“But Jose did disappear. He didn’t just stop coming here. He hasn’t been at work or at home. No one has seen him. The police have been brought it on it.”
Paul cocked an eyebrow. He pushed the long hair on the right side of his face back over his ear, showing off several earrings. “The police haven’t been around here.”
“No, I didn’t think so. I don’t think they’re actually very interested in finding out what happened to Jose. He’s… a nonperson to them.”
“We’re all nonpersons to the police.”
Zachary dragged his finger through the condensation on the side of the glass. “Is it that bad? The police don’t get along with anyone who is gay?”
“I imagine some of them get along just fine with people who haven’t come out yet. But the police departments and the gay community around here do not have a good track record.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. The officer I talked to seemed pretty decent. He didn’t put much time into it, but he didn’t tell me to get lost. He didn’t tell me that it didn’t matter, even if he didn’t believe that there was anything wrong. He still filed the report, did the initial legwork.”
“Then they are doing more than they have done in the past. In past years… you try to get them involved in something, and you’re more likely to get the wrong end of the baton, so to speak. It’s best not to ask for help.”
“There must be gay police officers. They don’t treat you any better?”
“How do you think they would be treated if they did?”
Zachary nodded slowly. “I suppose if there’s that much animosity, there would be resentments.”
“As a cop, you don’t want to be assigned all the dirty or dangerous calls. You don’t want to be stuck at the bottom of the ladder and never able to advance. So you toe the line and you don’t make allowances for people like us.”
“I thought things would have gotten better since the Marriage Equality Act was passed. There has been an influx of gay couples…”
“Enacting a law doesn’t change people’s opinions. Not that quickly, anyway. There’s a lot of resentment about that influx, if you’re on the side of the Christians or the Nazis.”
There were a number of curious glances in their direction at his words. Zachary felt his cheeks heating at the attention. “I’m sorry to hear that. I thought it would make things better.”
“It has in some respects; not in others.”
Chapter Eleven
T
he large man who had been watching Zachary picked up his drink and approached Zachary at the bar.
“Don’t think I’ve seen you here before,” he observed.
“Uh, no. I’m Zachary.” On instinct, he didn’t give his last name or the fact that he was a private investigator.
“You can call me Teddy.”
It seemed a rather cuddly nickname for such a formidable man, but Zachary nodded and didn’t ask why. He turned to look at Paul, but he had withdrawn to the other end of the bar and was serving customers there, not looking at Zachary.
“So are you new in town?” Teddy inquired. “Or just to The Night Scene?”
“I’m from out of town. I come down this way now and then to visit my father. A friend mentioned the bar to me today and I thought I would check it out.”
Teddy’s eyes raked him from head to toe, and Zachary had the uncomfortable feeling that the man saw him for what he was. Zachary knew that there wasn’t any physical trait that could give him away as straight or gay, but he must look as uncomfortable as he felt hanging out in a gay bar and being approached by a stranger.
But Teddy didn’t confront him and say he knew who he was and what he was after. He didn’t even challenge Zachary on whether he was actually gay, or maybe had just ended up in the wrong bar.
Glancing around, Zachary noted that there were some women around. Or people he assumed were women. Everybody wasn’t paired off. He could conceivably have walked into the bar without realizing that it was a gay bar. His so-called friend might have set him up there as a joke.
“So what do you think so far?” Teddy asked. “It will be a little while before everybody gets warmed up and the place will be hopping. Pretty quiet right now.”
“I don’t mind quiet. I wanted to get a feel for it before it was too busy.”
“What were you talking about with Paul? You seemed to be having a pretty involved conversation.”
Zachary shrugged. “Nothing, just small talk.”
Teddy wasn’t buying it. He motioned for another drink. Paul gave him a wave but continued to take care of drinks down at the other end of the bar.
“Are you a Vermonter?” Teddy asked.
“Yes. Just up north.”
“And… unattached?”
Zachary considered the question. Teddy was moving a lot faster than Zachary would have expected. But if The Night Scene was a hookup joint, maybe that was expected. He found himself thinking about Kenzie rather than about the appropriate answer to give Teddy. They were closer than they had ever been, but Zachary had noticed a change since Christmas. Was it because she had been ready to take their relationship further when he had not been, too mired in his case and pre-Christmas depression? Or having had a taste for just how low he could go, had she finally decided that a relationship with him wasn’t in the cards?
“Earth to Zachary…”
“Oh.” Zachary brought his attention back to Teddy. “Uh, sorry, I was just thinking…”
“About who? That was a pretty deep dive.”
“Yeah. Well… things didn’t really work out between us the way I’d expected. Probably my fault.”
“Maybe you just weren’t compatible.”
Zachary took a sip of his Coke. “Yeah. Maybe not. It’s just that it looked promising for a while there… but maybe I’m not very good at long-term relationships.” There was Bridget. He’d been with her for a couple of years. But that had ended up so disastrously that he couldn’t consider it a successful long-term relationship.
