Murder at Willow Slough by Josh Thomas

Author:Josh Thomas [Thomas, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Detective, Mystery, Suspense, M/M, Reporter
ISBN: 9781462041343
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2001-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

It was getting late when two guys across the room caught his attention. Slowly his blood ran cold.

They were in love, it was obvious. No one else existed. They talked only to each other; they touched constantly, one sitting on a stool, his lover behind him, arms around his chest, kissing his neck, his ear, his hair. Then they’d shift, take a drink, and touch again, a hand rubbing a thigh, a knee; little kisses on the lips. And no one around them thought a thing about it.

Did the sight of them arouse him? Not in the least. They terrified him.

He’d never been touched that way. He’d never been loved by anyone the way these two loved. But for some reason—here, now, panic time, in a gaybar?—he could start to picture being loved like he wanted to be.

He stood stock-still. He couldn’t look at them, he couldn’t not look.

They couldn’t see him stare because of the sunglasses, so he was safe; not that they had the least awareness of his existence. Only one person mattered, and it wasn’t him.

Jamie walked past them. Kent instantly broke the stare, forced himself to take three deep breaths. And his feet started walking to the other room. Why on earth should he key in on those two? He didn’t want to. When he calmed down, though, he realized Gay men could love each other, like Gary and Glenn did; like Jamie and Rick.

***

At 12:30 Jamie came up to him. “Hi there. Come here often?”

“Nope, this is my first time. What’s your sign?”

“Burma-Shave. Look at the man on the fourth stool from the end. He looks vaguely like someone you’ve seen in a photograph.”

“I’ll do that. Can I buy you a beer as I head past?”

“Mineral water would be nice.”

Kent left, came back in a minute. “Sort of like Lash but a lot heavier. And older.”

“Our photos are older. It’s probably not him, but he’s been following me the last half hour. But not talking, not approaching. I’m uncomfortable. If it doesn’t bother you for me to say this, often enough guys want to talk.”

“I noticed. You’re a magnet to these guys.”

“I want to cut out.”

“Thank God, I’m tired.”

“The bartender’s calling us a cab.”

Kent smiled. “We’re a cab.”

Jamie grinned back, then went outside to wait. Kent watched the man on the fourth stool from the end. He didn’t seem to notice that Jamie left.

Kent walked out. They discussed it; Kent made calls, ran nearby license plates through the computer; no matches. “Lash is an unusual name,” Jamie said. “Can you get his address that way?”

Kent tried, got an address in the 800 block of Pennsylvania Street. “Walking distance,” Jamie told him.

“I’ll assign a plainclothesman to follow him home.” Kent made a call to Post 52—and 30 minutes later, nobody showed up. He was stunned. “’Cause it’s a Gay bar? Those bastards. They don’t even have to go inside, just follow somebody, see who he’s with.”

Jamie patted Kent on the back. “You said you wanted to learn about the Gay community.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.