Jewel of a Murderer by M Glenn Graves

Author:M Glenn Graves [Graves, M Glenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781647340261
Publisher: City Lights Press
Published: 2020-03-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

For the first thirty minutes, they mostly told me what I had already learned from Applegate. The difference was that it was from another point of view. Sometimes helpful. For Blake, it was a significant difference. He had been one of the victims of that thwarted hate crime. The police and state patrol of New Jersey had arrived to save them from likely death or serious injury.

“Five soccer players contained twelve of your friends, including you,” I said.

“Two of them had guns.”

“Had you ever seen any of them before?” I said.

“Two of them looked familiar,” he said.

“You recall from where?”

“Can’t say.”

Something about the way he answered made me suspicious.

“Cass, could I trouble you for a bowl of water for Sam?” I said.

“No problem,” she said and left.

“I’ve been told that the guys who did this are still locked up,” I said to him once she was gone.

“Yeah, but they could get out.”

“You’re worried that they might come back and finish the job.”

“Worried for me and Cass. It’s just the two of us. Everyone else left.”

“Understandable.”

“What, running away or staying put?”

“I can see both viewpoints. You can, too, right?”

“They left us vulnerable. Drew was the last one to leave. He really wanted to stay, but he felt threatened a lot.”

“More than the others?”

“Yeah,” he said and then turned his eyes to the doorway as Cass entered with the large bowl of water for Sam.

“Thank you,” I said. Sam slurped and splashed water on the floor.

I began to apologize for his table manners.

“I’ll clean that up. It’s not a problem,” she said.

I looked back at Blake. I raised my eyebrows as if to ask him to tell me more.

“One of the soccer players spent the night here with Drew,” he said.

“So maybe this attempted murder was a bit more than a hate crime,” I suggested.

“Yeah, Drew and I thought so.”

“So why did they come after all of you? They could have easily singled Drew out.”

“Not if you want to cover your tail,” Blake said. “Think of it this way. This manly soccer player is on the fence sexually. He indulges with Drew and then, maybe, one of his teammates either finds out or suspects something. Maybe saw something, who knows? At any rate, he has to save face now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. In order to save face, he has to come after all of the fags who live here.”

“Your summation or Drew’s?” I said.

“We shared opinions a lot.”

“So that’s why Drew finally left us?” Cass interrupted. “He thought that one day those guys might get off or out and come back.”

It sounded like a revelation to her as she spoke.

“Yeah, something like that,” Blake said.

“You two were…what?…trying to protect me?” she said.

“You’re our friend,” Blake said to Cass.

Blake turned to me. “She’s straight but lives here with us. We try to look after each other. She’s our friend, friend to all of us. Friend to those who left. My friend now.”

“Sounds like a mutually beneficial arrangement for all concerned,” I said.

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