“So maybe what you’re looking for isn’t long-term,” Teddy suggested. “Maybe right now, what you really want is something quick and intense.” He leaned closer to Zachary. Zachary couldn’t help readjusting to increase the space between them. No matter what role he was playing, his reaction to Teddy being in his personal space was visceral.
Teddy grinned and drained the rest of his glass. He put it down on the bar with a hard thunk, attracting Paul’s attention. Paul made his way back over to them and gave Teddy a refill. He glanced at Zachary. “And you’re okay, Zachary?”
Zachary sensed the double meaning. Paul wasn’t just checking on refills, but whether he was okay with the big man talking to him. He nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.”
“Let me know if you need something.” He drifted back away, getting busier as the bar got more crowded. A couple of other bartenders arrived, tying up their aprons and positioning themselves along the bar so that Paul didn’t have to handle everything himself.
“I was wondering if my friend was going to be here tonight,” Zachary said, “But I don’t see him.”
“The night is young. The place barely opened. Who is your friend?”
“Jose Flores.”
Zachary was watching carefully for Teddy’s reaction to the name, but Teddy didn’t betray any surprise or concern. “Oh, yes. Well, he’s not here every night. Did he tell you he would be here tonight?”
“No. I was just thinking it would be nice if it worked out that way. Have you seen him lately? I hope he hasn’t gone off again.”
“No, I can’t say I’ve seen him recently… maybe a few weeks. He’s ‘gone off’ before?”
“Yeah, he kind of disappears from the scene every now and then. Maybe he’s shacked up with someone.”
“I wouldn’t hang your hopes on seeing him tonight, then. Leave yourself open to… other possibilities.”
He hadn’t moved perceptibly closer, but Zachary again felt like Teddy was too
close. The man was just being friendly. If Zachary had been attracted to him, he was sure he would have felt completely different about his proximity and the signals he was sending out. As it was, Zachary didn’t think he could push the masquerade much further with Teddy. He should circulate and talk to a few other people. Get a feeling for who else might have known Jose or had concerns about what had happened to him.
Teddy saw Zachary’s glance around the bar, and looked around himself. He jerked his head toward the door. “There’s my date. I’ll see you around. Happy hunting.”
Zachary watched him make his way across the room to a younger man with a Hispanic cast to his features. They greeted each other warmly and found a table to sit down at. Zachary stared at them, a little shocked that Teddy had moved so quickly from flirting with him to cozying up with the man he was apparently there to see. The people Zachary normally spent time with were not the type to jump from one love interest to another in mere seconds, and it threw him off balance. He shook his head and had another sip of his Coke, looking around.
Zachary had asked a few other people about Jose. Everyone seemed to be friendly, but shrugged and shook their heads at his questions. It would seem that no one had seen Jose or knew where he might have gone. No one knew of any plans he’d had and, despite what Zachary had told Teddy, Jose had never dropped out of sight before. He didn’t run into anyone who had been mentioned in the forums as possibly being dangerous.
It was getting late and the crowd was getting louder. Zachary had had enough of people standing too close or touching him while they talked. He just wanted his own space, peace and quiet.
He headed for the door, and was startled to have his way barred by a large man stepping into his path. He focused on the intruder and realized it was Teddy. He’d obviously had a few more drinks. His eyes were rimmed with red and his movements were sloppy.
“Come with me.”
Zachary balked. “What?”
“Come. Come here.”
Zachary looked around. Teddy grabbed his arm, pulling him back, away from the door. “Come on. Stay with me.”
Zachary followed, resisting all the way, not wanting to walk right into some encounter with Teddy. Teddy pulled him over to the table that his date was sitting at and motioned to him and an empty chair.
“Here, sit down. Talk with Dimitri.”
Zachary hesitated, looking at the other man. “Uh… Dimitri?”
The younger man nodded, showing off a row of very white teeth. “Hi.”
“What is it… what is this about?” He still couldn’t shake the instinct that Teddy wanted to pull him into something. A threesome, maybe.
“Teddy says you were talking about Jose. I know Jose.”
“Oh.” Zachary nodded. He sat down carefully, worried that doing so might mean he was committing to something more. “How do you know Jose? Have you seen him lately?”
“He’s been very naughty,” Dimitri shook his head, smiling at Zachary, showing off how charming he was. “He was supposed to meet me, and he didn’t. I think he’s avoiding me.”
“When were you supposed to meet?” Zachary resisted the urge to pull out his notepad. He was there incognito; he would have to remember the important points to note down later. A casual friend of Jose’s would not haul out a notepad and start taking notes.
“A week ago. But he never showed up. Left me here all alone.”
Teddy nodded along. “I remember. Because I saw you later that night.”
“At least Teddy doesn’t stand me up. What happened to Jose?” Dimitri asked Zachary. “Do you know? Did he run off with some floozy?”
Zachary gulped. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. I thought he might be here tonight.” Playing the part of a friend who had been out of touch, he couldn’t very well say that he knew no one else had seen Jose within that time period.
“He hasn’t been here. He must have some new beau who is keeping him busy.” Dimitri’s voice was falsetto, setting Zachary’s teeth on edge.
