Gumshoe Gorilla (50 page)

"Yep," I said, scooping another handful of cat food and flour and pasta out of the sink. "That's about the size of it."

The phone was silent for a few seconds, as Skye and Charles took in the whole story. I glanced over at Eddie, who was sweeping sugar up off the floor.

"Interesting," Skye finally said.

"Yes," Charles agreed, "at least we're making progress. How are you going to proceed from here?"

"Well, we're taking a look at everyone who's got a beef with Trent Reed. Linda is tracking down some of her old contacts in the Christian Alliance. Drew's got a hunch that the Cherokee might be involved-- you know, because Reed's been mobilizing opposition to their lawsuit-- so he's looking into that. And I'm babysitting Eddie, trying to keep him out of trouble."

Hearing his name, my little worker bee looked up. I motioned for him to get back to sweeping.

"You've got him someplace safe, I hope?" Charles asked.

"Oh sure. I've taken him to a cabin outside of town," I lied. "No one will find us out here."

It's not that I don't trust Charles or Skye, but the first rule of hiding out is not to tell anyone where you are. And Drew had warned me to be on my toes.

"Good. Call us as soon as you know anything," Skye said.

"You betcha. And try not to worry. We're close to cracking this thing," I said, and hung up.

I only wish I felt as confident as I sounded.

Eddie dumped a dustpan full of sugar into the trash can and looked around.

"Wow. Linda really did all this?"

"Yep," I said.

"You must be mad at her."

"No, not really," I said. "Whenever I feel myself getting angry, I just picture her bailing all that oatmeal out of her car. Cheers me right up."

Hm. I wondered how she was gonna get it out of the air conditioning vents.

Eddie looked at me curiously.

"It's a long story," I said.

We finished cleaning up the worst of the mess in my kitchen, and then moved on to the bedroom. Clothes had been thrown everywhere. Linda had emptied out all the drawers of my desk and dresser, and most of the contents of my bookcase were on the floor. Well, at least she hadn't broken any of my crystals.

I set Eddie to work putting the books back on the shelves, while I folded clothes and put them back in the dresser. After a few minutes I noticed that he'd stopped cleaning and started reading.

"Hey! Less browsing, more shelving."

"Sorry," he said.

He was looking at my big
Illustrated History of Magick
.

"You've got some interesting books," he said. "Are you a witch or something?"

"Yeah," I said, looking around the room. Crystals hanging in the window, books on magick thrown everywhere, satchels of dried herbs ripped open and dumped on the floor. "What clued you in?"

Eddie went back to shelving and I went back to folding. Eventually, I finished with the dresser, and went over to put my bed back together. Linda had removed the sheets and pulled the mattress off the frame, I guess to see if I had hidden anything under there. As if I'd be that obvious.

"Can you give me a hand here?" I asked.

Eddie came over and helped me slide the mattress back into place, then we tucked in the sheets and threw the blanket back on. When we were done, Eddie noticed the design on the canopy and sat down to look at it.

"Cool," he said. "Are those stars?"

"Yeah. It's the night sky on the summer solstice. If you look carefully, you can make out all the constellations."

Eddie lay back on the bed and looked up at the tiny little lights woven into the fabric.

"Which ones?" he asked.

"All the summer constellations. You know."

"No, I don't. Show them to me."

"We've still got a lot of straightening up to do."

"Oh, come on. I've been helping you clean all morning. Take a few minutes off to show me. I've always wanted to know this kind of stuff."

"All right," I said. "Five minutes."

I lay down on the bed next to him.

"Which ones do you want to see?" I asked.

"Which ones are most important?"

"Well... OK, see that group of stars over there?"

I pointed.

"That's the Southern Cross. It's a part of the constellation Cygnus, which is the swan."

I drew the outline for him.

"You can kind of see the wings, if you look hard."

"Yeah," Eddie said, his voice full of childlike excitement. "I can."

"Good. Now this group over here, this is Cancer the Crab. See the resemblance?"

"Uh... not really."

"Neither do I. I think the ancient Greeks were smoking something when they named that one. But if you look near the center of it, there's a bright red star. You see the one I mean?"

"Yeah."

"That's Antares. And it's a red star because it's the heart of the crab."

Eddie shifted, moving a couple inches closer to me.

"Really?"

"Well that's the story, anyway," I said. "And over here we have Hercules."

