CHAPTER EIGHT: COMING TOGETHER

MELANIE:

“Sure thing, Judge Stone. I will tell her.” Janean looked positively triumphant once she disconnected the call.

“Well?”

“Harry says that you owe him. He’ll collect at the charity poker game next month.”

“Shit! That means my last pair of Manolos are soon to be a thing of the past.” I shake my head wryly.

Although it’s the worst kept secret within the County, Judge Harold Stone is also the reigning Queen of Drag. As Lucinda Lush, he has raised millions for not only the LGBT community but for thousands of inner-city teens to have a choice of college or trade school rather than end up a statistic. What’s ironic is that he’s a straight man who works harder for our community than most gay people I know. He takes the motto of ‘No child left behind’ to include all people, as long as they have love in their hearts, and the determination to succeed regardless of their circumstances.

When I told him of the circumstances of Brian and Justin, he actually stood up in his office and applauded them. He’d been trying to find a way to keep Stockwell out of public office for a number of years, but couldn’t find a way without going through illegal means. So he admired the young men who had risked everything but succeeded in finally ousting the corrupt Police Chief. And the fact that it was done legally and by the book, using the simple method of using facts to create doubt instead of the usual yellow journalism and mudslinging, raised their esteem even higher in his eyes.

So this afternoon, I took a page out of their book and presented Judge Stone with the cold hard facts in reference to this new injustice against his favorite LGBT couple to date. I gave chapter and verse about the history between Brian and Michael, then told the unadulterated truth about Brian and Justin’s relationship. To say he was engrossed would be an understatement, but to say that he was angry on their behalf would be an even bigger one. He was ready to throw the book at Michael immediately, but I explained why Brian and Baby wanted to give the offer of restitution first and foremost. He told me to give him a few hours to process all of the information and do a little fact checking of his own. I accepted the terms without hesitation, but I never thought he would ask for a pair of shoes I’d only worn once in exchange for his help. But I have a feeling that there is more to his request than meets the eye. It’s something I will have to examine later. In the meantime, all of Michael’s records will be legally confiscated, along with his computer. Shit there was so much to do!

“Don’t worry, Mel. Jules is already on her way,” Janean tells me before turning to Emmett. “Em, do you have the keys to Red Cape Comics with you?”

“Sure do. Why, Sweetie?”

“Because I have a forensic accountant and a few friends of ours on their way here to collect them. Judge Stone gave us the go ahead to collect all of Michael’s accounting records and his computer. Although he’s willing to give you, Brian and Justin, time to settle this out of court, he’s not willing to wait until Michael gets back into to town to get the ball rolling on this. He’s already said that justice will be strong and swift no matter in which direction he decides to deal with this matter.”

“That’s great, but I have two questions: why did we need the court order to subpoena the records when Justin is co-owner of the Rage franchise and has the right to look at them at any time per his contract, and who the hell is Judge Stone?” Brian asks. I can tell that he’s not being sarcastic but genuinely puzzled by why we involved law enforcement in any manner when we decided to keep this fairly quiet for now.

“You are correct, Brian. Justin is allowed to look at the records at any time, but we had to ask Judge Stone because of the hidden records that Emmett stumbled across. In reviewing them, the records have very significant discrepancies. In order to find out what’s fact and what’s fiction between the two, we need a forensic accountant to follow the money. Unfortunately, Ted, who is highly qualified to do this type of work is unavailable as you know. Aside from being the most qualified, he also would have been able to remember purchases and receipts that Michael would have had to submit and would have caught this long before now, due to his MLD…”

“MLD?” Justin asks and I laugh.

“Yes. Ted has a Michael Lie Detector. It’s a radar much like you have where Brian is concerned, not that he lies, unless it’s to himself, of course. Anyway, Ted once told me that Michael has all these tells which he uses when he’s covering up something. He has the ability to ask questions so benignly that Michael would never catch on that Ted is leading him to outing the whole truth of matters. It’s how he, along with Emmett’s help, got the entire truth out of Michael concerning the whole David matter.”

Brian huffs. “Where’s Theodore when you need him?” He rolls his eyes. “So now it’s all a matter of waiting?”

“Yes and no. The good news that we’ve already indicated what Jules has to look for. But…”

Hunter interrupted. “Is this about the phone call earlier?”

“Partially. I know that you said you had some information for Brian and Justin…”

“Yeah,” he confirms before turning to them. “Remember that guy I mentioned?”

“Lance?”

“Yeah, well here’s the thing. He has all this really neat stuff that he bought off of Michael some time ago. I think he said that it’s how he and Michael actually met. The thing I found most strange is that it wasn’t comics that originally connected them. Imagine my surprise to find out that Lance Freeman was originally from here.”

“Lance Freeman?!” Brian exclaims out of the blue. “What the fuck has that clown got to do with anything?”

“Well if you had let me finish... but wait! You know him?” Hunter gasps.

“Damn fucking right I do, if it’s the same one I thinking of.”

“Tall, big teeth, kinda gangly? Has two moles: one on the side of his face where a dimple would be while the other is in the middle of his forehead? Oh and he seems to talk and laugh with this fucking annoying snort that really makes him sound like a braying jackass.”

“You have got to be kidding me?” Justin snickers.

“I wish he was, but he’s not lying,” Brian sighs. “Yeah, I know that little stalking bastard, Freeman. He used to go to high school with Michael and me, then followed me to college at Carnegie Mellon. I had to rearrange my entire class schedule my sophomore and junior years because he kept showing up in my classes. I still can’t figure out how he was doing it. Anyway, I took a full load during the summer so I could graduate early and transfer to Penn State graduate school. I didn’t tell anyone I was going, just seemingly disappeared for two years, only coming home during the holidays and the occasional school break.”

