ youth center; all their other victims had the same tenuous connection to some sort of queer identity.
” Tean frowned. “But doesn’t it seem like a stretch? ”
“It’s not a stretch if you keep in mind that they’re still fixated on Daniel.”
“What does that mean?”
Jem sighed. “You can’t talk to Daniel about this. Promise?”
Behind the glasses, Tean’s eyes narrowed. “I’d like to hear whatever you have to say before I decide.”
“That’s not how promises work.”
“I don’t want to make a promise I’m not going to keep.”
“Remember how the first night Wendell was there, he was talking to Daniel? Perving on him?”
“I remember.”
“Remember how I beat the shit out of him?”
“Yes.”
“Remember how badass that was?”
“I remember it being scary and upsetting, and I hated it.”
“Babe, come on, please?”
“What about Wendell and Daniel? Oh my gosh. They weren’t having sex were they?”
Dropping back in the booth, Jem said, “I don’t think so. But Wendell was definitely working up to it, and Daniel liked the attention. I’m about ninety-nine percent sure Wendell gave him that gold chain.”
“Okay,” Tean said slowly. “So, the connection is through Daniel. They’re following Daniel. They’re watching him. And they notice these interactions.” He paused. “Do you think they can see inside Rainbow House?”
“There are some big windows in back, and they don’t have any lights in the yard.”
“They see Wendell making advances. And they kill him, either because he’s trespassing on their property, as they see it, or because that’s part of this whole identity they’ve created for themselves: they’re supposed to save children from homosexuals, and getting rid of LGBTQ adults is the best way to do it. ”
“They wrote ‘Groomer’ on his wall,” Jem said. “Just like they did with Rydel.”
Tean shook his head.
Jem finished the last bite of his Big Mac, cold now, and watched Tean fluff the lettuce a few more times, which was his way of making it look like he was eating without, you know, actually eating anything. Finally, he said, “All done?”
“It was very good,” Tean said.
That made Jem grin. He collected their trays and dumped the trash, and as he was turning back to their table, Sheila whistled.
She was somewhere in her late fifties or early sixties, no more than five feet tall, and she had bangs with a lot of highlights.
She wore one of the McDonald’s visors, the kind Jem hardly ever saw anymore, and she’d promised he could have it when she retired.
Right then, she was standing behind the service counter, holding up two freshly made McFlurries.
“You’re an angel,” Jem said.
“Your friend looks so sad,” she told him. “I thought you needed something nice.”
“You’re amazing. You’re the best. You’re going to be my best man at my wedding.”
Sheila laughed and flapped a hand at him and headed back into the kitchen.
When Jem got back to the table, Tean said, “Did I hear you tell her she could be your best man at our wedding?”
“Yeah, but she said she’d better not, because she doesn’t like to leave her dogs for that long.”
Tean was obviously still thinking about this as he accepted one of the McFlurries. “Wait, when did she say that?”
“The first time Scipio and I asked her.”
Tean moved the spoon around in his McFlurry—another classic move to make it look like he was eating. “Shouldn’t Scipio be your best man?”
“Scipio is your best man. I asked him, and that’s what he told me.”
“I don’t want a best man. He can be your best man.”
“Stop!” Jem pointed. “That bite has an M Jem, meanwhile, was already about halfway done with his. You had to eat fast in case Tean decided they had to return the McFlurries in order to be ethical people, or even worse, offered to pay for them.
But then Tean said, “Why does it bother you that they killed Tess?”
Jem frowned over another spoonful of soft serve. “Huh?”
“You said it still bothered you. Why?”
“I don’t know. It just hit me as weird. This definitely isn’t the week to take my word for it, though.”
“Don’t do that. You’re an exceptionally intuitive person. You’re also smart, observant, and a badass.”
“Swear jar.”
“You said it two minutes ago.”
Jem shrugged and held up his spoon helplessly.
“What is it that bothers you?” Tean asked.
“Well, just the fact that they did it, I guess. They’re, like, this group. This pack. There’s Kai and Zeb and Reed and Tess. And they’re tight, you know? It’s more than being friends. It’s more than even being in love. They’re out there killing people together. That’s some serious dedication.”