LYIN’ EYES

“You got something for me, Dan?”

The Medical Examiner looked up from his desk.  “Yeah, your Jane Doe has been identified.”  He reached for a nearby file.  “You were right that the I.D. was a phony.  Her real name was Julie Mendez.  She’s a sixteen-year old runaway from Los Angeles.”  He sighed and tossed the folder across the desk.  “I finished the autopsy.  The report’s in there, but it’s a clear case of suicide.”  He leaned back in his chair.  “Anything on the key you found?”

“Yeah.  A safety deposit box of all things.  I guess the bank figured her I.D. was genuine.  Turns out there was a video in there.  A really sick porn video…along with a letter.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THREE MONTHS LATER

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  And welcome to another episode of Lyin’ Eyes.  I’m your host, David Kilpatrick.  Tonight, meet Blair…a graduate student who questions the fidelity of his lover.”

The tall, thin, dark-haired host flashed his trademark smile and turned so he could face the young man standing next to him.  “Blair, tell us how you reached this point.”

Blair Sandburg nervously wiped his hands on legs of his jeans.  A gentle breeze ruffled his shoulder-length curls, and he winced at the sound of an eighteen-wheeler rumbling past them on the nearby highway.  “Well, I met Jim while I was doing research for my PhD dissertation.  Right after that, I lost my apartment to a…um…a fire.  Jim had an extra room, and we became roommates.”

“Platonic roommates?” David asked for clarification.

“Oh, yeah, man.  Totally platonic,” Blair nodded.  “But…well, after about a year, I realized I was falling in love with Jim.  One thing led to another…and we finally sat down and talked about our feelings and where we wanted this relationship to go.”

“Was this your first same-sex relationship?” David gently asked.

“Well, sorta,” Blair shrugged.  “It was the first one that I wanted to be permanent.  Let’s put it like that.”

“And Jim?”

“I don’t know,” Blair admitted.  “He doesn’t talk much about his past.  Not that he’s got anything to hide, you know.  I know he was married and divorced.  His ex-wife lives in San Francisco now.  But Jim’s just a very private person.”  He grimaced.  “Which is why I hate doing this, right?  But…something’s wrong, and he just won’t talk to me.”

“What makes you think he’s being unfaithful, Blair?”  David comfortingly patted the younger man’s arm.

“He’s…well, he’s never been openly demonstrative,” Blair haltingly explained.  “He shows his affection in other ways.  But you never misunderstand where you stand with him.”  Despite himself, Blair chuckled. 

“But now?”

Blair sobered.  “Well, for the past couple of weeks, it’s like he’s surprised to come home and see me there.  He used to tell me when he was going to be late but now he’s irritated when I call him when he’s late.”

“Maybe he’s just having difficulty in telling you that it’s over,” David suggested.

Blair impatiently shook his head.  “Jim’s never had a problem telling someone to back off.  It’s harder for him to let someone get close to him.”

David nodded.  He glanced at the camera then back at Blair.  “Blair, we’ve followed Jim for the past two weeks as you requested.  And, I’m sorry to say that your suspicions are correct.  Jim is cheating on you.”

Blair bit his lower lip and stared at the ground.  Taking a deep breath, he then raised his head.  “Who?  Who is it?”

David turned and reached out his left hand.  An assistant handed him a small video unit.  “Last week he met this woman three times after work.  This week, he’s met her four times.  They met at various restaurants, had dinner, then he followed her back to her apartment where he stays for several hours.”  He activated the video unit and held it in front of Blair.  Directing the younger man’s attention to the screen, he asked, “Our investigators have identified her, but do you recognize her?”

Blair’s blue eyes widened in shock.  “Oh my God!  That’s Carolyn!  Jim’s ex-wife!  She’s supposed to be in San Francisco!”

“Apparently not any longer,” David softly spoke.  “According to our investigation, she moved here a month ago.”

Blair closed his eyes as the video screen showed Jim deeply kissing Carolyn just before closing the front door of an apartment.  “Please, I don’t want to see any more.”  He wiped his eyes as David deactivated the video unit and handed it back to his assistant.

