SNOWSHINE

Chapter 15

The next day...

       Liberty Diner had gone Italian.

       New to the menu for a limited time only were servings of cannoli, ravioli, spaghetti and meatballs, and linguini with white sauce. All the Formica tabletops had been covered in plastic red and white checked tablecloths.

       Most of the fags who came into the Diner didn't really know what to make of this, especially the regulars. Sure, this was nice but they were used to their burgers and fries, onion rings, Deb's lemon bars and especially their pink plate specials. And sometimes Debbie would humor them and let them order their regular orders but sometimes, in her indiscriminate way, she would blurt out: "You're too skinny! You're having the ravioli!"...or..."We're outta pink plates, have the spaghetti!"....or..."We have a guest chef! Are you trying  to hurt his feelings?"...or..."You'll eat what I bring you!" And they would what she did...or else!

       Last night, after they got back to the Diner, they had all hustled in double time by the back door near the dumpster. Into the kitchen, down the stairway; although Emmett went first to work the triggers. Through the secret door and into the hiding place where they all breathed a collective sigh of relief as they finally began to feel safe again...at last.

       Justin and Luigi enjoyed a tearful reunion, that is, Justin being enfolded and crushed into Luigi's ample chest and stomach and Luigi bursting into tears over his traumatic experience and the loss of Guido.

       "Oh, Officer White! It terrible! Terrible! And Guido shook...like this..." Luigi spasmed wildly to show him. "And then went still. Polizia....they catch! They may have thrown him inside before...before..."Luigi broke down again. "Ohhh Guido! He pretty stupido! But he still like son to Luigi! Luigi no want to see him morto!"

       Justin just patted him a good long while before saying anything, which was just as well, as the over the top chef would not have heard him anyway. Eventually though, Luigi calmed down enough to hear Justin whisper in his own sweet Italian, "Calm yourself Luigi, calm! I'm pretty sure Guido is still alive somewhere and we will find out where tomorrow. They were after you both, which means Stockwell wanted you to get to me and in turn he will try to use Guido to get you. He may be a little worse for wear but we will get him back. I promise."

       "Si? Really? You think?" Luigi said at last.

       "Si. I really do. Now try not to worry anymore and go on to sleep. I had a mattress set up for you in one of the storerooms. We'll talk more in the morning."

       Luigi sighed and heaved a little but he could see he was being dismissed as well. "Si, si! I go now! Now you no worry Officer White! I be good guest! I sleep sound! I be quiet! And in the morning, I make up to you! I make up for such good rescue and hospitality! I cook! I cook for all of you! You all too skinny!!"

       "Oh Luigi, that's really not-..."

       "No! No! I cook! I cook for Officer White again! I am good guest! I earn keep! Besides...I know I ‘hide out' but I cannot stay down here all day! Luigi need to see sun, feel fresh air, once in while. I cook, watch people go by, feel sun, watch men mange...eat!"

       "Well, OK Luigi, I'll see what-..."

       And it was at that moment that Brian came in, ushered through the door by Debbie.

BJBJBJBJB JBJBJBJB

       "Snowshine!" yelled out Brian as soon as he was through, the word a bleat of pure joy.

       Justin turned toward the sound, and his face lit up in one of those smiles that had given him his name, as dazzling as the sun that shines off the snow. He ran toward Brian and Brian ran toward him and they met in the middle of the long room. They snapped together as finally and as inevitably as two magnets. They smashed their mouths together in front of everyone but they didn't care. As far as they were concerned, they were the only two ones in the room.

       They remained like that for many minutes. Many people realized it was suddenly quitting time and began packing up. Others suddenly found something on the floor or the ceiling fascinating or realized they had extra photocopying or stapling to do.

       At last Justin pulled back and stared into Brian's deep, brown eyes. "Welcome home, my Prince. You ran a little late. I was getting worried."

       "I ran into a little snag. I had to hide behind the troll's curtains in his office before I could make my escape. What happened? You told me I'd have the full hour."

       Justin shrugged. "I figured you would. I thought he'd watch the webcast. "Ahhh well, we can always try tomorrow."

       "No need. I got it."

