Read The City PI and the Country Cop Online

Authors: xxxxxxxxxxxx

Tags: #gay

The City PI and the Country Cop (18 page)

BOOK: The City PI and the Country Cop
5.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Allow me to point out, your honor,” the
prosecutor said, “that Mr. Chris Frye was murdered almost thirty
years ago. There is no way Mr. Donovan could think that the
defendant, who was only twelve at the time, could have been the
murderer.”

The judge though for a moment before saying,
“Your objection is sustained on the second point. However as to the
relationship between Mr. Donovan and Mr. Upton…”

“May I answer that question, your honor?”
Teague asked.

“You may.”

“Keir Upton is my employee, as I’m certain he
stated when he was on the witness stand. He was also undercover as
part of the police department’s attempt to catch the killer of two
young, homeless men in Faircrest. Again something I’m certain has
been brought out. As part of his going undercover, he spent his
nights in the park. All night and into the early morning. As he
was
pretending to be a homeless boy, he couldn’t very well
have a motel room of his own. He would come to mine, to report in
and catch some sleep.”

“You are stating that there is no
relationship between the two of you other than that of employer and
employee?” Hancock said.

“I am. Mr. Upton spent a year on the streets
when he was a teen—something that should have been brought out when
he took the stand. He made no bones about it to me when I hired
him, even admitting that there were times when he had to sell
himself to stay alive.”

“Your point is, Mr. Donovan?”

Teague tried not to sneer at Hancock, who had
obviously not done his homework. “Mr. Upton is as straight as I
presume you are. If you doubt that, I’m sure his girlfriend,
Melanie Hart, will be willing to come here and testify to that
fact.”

With obvious reluctance, Hancock said, “I
withdraw my question.”

* * * *

Coming into the witness room an hour after
Teague’s testimony had ended, the prosecutor told him, “You did an
excellent job on the stand this morning.” Glancing at Keir, he
added, “You did as well. Both of you are released for the day but I
have to ask you to remain in town in case I need to call you up
again.”

“Not a problem,” Teague replied. “May I ask
how many more witnesses you have so we’ll have some idea how long
we have to stay here?” Since he hadn’t seen Hoyt at the courthouse,
Teague wondered if he wasn’t going to be called to the stand.

“Now that I have your testimony, I’ll be
recalling Detective Newman this afternoon to clarify some points.
After that, it’s Mr. Hancock’s turn.”

“Hoyt’s testified already?” Keir said,
sounding as surprised as Teague felt.

The attorney nodded. “He was my first witness
after opening arguments on Friday.”

“I thought…”

“The trial began last Friday but since I knew
I wouldn’t get to the two of you until today, I saw no reason to
have you come to town until last night.”

Teague bit back a sigh of relief. He might
get through all this without having to see Hoyt. That, he suddenly
realized, didn’t sit as well with him as he wanted it to.

“All right. One more question. How long do
you think the defense will take?” Teague asked. “I’m presuming if
you need us, it will be for your rebuttal phase.”

“It will be. Hancock has two people on his
list. They’re character witnesses. Irwin’s boss and a co-worker who
works for the same company Irwin does.”

“He’s not calling Irwin to the stand?”

The prosecutor smiled dryly. “Would you, if
you were him? I know you’ve seen the transcript from when Irwin was
first questioned.”

Teague nodded. “Yeah. He definitely went on a
rant, ignoring Hancock’s attempts to shut him up.”

“Exactly.”

Teague stood, saying, “You know where we’re
staying and you have my number.”

“I do,” the prosecutor replied. “Thank you
for your time. Hopefully I’ll know by the end of tomorrow when the
two of you can leave.”

They all shook hands and then Teague and Keir
left to go back to the motel.

* * * *

Teague had kept his ‘promise’ to Keir, giving
him a list of names for which one of their clients needed
background checks. Being a fair boss, Teague did his share of them,
so they finished them up fairly quickly and Teague sent the results
back to Jake to pass on to the client.

Thus it was late that afternoon when Keir
asked, “Where are we going for dinner? And please don’t say you’re
calling room service. I’m getting cabin fever.”

“After four hours?” Teague shook his head as
he brought up a list of local restaurants on his phone. There were
two he knew he wasn’t going to suggest, Hal and Mary’s, where he
and Hoyt had eaten, and The Red Calf because he didn’t need any
reminders of Bradley Irwin and what had transpired after their
first meeting, when Irwin called himself Will. “How do you feel
about Mexican?”

