The Reunion

by Edward Kendrick

  “You wish what?”

  “Nothing. Never mind. Let’s go back to our table. I feel a desperate need to finish my beer and have another one.”

  “I’m with you on that.”

  They eased past the other dancers, their arms around each other’s waists. When they arrived at the table, Kev volunteered to go to the bar table to get drinks for anyone who wanted them, which several people did. He smiled sourly to himself when he heard one of Neil’s female friends say, as he walked away with their orders, “He’s a nice man, Neil. I like him. You done good.”

  He would have loved it if what she thought was going on was the truth—but sadly, it wasn’t.

  * * * *

  Neil nodded in reply to what the woman said, while he watched Kev head to the bar. He is a nice man, and a good friend. I wish…He sighed. Wishes and horses and all that.

  Kev came back several minutes later with a tray full of glasses and bottles that he set in the middle of the table.

  “If your beers are warm, blame it on the five hundred people I had to wade through to get back here,” he said, getting laughs in reply.

  “Is that the truth, or did Zeke get in your face again and you didn’t want to say anything?” Neil asked softly when Kev picked up his beer and scowled at it before taking a drink.

  “It’s true. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see him,” Kev replied quietly. After glancing around, he added under his breath, “He’s probably necking in a dark corner with whichever woman he was dancing with last. Or he’s with one of his male conquests from back when—in a stall in the john. One of your rivals for his affections.”

  “Ouch. You are in a bad mood all of a sudden. I’m sorry. Do you want to leave?”

  “No.” Kev shook his head. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t be acting this way. He’s not worth either of us getting upset because he’s a bastard.”

  Neil rested his hand on Kev’s arm, nodding. “You’re right. I think tonight opened my eyes to what he’s really like. If it hadn’t been for you insisting we attend the reunion…”

  He didn’t get to finish his thought because a scream echoed through the room moments before an obviously terrified woman in a server’s uniform appeared at the entrance to the hallway leading to the restrooms. “Someone help,” she cried out. “There’s a…a man and he’s dead and there’s blood everywhere.”

  For a second everyone froze. Even the band stopped playing, leaving dead silence in its wake. Then two of the men closest to her were heard asking where, and was she certain whoever she saw was dead.

  “Yes,” she replied shakily. “I went to get more plates and…He’s back there, on the floor right inside the storage room. It’s…” She started sobbing, managing to get out, “It’s horrible.”

  The two men, followed by several others, disappeared down the hallway.

  “Probably some guy who had too much to drink and passed out,” Greg said. “She saw him and imagined the worst.”

  “If there’s blood,” one of the women stated, shuddering.

  “He hit his head. You know how head wounds are. They bleed like crazy.”

  Almost everyone seemed to be watching the hallway, waiting in anticipation for the men to return and tell them what had happened. After what seemed like forever, one of them did. He clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention before announcing, “The police have been called and are on their way.”

  “Why?” someone shouted out.

  “Because, from the look of it, the man was murdered.” He smiled briefly. “That’s based on the fact the back of his head is bashed in.”

  “Who is it?” a woman asked, her voice shaking with emotion.

  “We didn’t move the body, which is face down on the floor, so…” The man spread his hands.

  Several people got up, starting toward the exits. The man, who seemed to have taken it upon himself to be in charge for the moment, called out, “It might be better if you don’t leave. The police will want to talk with everyone. Besides, if you do, it might make them think you’ve got something to hide, like you’re the killer.”

  “Don’t you think the killer would already have left?” Neil said to Kev, getting a sharp nod in reply.

  “I can see the headlines now,” Jan said, staring past her husband at the hallway. “‘Murderer strikes at class reunion. Who will be next?’”

  “If it’s a scandal sheet,” Greg replied. “I think a real paper would say ‘Man murdered at reunion’ or something simple like that.”

  “I know some people might have grudges, I guess, left over from when we were in school,” the woman next to Neil said. “But isn’t waiting five years to get revenge by killing someone they hated a bit over the top?”

  “Unless running into them here rekindled their hatred,” Kev suggested.

  Neil shivered. If it was Zeke, which it can’t be, that would put me front and center as a suspect. At least he prayed it wasn’t Zeke. He looked around, trying to find him in the mass of people.

  “If you’re thinking what I am,” Kev whispered.

  “I don’t see him anywhere,” Neil whispered back.

  “He probably took off with…whomever…and they’re shacked up at a sleazy motel. From all you’ve told me, that would be just like him.” Kev squeezed Neil’s hand. “I think you made it pretty clear you’re not interested in him anymore.”

  “You’re right.” Neil smiled dryly. “I hope he’s having more fun than we are at the moment.”

  Sirens blared as the police arrived, the sound coming in through the open windows. Moments later, cops and EMTs entered the room.

  “Over here,” the man at the hallway entrance called out, waving.

  One of the officers quickly consulted with his men, pointing to the exits. Three of the cops went to stand by the doors while the rest followed the EMTs into the hallway.

  There was a long, pregnant silence before one of the attendees said loudly, “If we’re going to be stuck here, we might as well continue drinking. It could be a long night.”

