Omorphi (57 page)

“How many kids are we talking about?”

Michael looked to Lisa for help. “Ten?”

She grinned. “Man, Mike, you’re really out of the fruit loop, aren’t you? How about thirty?”

John considered this. “I’ll need to run it by Mr. Santini.”

Michael pointed both index fingers at Lisa. “We make a list at lunch.”

Lisa grinned her toothy grin. “You got it, Mike. We’re also gonna talk to Smitty.”

“I
S
THAT
everyone?” Jake asked as they sat at their lunch table.

“Yeah, but not all of these people are out, Jake. Some are seriously on the down low,” Lisa intoned gravely.

“How do you want to handle it?” Michael asked.

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t know. I had no idea people like Jorge would be on the list.”

“Do you know anyone on the football team?”

She thought for a minute. “I think George does. Hang on.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and sent a text message. It was answered within seconds.

“George is gonna find Jorge and see if he’ll join us. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Okay. Anyone else?”

Lisa shook her head. “A couple of others who are seriously in the closet, and we can’t go there.”

“Even if it’s to keep them safe?”

“No, Mike, they haven’t dealt with it yet.”

Michael marveled at her intuition. “I need to learn how to read minds like you.”

“It isn’t mind reading. The pain is plain. Not everyone gets lucky enough to have parents like us. It’s seriously hard for them.”

“Yeah, I know. Stephen’s having a hard time.”

“You talked to him?”

“Yeah. He’s doing okay, but his parents are religious, and they’re doing the prayer circle thing.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “They haven’t gone to an exorcism yet, have they?”

“No. Stephen thinks, even though it’s hard for them right now, it’s not an all-bad situation. He’s working it.”

She nodded as George appeared with an angry Jorge. Michael kicked a chair out to him. “Take a load off, dude.”

He ignored the chair and Michael. “
Que pasa
, Lisa?”

“We got a serious problem, Jorge, and we were wondering if you could help us out,” she said calmly.

“
Que problème
?”

Lisa rose from her seat and guided Jorge out the cafeteria doors. Michael looked at Jake, a question in his eyes, and Jake shrugged. Michael looked at the list again. “There are a lot of girls on this list.”

Jake nodded.

“You don’t look surprised.”

Jake shrugged again. “I told you I was at a loss for candidates here.”

“I’ve gone out with some of them.”

“Now you know why it didn’t work out.”

“Crap, Jake, I always thought it was me.”

“Surprise.”

“You could have told me.”

“Thought you might have a meeting of the minds, and they might be good covers for you.”

Michael shook his head. “I gotta seriously work on that awareness thing.”

“Yep, you do, but not for the same reasons anymore.”

Lisa leaned through the cafeteria doorway and motioned to them. Michael cuffed Jake’s shoulder lightly. “Let’s go, bro.”

“J
ORGE
,
here, has seen the light,” Lisa said softly, more feminine than usual.

Michael extended a hand for a shake, and Jorge looked at it and then at Michael. Not kind.
Okay, bad idea. No solidarity here
. Michael let his hand fall back to his side.

“He’s gonna get his boys together, and they’re going to do some recon,” Lisa continued.

“What kind of recon?” Jake asked.

“Jorge thinks he might know where Jason got the bomb.”

Michael wanted to cheer but refrained. Jorge didn’t look happy. And he looked dangerous. And he was
huge
.

Lisa withdrew her phone from her pocket. “He also thinks he might know who the two recruits are.”

“Seriously?” Michael couldn’t help himself.

“My older brother may know them. If they are who I believe they are, they returned from Afghanistan with psychological problems.”

Jorge sounded seriously literate. Then it came to Michael. “You’re in my AP British Lit class.”

Jorge scowled. “So?”

Michael couldn’t help but smile. “Cool.”

Jorge nearly smiled. Michael was making headway.

“Okay, Mike, here’s the gig. I’m gonna call Smitty and explain the situation. We gotta give him a list of personals so he can assign people to keep watch.”

“How are we going to do that if some people aren’t”—Michael looked around before whispering—“out?”

