If It Made Sense, It Wouldn't Be a Mystery, Would It?

Chapter 14

POV: JUSTIN

He's right. There's nothing here- and it didn't even say "rest area ahead" back there. Why would Mikey pull off here?

Brian pulls into the small gas station. A little bell clangs as he pulls up to the pump. "This must be where he's at. It's the only place around." He says. "I'm going to get some gas. Wanna go inside and see if Hunter's here?" Brian glances behind him, looking up the exit ramp. "Guess we weren't being followed after all," he mumbles, more to himself than to me.

Going inside, I see there's no one behind the counter, but the door clanks as it closes and I hear someone in the back. "Hello?" I call. I grab a nut roll and some peanut butter cups. God, I'm hungry.

An old white-haired man shuffles out from the back. "Hello," he says, matter of fact. "Can I help you?"

"Well," I dump the candy on the counter, "I'd like these, and also, have you seen a young kid around here- longish brown hair, jeans...?" How else do I describe him? Big lips? Funny teeth?

"Yeah. He's back there." The old guy gestures towards the door he'd come from, then he rings up the candy.

Handing him a five-dollar bill, I look at him inquisitively. He just stares at me. "So." I say finally, "can I um… can I go back there? I know him- he's waiting for me."

At that point, Brian enters the store and throws a credit card on the counter. "Hunter!" He yells. "Get out here!"

Brian's nothing if not direct, I think to myself.

Hunter comes out from the back room, looking a bit shaken up but relieved to see us. Well, Brian, anyway. The old man cackles. "Hunter, eh? I thought you said your name was Jimmy, son!"

But Hunter ignores him, runs right to Brian and clutches at him like a scared two year old. He starts sobbing. Brian looks surprised, glancing from the old man to me, his arms out at his sides like he's at a loss as to what this creature is doing clinging to him. He gathers his wits and slowly wraps his arms around Hunter in a gentle hug. I'm fascinated- besides Gus, and well, me, I suppose, I've never seen Brian comfort anyone. He buries his fingers in the boy's hair and holds his head against his chest. The old man just stares. After maybe two minutes, the only noise being Hunter's broken sobs, Brian shoots a glare at the geezer. "Well, are you going to run the fucking card, or what?" Brian's voice sounds slightly annoyed. The man snaps out of it and quickly slides the card. After Brian signs the slip, his left arm still around Hunter, he thanks the man tersely and motions for me to follow.

Once outside, Brian pulls Hunter over towards a bench near a payphone and sits him down. There's only the light from the nearby highway exit sign and the service station window. Hunter's gasping and hiccupping, but no longer crying. His face is splotchy and wet; he looks utterly miserable. I sit on the other side of him and hand him a tissue.

"Thanks," he sputters. Brian first looks at me, no doubt wondering why I have a tissue with me.

'Allergies,' I mouth, grinning slightly. He rolls his eyes then turns his attention back to Hunter, his arm still around him protectively.

"Hunter. Er, Jimmy..." he hesitates. "What's going on?"

Hunter squeezes his hands around the Kleenex, then unfolds it and blows his nose. He takes a few more breaths, trying to breathe deeply to calm the hiccupping. "Fuck." He mutters, his voice hitching slightly. "I feel like such a fucking baby. Crying like a goddamned pussy..." Brian catches my eye and smiles softly.

"It's okay- I'd probably be bawling too if I had to spend all day in this dump," Brian says lightly, looking around the decrepit rest stop. Hunter smiles slightly. I smile too. 'Who the fuck is this guy?' I think to myself. Then I think… 'Oh. Yeah.'

After a few moments, having allowed Hunter to relax and get control over himself, Brian repeats, "Jimmy: What is going on?"

Hunter looks around, suddenly suspicious. "Can we go?" Is all he says.

Brian looks around too. "Yes." We get up and go to the car. Hunter claims the front seat, so I climb in the back. Brian cocks an eyebrow at me in the rearview mirror.

"A Buick Skylark?" Hunter blurts out. "Dude, fuck! You gave Michael the wrong car..."

"No shit." Brian says, buckling his seatbelt. "If I'd had the choice, you would've been driving around in this car, and I'd have picked you up here in the 'Vette..."

