by BA Tortuga
“Y’all know what’s best. I have room in the family plot back home, but it’s whatever Travis and Matt discussed. We’re here to help, not be evil.”
“You’re good people, huh? I can tell.” He smiled as gently as he could, then glanced at Brantley, not sure why he felt obligated to check in.
“He wanted to be cremated. At least that’s what he told me once. I was telling him I wanted to be sprinkled in Galveston, and he wanted to stay here in New Mexico.” Brant laughed, the sound soft.
“Yeah? That helps.” He would leverage that on Travis.
“Yeah. We were all bullshitting one day. We’d lost a mutual friend to liver cancer, and we were having a beer in his honor.”
“Oh, that’s so sad.” Mrs. Isham began to sniff.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“No, I mean about your friend. Doesn’t surprise me at all Matt wanted to stay here. The mountains, I imagine.”
“Yeah, up in the Sangre de Cristo, where he went hiking all the time.” Brantley smiled faintly in a remembering kind of way. “I used to think he was crazy, wandering around up there.” Brant swayed a little bit. “I need a cup of coffee.”
“No, you need sleep.” Mr. Isham stared Brantley down when he would have argued.
“If you want that air bed in the office, man…. That way you’re farther from Travis.” Lex made the offer willingly. Travis looked like hell.
“It might be better on my hip to just sleep on the floor.” Brantley sighed. “Yeah, please? I don’t think I can wake up that way again.”
“Sleep. Seriously. Take a pain pill and go rest, son.”
“Okay.” Brantley stood. “You’ll be here?”
Martha nodded. “We will.”
Brant followed Lex up the stairs, after Lex stopped to get the air bed. Lex hefted it on his shoulder like it weighed nothing and managed a watery grin. “This is a great one. Really good one. It gives great support.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been through a nightmare, Brant. Please. Rest.” Lex took Brant’s arm and helped him up the last few steps. “Let me just set this up.” He knew there was a family room in the back of the house. Lex would sack out on the couch for a bit.
Brant watched him work, the look blank, almost dazed.
That interview was gonna have to wait. Damn. He used the tiny pump to jack up the bed. “There you go. Let’s find a blanket.” He hit the hall and found linens and stuff in the closet. Brant was just standing, staring, when he came back, so Lex made up the bed, then eased Brant down.
“You’re with friends,” he whispered.
“I don’t know what to do, Lex.”
“Rest. If you can, rest. Did you have pills somewhere?”
“I have them.” Brant had brought up his Sprite, and he pulled out his wallet, where there was a little baggie with pills and a piece of what Lex would bet was THC candy. “Thanks.”
“Holler if you need me.”
“If y’all need me, call.”
“You got it.” Lex squared his shoulders. He would check on Travis. Still asleep, and Lex would leave him. Awake, and he would handle the funeral home thing.
He closed the door on the office before he peeked in at Travis. Travis was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out the window toward the East Mountains.
“Hey, Trav.” Lex went into the room to sink down on the bed, about two feet from Travis. “Get some sleep finally?”
“I guess? I don’t remember. Did you get some rest?”
“No.” He winked, because that always made Travis laugh. Today it didn’t even get a smile. “I need to ask a few hard questions, and then I can get you some soup or something.”
“Okay. Ask away.” Travis reached out and grabbed one of his hands.
He held on, offering solid comfort, he hoped. “What funeral home do you want to use? Daniels?”
“Yeah. That’s fine. He wants to be cremated. He doesn’t want a big thing. I mean, we weren’t hard-core church people, but everyone will need a place to cry and all.”
“They will. That’s perfect. The nearest one? Or did you have something arranged at a particular place?”
“Just the nearest.” Travis’s grip tightened.
“Okay. Is there paperwork you need me to dig out?”
“I don’t know. I mean, there’s insurance, there’s the 401(k). Thank God we’re married. That makes everything easier. Do they think they’ll find the guy? Is Brantley okay?”