“Nothin’ that goes to Smitty ever gets out. No pun intended. We gotta have coverage, Mike. The cops aren’t doing it, and your security, no offense, hasn’t done shit.”

Michael glanced at Jake.

“She’s right, bro.”

“Won’t that make your dad angry?”

Jake frowned. “At this point, I don’t care. Sophia’s on her way here, and we are
not
going to have a dangerous weekend. We can’t take it, Christy and Sophia can’t take it, and our parents can’t take it. We need a plan that includes nothing but safe and calm.”

“What about Detective Davis?”

Lisa snorted. “Smitty’ll handle him, Mike.”

Michael nodded to her. “Make the call.”

“I’
M
FEELING
like a Keystone Kop,” Michael said as he and Jake walked to their cars after school.

“Can you think of a base that we don’t have covered between the police, our security, Smitty, and our little battalion of queers?”

Michael smiled and shook his head. “I like that you say ‘our.’”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, bro.”

“I want to take Christy down to the waterfront on Sunday. He’s never been there, and Sophia likes to play pinball.”

Jake smiled. “You’re on. I’m gonna go meet Sophia, and we’ll see you at the hospital.”

“D
O
YOU
like it?”

Michael smiled down at Christy. “You look beautiful.” He ran a hand down Christy’s ringlets, careful not to disturb the sparkly hairclips. “They didn’t help you wash your hair?”

Christy smiled. “I didn’t let them. What do you think?” He held his wrist out, bearing every bracelet that had been in the gift box.

“Very pretty.”

Christy beamed. “Sophia is coming. She will love them.”

Christy was entirely at peace, all signs of the prior night’s tribulations vanished. Michael was more and more certain with each passing day that only sheer stubbornness had kept Christy from losing his mind after everything he’d endured. He leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I love them on you.”

Christy giggled softly.

“How’s your leg?”

“Better. I spun in the chair with Jerry again. Oh, so many nurses were angry.”

“Somehow, I have a hard time believing that was the exercise my dad had in mind.”

Christy smiled up at him. “Will you lie here with me?”

Michael climbed onto the bed, and Christy rested his head on Michael’s shoulder.

“Rob brought me the lip gloss.”

“I see that.”

“He brought the underwear too.”

“Excellent.”

“I spoke with him today.”

“About what?”

“I mean to say I worked with him.”

“Did you? That’s fantastic.” Michael kissed the top of his head.

“We talked about the nightmares.”

“I heard you had a hard time last night. Do you want to talk about it?”

“The dreams are changing. More of them are about things I am afraid will happen rather than the old things. Rob says this is good in a way because I’m leaving the past behind.”

“I wish you didn’t have any nightmares at all.”

Christy smiled up at him. “Because of you I have some very good dreams now.”

Michael laughed softly. “I’m glad.”

“Can I ask you some things?”

“You know you can ask me anything.”

“Does the publicity bother you?”

“What publicity? You mean about the meets?”

“Yes.”

“Mmm, sometimes. Usually only when they get in my face and ask personal questions.”

“They don’t say bad things about you?”

“Some jerk accused me of cheating once, and the media wouldn’t let it go for a year. It sucked.”

“What did you do?”

“Ignored it. You can’t get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel. They’ll only say more. Now, I just ignore all the press.”

“You don’t care what they say?”

“Jake’s dad has something called a clipping service. They find all the articles that mention Jake or me and send copies to Nero’s office for review. If there is something I need to know, he tells me.”

“So you simply ignore this?”

“Yes. Why do you want to know?”

“Okay, another question. Have you ever known anyone who is famous?”

Michael smiled at Christy for ignoring his question. “What do you mean? Like a rock star?”

“Anyone.”

“Jake’s dad is kind of famous, and now I know Sophia.”

Christy clucked his disapproval. “You cannot look at her like this.”

“She’s famous.”

“A little. What if the media were cruel to you? If they say the truth, but in a bad light?”

“That happens a lot. Just ask Jake. We just ignore it.”

“You do not tell them to stop?”