I happen to notice a white car parked on the other side of the rest area, fairly well hidden in the shadows. Normally, I'd think nothing of it, but I poke Brian in the shoulder blade.

"Ouch! Fuck, Justin, What?"

I point.

"Hm." He starts the car and exits the rest stop by looping around to where the car is parked. No one is inside, but I go ahead and write down the license plate number. Probably the old man's car, I figure. But- just in case...

Once we're on the highway, we're silent for awhile. I notice Hunter looking unabashedly at Brian's profile as he drives. 'Subtle he ain't,' I think to myself. Brian doesn't seem to notice. Typical. I lean forward and put my chin on the back of the front seat. "So, now that we're on our way..." I stop. "Where are we going?"

"Home." Brian says, flat out.

"No fucking way!" Hunter yells. "My fucking cunt of a mother is after me, the cops are after me, my...." he stops short.

"What?" Brian asks, shifting his eyes to Hunter and then over his shoulder as he flips on the blinker before changing lanes. Hunter's quiet. "Listen, Hunter: you have to trust someone. Mikey's not here." I hear a catch in Brian's throat and I put my hand on his shoulder. He clears his throat and continues, "We can't take you to Ben right now- he's probably being watched night and day by the cops. Your mom's- your mom's not available and as you say, you're trying to ditch her anyway. Your dad- well, you haven't told us anything about your dad. So, Sonny Boy: right now, we're all you've got." While Brian's tone is flip, I notice him reach for Hunter's hand, which is clenched in his lap; he gives it a quick reassuring squeeze. "So, Hunter slash Jimmy: I've never been one for subtlety: Spill."

Hunter hesitates, then sighs. "Can he be trusted?" Hunter is gesturing towards me, which makes Brian laugh and me roll my eyes.

"You've already had the honor of meeting 'him'. 'He' is Justin, and yes, 'he' can be trusted." Brian winks at me in the rearview mirror.

Hunter doesn't look convinced, but he shrugs. "I still can't believe you have THAT for a boyfriend..." he mutters. Asshole. Brian snickers, but I notice that he doesn't correct the kid's use of vocabulary. "Where do you want me to begin?"

"Where do you think I'd like you to begin?"

Hunter rolls his eyes, but settles back, his fingers twisting the Kleenex. "Well, first, can I ask you what it is that you know?"

Brian takes a deep sigh and looks at me again in the rearview mirror. "Justin? You wanna field that one? I'm driving and I'm sick of talking."

"That's a first," I mutter under my breath. I clear my throat, "First of all, whatever your name is: you better be at least civil to me. It's quite clear you have a schoolgirl crush on Brian here, but get over it. Yes, you can trust me. As Brian has told you before, and just told you again, my name is Justin." I pause and look over at him. He's staring at me.

Brian is decidedly tickled. He's looking at me in the rearview mirror, eyes twinkling, eyebrows raised and lips curled into a little "O"- he looks a bit surprised, definitely amused, and possibly impressed. He then looks over at Hunter, grinning. I could swear the kid's blushing, but it's too dark to tell. He's looking down at the shredded Kleenex.

I continue, "We don't know much- a detective we know - Hor-, er, Carl. Whatever. He came over to Brian's yesterday. He's been let go from the force. Have you met him?"

"Carl?" He doesn't appear to recognize the name.

"Well, formerly Detective Horvath…"

Hunter gets a look on his face that I can't read- but I'm sure he recognizes the name. "…No." He says after a moment.

"Hunter, really?"

He looks out the window. "Yes, really… no." I don't believe him. And a glance at Brian proves he doesn't, either.

"Hunter, if you know Horvath, what's the deal? Just say so…." Brian says.

"I don't, okay?" He insists.

I decide to let it go for now. "Fine. Anyway, he's the one who found Mr. Reikert's body- we all know you know him at least." Brian shoots me a look. Well, he does know him, I think. I watch Hunter's face, but he remains impassive, staring at the taillights ahead of us. "Anyway, he says that he doesn't believe that Reikert committed suicide, like the papers said. The wound just didn't seem consistent, he says. Before the investigators came to the scene, he went inside and picked up a few things."

"Wow- isn't that like punishable by life in prison?" Hunter asks. "Tampering with evidence? Disrupting a crime scene? Something like that?"