       ‘You got it!? Really!?" And Justin's eyes lit up as bright as two blue stars and set Brian's heart and loins on fire and brought to life a part of his soul that he thought was dead and gone. Justin pawed at his coat. "Let me see! Let me see!" He sounded like a kid on Christmas.

       "Ah...ah...ahhh!" Brian teased, keeping his coat closed. "Later. When we're alone. I think there's a lot of sensitive material in here."

       "I remember. But first I'd like to see what you took from the safe," Justin quipped impishly.

       "Twat! That's what I was talking about! I think we're going to have to be very careful with what I found!"

       "Really?"

       "Yes. I don't know exactly what it all is. There's a scrapbook and a computer disc. I think you're right. I think he was keeping trophies. I'm glad I was able to get into them at last! I've been itching to get into that safe ever since I found it a few days ago."

       "I'm only sorry the webcast wasn't enough of a diversion for you."

       "It was enough. And now we've got it, not that I think we need it. Tonight's webcast will have been more than enough to push the polls into your favor. And now that we've got this stuff, there's no reason for me to stay there. I can tell that old buzzard where to stick it once and for all!"

       Justin grew pensive. "Wait Brian. There might be...one...more reason for you to be there."

       "What do you mean?"

       Justin looked sorrowfully over at Luigi who was sitting in an extra chair. He was twisting his white chef hat nervously in his hands. He looked distinctly miserable and out of place. Which he was.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

       And so, the next day was a tense, pensive day of waiting. Luigi cooked as he waited to hear about Guido. Snowshine practiced what he was going to say that night which was pointless work as he suspected he was going to have to improv the whole thing anyway. And Brian went to work at the police station one last time and nosed around for clues.

       It was disgustingly easy to find out what he wanted to know. They all trusted him completely now. And loved him because he was the one and only buffer between them and Stockwell. The one and only shining jewel of sanity they could look up to in the madhouse that the police station had now become.

       If only they knew how much he hated them all. Hated them for how they'd treated Snowshine. Hated them for going along with Stockwell so easily, like dumb and duped lemmings. And ever since he and Snowshine had gone over the material from the safe last night, being in Stockwell's presence, made him positively ill.

       As Snowshine had predicted, Stockwell had kept trophies, newspaper clippings of every filthy, disgusting, murderous, double dealing, and treacherous act he had ever committed. All in painstaking, chronological detail. The computer disc held financial records, all the money Stockwell had ever embezzled, siphoned off, taken as bribes, laundered, gambled away and then cheated back through fixed gambling. It was a huge fortune, stashed away in the Caymans and Switzerland, as massive as a mountain of gold that is jealously guarded by a dragon.

       Once he had realized what he had here, Snowshine had flipped through the clippings log and checked. And there it was. The clipping of his last bust with Cody and Cody's murder.

       For a long time, Snowshine sobbed against his Prince's chest and Brian just held him and rocked gently as all the pain, anger and the unfairness of it all poured out of him.

       "I always suspected he had done something. Tipped them off. Sent us to the wrong place. Something. Anything. Now I'm sure of it." Snowshine whispered at last.

       And Brian was sure of it as well. Which is why it gave him an inordinate amount of personal satisfaction, when that afternoon he slammed into Stockwell's office without knocking and dropped the polls down onto his desk.

       "There! The latest polls! Snowshine's webcast put him over the top as I warned you! But all you did was rage and gripe and throw things and push that STUPID Prop 14 which has to be the most fascist piece of garbage I've ever seen! You didn't listen to anything I told you, you hetero fuck! So there you go!" Brian smiled maliciously. "You are NOT the Top Cop in all the land! And as of tonight's webcast, you are NEVER going to be mayor! And I for one, am done with you! I quit!"

       "So that's it! You're going to just desert me when I'm down, like a rat off a sinking ship! Is that it?" Stockwell snarled.

       "Oh please! If I was going to do that, I would have jumped ship a loooonng time ago!" Brian snarled right back, "Taking off because you're going down would be so much simpler but I have other reasons! First and foremost, I cannot stand your depravity any longer! And I have seen your depravity...in ways you can't even imagine just yet," he whispered malevolently. "And second, before, I was alone, I was unloved, and I didn't care who I hurt or betrayed! But that is not the case any longer! I love and I am loved! And I can no longer stand your presence or betray my own kind! That is why I quit!"