"Like in the movie?"

"Actually, yes. See those stars are his legs, and then that's an outstretched arm, and the rest of the clump kind of makes up his body."

"Wow." Eddie rolled over to face me. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"I read. You should try it some time."

"Cool. Tell me more."

"Well, over in the corner, you'll see three bright stars in a..."

Eddie stroked my hair with his fingers.

"...in a ...in a . . ." I stopped, and turned to look at him. "Forgive me for asking, but does this technique usually work for you?"

"What technique?"

"This whole gee-you're-so-smart-why-don't-we-sit-on-the-bed-and-talk-just-talk gambit. Bag a lot of babes this way?"

Eddie smiled, not sure how to respond.

"You knew?"

"Pretty much from the moment you developed a sudden interest in astronomy. Are there women who actually fall for this?"

Eddie shrugged sheepishly.

"It must be the smile," I said, sitting up.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Nah. It was a pretty decent attempt. Better than most of the guys who've tried to put the moves on me lately."

Eddie looked hurt.

"No. You are mad at me. I can tell."

"Oh for Goddess sake. I said that I'm not mad and I meant..."

I stopped myself, as I realized what was going on.

"Oh no," I said. "We're not playing that game either."

"What game?"

"You know exactly what game. The one where you keep asking if I'm mad at you, so I feel guilty for making you think that I'm mad at you, so I wind up going overboard to show you just how not mad at you I really am. That game."

Eddie's hurt puppy expression evaporated.

"Wow. You're good."

"No. Just experienced. I've dated enough guys to recognize the playbook by now."

Eddie thought about it for a few seconds.

"I suppose that spilling wine on my shirt so that I have to take it off and soak it wouldn't do me any good, either?" he asked.

"Much as I would enjoy the scenery, no."

"Well, if we're not gonna play the usual boy-girl games, what do you want to do?"

"How about cleaning up my apartment?" I said.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. Linda trashed this place because she was trying to protect your ass. So the least you can do is help me straighten up."

I stood up and went to work on the pile of stuff next to my closet. Linda had hauled out all the boxes and emptied them onto the floor. I found myself going through things that I hadn't seen in years. My old fencing gear. A sweatshirt from my Emory days. A scandalous swimsuit that I bought and then never had the nerve to wear. After a few minutes, Eddie came over and helped me pack.

"You don't like me, do you?"

"Eddie..."

"No. No games. Really. I'm just wondering."

"Well... I don't even know you. How am I supposed to know if I like you or not?"

He picked up the swimsuit and put it in a box.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well... OK," I said. "Let's start with why you became a prostitute."

Eddie looked like he was choking.

"Wow," he said "You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"Nope. Life's too short. So why did you?"

"Do I need a reason? It's fun. It pays well. My clients are happy with my..."

"I know, I saw the footage. But it's not like you couldn't make more money doing other things. I mean, being who you are, you could always..."

"I could always
what?
Be like my brothers? Always worrying about my image? Always looking over my shoulder to see who's watching? God, you've seen how Charles lives! He can't even take a leak without someone recording it!"

Wow. I'd hit a nerve with that one.

"I just meant..."

"NO! You don't get it! Nobody gets it! You all assume that I'm the loser, just because I'm not some famous actor like the rest of them. But you don't understand. I'm the strong one! I'm the only one who found a way out of that madhouse that we all grew up in."

Eddie was upset. Really upset, not just play acting this time. I could hear the tremors in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"The rest of them... they're are all living out Mom's fantasy for her. Even when they think they're pushing her away. They're still being what she made them. You don't know what she's like. She's got them all wound up so tight. They're all terrified that someone, somewhere is gonna see through them. That someone will catch them being less than perfect. I'm the only one who managed to get out."

I looked into Eddie's eyes. I wasn't sure if he was gonna cry or punch something.

"And you're happy with your life?" I asked.

"Not all the time. But at least it's mine. I'm not living it for someone else."

Hm. The guy might not be a rocket scientist, but he did have a point. I know some senior citizens who've never learned that lesson.

"You know," I said, "I'm not exactly living the life that my parents wanted for me, either."

"Yeah?" Eddie answered, rubbing his eyes with a balled up fist.

"Yeah. My Dad... well, he's kind of a fundamentalist Baptist Minister back in North Carolina."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Come on. I'll pour us some coke and we can swap horror stories."