by Meg Perry
“Hi, Colin.”
Ethan said softly, “Hi, Colin.”
It was obvious to Scott that Colin didn’t recognize Ethan. Colin said politely, “Hello.”
Dave said, “Jeff and Val are homeschooling Colin. We’re having a history lesson today.”
Ethan winced. “Oh. Crap. We didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”
“It’s okay.” Dave said to Colin, “Go read that section about Chiang Kai-Shek. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Yes, sir.” Colin left, with a backward glance.
Scott asked, “Homeschooling in the summer?”
“Year-round, pretty much.” Dave indicated the sofa. “Sit. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Ethan said, “No, sir, thank you.”
Scott could have used a glass of water himself. Or a slug of Jack Daniels. He kept quiet. This was Ethan’s solo. Scott was only the accompanist.
Dave sat in the armchair perpendicular to the sofa and leaned back, drumming his fingers on the upholstery. “So.”
Ethan said quickly, “I’m here to apologize.”
Dave lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve already apologized to Jamie.”
“Yes, sir. But I feel like I owe an apology to the rest of the family too.” Ethan gripped the edge of the sofa cushion, his knuckles white. Scott thought, Now he’s nervous.
“What I did to Jamie was terrible. I know I hurt him badly and that hurt all of you. I’m so sorry. I could plead being young and stupid, but that’s no excuse.” Ethan took a deep breath. “You were my family, the best one I ever had, and I disappointed you all.” His voice and gaze had never wavered, but now his voice did. “Please forgive me.”
Dave’s expression relaxed. “You were young. And you’re right, it’s not an excuse, but it is a reason. We all have regrets from our past.” He gave Ethan a wry half-smile. “It took guts for you to come here.”
Ethan bit his lip. “I had to.”
Dave nodded. “I respect that. Consider yourself forgiven.”
Ethan released his grip on the cushion. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
Dave’s gaze flicked to Scott; Scott thought he seemed amused. He said, “I wasn’t aware the two of you were acquainted.”
Scott said, “Um -”
Ethan jumped in. “I - ah - I’ve moved to Los Angeles. I got a faculty position at USC. Two weeks ago, I went to an author reading at a bookstore and met Scott there.”
“I see.” Now Dave was definitely amused. “I’d like to have eavesdropped on the conversation where you figured out what you had in common.”
Ethan blushed. Scott scrubbed his hands through his hair and said, “You’d have enjoyed the one where I told Jamie about it, too.”
That made Dave laugh. “I’m sure I would have. How are your parents, Scott?”
“They’re well, thank you.”
Dave was still addressing Scott. “So you two are - what, exactly?”
Ethan blushed deeper. He seemed to be leaving this to Scott. Scott said, “Dating. For two weeks.”
Dave leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms, regarding them both with barely suppressed hilarity. “You know what? That could work.”
Scott deadpanned, “That’s what Jamie said.”
Dave grinned. “You sure you wouldn’t like a drink?”
Scott said, “Water would be great, thanks.”
Ethan seemed to find his voice again. “Yeah. I’d like some water, please.”
“Be right back.” Dave disappeared into the kitchen; Scott heard him speak to Colin. He returned with two bottles of water and sat back down. “So, Scott, you got pulled into one of Jamie’s investigations.”
“I did.” Scott grimaced. “I was there when it happened.”
“I heard. That must have been a shock.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
Ethan looked at Scott. “I wish he hadn’t gotten involved. When I got tangled up in that case two years ago, it didn’t end very well.”
Dave lifted an eyebrow at Scott, who decided to keep his mouth shut. Dave said, “Are you still rowing, Ethan?”
“Yes, sir. I joined the rowing club in LA.”
Colin chose that moment to stick his head into the living room. “Grampa, can I start on the timeline?”
Ethan scrambled to his feet. “We’d better let you get back to school.”
Dave stood, too. Apparently, he wasn’t going to argue. “Yeah, we’re on a schedule. But I’m glad you came.”