       "Your own kind?? Betrayed? What the heck are you talking about, Kinney?" Stockwell asked, briefly letting his confusion overpower his never-ending rage.
       You fool! You never did clue in, did you? Well let me spell it out for you then! I - AM - GAY, you idiot! Your most trusted advisor, your campaign manager, is a big old musical loving, fudge packing, butt-loving queer! And all those things you wrote about in Prop 14 would have affected me! That's why I'm quitting, you sexist, egotistical, homophobic bigot!"

       Stockwell sat back in his chair, his eyes wide, his mouth open, his face a perfect mask of stupefied rage and hate. His mouth flapped a few times like a fish out of water. Brian smirked back at him and wished he had a camera. Then he remembered...he did!

       And so, he whipped out his cell phone and began snapping away. That only made Stockwell angrier. Brian didn`t care. That only made the next few shots even more pure gold.

       Stockwell was now simply incoherent with rage. His face grew redder and redder and he made gurgling noises in his throat. He began to growl. He roared. He roared in rage like the animal he had now become...like a lion or tiger or bear. Oh my!

       Brian started back a bit and snapped a last picture. Maybe it wasn`t such a good idea to poke at the tiger with a stick here but he just couldn`t help it. He had put up with so much, that he just didn`t care anymore. He was through taking his crap and ready to dish it right back!

       Brian roared right back, louder, more ferally, as viciously as he could muster right into the old troll`s face. Stockwell was shocked into silence although he was still just getting over the shock of the news.

       "But...but...but how??" Stockwell finally regained the power of speech. "I asked for the most prestigious....the best...the...the..."

       "FOOL! Do you still not understand!? I AM the best! I am the best advertiser in Pittsburgh and STILL I could not sell you! What does that say about YOU!? I am also the best fag I can be, a goal I have strived for my entire life! The two have nothing to do with each other! But you are too blind and stupid to see that! And so I leave you to your bigotry and anger! I leave you to your eventual defeat! So long fucker!" And with that, Brian turned to leave.

       "I don't think so," said Stockwell, his voice deceptively calm.

       "What are you talk...Uhhhggghhhh!!!!" managed Brian as he felt something smash down on the base of his skull. Everything went black.

       Stockwell stood over him, a malevolent monster, glorying over his captured prey.

       "You fucking fag! Nobody makes a fool out of James Stockwell and lives to tell about the tale! Fuckin' fairy!" Stockwell snarled.

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Some time later...

       Brian awoke in stages. His head pounded, especially at the back where he could feel a massive goose egg was forming. He groaned and tried to sit up. That was a mistake.

       "Signore! Signore! You lie back! You lie back! You rest! Guido take care of you! I take good care! Oh dear! He hit you so hard!"

       "Huh? Wha happened? What hit me? Where am I?"

       "Stockwell hit you! He bring you down with other cop by back way. You in basement of police station in holding cell with Guido! They work Guido over pretty good but Guido tell them nothing!

       Brian looked over at where the voice was coming from. He recoiled.

       An olive skinned young man, maybe even teenager about 17 years old or so was peering closely into Brian's face. Too close. The young man's face had been beaten into a pulp. Both of his eyes were blackened, his nose was broken horribly out of shape and his face was puffy and black and purple and a few other colors Brian didn't even want to think about.

       "You are Guido then? Luigi's boy?" Brian confirmed.

       "Si! Si! They want to know about Luigi very bad! But Guido say nothing! They not know that Guido know nothing about Luigi, they think he know everything! They not believe! So they do this! But Guido cannot tell what he do not know! Finally they give up and throw Guido in this dungeon! Have you seen Luigi? Did he escape? Guido very worried!"

       Brian had been assessing the situation as Guido talked. He was lying on the bunk in a cell just as Guido had said. Guido sat beside him on the stone floor. There was a combination toilet/sink on the back wall and a high, barred window.

       "Yes, Luigi is safe. He is in hiding with Officer White. The restaurant was completely destroyed though. He is worried for you too."

       "No! No, Luigi not care! He always yelling and calling me stupido. He should be glad I'm gone."