“He’s sleeping finally. Matt’s mama and papa seemed to help him relax, huh? They have the guy on video, I think. My guy on the force says it looks totally random, though, so I think it’s going to depend on someone turning him in.”
“It was just bad luck? Just his bad luck to need gas?” Travis shook his head. “Christ, Lex. How am I supposed to understand this?”
“Oh, honey.” He pulled on that captive hand and took Travis in his arms. “I’m not sure you ever will. It will never, ever make sense. I wish I could make it better.”
“I want him to come home and tell me it was all a joke. A terrible mistake, but Brantley would never do that. Are they going to let me see him? Say goodbye?”
“Well, I asked when they would release him, and they said to get the funeral home with the coroner. I think it might be better for you to see him at Daniels if you want to do that before they do what they need to do.” He hated this, how flat and lifeless Travis’s voice sounded, how stiff Trav was against him.
“Is he… is it… do you know how it will be?”
“Well, it will be awful, but if it’s important to you to see him in person, they can make it better at Daniels before you come in. The coroner’s office would be… shocking.” He’d seen more than his share of DBs, and it was always jarring, even with a stranger. A loved one was weirdly disorienting.
“Okay. Thank you for coming out and helping me. My parents are coming—I may have to hide in the bathroom until they leave.” That was almost a smile.
“Oh, amigo, your padres are always complicated, right?”
“Always. Good, but complicated. Mama’s not doing so good, you know. She remembers a lot, but…. You know she’s going to ask where Matt is.”
“Oh God.” He sat back and stared at Travis. “Okay, I’ll run interference. Last hard question. How soon do you want the service after they release him?”
“Soon. I want his folks to be able to go home. The restaurant, you know? They can’t just stay out here for days and days. That’s their livelihood.”
“Okay. I’ll get on the horn.” He could make calls now, let Travis rest some more. “You’re doing great, okay?”
“I’m trying. I need to go downstairs and see the Ishams, have a cup of coffee, maybe toast. The detectives will come to see us soon, yeah?” Travis looked at him. “Do you think we have enough toilet paper for all these people?”
“Uh, I’ll look.” He had to chuckle a little. “As soon as the cops run off the vans, I’ll go to the store too. I promise. We need more coffee and eggs and stuff.”
Travis nodded. “People will start bringing food tonight. We’ll have all the tamales and beans we’ll ever be able to eat.”
“I love tamales. You, on the other hand, like lasagna.” He’d teased Travis unmercifully about that when they were teenagers. He’d even had his mom put green chile in the lasagna to make it more New Mexico.
“I love it. I bet some shows up. I work with good people.”
“Good.” Travis would need those people around him when everyone else left.
“Yes. Yes, my poor kids. They’re going to be missing me.”
“I bet.” Lex hoped that helped too, having something to look forward to getting back to.
“I…. Jesus, I don’t know how to just get on with it.”
“Of course not, man. That’s going to be one minute at a time. Then one hour.”
“I guess. I don’t think I can do this.”
“You’ll have plenty of help.” He ga
ve Travis another squeeze. “How about you get some pants on and come down like you said?” Travis needed food.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few.”
“Good deal, buddy.” He hugged one last time before rising. He needed to call Daniels funeral home, make sure they knew where Matt was.
Travis moved to the dresser, his shoulders slumped.
“I’ll see you there, huh?” Lex didn’t want to make it weirder than it had to be.
“Yeah.” Travis was crying again.
Lex slipped out of the room, feeling a lot like a coward. He just didn’t know what else to do. He needed to do something useful, and he hated to see Travis so defeated.
He pulled out his phone, looked up Daniels near Trav.
That was easily done, and the funeral home would call when they received Matt’s body. Now he just had to check in at the kitchen, then wait for Juliano and his guys to show up.
He needed to warn the Ishams that Travis’s mom was ill.
Martha was moving around, clearly cooking, and Mr. Isham was on the phone, talking softly.
“Travis is on the way down,” Lex murmured. “He says his folks are on the way. His mom is having memory problems.”