“As long as it’s hot and spicy, I’m good with
it.”

“Okay. Grab your jacket and let’s get out of
here. It’s only a few blocks away so we can walk.”

“In the snow?”

Teague cocked an eyebrow as they both got
ready to leave. “What happened to the guy who was all for staying
up at the resort so he could ski?”

“That’s different,” Keir replied. “You need
snow up there. Down here…They should come up with a place where
it’s snowy at the resorts and eighty degrees at the bottom of the
mountains.”

“Somehow I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Should be,” Keir grumbled.

When they walked out of the hotel lobby onto
the sidewalk it was snowing lightly, adding a thin layer of white
to the snow that had fallen the day before they had arrived.

“You have to admit it’s pretty,” Teague
commented. “With the lights glittering off the snow.”

“I guess it beats the dirty snow at home,”
Keir admitted reluctantly.

The walk took five minutes, and when they
arrived at the restaurant they had the same dusting of snow on them
as the bushes that lined one side of the building.

“Gee, no one’s using the patio,” Keir said
with a grin as they walked across it to the front entrance.

“If you feel like freezing, I’m sure they’ll
let us sit there.”

“Umm, no.”

The interior was bright and cheerful, with
booths lining one wall and tables between them and the ordering
counter. Teague and Keir got in line behind several other people,
giving them a chance to study the menu boards before they got to
the front of the line. Teague decided on
posole
and a large
burrito while Keir opted for two super tacos. They both asked for
salsa verde
on their food plus an extra serving on the side,
and ordered Mexican beer to go with their meals.

Trays in hand, they made their way to a booth
by the windows overlooking the street. Keir, being young and
adventurous, added extra salsa to his tacos and began eating with
gusto. As the older, wiser one, Teague took his time, letting his
mouth acclimate to the spicy heat of his meal. Suddenly Keir drew
in a deep breath. Teague was certain from the look on the young
man’s face he’d reached his heat limit and then some.

He knew he was wrong when Keir said, “Don’t
turn around.”

“Why?” Teague asked, tempted to do just
that.

“You know who is here, and he’s with a very
pretty woman. From the look of it, they’re quite…friendly.”

“If you mean Hoyt,” Teague said tightly, “I
doubt it.” Now he definitely wanted to look but resisted, despite
the fact his pulse was racing at the mere thought that Hoyt was
behind him.

Keir ducked his head, obviously trying to
keep Hoyt from spotting him. “I think we’re safe,” he finally
whispered. “They’re heading to a booth at the other side of the
room.” He looked at Teague, saying, “You know he has to know we’re
in town for the trial.”

“Undoubtedly,” Teague agreed. Suddenly he
wasn’t the least bit hungry. All he wanted to do was…
What? Sneak
out before he sees me? Go over and casually say hello?

Both choices were made moot when Keir said,
“We’re about to have company. I think I feel a need to hit up the
washroom.”

“Stay were you are,” Teague replied firmly
just before Hoyt came into view at the end of the table.

“I thought that was you,” Hoyt said, his gaze
locked on Teague. “Keir, why don’t you pay a visit to the men’s
room or something?”

“My thought exactly,” Keir told him as he
slid out of the booth.

As soon as Keir was gone, Hoyt took his place
across from Teague. “You look good.”

“You do, too. How’s your shoulder?”

“Much better. According to Carolyn, my PT, it
should regain about ninety percent of its former mobility.” Hoyt’s
smile, such as it was, was bleak when he added, “I guess I can’t
complain about that, all things considered.”

Teague started to reach for Hoyt’s hand,
thought better of it, and asked, “Are you going to be able to go
back to work?”

“I already have. Yeah, it’s just desk duty
right now but at least I’m there. I go out to the shooting range
every day to practice. Trying to get my edge back. Carolyn wasn’t
too happy about that.”

Why is he on a first name basis with
her?
Teague wondered distractedly.
Because he spends a lot
of time with her while doing physical therapy. Don’t be a jealous
idiot. Besides, women aren’t his thing. Unless…
He’d never
considered the idea that Hoyt might be bi.
I guess it’s
possible.
“Are you and Carolyn…?”

Hoyt looked at Teague in question. Then he
chuckled. “She’s my PT. Nothing more. Yeah, we’ve become good
friends. As a matter of fact, she’s sitting over there. Probably
wondering what’s taking so long since I told her I was just going
to say hello.”