Ethan smiled. “Me too.”
Scott shook hands with Dave. “It’s good to see you again.”
“You too, Scott.” Dave looked back and forth between the two of them and raised an eyebrow at Scott again. “Good luck.”
Scott huffed a laugh. “Thanks.”
Ethan held his hand out to Dave, who took it then pulled Ethan into a hug. Ethan responded quickly, wrapping his arms around Dave. Dave thumped him on the back and let him go. “Take care, Ethan.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
When they got to the car, Ethan nearly collapsed into the driver’s seat. Scott said mildly, “That went well.”
“It did, didn’t it?” Ethan turned his head to look at Scott. “I really do appreciate you coming with me.”
“I’m glad I came.” As Scott said it, he realized it was true. He’d liked Dave; it was good to see that he was well. “Are you going to tell Jamie about this?”
“Um - I think I should.”
“Okay.”
Scott waited until they were on the 5 and into Camp Pendleton before he broached the difficult subject. “I didn’t realize you still had feelings for Jamie.”
“What?” Ethan gave him a sharp glance. “I don’t still have feelings for Jamie.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes.” Ethan frowned. “Why do you think I do?”
“I think if you didn’t you wouldn’t have needed to make this trip. You said it yourself, this was your family.”
Ethan shook his head vigorously. “You’re wrong. I feel bad for the way I treated Jamie, and I wish I could change things. But that doesn’t mean I have feelings for him. I don’t. He was my first love, and he’ll always be special to me for that reason. Don’t you feel that way about your first love?”
Scott frowned out the passenger window. “I don’t think I’ve had it yet.”
Scott could feel Ethan’s surprise. He was quiet for a minute then said gently, “Jamie might have been my first love, but he’s sure as hell not going to be my last.”
Scott simply nodded. He wasn’t sure he could trust his voice.
When they got back to West Hollywood, Ethan pulled up in front of Scott’s building. “I’m going to see Jamie now and get this over with. Dinner tomorrow at my place? I’ll cook.”
“Sure. I’ll bring the wine.”
“Okay, make it a white. We’ll have pasta. See you then.”
Scott hesitated for a minute, but Ethan didn’t make any move toward him for a kiss. “Okay. See you then.” He got out of the car and Ethan sped away.
Scott watched him go, then trudged into his building.
Jamie
Monday evening, I was on the bus when my phone rang. I checked the caller ID.
Ethan. Crap.
I answered, “For someone who said I’d never see you again, you’re turning up an awful lot.”
“I know. I’m sorry. There’s just one more thing I want to talk to you about. Are you still at the library?”
“No, I’m on the way home.”
“Oh. Um - can I come over?”
“Where are you?”
“Parked on campus.”
Good; I’d beat him home. I’d have plenty of time to warn Pete. I said, “Fine. 1250 17th Street, Santa Monica. Turn left off Wilshire. It’s a row of white townhouses on your immediate left.” I would not invite him to dinner.
“Thanks. See you in a few.”
When I got home
, I found a note from Pete on the kitchen table. “Had to run to Trader Joe’s for a few things. Back soon. xoxo”
I peeked out the back door. Pete had taken the Jeep, so he’d probably be back any minute. I sent him a quick text - Ethan coming over, we’ll be on the deck - and went upstairs to change clothes but had only dropped my computer bag in the office when our doorbell rang.
I opened the door and crossed my arms. “This has to stop.”
Ethan winced sheepishly. “One more time. I wanted to tell you what I did before you heard it from someone else.”
“Oh, dear God. What have you done?”
“Um - can I come inside?”
I sighed. “Sure.” I closed the door behind Ethan, shaking my head. “Go up to the kitchen. We’ll talk on the back deck.”
Ethan climbed the stairs and looked around appreciatively. “This is nice.”
“Thanks. Want something to drink?”
“Water would be great.”