“Blair, I know this is painful for you,” David quietly spoke.  “But you have a decision to make.  Our investigators followed Jim as he left work this evening.  He met his ex-wife for dinner; and they’re inside that Chinese restaurant right over there.”

Blair spun around and looked across the eight-lane highway behind them.  “There?”  He harshly snorted.  “Gee, I thought that was our restaurant!”

“Do you want to confront them when they come out?  If you don’t, we can end this investigation and take you home.”

“Home,” Blair painfully whispered.  Then he stubbornly shook his head.  “I want to confront both of them.  I want them both to see that I know what they’ve been doing.  It’s time for the lies to stop!”

“Okay, let’s get in the van and drive over to the parking lot,” David urged.  “We have an investigator inside the restaurant.  He’ll let us know when they’re coming out.”

Blair obediently followed David into the van.  During the drive to the restaurant’s parking lot, he stared out the window.  “Why couldn’t he just tell me?” he whispered.

David quietly spoke.  “Same-sex relationships are filled with their own unique pitfalls.  Certainly, this situation would be difficult in any relationship.  However, given that Jim is cheating on you with his ex-wife and the two of you are in a same-sex relationship, we’ll be happy to put you in contact with our counselors.”

Blair briefly smiled.  “Thank you.  Maybe I’ll do that.”  His right leg began bouncing up and down.  “How long have they been in there?  Do you have any idea when they’ll be finishing dinner?”

David smiled at the other man’s impatience.  “I know it’s difficult to wait, but we can’t follow them into the restaurant.”

“I know,” Blair nodded.  “And I’m not completely comfortable with confronting Jim and Carolyn in public, but…”  He took a deep breath.  “This hurts!  And maybe I’m a bad person for wanting to give them a little embarrassment in return for that hurt, but…”

“I don’t think anyone will consider you a bad person for making this decision,” David calmly interrupted.  “I think people will consider you to be human.”

Blair nodded then jerked when David’s cell phone chirped.

“Yes?  Okay.  They’re coming out?  The front door?  Good.  Yes, we have both vehicles under surveillance.  They’re actually parked next to each other.  Right.”  David closed the cell phone and turned to Blair.  “They’re leaving the restaurant.  Once they’re at their cars, we’ll get out and confront them.”

Blair nervously nodded.  He caught his breath when Jim and Carolyn turned the corner of the restaurant and into the brightly lit parking lot.  Jim’s head was thrown back as he laughed.  The two walked hand-in-hand towards their parked vehicles.

Despite himself, Blair quietly whimpered.  Then he shook his head and took a deep breath.

David waited until the two were within steps of their vehicles before sliding the van’s door open and quickly climbing out.  He motioned for Blair to follow.

Grimly, Blair climbed out of the van and raised his voice.  “Yo!  Jim!  Fancy meeting you here!”

Stunned, both Jim and Carolyn turned to see Blair walking towards them.  Behind him were two camera crews, their bright lights clearly illuminating them.

Jim winced and turned away, rubbing his eyes.

“Blair?”  Carolyn caught her breath, then squared her shoulders.  “Who are these people?”

“They’re with me, Carolyn,” Blair angrily replied.  “That’s all you need to know.  And speaking of knowing, I didn’t know you weren’t in San Francisco!”

“I didn’t like San Francisco all that much,” Carolyn explained.  She glanced at Jim who was now glaring at the camera crews.  “Was this necessary?” she quietly asked.

“Yeah, since neither of you thought it was important enough to tell me that you’d gotten back together!” Blair snapped.

“Leave Carolyn out of this,” Jim warned.

“Oh, I think Carolyn is a big part of this!” Blair shouted. 

“Keep your voice down!” Jim irritably snapped.

“Yeah, I bet you want this kept quiet,” Blair muttered.  “Like you wanted to keep us quiet.”

Jim sighed.  “Okay, I understand you want…”

“You understand nothing!” Blair shouted.  He ran his hands through his hair and took several deep breaths.

“Blair’s put everything he has into his relationship with you,” David smoothly spoke.  “Why couldn’t you have been honest with him?”