“Yeah, Matty told us. She’ll be in a facility in a year or so.” Martha pulled a sad face.
“Oh.” Oh, that sucked. He hadn’t seen Travis’s mom in years, but he always thought of her as thirtysomething, like she’d been when they were teens.
“Yeah. Getting old is shit.”
He blinked, then grinned at her. “That’s what they tell me.”
“Trust me, kiddo. I know of what I speak.” Martha winked, then handed him a spatula. “Travis’s folks just pulled up. I’m going to go help.”
“Oh, I can help….”
“No, you flip bacon.” She patted his arm.
“Yes, ma’am.” He knew better than to argue. Luckily, bacon he could do. Sausage. Pancakes. Anything that flipped.
Travis came down the stairs. “Hey.”
“Hey, your folks are here.”
“Yeah?” Travis glanced toward the front room. “Okay. Be right back. Bacon?”
“Yeah, Martha started it.”
“Dad likes bacon.”
“You want a plate?”
Travis looked at him like he was crazy. “God, no.”
“How about some dry toast? I can manage that too.”
“Uh, sure. Let me go get Mom and Dad.”
Mr. Isham hung up, then started moving in more chairs. “Don’t worry, Lex. Travis will recover. He needs time to mourn.”
“I know. I do. I just hate to see him hurting.” He got bread in the toaster oven, then found Bisquick for pancakes.
“Sure. But he has to. It’s part of the deal, or so I’m told.”
“That’s what they say.” He was saying that a lot. Man, deaths in Mexican families could be much easier. Louder. This weird silence was insane.
He wanted to start bellowing “El Rey” at the top of his lungs.
“Do you want some music, man? You’re humming.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about when my Aunt Lorena passed away. There was this huge do with a mariachi band….”
“We’ll do that back home—not a mariachi band, but a party, a celebration of his life.”
“Maybe that would make Travis feel better. To have people remembering the good things.” He would help make that happen.
“Maybe. We’ll invite him, of course.” John winked over. “He won’t come.”
“No?” He chuckled. “Well, we’ll do it for you, then. If that’s what you do.”
“Yeah.”
Travis’s parents came in—Maria and Dan looking as familiar as he remembered.
“John. I—I have no idea what to say, man.” The cracks were already beginning to show with Travis’s dad, and you didn’t have to look far to see that Covergirl and hard-core meds were all that spackled Maria together.
“Dan.” John slapped the man on the back in a strange, uncomfortable man-hug. “Coffee?”
“No, thank you. Lex! How are you?” Dan shook his hand, not quite hiding his relief that Lex was there.
“I’m okay, considering. Bacon is on its way.”
“Excellent. I’m starving. How are you? You look exhausted.”
And there they went again. Honest to God, he was ready to get past day one in a huge way.
After that, things started happening.
Chapter Six
BRANT LISTENED to everyone talk, bicker, cry. He’d talked to more detectives, told the same story he’d told last night.
Everyone was going on and on, and suddenly he couldn’t do it a second longer.
He stood, nodded to no one. “I’m going to make a grocery store run.”
Lex was up and standing next to him in two seconds. “I’ll drive, man.”
He blinked over. “Okay.”
What?
“I have your list, Martha.” Lex smiled. “Come on.”
“Right. Okay. I’m with you.” Bemused, he followed Lex out the door. The news people had backed off after the cops had made a showing a few times.
Hell, there was probably another shooting that they’d be covering anyway. That was how it worked.
They headed out to Lex’s truck, which smelled vaguely like Old Spice and tacos. “Thanks for letting me come along,” Lex said once they sat in the cab. “Needed to get out.”
“God yes. I… yes.” Yeah, he was fixin’ to do something drastic, like set himself on fire or eat a bug.
“Eeee.” Lex got them moving. “When do we all stop sitting around staring at each other?”
“Fuck if I know.” But he was ready, and it felt good knowing that he wasn’t alone.
