Shattered Glass(141)
“Joe?”
“We think the stress of keeping the secret caused his heart failure. He had called Ron several times to intimate he had evidence but wasn’t sure what to do with it.”
“He died protecting Iss.” He smiled a little, but it was melancholic. I hadn’t destroyed his cop-hero completely. He wasn’t the good man Peter had thought, but he wasn’t a monster. “Romantic in a bizarre way.”
“Since when are you romantic?”
“You’ve known me two weeks, Detective Glass. I know how to cook, I like beer, I want to stick my tongue in your ass, I secretly love that disgusting cat Cai brought home and I’m romantic. Still so sure about me?”
“I’ll rethink the exclusive nature of our relationship if you bring home another cat. Or another brother. You can have all the beer you want. It’s not detective any longer. I’m unsure about the tongue in ass. I’m equally disgusted and intrigued.” Obviously, I wasn’t that disgusted. I was also hard.
He took a deep breath. “They fired you?”
“They were probably going to, but I quit.”
“Aren’t you some kind of hero or something?”
“Who announced he’s gay to the stationhouse, slept with a suspect, concealed evidence of his lover’s crime, housed a murderer and is best friends with a crook?”
He relaxed into the pillow and yawned. It set off a chain event. I yawned. The nurse checking his vitals yawned. She also loitered a little too long during our conversation. “What are you going to do now?”
“Devote a few months to learning about gay sex." I bit his nose gently and cradled his jaw in my hand. “After that? Maybe I’ll try private investigation.”
“Cool. I can be your man Friday.” My brows popped up at the reference. He smiled and shook his head, then turned to the television. With a touch of his hand, the screen flickered on. “I like that I can surprise you.” Suddenly, he turned off the television and cocked his head. “How’d Cai get free?”
“The FBI. They tracked him down. Rosa is a pretty important witness. Her son demanded full attention.”
“Is Cai still in trouble?”
I shook my head. “Angelica is fighting to get him released. They have to formally drop the charges. He’ll probably be free tomorrow.” I raised my brows at the nurse who was eyeing us sideways and pretending to write things down on the chart. Who was she trying to fool? Her pencil wasn’t even touching the paper.
“What happens to Detective Buchanan now?” Peter asked, taking a deep breath and sinking into the pillows.
“Dave? He made a deal. Three years federal prison for his testimony, and then he’s going to split to Sweden. His wife and kids are there now.” I took the remote and flipped the TV back on.
“Austin?”
“Hmm?"
“Thanks.”
“Shut the fuck up. I’m trying to watch the game.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Checking Out
In the aftermath, the sprint into my relationship with Peter was marked by blips of volatility during the intervening quiet.
Four days after Peter’s room change, we learned that Leila had succumbed to her head trauma. I didn’t mourn her loss; nor did I think about the fact that I had caused her death. I had more important things to do. I spent that evening fighting with Peter over the remote control.
“I’m sick,” he protested when I flipped the channel to sports.
“Anyone who doesn’t like baseball is sick.”
“Were you always this boring?”
“I’m boring because I don’t watch political shows? There are millions of people around the world who would disagree.”
“What kind of man takes the remote from an invalid?”
“The kind who is enlightening his man to the beauty of baseball.” I said it to shut him up. It worked, but it equally shut me up. I ended up missing the entire game because I was busy thinking about the implications of that statement. I didn’t even notice when Peter took the remote.
The next night I brought in my laptop so he could watch his cable news channels and I couldn’t say stupid things like ‘my man’. Propping my feet on his bed, I watched the game. Neither of us, thankfully, brought up my slip of the tongue. And every once in a while, Peter’s finger would trail along the arch of my foot propped on the bed near his hip. I would shiver and shift in my seat. He would smile.
The charges against Cai were dropped, with a signed witness statement from Frank Marco on how Leila—now conveniently dead—pulled the trigger on her husband. Who knew if that was the truth. Cai refused to talk about it. Not long after his release, Luis brought Cai to the hospital along with Rosafa; and we left Peter alone with them to catch up.