“Who the hell are you?” Jim demanded.  His blue eyes narrowed as he saw the logo on the side of the camera.  “’Lyin’ Eyes!” he snorted.  “That’s low, Sandburg, even for you!”

“Jim!” Carolyn remonstrated.

“No, he wants it all out in the open, that’s fine with me!” Jim angrily took two steps towards Blair.  “This, Sandburg, is a big part of why I started rethinking this relationship!”

Blair blinked in surprise.

“You can’t ever let anything just…be!  You’ve got to drag everything out, turn it over and over, until people throw up their hands and do what you want just to shut you up!”

“Jim, don’t,” Carolyn urged.

“I don’t need you defending me, Carolyn!” Blair snapped.

“Fine!”  Carolyn irritably shook her head.  “I have no intention of standing here and arguing about this in public or in front of interfering busybodies.”  She gently touched Jim on the arm.  “I’m going home.  I’ll talk with you later.”

Angry eyes on Blair, Jim barely nodded.

“Jim, don’t you lose your temper, understand?” Carolyn urged.

“Understood,” Jim briefly replied.

Carolyn sighed and gave Blair a brief but sympathetic look before getting into her car.

Jim glanced over his shoulder to watch her back out of the parking spot, then drive away.  Then he turned back to Blair and crossed his arms over his chest.  “Okay, Sandburg, you want your pound of flesh?  Go ahead.”

Blair rubbed his face.  “Why, Jim?  Why didn’t you tell me?  And why Carolyn?  You divorced her, for God’s sake!”

Jim shrugged.  “I never wanted the divorce.  But I gave it to Carolyn because I was tired of fighting her about it.”

“And now you figure it was all a mistake?” Blair snorted.

“Maybe,” Jim admitted.  “Maybe we got married for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.  We’ve both changed since the divorce.”  He took a deep breath.  “As for not telling you, I wasn’t sure Carolyn and I were getting back together.”

“Excuse me?!”  Blair’s eyes widened.  “You’ve gone to dinner with her several times and stayed for hours at her place afterwards!  What were you doing?  Giving it a trial run?!”

“And that’s just a prime example of what I was talking about, Sandburg!” Jim irritably snapped.  “You have to make a huge production out of everything!  We got together.  We had a good time!  But it didn’t work.  So instead of just letting it die naturally, you have to go and pull this kind of nonsense!”

Stunned, Blair took a step backwards.  “A good time?  That’s what you think we had?”

“You enjoyed yourself, Sandburg,” Jim smirked.  “If you made more of it than that, you were just deluding yourself.”

“But you said you lo…”

“Did I?” Jim harshly interrupted.  “No, Sandburg, I never said it.”  When Blair looked at the ground in confusion, Jim nodded.  “Yeah, think about it.”

“So this was just an experimental fling for you?” David quietly asked.

Jim pointed a finger at David.  “You don’t get to ask questions.”  He looked at Blair.  “Look, Sandburg, I really am sorry this turned out this way.  But you’ve only got yourself to blame for this.”

“When would you have told me?” Blair whispered.

Jim sighed.  “When I decided if I wanted Carolyn or you,” he quietly answered.  “But you’ve solved that problem.  I sure as hell can’t trust you now.”

“You mean…everything’s over?”

David curiously looked at Blair then at Jim.

“I know how tough it is to find a place on short notice,” Jim calmly answered.  “And I do owe you.  So move your stuff back into the bedroom downstairs.  You’ve got a month to find a place.”

“You’re serious,” Blair muttered in shock.  “Oh my God, you’re serious.”

“What did you think would happen, Sandburg?” Jim shook his head.  “You’re a smart guy.  One of the smartest people I’ve ever met.  But you’re such a dumbass when it comes to stuff like this.  You don’t think things through.  You pull something like this and think there won’t be any repercussions?”  He shook his head with a sigh then looked at David.  “As for you, I’ve heard all about your television trash.  You do not have my permission to air this.  Even if you block out my name and face, it would be an invasion of my privacy.  If you show this, you’ll find yourself in court.”