Teague turned to look and got a smile and a
finger wave from Carolyn, who he recognized from the one time he
took Hoyt to her office. He wanted to ask if Hoyt had someone in
his life now. Someone male. But wasn’t certain he could deal with
it if Hoyt said he did.

Hoyt apparently wasn’t so reticent. Leaning
back, he studied Teague for a moment then asked, “Have you met
anyone since…?” He spread his hands questioningly.

“No. Have you?”

“No.” Leaning forward, crossing his arms on
the table, Hoyt said quietly. “But then I’m not looking. I know I’m
crazy but I keep hoping you might…” He sighed.

Now Teague did reach out to take Hoyt’s hand.
“We’ve been through this before. How could it work?”

“Well, first you’d have to want it to,” Hoyt
told him, gripping Teague’s hand tightly. “Obviously, since you
never called or emailed or anything, you’ve decided I’m not worth
the bother.
We’re
not worth the bother. Not that there was a
‘we’ but for a few days there I thought we were moving in that
direction.”

“I didn’t call because I knew it would have
hurt both of us.”

“Yeah,” Keir said from behind Teague, resting
his hand on the back of the booth. “Instead, he threw himself into
working twelve to fourteen hours a day, growled at anyone who came
close to him, and as far as I can tell did nothing but go home just
long enough to get some sleep before coming back the next morning.”
He gestured for Teague to move over and when he did, Keir sat. “Mr.
Donovan here claims it’s just because we’re too damned busy for him
to do anything else. I think it’s because that way he doesn’t have
time to think about how stupid he’s being.”

“Keir,” Teague growled.

“Well, it’s true. You two are both being
stupid. It’s not like airplanes don’t exist, you know. And there’s
holidays, and vacation time. Honestly, for two men who are old
enough to know better, you’re acting like a few hundred miles is
the same as halfway around the world. Now if you’ll excuse me
again, I think I’ll go talk to the pretty lady Hoyt came in with,
while the two of you figure out what it’ll take to make your
relationship work.”

“What relationship?” Teague asked dryly.

“The one you started with him, before what
you insist on calling common sense got in the way,” Keir replied,
sliding out of the booth. “There’s nothing sensible about it, in my
opinion.” With that said, he walked across the room to Carolyn’s
booth and sat down across from her.

Teague took a deep breath. “He’s…right?”

“I think maybe?” Hoyt replied with a small
smile. “Why don’t we, I don’t know. Take a walk and talk?”

“You do realize it’s snowing out there.”

Hoyt chuckled. “This is Colorado. It’s
November and we’re in the mountains. So if it wasn’t I’d be
worried.” He got up, looking down at Teague. “Are you game?”

With a nod, Teague grabbed his jacket and
joined him, not caring in the least that he was leaving his
unfinished meal behind. Hoyt stopped long enough at Carolyn’s booth
to get his peacoat and then the two men left the restaurant.

“It’s beautiful,” Teague said, wrapping his
arms around himself as he surveyed the still falling snow. “It
reminds me of when I was a kid, all those many years ago.”

Hoyt smiled. “When you were a small town boy.
Do you ever miss it?”

“Sometimes, I guess. There’s something to be
said for knowing your neighbors by name, not just vaguely
recognizing their faces when you see them in the elevator.”

“Like you do now.”

“Yeah,” Teague replied. “On the other hand
there’s a lot I like about a big city. The excitement, the
entertainment, the freedom to be who and what you are because—” he
shrugged, “—because you don’t have to worry about what people you
barely know think. If they don’t like it, who cares? Friends get it
and that’s what counts.”

“I never asked, but it sounds like you live
in an apartment.”

“A condo actually. Not too far from my
agency.”

“We have a few condo buildings here. They’re
mainly used for long-term rentals for the skiers who come up every
weekend as soon as there’s enough snow.” Hoyt shook his head. “The
joys of being well-to-do I guess.” He shot a look at Teague. “You
could probably afford to do that.”

BOOK: The City PI and the Country Cop
5.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Uneasy Relations by Aaron Elkins
Second Hand Jane by Michelle Vernal
Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler
Destiny Doll by Clifford D. Simak
Bought by Jaymie Holland
A Merry Christmas by Louisa May Alcott
Lessons Learned by Sydney Logan