CHAPTER 40 - WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS... GUESS WHO DOESN’T HAVE A BROLLY

MICHAEL AND ETHAN’S HOUSE - AN HOUR LATER

LOUNGE

ETHAN

He has finally gone to get his phone sorted out! I crick my neck and decide to take the opportunity to practice with Mischa. I have to say that I can’t understand why Blake wants to work with someone of Justin’s inferior talent, when he and I could make great music together! He’s very cute, but it would just be music. He needs someone dour and dull like Ted, so he can shine bright. I would eclipse him!

I settle Mischa between my legs, smiling at the definition I now see in my thighs. Then I realise something: how the hell am I supposed to get to the stage?! For him it’s easy enough, he can just blunder on, but people are going to notice when I stride in with Mischa, and I will most likely be stopped before I get there...then I smile...that’s just perfect! I let him go ahead, telling him that I will play him onto the stage but sadly he’ll get stopped before I can join him. Justin’s night is ruined, Michael is humiliated, and I walk away without a stain on my character. With a plan firmly in mind...I start to play!

57TH PRECINCT - LATE AFTERNOON

BRIAN

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Yes, I wonder if you can. My name is Brian Kinney. Is Officer Xin or Detective Horvath available?”

The desk sergeant checks his computer. “Officer Xin is in an interview, but I can page Detective Horvath. May I ask what this is in regards to?”

“A charge of voyeurism and trespass against Michael Charles Novotny, I have further information.”

“Oh, I see. Well, if you could take a seat over there? I will get Detective Horvath for you as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.” I take a seat and rest my head against the wall, then think back to our picnic…

Start of flashback

PLACE WHERE THEY FIRST KISSED - SUNDAY

BRIAN

“What’s wrong?” He pushes me onto my back and sits astride me.

“Apart from you sitting on my full stomach?” I grumble; he blow me a kiss and moves down a bit. “Much better.”

“So what’s wrong?” He presses again holding both my hands in his on each thigh.

“Noel sent me some pictures that they found on Michael’s phone…”

“How did Noel get Michael’s phone?”

“Plead the 5th.” He smirks and then tugs my hand to get me to continue. “He had pictures of Britin on there.”

“What?!” He hisses...I don’t think I’ve ever heard his hiss and switch so quickly! He stands up and starts to pace. “Show...I mean may I see them?”

“Here.” 

“Brian…” He stops pacing and stares at me in horror. “...he’s gotten onto the grounds! I know this spot!” He shows me a picture. “That’s where I parked the car the night I brought Shadow back!”

“Right…” I reply slowly.

“Shadow likes to dig. Remember the third time I brought him back?”

I smirk briefly as I remember the very long thank you make out session we had, but then realisation dawns. “How long has he been watching the fucking house? Why is he watching the house?” He has the same look on his face as he did when he realised what Brent had done. “Okay, first, let’s go back and see where else Shadow has been digging!” I order.

Two hours later we are walking around the grounds with the security teams. While it is true that the damage was caused by either Shadow or Silver, that creep was still here to take advantage of that!

“Brian, you have to go to the police and show them this! This is more than voyeurism and trespass, this is fucking obsessing!”

“Too fucking right…”

“And you are all coming to stay with us! No fucking way are you staying here! Not until this place is locked down tighter than a...a...something that is really tight!” He declares.

End of flashback

“Mr Kinney!” I stand up and approach the desk. “This is Detective Horvath.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr Kinney, please follow me.” He leads me to his office, and I decline his offer of coffee. “So how can I help you?”

“I understand that you were the arresting officer for Michael Novotny?”

“Yes, that’s true. The desk sergeant said you had something else?”

“This.” I hand him my phone and explain the pictures.

“Okay, Mr Kinney, please email those to me and I will take a statement from you. Then I will do the needful...again.” He sits back in his seat for a few seconds. “A restraining order might be an idea.”

“My attorney is already on it.”

He nods approvingly. “Right, let’s go to the interview room and get this started.”

“Thanks.”

EMMETT’S HOUSE - SAME TIME

NOEL’S ROOM

NOEL

I have been keeping my ear to the ground in LA. The news about The Inaugural Annual Studs and Staffs Bash has hit the media hard, especially because of who is sponsoring it, which is great! Tickets have been snapped up! Less great is the avalanche of calls from my suddenly LGBT supportive parents! I haven’t returned them. Our last conversation was exactly that, our last...

Start of flashback

EMMETT’S HOUSE - AFTERNOON, A FEW DAYS PRIOR

OFFICE

NOEL

“Why are you sitting in the dark?” She asks. “I can barely see you, at least open the blinds or something.”

“I have the beginnings of a migraine and this helps keep it at bay until the pills kick in.” I reply.

“I see. Well, like I said, I barely can.” She chuckles at her joke and I wait for that to stop. When she does, the silence stretches on. “Well, I’ll just get your father!” She declares and starts to leave the room.

“Stepfather.” I correct her.

“Now, Noel, don’t be like this…” She closes the door to the office and sits back down. “...you know your father finds this sort of thing difficult to understand.”