Jim glanced at Blair, and his face softened in sympathy.  “This is not how I wanted this to go down, Sandburg.  And I’m sorry you felt it was necessary to stoop this low.”  His voice hardened.  “But I don’t want to talk about this again.  Do you understand?  For the next month, we talk only when necessary; and this topic doesn’t come up.  If it does, you’re out then and there.  Understand?”

Silently Blair nodded. 

With a nod, Jim turned and walked away.  Seconds later, he was driving out of the parking lot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Blair quietly sat on one end of the comfortable couch, staring at the now blank television screen.

“Jim was right,” David sighed.  He rose and went to the DVD player sitting on top of the television.  “Our attorneys have said we’re open to a lawsuit if we air this.”  Removing the DVD, he smiled and turned back to Blair.  “This is yours if you want it.”

Blair silently shook his head.

David replaced the DVD in a protective case.  “How has it been…this last week?”

“Oh…very calm.”  Blair rubbed his hands on his legs.  “We come and go but don’t speak.  I took all my stuff from the bedroom upstairs like he said.”  He harshly laughed.  “We’ve left notes about who gets what kitchen appliances.  We’re negotiating about the coffee maker.”

“I’m sorry it turned out this way, Blair.”

Blair shrugged.  “I guess it was over when I started suspecting him, huh?  Even if I’d kept quiet and he’d chosen me, I would never have been able to trust him again.”

“What will you do now?”

Blair sighed.  “I still have a job.  And I’ve got a couple of leads on apartments.”  He glanced around.  “Not as nice as this, you understand.”  He blinked a few times.  “I’m sorry you spent a lot of time on this for nothing.”

David shrugged.  “Perhaps it’s for the best.  The University probably wouldn’t have liked the idea of seeing you on our program.”

Blair winced.  “You’re probably right about that.”  He sighed.  “I guess Jim was right that I don’t think things through sometimes.”

“He’s right about that.”

Startled, Blair stared up at David.

“Let’s face it, Blair,” David shrugged.  “You didn’t just want to find out the truth.  You wanted…what did Jim call it?...your pound of flesh?”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it?”  David folded his arms across his chest.  “You have money.  You could’ve hired a private detective to follow Jim.  He would’ve provided you with pictures as proof of the affair, and you could’ve confronted Jim privately.”  He grimly smiled.  “But you did it publicly.  Some people do it that way in order to deliberately embarrass their lover or spouse.  Some do it to get leverage.  But it’s always done with an ulterior motive.”

Blair glanced at the floor then up at David.  “No.  I didn’t.”

“Sure you did,” David argued.  “You thought that a public confrontation would force Jim to dump Carolyn and return to you.  Neither of you wanted your relationship to be made public, but it would be worse on Jim because of his job.  Wouldn’t it?”

“I think you need to go now.”

“We still have some business to settle.  More often that not, we don’t use what we film,” David explained.  “Believe it or not, most people get very embarrassed when they’ve been exposed liked this.  Not everyone wants to see moments like that on a wide-screen television.  They’ve accomplished their public embarrassment.  So I have to recoup my production costs some way.”

“What…what are you talking about?”  Blair’s eyes widened.

“Oh, don’t worry,” David grinned.  “I don’t want your money.  Frankly, you don’t have enough to make it worth my time to blackmail you for it.”  He eyed Blair with an even wider grin.  “All you have to do to make this CD disappear is be on film…a more explicit film.”

“Are you serious?” Blair demanded in a choked voice.

“Very.” 

“There’s no way!” Blair shouted.

“Sure there is,” David smiled.  “You appear in one of my special films…designed for people with specific erotic tastes.  Otherwise, a copy of this…”  He held up the disc he’d removed from the television.  “…finds its way onto the desk of the University Chancellor.”  He chuckled.  “Others have done it.  So can you.”

“That’s blackmail!”  Blair angrily jumped to his feet.

“No.  I prefer to call it quid pro quo,” David smiled.

“This has got to be a joke.”  Blair ran a hand through his hair.  “Your show has a reputation!  You couldn’t be getting away with this!”