“You can’t. At least not in this country. I know a couple of times Jake’s dad has called the newspaper or a TV station and told them to correct things, but that’s about all that you can do. You just have to take it in stride.”

Christy’s balled fist clenched against Michael’s chest. “What if… they say something about someone you care about?”

“If it were untrue, and if it warranted it, I’d issue a formal statement correcting it.”

Christy was agitated, clearly trying to get a point across. “What if it is true but phrased poorly?”

“I think you mean to ask what I would do if they said something that was true but phrased it unkindly for purposes of sensationalism.”

Christy looked up at him again. “Yes.” The word was breathless, said half in desperation, half in relief.

“I’d issue a statement saying just that. I’d say that the media was making statements for the sole purpose of selling copy without regard to that person, a penultimate form of disrespect, invasion of privacy, and I might even go so far as to say that it was an abuse of privilege.”

Christy continued to look up at Michael.

“What, babe? Why all these questions about media?”

Christy reached beneath his pillow, withdrew a newspaper, and handed it to Michael.

Michael swallowed hard when he finished reading the article. He squinted and read it again. The press had spared nothing about Jason’s attacks, which meant there was a serious leak in Detective Davis’s department. Worse yet, the article raised questions about Michael’s relationship with Christy. A picture of Jake, Sophia, Christy, and him on the stage after the meet sat just below the headline. Further down, in the body of the article, was a picture of Christy in his hospital bed.
Just freakin’ great. Some police protection.
Granted, they hadn’t figured out who Christy was yet, but they would. Soon. The article was below the fold, but still, it was front-page news. He withdrew his phone from his pocket and called Jake. “Hey, bro. Did you see today’s paper?”

“No. Why?”

“There’s a leak in Detective Davis’s department, and it dripped all over the front page.”

“What?”

“Call your dad, man. It’s bad.”

“I’m with Sophia, and we’ll be there in a few minutes. Can you call him?”

“Sure.”

“See you in a few.”

Michael dialed Nero’s office and asked to speak with him.

“Michael, are you calling about the newspaper?”

“How’d you know?”

“Christy called me about it. He’s as upset as we are. I’m looking into it.”

“Have you spoken with Detective Davis?”

“I wouldn’t call it speaking but, yes, we had a communication of sorts. He’s looking into the matter.”

“Is the detective fully informed?”

“I was left with no alternative but to explain the circumstances, including the matter of Yosef. Please don’t say anything to Christy. I haven’t told him yet.”

“Okay. How’d they get the picture of Christy?”

“That is also being looked into. I’m sorry, Michael.”

“It was bound to hit the paper sometime. Only I didn’t think it would include confidential information from the police department. Do you know if my parents and Rob have seen it?”

“Yes. They are equally as upset. The good thing out of this is that it gave me the opportunity to seek Christy’s permission to speak with his aunt, and he gave it to me.”

“Excellent. Thanks, Mr. Santini.”

“You’re welcome.”

He hung up, threw the newspaper across the room, and pulled Christy into his arms. “Sorry, babe.”

“Are you very angry?”

“I’m furious with the police department and more furious that someone snuck in here and took a picture of you. Other than that, I know there will be more press and more invasion of our privacy, so there’s little sense in freaking out about it.”

Christy’s odd little frown filled his brow. “I guess it can be this simple.”

“It is. Don’t worry about it.”

Sophia peeked around the door. “
Agapimenos mou!
”

A smile burst across Christy’s lips as she ran to him. Michael hopped off the bed, narrowly avoiding the onslaught of kisses and hugs Sophia showered on Christy. Jake picked up the newspaper that lay in a heap on the floor, saw the headlines, and read the article.

“Well, isn’t this just swell?” Jake tsked his disapproval as Christy and Sophia nattered in Greek at the speed of light.

“Knew you’d hate it, bro.”

Jake whistled softly and shook his head slowly. “My dad’s gonna be one grumpy SOB tonight.”

Michael kept his voice low. “The good thing is, it forced him to tell Detective Davis about Yosef, and he also got permission from Christy to speak with Sophia’s mom.”