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September 23 - September 29, 2024
You don’t get to eat at the table if you saw someone poisoning the food and didn’t say anything.
He might have to hide part of himself in the shadows, but the rest of him is shining bright in the sun. That’s what he traded me in for. That’s why he left without a goodbye. A good life. The kind I’ll never have.
That maybe what I thought would just be breaking into some guy’s house and stealing the negatives has turned into something more worrisome. People only really go missing for two reasons: to hide from someone, or because someone has taken them.
“I wish I had looked you up first when I’d come back here. I think I missed out on something.” And with that, it’s like a rotten smell fills the room. He left without a word, but he wished now he’d come back? Why doesn’t he wish he’d never vanished? Wish he’d never left me terrified in the dark?
All of it comes back to me, even the parts I’d forgotten, but that cold spot was always there until I came to the Ruby. And that was because of the way James vanished. And all this time, he’s just been … living a good life. It makes me want to throttle him. To quit the case and let him get blackmailed.
“But you’re going to tell me all about your cases, then. Since Black Mask stopped publishing last year, I miss my mysteries.”
Friday, then?”
Singapore sling.”
Donna is her brother’s accomplice. But then why wouldn’t she know where he was?
“Donna is dead, in the alley outside Cheaters,”
It hits me what we’re doing. Hiding a body. Hiding a murder. Donna wasn’t good, but she was one of us. And I’m about to help erase her. I taste bile on my tongue. “Andy?” Helen
ahead. How would she know a place to dump a body?
was supposed to help gay people now. And all I can do is stuff the body of one in a trunk and drive away.
“James didn’t tell you? They’re decommissioning the Bell.”
“Well, we were checking for immoral behavior, but I guess we didn’t find any, legally speaking,” the lead cop says. “But we’ll be back.” He looks down at Gene. “Tell your boss to stop skimping on her payments. There’s a pervert tax in this city.” Gene just
and he uncurls himself from under my desk: James, his hat crumpled and low on his head, scarf dragging down one shoulder. “I heard the key…” He stands up. He’s corpse-white.
And the interrogations aren’t just demanding names. Asking things no man should ever have to answer. Details. What it felt like. Just to embarrass you. For hours. No food or water, no bathroom. Torture.”
“He killed him, Andy. James beat the guy to death.” “What?” “He beat him to death. Then we took his body out to the car and drove it … to where…” “Where we dumped Donna.”
James the murderer.
Is johnathon james?
There was something so scared in her eyes the last time I saw her. I wonder if it was Jonathan she was seeing.
hurt, and I rebuild. The building isn’t important. The people are.” She spreads her free arm, taking in the crowd. “I can manage rebuilding. What’s important is keeping everyone safe.” She brings her arm around to poke me in the chest. “But that means you,
“What are you going to do, James?” Helen asks, sticking her chin out. “Kill me?”
“The guy you brought back to the hotel that night was navy intelligence. He’d been following you for a few weeks. Both of you. All of us, really. You hadn’t noticed, or if you had, you hadn’t said anything. And honestly, we didn’t know for sure he was intelligence, but it made us suspicious.”
Oh shit! they killed another soldier?!
murder?” I ask. They’re both silent, neither of them looking me in the eye. Helen takes out another cigarette
have been one of us.” They’re silent. I grab the brick wall so hard I can feel it gouging blood out of my fingers.
moment I take a step inside, the door slams behind me. I spin. In front of the closed door is Danny Geller.
But maybe the most noticeable thing about him is the gun he’s holding in both his hands, pointed at me. “Where the fuck are my pictures?”
Well damn...
I sip at whatever Gene mixed up for me, which tastes like if an orange spent the night in Vegas.
I’ll sing real loud if you need me to cover moaning.” Gene blushes again, but then looks at me, questioning. And I want to, I really want to bring him up to my room and make him moan.
And I don’t want to be a poster boy for what people hate. I’m not white, I’m not rich, I can’t protect myself the way Elsie does.
“I don’t think so. He didn’t seem to like whoever it was very much. Just called ’em ‘that bitch.’”
“You would have been a good sailor, if you were just a little more ashamed of what you are.” “What we are,” I say. He leans back into the shadows
“There’s a list,” I say, realizing. “A list of homosexuals.”
What if I’ve ruined everything?” I don’t say anything. I don’t have the words to tell him that maybe he has.