  This precipitated a small rush to the bar table.

  Neil looked at his beer, which he’d hardly touched, and shuddered. “I don’t think drinking is going to change anything and it’s probably better to be relatively sober when the police interview us.”

  “And that is going to take all night,” Greg grumbled.

  Moments later, two men in suits and ties came into the room. The officer at the door pointed them—they were obviously detectives—in the right direction and they headed to the hallway.

  Even given the gravity of the situation, people were people, or at least that’s what Neil thought when the low murmur of voices grew louder and there was some laughter from a few of the tables. The band seemed to take its cue from that to start playing again—a slow song that was more for background music than anything else.

  “If anyone gets up to dance,” Neil muttered.

  “They won’t. No one’s that callous,” Kev replied, giving him a hug.

  “You don’t have to keep pretending anymore,” Neil said.

  Kev looked at him, one eyebrow arched. “Who’s pretending?”

  Before Neil could grasp the significance of what Kev had said, one of the detectives came into the room.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Detective Payne,” he announced. “I’ll begin by saying we know who the victim is. One Ezekiel Hale.”

  Some people nodded, others gasped, and a ripple of “I know him,” and other such comments went through the room.

  “It can’t be Zeke. It can’t!” Neil protested, although not loudly enough for anyone but Kev to hear him over the babble of voices. He felt a wave of horror mixed with deep sadness wash over him.

  “His next of kin will be notified. I would appreciate it—” the detective smiled dryly, “—in fact, I will make it mandatory that none of you use your phones to tell anyone his name. Don’t let his family find out about his murder because some reporter tries to get a
n interview.”

  There was a short pause, during which the screens on several phones went dark, although there were a few murmurs of what Neil thought was discontent. Stupid publicity seekers. He shook his head in disgust.

  “On to the next order of business, if you will. We need to interview everyone who was here this evening. For most of you that will mean taking names, addresses, and phone numbers and one of our officers will be in touch tomorrow. Those of you who knew Mr. Hale personally will be interviewed tonight. I don’t think I have to say that honesty is needed no matter which category you fit into.”

  “Do you know how he was killed?” someone called out.

  “The medical examiner is working on a preliminary examination of the body, before it’s taken to the morgue. All I can, or will say at the moment is, Mr. Hale received a hard blow to the back of his head which crushed his skull.”

  “With what?” the same person asked.

  “At this point, I’m not at liberty to say.”

  “Meaning you haven’t found the murder weapon.”

  The detective merely smiled in reply. “Now, if you would, I’d like everyone who knew Mr. Hale as a friend or acquaintance to move to that table.” He pointed to the one closest to the hallway door. When, slowly, at least twenty people in the room stood, he amended his request to include a second table. At that point, he was joined by three officers. He introduced them, saying they would be talking with the remaining attendees. “If you have any information at all, no matter how minor it may seem, please tell them. They’ll decide whether you should remain here so that I or my partner can go into it with you in more depth.”

  Neil, Kev, Greg, and Jan moved to the table by the hallway.

  “This isn’t going to be fun,” Kev said, getting nods from the others as they watched Payne and the second detective approach.

  Payne introduced his partner as Detective Walters. They each took a table and began collecting information on who each person was and how they knew Zeke.

  When Detective Payne got to him, Neil told him his name, address, and phone number.

  “How well were you acquainted with Mr. Hale,” the detective asked.

  “We became friends during our junior year,” Neil replied. “We sort of drifted apart by the end of the year when we discovered we really had nothing in common. After that, well, to be honest I haven’t seen or talked with him since, until today.”

  The detective nodded. “According to one of the women I’ve already spoken with, it appeared as if you and he had some sort of argument tonight, and a talk this afternoon that seemed to upset you.”

  Neil worried his lip between his teeth then asked, “May I speak with you in private?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, the detective replied, “Yes. If you’ll come with me.”

  “May I come, too?” Kev asked.

  “Why?”

  “I know what Neil’s going to tell you, and I’m involved in it.”

  “Your name?”

  “Kevin Deering.”

  The detective glanced between them. “Involved as in the two of you are a couple?”

  “Please, can we tell you in private?” Neil asked again before Kev could answer.

  With a nod, the detective took them to a room off the hallway with a sign saying ‘Manager’. When they were seated, him at the desk, Kev and Neil in chairs opposite him, he asked, “What do you want to tell me that you couldn’t say in front of the other people at the table?”

  Neil clenched his hands together. “What I told you was the truth, as far as it went. Zeke and I were friends our junior year. Then we became lovers, very much on the sly, but we did.”

  “To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Hale is straight and married.”

  Kev wagged a finger at him. “It’s possible to be gay and still marry a woman, generally as a cover to hide the fact you are. It happens more than you might believe.”

  “I’m well aware of that,” Payne replied with some asperity. “How do you fit into the picture, Mr. Deering? Before you answer,” he turned to Neil. “From what you said, you and Mr. Hale stopped being friends and lovers by the end of your junior year.”

  “We did,” Neil replied.

  “Was the break-up, I’m presuming that’s what happened, amiable?”