“You know he doesn’t even try, but doesn’t seem to have a problem spending the money I earn by being this sort of thing.” I relish her flinch...yeah that hit a nerve. “So, are you going to get him then? I have a busy afternoon.”

“One moment.” She leaves the room and I take a sip of wine.

“Why are you sitting in the dark?” My stepfather demands. “Let some light in so I can see who I am talking to.” He orders as he sits down.

“My voice has not and will not change, so you know who I am.” He looks surprised by my tone but says nothing. “I see you like the watch, you know, with you wearing it.” I comment and she jabs him the ribs.

“Yes, meant to say thank you for that.” He replies gruffly.

“Don’t thank Noel, thank Naomi.” I retort and he sets his lips in a thin line, much like the snake he is, and leans back in his chair.

“About that, how is it going? How long before you start treatment? Have you been doing everything the doctor tells you to get this concluded to our satisfaction?”

“Your, not our.” I reply, and open the blinds. “As for that condition of being part of your family, as one or the other, it isn’t going as it isn’t happening. I am not doing it.”

“So what are you going to do then?” His eyes widen and he nods with approval as he sees me as Noel.

“Like I said, I am not going to transition, but I am still going to be Naomi. She’s part of me, part of my DNA, which you, Ivan, are not. Although I thought you were, Mrs Thorn” She gasps and his mouth is hanging open. “...so here’s what going to happen: you are going to live your life, and I am going to live mine...”

“So you are being a chicken shit, candy ass coward?!” Ivan sneers, then turns to his wife who is just shaking her head and sighing. “Didn’t I tell you, Philippa? Didn’t I say that he would do this? I said…”

“Please, Ivan, be quiet for a moment, I need to think.” She tells him then closes her eyes for a few long seconds.

“What’s there to think about?” He demands.

“She knows this expression on my face, don’t you, Philippa? May I call you Philippa? Mrs Thorn sounds so formal. This is my no turning back expression, I get that from my father...my birth father, who accepted me no matter what!”

“Noel, please, there must be some kind of compromise.” She pleads.

“Compromise?! Now it’s all about compromise...before it was all or nothing! And you were firmly standing by your man!”

“What are you whining about, Philippa?”

“For a man so supposedly intelligent, you do lack common sense. Simply put, while I am living my life, you need to work out a way to live yours without our money in it. Because I am not sending you another cent until you accept both sides of me.”

“Now just a minute…”

“Those are the conditions, not so nice to be on the receiving end of it is it?”

“Then we leave them!” He roars, and rips off the watch. “I will not have you being like that in my fucking house!”

“It is my fucking house!” I bite back and again his eyes widen...but this time in horror. “Or had you forgotten that?”

“So what are you going to do? Throw us out?” She quavers.

“That is for me to decide, and when I do, you will find out.”

“Noel! Please…” She starts to plead.

“Wait! Let’s not be hasty…” Ivan backtracks as he puts the watch back on.

“Too late. You’re too late. So it’s bye-bye.” I singsong before I cut them off.

End of flashback

“Hey, sweet thang, you alright? You’re not still upset are you?” Emmett asks taking my hand.

“I am and I’m not. I am because they just saw me as a needy piggy bank, and I’m not because the last vestiges of pain are gone.”

He nods. “Now I need to know, when this is all over, where are you going to base yourself?”

“I hadn’t thought that far. Equidistance between here and LA I suppose.”

“Oh, you don’t think you need to be closer to here? I mean with Kinnetic and The Drew Boyd Foundation, not forgetting Chyna and Sade, being three of your biggest clients...”

“Just show me.” I sigh and smile, I have heard about the way that Emmett and Vic gently but firmly interfere in people’s lives.

“Fabulous! It’s this lovely loft apartment, which would be perfect for you.” He shows me the picture.

“That’s not an apartment, that’s a house!” I laugh. “It’s huge!”

“And I bet costs almost half of what something twice as small would in LA. And then, of course, you have to factor in the flying back and forth…” His eyes start to twinkle. “...and you and I aren’t busy this afternoon…”

“What time?”

“You have an hour!” He squeals and rushes out before my swatting hand can connect!

Three hours later, I am a stunned but very happy owner of the new base for my PR agency!

MARILYN’S HOUSE, TEXAS - TWO DAYS LATER

KITCHEN

BRANDON

“Well, what did he say?” I demand of Marilyn who has just put the phone down on Lawrence Crown, my attorney.

“The papers are on their way.” She sighs briefly before stiffening her spine. “Let me call him back…”

“Why?” I frown as she redials.

“Lawrence, it’s Marilyn again. Can you hold off sending them? No, no I still want to go through with it, I just want to present them to him myself. Great! I can be there in about an hour!” She hangs up smiling. “Ready or not, here I come, Mr Novotny.”

“Go get him. We’ll look after Dylan.”

ARCHIBALD AND HYDE ATTORNEYS AT LAW, PITTSBURGH - LATE AFTERNOON

JEREMY HYDE’S OFFICE

JEREMY

Michael Novotny regards me for a few minutes. “So, is this doable?”