"You must watch Law and Order," Brian mutters.

"Maybe. Fuck if I know," I continue. I don't watch Law and Order. "But that's not really the point. Anyway, the stuff he picked up were a bunch of letters, some dated, some not, some photographs, and an address book." I reach into my pocket and pull out the small stack. "Here. You can take a look."

Brian glances at me again. Hunter takes the small stack of documents. Brian reaches up and flicks on the overhead light so Hunter can see.

"Oh, wow..." he mumbles as he looks through the photos.

"Hey, what's the deal with that one?" I ask, when he gets to the one of Reikert and Kemp at the picnic.

"Ken and dad were going out then. The cops had some picnic thing at Federal Park. Dad brought me, and I brought J. Besides J and me, it was mostly a bunch of overweight farts eating potato salad and drinking beer. I always wondered if that was legal- them drinking beer out in the park like that," he chuckles softly.

I reach over the front seat and point to the figures on the blanket behind the tree. "That's Horvath, we think," I say. Hunter squints to see. Suddenly his face goes white and he drops the picture as if it were searing hot. Brian looks over sharply.

"What?" He demands.

Hunter takes a deep breath and reaches for the picture again. "Nothing. I just thought..."

"No. What?" Brian repeats, more sternly.

"Well, I'd forgotten that my Mom was there. That's her, on the blanket with that Horvath guy."

I'm stunned. "What the fuck? She was there? Did she know you were there?"

"Of course, asshole. I'm right there, see?" He points to the blur catching the Frisbee. "She and that Horvath guy were dating, I guess. I don't know. I kept out of her way as much as I could."

"Let me get this straight: she knew all along that you were with your dad by then? Why wasn't she trying to get custody of you then? I don't get it..."

Hunter shrugs. "I guess she just didn't need the money." He says simply. I cringe. It's just so disgusting.

Brian's taken aback, too, and is quiet a moment. He clears his throat, "So, do you know if Horvath knew Reikert very well?"

"Yeah, I think he did. I mean, I didn't go out with dad and Ken very often. Dad was pretty p'o'd when he found out that J…" he stops.

"We know Ken and J- er, Jason- had a thing on the side."

"Oh." Hunter seems to digest that information. "Well, when he found out, he was mad. I don't know what happened, really. Except dad didn't see Ken for a while. Or ever again- I dunno. He also tried to keep me from hanging out with J. He said it was dangerous- that J was involved in something dangerous. He just said to stay away from that entire scene."

"You didn't know what he was involved in?" Brian asks.

Hunter is silent.

"Hunter?"

He just shakes his head, but I'm not convinced by a long shot. Brian isn't either. He sighs. "So, when was that?"

"I dunno. Some time before J disappea-or, I guess a little before the time he was found dead by Michael's mom. I didn't know what happened to him." Hunter is starting to sound tired. Brian glances at me in the rearview mirror- it's instantly evident to me that he's worried shitless about Michael.

It's quiet for several minutes. Hunter's eyes begin to droop. Poor little shit, must be exhausted after so much anxiety. Actually, I'm working hard to muster up much sympathy for the jerk. He opens his eyes slightly, leans over against Brian, and curls up like a kid, eyes closed, small smile on his lips. Despite Brian having had fun at my expense with Hunter earlier, this is just too much, and I poke Hunter on the shoulder to wake him up.

"Justin- forget it. He's out." Brian whispers. "Don't worry about it." And it would appear he's right- Hunter doesn't stir. I sigh.

"Fucker," I whisper under my breath.

Brian, serious now, waves it away and says quietly, "Okay, Sherlock, what do you think we should do now? I mean: fuck. It's goddamned late. We can't exactly take this to the loft," he gestures towards Hunter. "And Ben isn't an option. And Emmett- I really don't think that'd be a good idea. Emmett keeps a secret like a fucking sixth grade girl…"

"How about Lindsay and Melanie?" I suggest. "I mean, who would think to look for Hunter there? Except maybe Mikey."

Brian reaches behind with his right hand, grasps me behind my head, and pulls me in for a kiss, craning slightly to keep one eye on the traffic. "Brilliant," he mutters. I grin.

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