“Yeah.” Lex chuckled. The guy had been a rock, handling all sorts of shit, from the funeral home to the cops. He had this calm way about him that Brant really admired.
“You… you want to stop and grab a beer? A plate of nachos?” Please? He needed something normal.
“Oh fuck yes. Where’s good? I know, like, Sadie’s and El Pinto.”
“El Pinto should be empty now.” And it was a little bit of a drive. Way closer to his place.
“Cool. I love their nachos with tongs.” Lex hummed with the radio, which was set to some vaguely cumbias thing.
“Yeah. Yeah, thank you. I just need something normal.”
“I get it. I mean, this has been the weirdest few days. Travis is just totally shut down.”
“It’s natural, I guess.”
“I guess? Maybe all the people in my family who’ve gone on were old, so no one was surprised.”
“I lost guys in the service. I just… I don’t know.” His voice dropped. “I’m ready to get back to my life. That makes me a shitty person, doesn’t it?”
“No. Of course not.” Lex glanced over. “It’s normal. You’ve been a trouper.”
“Thanks. I’m… I’ve never been in this exact position before.”
“Yeah.” Lex sighed. “It’s a strange thing to be the high school best friend. Not quite family, but not a polite stranger who can escape.”
“Right? You know you’ll be leaving him in decent hands. I’m… I mean, I was Matty’s friend, but I’d never leave Trav in the lurch.” It was weird, because he was the guy who Matty bitched to when Matt and Travis had a fight.
“No, I get that.” Lex grinned. “It’s been kinda cool to be back in the Burque.”
“Yeah? Has it changed much?”
“A lot and not at all. Cruces is dying a little, but the ABQ is the only place in the state growing.”
“Yeah. I bought my house three years ago over here in Los Ranchos, and I got a great deal on it.”
“Oh, I like this area.” Lex grinned. “We grew up over by Wyoming and Menaul.”
He nodded. “It’s a good city, but the crime sucks and the police force—”
Lex nodded easily. “Oh, I know. Justice departments, shootings. It’s craz
y. New Mexico is crazy poor, right? People get a little wild.”
“It is. Some of these babies I see….” He shook his head. They broke his heart.
“Yeah. I have a friend who works up in Farmington. She says it’s a struggle to go to work some days. It’s the really young and old that get her.”
“Yessir.” They had two traveling nurses for the clinic that he worked for, and the stories they brought home were insane.
They turned off on Alameda, which was still running fast enough. Then on Fourth, all the way out to El Pinto. Just turning into the big dirt parking lot, with its huge trees and tons of yard art, made Brant feel calmer.
“Oh damn. I haven’t been here in a long time. We had a couple of precinct parties on the patio. Have you ever been here at Christmas? With the luminarias?” Lex chatted as he parked, and it was happy, natural, nothing stilted.
“I have. I like to come here for brunch.”
“Cool. They have good Bloody Marys, huh?” Lex held the door for him when they got there.
“You remember. Thank you, sir.”
“God love a Texan,” Lex whispered.
He chuckled. Yeah, well, he couldn’t help it. He was a Texan, born and bred. He did love it up here, though. The Land of Entrapment.
“Two please.” Lex winked over. “You were right. Now is the time. No line.”
“Yeah. We’re in between lunch and supper, and it’s not a weekend. What’s your favorite place in town?”
“Oh, in all, not just the food?” When he nodded, Lex ducked his head. “The zoo.”
“We have the best orangutans. The best.”
“I hear there’s otters now. I might have to go.”
“I have a membership.”
“Yeah?” Lex laughed. “I knew I liked something about you.”
They sat and ordered beers and waters and a full nacho. That was enough to last them for well over an hour. Just… time to get back to feeling normal for a bit.
“It’s okay that you get out of the house, you know? We’re the friends.” Lex smiled at him, the look sympathetic.
“I know. I just feel guilty for all of it. Being alive, just like Travis said.”
“Has he apologized for that?” Lex asked quietly.