       "Guido, no! Oh that's just his way, you know him, flying off the handle all the time! He really did..."

       "AWWWWWW! This is so sweet....I may get diabetes!"

       "Stockwell!" Brian jackknifed up at the sound, groaning slightly but otherwise ignoring the motherfucker of a pain shooting through his head. "You have really got round the bend this time! Assault and Battery! False imprisonment! You're finished! When I get out of here..."

       "Ah, ah, ah... but you won't get out of here unless I say so! And when I do say so, you`ll be dead!"

       Brian did an elaborate double take and scratched his ears as if cleaning them out. "What! You're planning to kill me now?"

       "Of course! You know way too much about me to let you live! Besides...what's one less fag in the world!? I'll be doing it a favor!"

       "You bigoted monster!"

       Sticks and stones! So! That fat chef is hiding with Snow White! That means you know where he is hiding! That means..." Stockwell's eyes widened in realization. "All this talk about love and being in love and betrayal! You sending away my surveillance truck! You're his lover!"

       "Well! That's got to be the first bit of police work I've seen you do!" snarled Brian.

       "So! This whole time! You've just been a filthy spy!"

       "Not this whole time! There was a two week interval where I lost track of him. But I'm surprised you're upset that we're lovers Stockwell! After all, you are the one who introduced us!"

       "You sick fuck! Enough games! Where is he?"

       "I'm not going to tell you that! Besides, knowing where he is...or killing me for that matter, will do you no good! In a few hours, your dirty laundry will be spread all over the internet for anyone to see!"

       "What are you talking about?" snarled Stockwell.

       ‘Have you checked your inner safe lately?" Brian smirked, "You know, the one that needs your thumbprint to open?'

       All the color drained out of Stockwell's face. "You couldn't! You didn't!"

       "I could! I did!"

       Where!? Where...is...he?"

       "You know very well I'm not going to tell you that!"

       "Oh yes you will! Even if I have to beat it out of you!"

       "Just like you tried to beat it out of Justin? Brian yelled, "Just like you tried to kill him and frame him by planting those drugs?"

       "He was too open about his perversion for his own good. I had to get that fag off the force somehow!"

       "And that night his hair turned white! He told me all about it. YOU were the one who set them up to be killed! YOU killed Cody! Didn't you!? Didn't you!!!?"

       "Since you're about to die, I guess there's no harm in telling you. Yes, I put in that call, blowing their cover. It was supposed to kill two birds with one stone! But Taylor escaped! At least that was the end of that damned Pink Posse!" Stockwell laughed nastily. "Now...enough stalling! Where...is...Snowshine!!?"

       "You're just going to kill me as soon as I tell you," Brian said, "Why should I bother?"

       "Because that way I'll just kill you quick. Otherwise I'll just beat it out of you until you just collapse and die from the pain!"

       "I can take whatever you dish out!" declared Brian valiantly.

       "Oh yeah!? And what about your compatriot there? Can you watch while we work over him some more!? Watch me shoot out his kneecaps and ankles!? He'll never walk again! Take him!"

       A young cop appeared from the side and unlocked the cell. He muscled his way in and held Brian at gunpoint while grabbing Guido and hauling him out of the cell. Guido struggled and mewled pitifully but it was no use. There was a sick, meaty sound as the young cop punched Guido in his already bruised face.

       "You pathetic monster! Leave him outta this!" Brian snarled.

       The cop punched Guido again.
       "YOU leave him out of this! Tell me what I want to know!" returned Stockwell with an evil sneer.

       "Never! Let him go, you SADISTIC SHIT!"

       Stockwell turned to the cop. "Shoot out his kneecaps."

       Brian's eyes widened. The cop raised his gun.

       "You wouldn't! For fuck's sake, he's just a boy!

       "Last chance..." Stockwell jerked his head, signalling the cop.

       The cop cocked the gun. The hammer slowly moved into position.

       Brian slumped in defeat. "Fine! Stop it! Stop it! You win! I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Just let him go!"

       "Tell me and I will!"

       "Fine! He's hiding out in the basement of a place... There's a secret door. He's in the basement of..." Brian sucked in a breath, pausing dramatically.

TBC