I procured two bottles of water from the fridge and opened the back door. “Come on out.” Since he’d driven, Pete would return to the house from the back. I wanted him to see us sitting outside as soon as he got here.
Ethan took one of the chairs. “This is a terrific setup.”
“Thanks. It was Pete’s great-uncle’s place. You’re stalling.”
Ethan laughed a little, playing with the cap of his water bottle. “You’re right.” He looked up at me but was cringing a bit. “I went to see your dad. Scott went with me.”
I’d imagined a lot of nutty things in the past three minutes, but that wasn’t one of them. When I regained my powers of speech I asked, “Why?”
“To apologize to him for letting the family down when I broke up with you.”
“And you took Scott with you?”
“I didn’t want to go by myself. I know he didn’t want to go, but he did it because I wanted him to.”
Hoo boy. And here I’d been concerned about how Ethan would manage Scott. Looked like I’d been worrying about the wrong guy. “I can imagine the expression on my dad’s face.”
“Yeah…” Ethan smiled. “I was afraid he’d shut the door in my face.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
Ethan nodded. “Colin was there, having a history lesson. He looks so much like Jeff.”
“He didn’t recognize you, did he?” The last time Colin saw Ethan, he was barely three.
“No.” Ethan took a long drink of water. “Anyway. Your family was my family, those years we were together. I cared a lot about your dad. About everyone. And being back in California - I felt like I couldn’t move on until I’d addressed this thing that was still hanging over my head.”
Ethan’s instincts were good. My family had been hurt when he broke up with me. I said, “Well. That took balls that I didn’t know you had.”
He huffed a laugh. “I wasn’t nervous until I was actually sitting on your dad’s sofa. It felt - I knew it was the right thing to do.” He dug his toe into the plank of the deck. “I need to finish my unfinished business.”
“So you can move on - with Scott?”
He looked up at me again, smiling almost shyly. “Would that be a bad thing?”
“Not at all. I told Scott, I think you two are pretty well suited.”
“I think we are too.” He began the toe-digging again. “He thought I still had feelings for you.”
“I hope you disabused him of that notion.”
“I tried. I don’t know if he believed me.”
I sighed. “Scott’s not the jealous type, but he won’t waste his time on someone with divided loyalties.”
“Nor should he. He’s really…”
Pete’s Jeep made the turn into the alley and pulled up underneath us. Ethan said, “Crap.”
Pete got out of the Jeep, came halfway up the steps and stopped, observing us with wry amusement. “Hi, honey, I’m home.”
“Hi. As you can see, we have company.”
“Indeed.” Pete came the rest of the way up the steps. “Ethan.”
Ethan stood and held out his hand. “Pete. It’s good to see you again. Congratulations on the wedding.”
“Thank you.”
I said, “Ethan went to see my dad.”
Pete’s expression was mystified. “Why?”
“To apologize.” Ethan shrugged. “It was unfinished business.”
I said, “Ethan’s clearing the way to move forward with Scott.”
“Ah.” Pete pulled the leg rest section of my Adirondack chair from the front of my chair to the side of it and perched on it. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Ethan stood. “I’ll get out of your way.”
We saw Ethan out the front door. Pete said, “Well. That was interesting.”
I said, “You don’t know the half of it. When Ethan went to Dad’s, he took Scott with him.”
Pete started to laugh. “Good Lord. I can just imagine the look on your dad’s face.”
“Right?” I sighed. “I hope he’s serious about moving on with Scott.”
Pete stopped laughing. “So do I.”
Tuesday, June 30
Scott
Ethan hadn’t called after his visit to Jamie or later in the evening. He hadn’t responded to Scott’s text saying good night. By the time Scott finished his workout and showered the next morning, Ethan had texted, asking Scott if he’d like to help Ethan move into his office at USC Thursday afternoon, then have dinner. Scott had agreed, but he wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.
Scott had never been a fan of hot-and-cold behavior. The first week after they met, he’d heard from Ethan two or three times a day. Since then, they’d had sex once and made the trip to Oceanside yesterday.