“I guess he might have. I haven’t been able to get him on the phone for a few days… Did you try him?”
“Every time I call, it just goes to voicemail. Like he’s rejecting my calls.”
“To voicemail?” Zachary sat up straighter. “What number do you have?”
It took some cajoling, but Dimitri eventually agreed to text it to him, which Zachary suspected was a ploy for Dimitri to get Zachary’s number. Dimitri sent it through, and it was the same number as Zachary had gotten from McDonald. Zachary frowned. “And you get his voicemail? That’s not what I was getting.”
He tapped the number, selected ‘call,’ and listened to see what would happen. As McDonald had said, it went to a system message saying that the customer was not available.
“I get a message saying the phone is offline,” he told Dimitri. “Do you remember what day you called him and got his voicemail?” Getting Jose’s voicemail suggested that the phone had still been charged and online. That might give them a better fix on when Jose had disappeared. And if Dougan could get any information from the phone company records…
Dimitri shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Can you think about it? What day was it when you tried to call him last?” Teddy was giving him a strange look, but Zachary didn’t want to back down on the request. “It could be important.”
“Why is it important? Obviously Jose doesn’t care for me or for you. He’s found some sugar daddy.”
“Was it on the weekend? Or the week before? What were you trying to call him about? What day was he supposed to meet you?”
“Talk about needy!” Dimitri gave him a superior look. “Honey, if you’re going to hang all over him like that, he’s just going to kick you to the curb. If he hasn’t already.”
“Maybe his phone is broken,” Zachary suggested. “Maybe he’s not ignoring either one of us. Maybe he changed his number because someone was harassing him.” Zachary opened his mouth to tell them about Harding, his last big case, and how he had tried to shake loose from his stalker by getting a new phone and number. But Zachary wasn’t there as a private eye, so anything he happened to say about a case was going to come off sounding strange. “If his phone was broken, wouldn’t he have called to give you his new number? And wouldn’t he still show up here when you were scheduled to meet?”
“I would expect him to.”
“You really don’t know what day you called him and got his voicemail? When was your date scheduled for?”
Dimitri considered this. He gave Teddy a flirty look and made eyes at him, apparently wanting to impart to Zachary that Jose was not his competition. Jose was long gone, after all.
“Wednesday,” he said finally. “Wing night. But he didn’t show up. I called him, but every time it just went to voicemail. He could have just answered and said he couldn’t come or changed his mind. He didn’t have to treat me like that.”
“No,” Zachary agreed, trying to soothe his feelings. “You’re right. I would expect better from Jose. He doesn’t usually play games.”
Dimitri nodded, fake-sniffling. “That was very naughty of him.”
Zachary decided it was time to move on. He nodded to Dimitri and stood up. Teddy was still standing there, and looked for a moment like he wasn’t going to let Zachary past, but then he gave a quick nod and stepped aside.
Chapter Twelve
Z
achary was exhausted as he left the bar. It wasn’t because he had been up too long or been doing physical work, but just the emotional effort it took to deal with all of the people and the noise and to act like someone he was not. And it was more than just letting people believe that he was gay. He was really not a ‘people person,’ and large crowds were difficult. A few close friends at a quiet venue was something he could manage for a while, but strangers were difficult, and especially having to deal with them in one-on-one interactions. He had stretched his social muscles about as far as they could be stretched.
&nb
sp; He stopped near the doors of the bar to jot down a few more notes before going out. He didn’t want to forget anything important.
He slid the notepad back away and stepped out the doors. In spite of the time of night, the street was brightly lit with streetlights and the signs of other nearby bars and venues. There were a good number of cars and people on the street, reassuring him that it was safe. He wasn’t walking down a dark alley where predators might be waiting for him.
He had parked his car a little way away, though. He hadn’t wanted to leave his car in the parking lot of a gay bar and risk it getting vandalized. So he’d found a place he could park a couple of blocks away.
At first, that didn’t seem to be a problem. There were plenty of people around in spite of the cold weather. On their way home or going out to party. As he turned down the last street, however, Zachary could hear boot heels behind him. Nothing to be concerned about, just some woman in heeled snow boots. Zachary glanced back a couple of times, and couldn’t see her. There was a small group of twenty-something young men behind him, and he thought the boot-heels came from behind them.
But the men, who had been talking, quieted when he looked back toward them. It was suddenly a little too quiet and he could still hear the boot heels and not see who it was making the noise.
He kept going. He wasn’t far from his car. The young men would go on to wherever their vehicle was parked or to their clubbing destination and Zachary would be fine.
He started to walk just a little bit faster. Once he was in his car he could regroup. The speed of the footsteps increased as well and the group of young men seemed to be getting closer. Zachary risked one more glance back at them, noticing this time that they wore long brown coats and the sound of the boots was not a woman walking behind them, but one of the men wearing jackboots. Zachary swallowed. It was cold out and they were wearing hats, so he couldn’t see for sure whether they were skinheads, but his instincts told him they were.
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