“Changing your surname to Grassi? Yes, of course it is. But with regards to the other issues, it won’t stop them from happening.”

“Surely it would? I mean they would have to get them reissued in that correct name?”

“Not necessarily. You can be recognised and described, so unless you have plastic surgery, they can still take you to court.”

He slumps back in his seat and sighs. “Can’t I just pay this woman off and get the document sealed or something?”

“But you would be admitting your guilt, which you said you weren’t guilty of?”

“I’m not guilty of that, I just want it to go away!”

“It’s up to you, but I would advise against that. It would be her word, as a straight woman, against yours as a gay man, in an area of known for its LGBT contingent. Who is a court in Pittsburgh most likely to believe?” He nods and looks a little less tense.

“Now, with the Big Q…”

“Yeah, the comic that my mother and uncle gave to the dullard; when do I get that back? And can you freeze her bank account? I want the money she got for the stuff she sold?”

“The dullard?” I frown.

“Ted Schmidt, also known as the most boring man dead or alive! He’s the one who did the audit for them, which lead to them trying to say it was fraud. Everyone knows that it was carelessness on behalf of Jerry…”

I hold up my hand to stop this mantra of his. “Mr Novotny, you can’t get the comic back until after the trial has happened. And as for the freezing of your mother’s assets, you can’t do that either. The items are hers to sell, you cannot prove that she didn’t lend you the money but she can. She has bank statements which show the amounts you borrowed. They will argue that it is too coincidental for you to have a bid pending then have the money for it on the same day it leaves her bank account.”

“I paid her back.” He protests.

“You didn’t pay her back all the money you borrowed.” I correct him, he has the selective memory of a geriatric goldfish with amnesia! “Mr Novotny, you do know that, as your attorney, I am the one person that you have to be honest with? Now, is there anything else that could possibly be coming at you?”

“No, I think that’s more than enough, don’t you?” He bitches like he’s not the common denominator in all that has prevailed!

I look up when the door knocks. “Come in!”

“Sorry, Jeremy, but there is a Detective Horvath wanting to see Mr Novotny. He is most insistent.”

“Thanks, Una. Can you give us a few seconds before…”

“Excuse me, Miss!” A gruff voice booms and Una scurries into the office with, judging by the exasperated expression on Novotny’s face, Detective Horvath right behind her. “I have a warrant for your arrest, Mr Novotny, on a charge of trespassing…”

“I’ve already been charged and been found unfairly guilty of that!” He snipes. “And…”

“What my client means, Detective, is that he refutes the charges and will be applying for them to be expunged.” I paste on my best attorney smile and stand up. “In fact, he feels that Mr Taylor is harassing him and…”

“It’s not Mr Taylor. It is Mr Kinney that has pressed charges against your client for trespassing on his property...” He pauses. “...and for stalking him. I thought it was an odd thing to say at the time, but now it makes sense...twisted, but makes sense.”

“What makes sense? What did my client say? What makes you think he’s stalking Mr Kinney?”

“Did you know that your client was mugged soon after he was released after the first V&T charge? And that his phone was handed in by a good citizen?” I nod. “You also know that Mr Novotny confirmed it was indeed his phone, well the remains of it at least, correct?”

“Yes. Still not sure where you are going with this, if anywhere at all.” I smile.

“We’re not in court...yet. Let me finish apprising you of the facts, and then you can go where you want with them.” He smiles back. “Well, it would seem that between him being mugged and it being handed in, someone looked through the pictures and sent them on to a third party. That third party sent them to Mr Kinney…”

“What third party? What were these pictures?” I glare at Novotny whose face remains impassive.

“I cannot reveal my sources. As for what, they were pictures of Britin, which is Mr Kinney’s residence. They were taken from various points around the perimeter fencing…”

“So? Anybody could’ve taken them.” I state, but can feel my smile beginning to slip in the face of the calm demeanour of the Detective.

“The pictures are dated and the phone, in Mr Novotny’s own words on his statement, never left his sight until I was mugged.”

“Now, just a minute, when I said that I didn’t…” He begins.

“As I was saying; he was quite agitated by the loss of his phone…” Detective Horvath continues in that same calm way.

“As anybody would be after such a traumatising experience!” I point out.

“Yes, but he said his life is on that phone. Taking that into consideration, plus his confrontation with Mr Taylor when he vociferously claimed that he and Mr Kinney were in a relationship but keeping it low profile as Mr Kinney values his privacy, then the V&T charge; all of those combined...well that says stalking to me.”

I stare at Novotny, who is now looking a little peaky to say the least!

“Hello!” A voice calls out from reception, and Una goes to see who it is. She comes back in with a determined looking woman who Novotny recognises and smiles at.

“Marilyn, what are you doing here?!” He exclaims and stands up as if to give her a hug.

“Looking for you. Retake your seat! I will see you in court, Mr Novotny!”

“What for?!” He sits down in surprise.

“Culpability for Jerry’s death. You caused him to be made a scapegoat in your bogus lawsuit, and we can prove it!”

“Mind telling me Mr Novotny…” I seethe as I sit down. “...how the fuck all of this is nothing else?!”