David easily shrugged.  “We operate in a lot of cities, Blair.  Did you ever wonder why we only film six or eight episodes per city?”  He walked to stand next to Blair.  “So, let’s make it easy on all of us.”  He ran a hand across the front of Blair’s jeans.

“Keep your hands off me,” Blair warned as he stepped back.

David backed Blair to the wall.  “Let’s just call this a dress rehearsal, okay?”  He reached out to touch Blair again.

The front door suddenly crashed open.

Blair swiftly brought his knee up between David’s legs.

“Freeze!  Chicago PD!”

David screamed and fell to the floor.

Blair calmly leaned against the wall as uniformed police officers ran into the apartment.  The third man through the door was Jim Ellison who quickly glanced at his partner with concern.

Blair grinned to himself as Jim glared at David as though wanting to add a well-placed kick to the writhing man’s agony.  “How did two of them manage to get through the door ahead of you?” he muttered.

“They were standing there when the order came to enter,” Jim grumbled.  “You okay, Chief?  He didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m fine, big guy,” Blair assured him.

“Blair?  You okay?”

Blair grinned past Jim.  “No problems, Carolyn?  How are you doing?”

Carolyn grinned as she joined them.  “Probably as happy as you two are now that this is over.”

Blair glanced at David who had managed, with help from two police officers, to sit on the couch.  “Could we give our statements while he’s getting treated?  I’m starved!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Good evening, Mr. Kilpatrick.  I’m Detective Bill Greene of the Chicago P.D.  The charges against you are attempted blackmail and attempted sexual assault.  This is Detective Kurt West of the Denver P.D.  He will be filing charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and probably some other charges.”

“What minor?” David asked in surprise.

“Julie Mendez,” Detective West quietly answered.  “You knew her in Denver as Monica Lyttle.  She was only fifteen when you forced her to appear in that porn film.”

David grimaced.  “I had a new researcher for the Denver productions.  Damn bitch!  I clearly told her we didn’t put anybody under eighteen on camera!”

“Yeah, it’s hell finding competent help, huh?  Guess she was the same researcher you used on your latest so-called ‘case’.”  Detective Greene’s dark eyes hardened.  “You’ve been read your rights….”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

With a sigh, Blair turned away from the observation window.  “Guess this means we can go home now?”

“Thank God,” Carolyn smiled.  She turned to the three men standing sitting at the nearby table.  “You better have brought the plane tickets, Simon.”

Capt. Simon Banks of the Cascade P.D. grinned.  “Early morning flight.”  He reached into his jacket pocket and lightly tossed three tickets onto the table.  “You up for dinner, Carolyn?”

“I never thought I’d get sick of eating out,” Carolyn snorted as she picked up her ticket.  She handed the other two to Blair.  “But if you’re buying…”

“Actually Chief Walters offered to buy us all dinner.”  Simon looked at the man sitting next to him.

Chief Duncan Walters of the Chicago P.D. stood.  “To be honest, Chief Richmond and I are splitting the cost.”

Chief Donna Richmond of the Denver P.D. smiled.  “My pleasure.  You all did a fantastic job.  I know it’s not easy being undercover for months.  Especially in a strange city.”

Simon broadly smiled.  “You had a good idea, Sandburg, to try and match real life with the cover story.”

Blair shrugged but smiled.  “Well, the hardest part was to find a way to get me a temporary gig at a school in Chicago.  It wasn’t hard to set up a business for Jim in the security field.”

“And I don’t even want to know what type of coercion you used with my boss to get me involved,” Carolyn chuckled.

“Chief Chang and I are old friends,” Chief Richmond confided with a smile.  Standing, she glanced through the observation window at David.  “What a jerk.”

Chief Walters grunted in agreement as he stood.  “Let’s head to dinner.  I’m sure you’ll want to turn in early for your flights tomorrow morning.  We’ll keep you in the loop regarding what we get from that piece of trash.”

Blair glanced at Jim who had been silently watching the interrogation.  “Jim?”

