Gumshoe Gorilla (49 page)

Then he stared at me for a few seconds.

"Have you ever thought about using styling gel, Drew? I mean just a little, to tame that curl you've got?"

"Come on," I said. "We've got work to do."

I unlocked the car and Daniel jumped in. He went straight for the stereo controls, called up the extended dance mix of The Raven, and then drummed along with it on the dashboard, all bouncy and happy. He looked over and caught me staring at him.

"What?" he asked, grinning.

"Nothing. I've just never seen anybody come off an all night stakeout with so much energy."

"Drew, we caught the bad guy! Don't you feel like celebrating?"

"We haven't caught him yet," I corrected him.

I pulled out of the parking lot and turned north.

"Yeah, but we're close," Daniel said. "Can't you feel it? Oh, I wish you'd been there for breakfast. You should have seen Linda's face when I dropped the bombshell about Trent Reed being at the hotel. It was like 'Damn, the blond kid came in handy after all.' I thought she was actually going to change facial expressions."

"She is a little reserved."

"Reserved? Drew, the woman is an android."

He launched into an impression of Linda.

"Unit two, you will proceed to surveillance zone delta. Unit three, execute an intercept of subject at the fourth bar stool. Unit..."

"She's just organized."

"Ha! You're organized. Vince is organized. Linda is... electrical or something. Have you ever tried scratching her? You know, just to see if she'll bleed? I'll bet you two to one that she drips motor oil instead."

"You don't like her because she won't cut you slack for being cute."

"Yeah, well I've met kitchen appliances that have more personality. And besides, I think she's a lesbian."

"Because she doesn't find you attractive?"

"No. Because... well, just because," he said. "By the way, do you think that Eddie thinks I'm cute?"

"Uh.... I don't think you're his type. I'm pretty sure he's straight."

"Damn. He's adorable. Did you see his smile?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "He has some nice dental work."

Daniel looked at me funny.

"What?"

"You don't like Eddie?" he asked.

"No... I mean, yes. I mean..."

I had to be careful about how I phrased this.

"I like him fine. He's a nice guy. He just needs to stay out of trouble."

"So what did you guys talk about last night?"

"Uh.... stuff."

I could feel my face starting to blush.

"So how's Vince?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, he's fine," Daniel said. "He doesn't sunburn as easily as I do."

"Interesting."

I paused. I wanted to talk to Daniel about the Bliss. About why I don't want him using it. And why I particularly don't want him using the stuff that Vince has been feeding him. But I wasn't sure how to go about it. Daniel and I were in that gray area, where I was way too young to talk to him like a father and way too old to talk to him like a contemporary.

"So... it's serious between you and Vince?"

"Yeah," Daniel said, smiling. "It is. I just feel so good when I'm around him. Do you know what that's like?"

No.
I thought to myself.
But I'll bet it has something to do with all the heroin that he's been slipping you.

"Sort of," I said. But something must have crept into my voice.

"Is something wrong?" Daniel asked.

"No. Just..." I couldn't think of a way to finish the sentence.

"Drew?"

"Uh..."

"Is there something you don't like about Vince?"

Well, that was my opening to tell him. As good a one as I would ever get. But I waited a few seconds too long to move on it.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Daniel asked.

"No," I said, a little too fast.

OK. I admit that I like Daniel. He's cute, and he's funny, and beneath all the casual vanity he's actually a pretty sweet guy. And I had enjoyed being the center of his attention for a few weeks after I pulled him out of that bar fight last year. But I've always known that it would never work out between us.

The fact is that I've got more than a decade of experience on Daniel. We're in different places in our lives. Daniel is still caught up in that fantasy of love that Hollywood markets. And me, I'm somewhere past that, trying to figure out what comes next. And that's a difference that you just can't get around. Daniel and I would have started well, and ended badly. He was better off having his first big crush on someone his own age. Really. But why did it have to be Vince?

"No," I said again. "It's just... well, I don't really know Vince. And I worry about you."

"Ah," Daniel said. "That's sweet. But you really shouldn't. I can take care of myself. And besides, what am I gonna do? Bring every guy I date home to meet you?"

"No," I responded. "Just give me their name and social security number. That's enough to run a background check."

Daniel laughed. He must have thought I was kidding.

"So tell me about Vince," I said. "What is it you like about him?"

Daniel thought about it.

"I dunno. It's hard to put into words. Of course he's cute. And he's really got his act together. He knows what he wants, and he goes after it. And he's interested in me. I mean, not just in sleeping with me, but in what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling. And... I just get the feeling that he might be the one. You know what I mean?"

Oh yeah.
The one.
I remember him. That guy you're destined to be with, the one who's waiting out there for you to find him. That guy who's gonna understand you when nobody else does, who will see that special spark in you that the rest of the world misses. Unfortunately, he has a lot in common with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. We just cling to some myths longer, I guess.

I had to tell him.

"Look, Daniel, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure Drew. What?"

I looked at him, and tried to spit it out. But how do you do that? How do you tell a 23 year old kid that his Mr. Right is a manipulative blackmailer who's getting him hooked on heroin and tricked him into sleeping with his own father.

"Drew?"

Of course, that assumed that Daniel didn't know about the blackmail plot. What if Vince had told him? What if Vince told Daniel that Montague was the father who had sent him away to the camps? Daniel might go along with the plan just to get even.

"Drew? You in there?"

"Sorry," I said. "I was just... something reminded me of my parents."

It was a ham-handed segue, but I didn't have time to think of anything better.

"Oh," Daniel muttered.

"Do you remember your...?"

"No," he cut me off. "I don't."

There was a coldness in his voice that I'd never heard before. I took my eyes off the road and looked at his face. Trying to see past the puppy dog innocence he wears like a fashion accessory. I'd never seen a dark side to Daniel. But then, why would I? I've never hurt him. So how could I know what he would do to someone who had? How could I ever really know what kind of anger might be brewing behind those deep blue eyes?

And what would I do if I found out that Daniel was a willing participant in all this? I'm not a big fan of blackmail, but maybe Montague had this one coming. To send your own kid away. A three year old boy. I tried to imagine how Daniel felt. Knowing that he was sent away for being gay, and then finding out that the bastard who did it is a closet case himself. Maybe the whole blackmail thing was just poetic justice. Daniel pointing out his father's hypocrisy. And who's to say he shouldn't make a little money off the arrangement, while he's at it?

While I was musing over all this, Daniel picked the kitten up out of its box, and held it to his chest.

"He's purring."

"Yeah, cats do that," I said. "I think it means he's hungry."

Daniel's expression softened a bit.

"Can I?"

"Sure. He's due for a feeding."

Daniel got the eyedropper and cat milk out of the cooler and tried to convince the little runt to have some breakfast. But he was being finicky again.

"Where'd you find him?" he asked.

"Oh... uh..."

I couldn't very well tell Daniel that I broke it out of a vampire club while I was stalking him and his boyfriend.

"He turned up behind my building, near the dumpster. Someone must have left him there."

"Poor thing."

"Yeah, well people do some strange things to animals."

We pulled into the lot for my office, and I dropped Daniel off at his car. He put the kitten back in the box and climbed out.

"You gonna need me again tonight?" he asked through the open window. "For the case?"

"We'll see," I said. "I've got a few things that I need to check on first."