Scott felt like he was losing control of the situation - if he’d ever had control at all. He cared about Ethan more than Ethan cared about him.
Something was going to have to give. Maybe he should ask Jamie for some pointers on Ethan management.
When the phone rang, his heart leapt. Scott chastised himself for overreacting and looked at the caller ID.
Jon Eckhoff.
Scott sighed and answered. “Hello, Detective.”
“Hi, Scott. Would it be possible for us to come to your place this afternoon? Around 1:30?”
“Um - sure. What’s this about?”
“We’ve gotten permission to have you set up a meeting with Oliver’s dealer.”
“Oh.” Thanks to dealing with Ethan and Dave Brodie, Scott had nearly forgotten that Tristan Oliver was setting up his dealer for another buy. “Okay. Do you want me to do anything before that time?”
“No. We’ll do it all while we’re there. See you then.”
“Right.” Scott hung up. Damn. He needed a clear head to deal with this dealer, who might also be tied to Elena’s murder. At the moment, his head was anything but clear.
He climbed to his loft, took the cello and bow out of their case, and began to play.
The door buzzer sounded, jolting Scott out of his reverie. He glanced at the clock. Right on time. He went to the intercom and asked the concierge, “Police detectives?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Send them up.” Scott opened his front door. Thirty seconds later the elevator doors opened and deposited Kevin and Jon.
Scott waved them into his living room. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
Jon said, “Water’s fine.”
Scott brought three bottles of water from the kitchen. “Have a seat.”
Kevin said, “We finally got Brian Dalziel to talk to us.”
“How’d you manage that?”
Jon grinned. “Turns out our supervisor went through the police academy with Pasadena’s chief of police, who plays golf with Brian’s father. Conversations were had, obstruction of justice was discussed - voila.”
Scott had to laugh. “Good. What did he have to say?”
Kevin sat back, letting Jon tell the story. Jon said, “First, we pro
ved to Brian and Dad that Brian couldn’t have killed Elena. We had the hand measurements from the medical examiner and matched them to Brian’s hands. He’s got really small hands. For a guy.”
Scott nodded. “That’s fine for a violist. For cello, it helps to have bigger hands.”
“Makes sense. Anyway, that calmed them both down some. I think they believed that we suspected Brian. Which we did, but anyway. Turns out that the reason Brian was flushed when he returned from break was that he’d had a quickie from one of the wedding guests.”
Scott snorted. “I bet Dad was thrilled to hear that.”
“Um - yeah, thrilled is not the word I’d use. One of the guests was a girl he knows, daughter of one of the grooms’ friends. They’d made arrangements to hook up at this wedding. They thought it would be awesome to pull it off, so to speak, at a fancy house full of people.”
“So did he actually know anything about Elena?”
“Not much. Remember, he’s in high school. He did remember the Hello Kitty bag and said it was the first time he’d seen it.”
“It wasn’t her usual purse.”
“No. He had also guessed that she was pregnant. They’d played a morning wedding a couple of weeks previously, and she’d run off in the middle of rehearsal. He found her puking in the bushes. And he’d noticed that her already-impressive rack was becoming more impressive.”
Scott shook his head, laughing. “Observant kid. His father must have loved that, too.”
“Oh, yeah. I think Brian’s going to be grounded for a while.”
“Was that it?”
“Yeah. He didn’t have any idea who the boyfriend might be. He’d overheard her arguing with your pal Wiley a couple of times, but Brian himself had argued with her a couple of times, so he didn’t give much credence to that. He confirmed your impression that she was a bitch.”
Kevin said, “You still have your friend’s copy of the Isaacson duet, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Jon set his water bottle on the coffee table coaster. “Grab your laptop.”
Scott went to his office, his stomach sinking. When he returned he sat on the sofa between Kevin and Jon and booted up the computer. Jon said, “Log in to the new chat site. Let’s see if Percival has posted anything.”