Jim finally turned away.  “He’s no more guilty than the people who made his show one of the top ‘reality shows’.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t arrest all the viewers as accessories,” Chief Richmond gently responded.  “But I agree with you.”

Jim rubbed his forehead.  “I think I’ll pass on dinner and turn in early.  Chief, you go ahead.”

“Nah, we can order from that Vietnamese place that we like.”  Blair grinned.  “Wonder if they ship long distance?”

“I’ll see you two at the airport,” Simon spoke.  “Carolyn, we’ll meet you downstairs.”

The two Chiefs politely smiled and followed Simon.

Blair quickly hugged Carolyn, then followed the others.

“Guess this is good-bye for a while.”  Carolyn walked to Jim and gently hugged him.  “It was good to see an investigation from your point of view.”

Jim returned the hug.  “Thanks for your help, Carolyn.  We’ll be able to close two cases in Cascade because of this.”

Carolyn studied her ex-husband’s face closely.  “I remember something you once told me after you’d been undercover for a few weeks.  The Pallitier case.  Remember?”

“I remember the case,” Jim slowly admitted.

“You said that when you were undercover you couldn’t afford to be yourself,” Carolyn recalled.  “So whatever’s bothering you, talk it over with your partner.”  She lightly kissed Jim’s cheek and turned away.

Jim watched her walk to the door.  “Sandburg would make a pretty good cop, wouldn’t he?”

With a wide grin, Carolyn smiled over her shoulder.  “Who said I was talking about a police partner?”  Enjoying the shocked look on Jim’s face, Carolyn closed the door behind her. 

Reaching the elevator, she hugged Blair then impishly whispered in his ear.  “I think your partner needs some TLC which stands for Tough Love Chief.  He’s got some bug up his ass.”

Blair’s blue eyes widened as he instinctively stepped back.

Carolyn chuckled and waved as the elevator door opened.  She was still chuckling when the elevator door closed.

Blair slowly looked down the hall to see Jim slowly walking towards him.  “Uh…Jim…”   He looked at the closed elevator door.  “Um…Carolyn…”

“She’s a better detective than anyone thought.”  Jim reached out to push the elevator button.

“Maybe she just…well, we’ve been playing lovers so she…”

“She knows what she knows, Chief.” 

The elevator door opened and both men stepped inside.  As the door closed, Blair covertly studied his partner but remained silent until they were in Jim’s SUV and driving away from the Chicago police station.

“Jim?  What’s wrong?”

“You know I didn’t mean what I said that night, don’t you?”  Jim kept his eyes focused on the traffic.

“I know.  It was the script we agreed on.”

“It’s been hell.  This whole case.”  Jim’s hand smacked the steering wheel.  “I keep thinking about our cases.  Two people who made bad choices and then couldn’t live with it.  Just another two suicides.”

“But now we know the truth,” Blair gently reminded him.

“Living with you…sleeping next to you but unable to touch you because of the surveillance equipment in the apartment,” Jim grumbled.  “Then not even being able to talk to you while we’re splitting up.”

“Jim!”

Startled, Jim looked at his partner.  “I told you that night that I didn’t love you.  Then I couldn’t even tell you differently.”

“You told me every day,” Blair argued.  “Each night that we lay together in that bed…I could see it in your eyes.  Then after that night in the parking lot, it was even plainer in your eyes.”  He smiled.  “And it was a good thing nobody knew us here because if we’d been in Cascade you would never have gotten away with buying turkey bacon and tofu.  Nobody would’ve believed it!”  He patted Jim’s thigh.  “That’s love, man…and I know it.”

Jim took a deep breath.  “Wanna call in our order so we can pick it up?”  He glanced at Blair and smiled.  “Then while you’re putting dinner together I’ll make sure all the surveillance equipment is gone.”

“Dinner in bed tonight?”  Blair glanced at Jim out of the corner of his eyes even as he reached for his cell phone.

“And tomorrow night we’ll be back in our own bed,” Jim promised.  He reached over and took Blair’s left hand in his right.  Raising it to his lips, he gently kissed Blair’s hand.  “And I love you.”

January 2008

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