  “It depends how you look at it. He dumped me for someone else. I wasn’t happy but by then I knew it would happen sometime. He made it clear at the beginning of our relationship that he wasn’t into commitment when it came to men, because he had to keep things a secret.”

  Payne seemed dubious. “None of the men he was with went public? I find that difficult to believe.”

  “One did. Zeke made a fool of him, telling everyone the guy was jealous because he, Zeke, had stolen his girlfriend. Zeke had a reputation for dating then dropping one girl after another, so everyone believed him. I suspect that was enough to keep anyone else from trying.”

  “When the hell did he have time to study?” the detective asked dryly.

  Neil shrugged.

  “Now, Mr. Deering, what is your role in this, other than being Mr. Stafford’s boyfriend?”

  “I’m not, actually,” Kev replied. “Neil and I have been friends for a while. He told me about the reunion and Zeke, and how he was still, well, infatuated with him. He was afraid that he’d succumb if Zeke tried to renew their old relationship. So, I came up with a plan. Probably not the best one, I’ll admit, but I figured if Zeke saw Neil with someone who apparently was his boyfriend, he might decide coming on to him again wasn’t going to work.”

  “Did he? I mean come on to you, Mr. Stafford?” the detective asked Neil.

  “Yes.” Neil’s mouth tightened. “He did, and to be honest I debated whether to accept, despite the way he acted toward Kev, which was to ignore the fact we were together as a couple. Then, tonight, he did it again but very covertly, making comments about how Kev and I were being too obvious that we were together and it might come back on us, or at least implying that there were people at the dance who were not accepting of gays.”

  “I shut him down,” Kev added. “He was not happy about that.”

  “Where was his wife while all of this was happening,” Payne asked.

  “According to Zeke, they’re…they were in the process of getting a divorce, so she didn’t come to the reunion with him,” Neil replied.

  Payne nodded. “That jibes with what I’ve been told. I presume no one heard what went on during your conversation with him this afternoon.”

  “Not that I know of,” Neil told him. “He was being very careful not to say anything when he thought he might be overheard. He even admitted, when I said something about it, that if his wife found out he was gay it could hurt him in the divorce.”

  “All right. I would like the names of any of the other men you know of who also had relations with him while the two of you were in college.”

  “If I tell you, it could get them in trouble,” Neil replied worriedly.

  “Were any of them here tonight?”

  Neil nodded.

  “Well?” Payne said when Neil reminded silent.

  “Tell him,” Kev said. “He’s not going to dash off to arrest him for the murder, any more than he’s going to arrest you. He’s just collecting information right now.”

  “I suppose. Okay, his name is Tyler Monroe. I didn’t see him here this evening, but he came to the reunion. Not seeing him tonight probably doesn’t mean much, considering how crowded it was. Zeke did dance with several women, although I couldn’t tell you their names.”

  “Are any of them ones who came over when we asked, so that we could talk with them?” Payne asked.

  Neil closed his eyes for a moment, picturing the people at both tables. “Yes. The blonde in the red sheathe and the brunette with,” he smiled briefly, “way too much makeup.”

  “What about Mr. Monroe?”

  “If he was here, he didn’t join the group before you started talking with us,” Neil repl
ied.

  “Is there anyone else you can think of who might have it in for Mr. Hale?”

  “Hold on a second. I didn’t say any of them were upset with him,” Neil protested. “The women were ones who danced with him. And Tyler, well, hell, I don’t know how he feels…felt about Zeke at that point.”

  “I understand. There’s no one you know of who bore him a grudge?”

  “His wife?” Kev said with a bark of laughter.

  “Aside from her,” Payne replied, shaking his head.

  “No,” Neil replied.

  Payne asked Kev for his contact information before saying, “All right. For the moment you’re free to leave. If you think of anything else I should be aware of, please call me.” He handed Neil and Kev his cards. “I’ll let you know when I have your statements ready to sign.”

  * * * *

  As soon as they left the office Kev said, “Do you want to stick around?”

  “No! A thousand times no.”

  “That was pretty emphatic, so let’s get out of here. But first, I need to visit the men’s room before I burst.”

  He did, glancing with some dismay at the police barring the entrance to the storeroom, and then rejoined Neil. As they walked through the main room, Kev noted that the crowd had thinned considerably. “I guess everyone else feels the same way we do.”

  Neil’s mouth tightened. “Except for the ghouls who are hoping to find out all the bloody details.”

  “More likely the officers haven’t talked with them yet.” Kev looked at the two tables set aside for people who had known Zeke. “Greg and Jan are getting grilled right now.”

  “I wonder if they’re telling the detective about Jan’s conversation with Zeke this afternoon. Greg sure didn’t seem happy she was talking with him.”

  “Maybe we should have mentioned that to Detective Payne?”

  “No,” Neil replied. “It’s none of our business.”

  “If it has to do with Zeke’s death…”

  “Do you honestly think Greg would have killed him because he and Jan were talking, or even arguing about something? Besides, the only time Greg left the table tonight was to use the men’s room and when he and Jan decided to dance.”