“I remember that time!” Emmett interjects. “I had just met Michael, who kept going on and on about his best friend. Was really despondent because he seemed to be going off and iving his life while not remember that he had people who loved him waiting for him at home. So imagine my surprise when the best friend turned out to be the guy I…”

“Honeycutt!”

“You mean you and Em…” Justin gasps.

Emmett smiled wide. “You know that makes two of us. And that’s all I will confirm or deny about that, Big Bad. Now you on the other hand have some explaining, and perhaps demonstrating, to do, Ricky, preferably when all of us have gone home for the evening.”

Brian smiled and snickered before he continued. “Anyway, the next time I saw him was in the hallway of Ryder Advertising my third year there. Then it became stalker central until he managed to get himself fired.”

“How did he do that?”

“Following me into the men’s room. Ryder was in the bathroom while I was fighting off the advances of the little nerd who couldn’t. I thought that was the last I would ever hear his name, but apparently I was wrong. So what’s he got to do with this, Hunter?”

“Michael is the one who was feeding him information about you all those years ago… and he still is. He knew about this place being robbed and your twink who has overstayed his welcome. Those were his and Michael’s exact words. They’ve been trying to get rid of Justin since night one. Even though Lance can’t have you, the plan was that he would live vicariously through Michael. There’s even like this fucking shrine to you in his house, which includes suits that I think you would like. There was this dark green one which almost looked black that they were just drooling over. I recognized it because I’ve seen you wear a similar suit only it looks newer and is slightly broader cut than the one they have. I’m guessing your shoulders have buffed out the last few years?”

“Yeah they have,” Justin confirms before Brian has a chance to. The scorching look that passes between Brian and Baby could melt the Arctic Circle before Vic’s subtle throat-clearing brings them back into focus. Justin shuts his eyes for a moment and shakes himself causing the rest of us to laugh. “What? You all can’t blame me, can you? Besides I’m twenty so it’s perfectly natural that I’m a walking hormone.”

I laugh. “I can buy that, Baby. But back to the matter at hand. I have to ask you this, Brian. And bear in mind that it’s okay if you don’t remember exactly, but do you remember taking the alarm code off the door?”

Justin gasps as the inclination of my question resonates with Brian. “No. The alarm code was off which is precisely what caused the issue between Brian and I in the first place.”

“But there was something else,” Brian says. We all watch as realization dawns on him. “Justin, I… I wrongly accused you of something you didn’t do.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Remember when I told you that when you come in or go out, you have a thirty second window between the time the alarm disarms and the time it resets? Well the way the alarm system works is that there is a secondary code you would have had to put in to keep that from happening. I didn’t give it to you, figuring you would never need it. Michael is the only one who knew it, having been here when I set the codes in the first place. I never changed it from when I first moved in years ago. Not even Lindsay has it. In fact, I hadn’t used it unless I was moving furniture in. The last time was when the guys came to take…” And there’s no need for him to continue because it’s abundantly clear.

I clear the anger I feel welling up within my throat. So fucking unfair! All of it! Brian has worked so damn hard and for it to be constantly taken away by both friend and foe is just… I sigh deeply trying to collect myself. “So basically all roads lead to Michael.”

“If it helps, I remember where the guy lives,” Hunter offers.

“No. I don’t want the stuff back. It’s tainted now in ways that I don’t even want to imagine, having been with that pocket protector wearing pussy. But I do want the person responsible to pay me back every fucking red cent the way Justin did. By the way, Sunshine, you and I really need to talk about that money, but not right now. Is there anyway to prove that he sold my stuff to Lance?”

“Michael is probably the world’s dumbest criminal or the smartest fucking penny-pinching bastard ever to walk the face of the earth. Not only did he record the money in The Real Rage  document on the computer, but he actually stapled the bills of sale on the paper containing the itemized list in the physical ledger. It’s why we need the forensic accountant. She’ll figure out exactly where he’s holding the money.”

“Hmm… what if he isn’t? Justin asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask in turn.

“It’s just something you said about Michael building a nest egg for the two of them. Brian has expensive tastes and even slightly used he would have kept the items immaculate. I’m guessing this Lance guy would have seen that and bought the items, paying top dollar without batting an eyelash. From the sounds of it, he just wanted tangible pieces of Brian since he would never have the real thing. As for Michael, what does he love even more than Brian? Money, and lots of it. So putting myself in his shoes, which is really stomach-churning if I think about it too closely... if it were me, I would invest it so it would increase over time and yield a hefty return when I’m ready for it.”

“What would you invest in, Sunshine?” Brian asks me, and I can see he knows where Justin is going with this.

“The embezzled Rage profits takes care of the cash-on-hand, but even though he sold your stuff, he would still need to hide the income somewhere no one would ever think to look. And let’s not forget that Michael is all about acquiring things that appreciate in value; his collectables are an example of that. So I think Michael invested in real estate. I think he bought a house for the two of you and has maybe been setting it up consistently over time. Well, at least since the first year we were together. What better way to entice you away from me than to give you somewhere else to go? It’s why you were hellbent on getting that job in New York, remember?”

And wouldn’t you know that everything Justin said makes perfect fucking sense. It also proves that Michael had all of us snowed, unless… Holy shit! Someone else has been putting thoughts into his head… and it’s either Deb or Lindsay!