Dear
Brian
Chapter Three
He pulled up to the condo half an hour later. Justin was waiting for him.
“Mom is freaked. We got back and there was a box, a shoe box on the front steps with my name on it. It was all neatly wrapped and looked like something pretty legitimate.”
“But with what’s going on, why the fuck did you open the thing?”
“It had a PIFA return address label. I told you, it looked OK.”
“…Tell me what was in it.”
Justin got up from the step he’d been sitting on. “It’s inside.”
It was sitting on the kitchen counter. The box was open and there was a smear of red where some of the contents had been removed, spread on the countertop. The box itself was lined in plastic so it hadn’t dripped or soaked through.
There were pictures, dozens of pictures of Justin. There were pictures of him at school, waiting for a bus, at the diner, coming out of Brian’s building, out of Vanguard. There were snaps of him at Woody’s and Babylon and during the last PRIDE parade. There were pictures of him with Gus in a playground and sitting in the park on a nice day. There were pictures of him at his mother’s, sitting in her backyard reading a book and a shot of him driving her car.
Some of them went back at least a year and a half; a couple of them had been taken that morning at Molly’s soccer game.
The pictures were all in full color and were all large; at least 5x7 and a number of them were 8x10. They were both close-ups and long shots. There was a tremendous variety with the one constant being that all of them were candids.
In each picture he was alone except for the few pictures that had caught him with Ethan or Gus. In each one he was the obvious focus of interest.
Every single one of them was cut, slashed or torn. In each case Justin’s figure or face was disfigured. They were all covered in what looked and smelled like real blood, although whether it was animal or human, they had no idea.
Brian looked though them. Jesus.
“Was there any note or anything?”
Justin listened at the doorway to make sure they were alone. He heard his mother upstairs. “Yeah, my Mom doesn’t know.” He handed the paper over. It was a standard printout from a word processor. No handwriting.
There were only three words. “Watch your ass.”
“Did you call the cops?”
“My Mom called Carl Horvath. He said he’d be over in about an hour.”
Brian nodded. “Good.” Opening his arms, he held Justin, felt the smaller man’s arms close around his waist.
“Brian, did you hear anything more from the guy?” Justin’s color was heightened; he had reason to be upset. Shit.
“Just a couple of e-mails, nothing to worry about.”
“Mom doesn’t want me going to class tomorrow. She wants to move both Molly and me to our grandparents on Long Island until this is over. She’s ready to pack the car right now.”
“Maybe you should.”
“I won’t leave you here. What if something happens to piss this guy off? What if he gets mad at you?”
“He won’t. I’ll be fine. He sees you as the threat, not me.”
“This is just so fucked.”
“Yeah.”
About forty-five minutes later Horvath was sitting in the living room, Jennifer pouring coffee.
“You have no idea who might have send these things to you?” Justin shook his head. “Brian?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at one of the pictures, picking it up from the table, staring at it. “Would this note qualify as a threat?” He had waited until Jennifer had left to get the cream before asking.
“It’s only an implied threat, not a direct one. Close, but no cigar.” He sipped his coffee, black. “Brian, you said that you’ve received some e-mails and things over at your place? Could we go over there so that I could take a look for myself?”
“Sure, if you want to, but I can access the e-mail through to Justin’s computer upstairs.”
“I’d like to see the shirt, too. Do you mind?” Obviously he wanted to get out of Justin’s house.
“Do you think I should sent the children to their grandparents, Carl?” Jennifer was carrying the cream as she sat down.
“I don’t think that’s necessary right now. I don’t think that either you or your daughter are in any danger. This seems to be centered mostly around Brian and only involves Justin because of their friendship.”
“Well, maybe Justin should go, then…”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll go over to Brian’s, take a look at what he’s gotten and see if I think that would be a good idea. There’s no point in overreacting.”
“Overreacting? My God!” Her face was a mask of disbelief. “Have you really looked at those horrible things? Have you?” She was shaking. “Some of those pictures were taken in my backyard—right here! I’m absolutely terrified for him.”
“If you’d like, I can have a car stationed out front tonight.”
“Yes, please.”
He got up to make a phone call, returning a couple of minutes later. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. Brian?”
“Yes, I’m ready. You can follow me back.” Justin put his arms around the larger man.
“Be careful?”
“Of course. I’ll call you later.” Justin nodded. They kissed a couple of times, the others averting their eyes, before Brian and Horvath made their way out to their cars.
“You really care about that kid?”
He hesitated a moment before answering. “Yes.”
“Then stay away from him until this gets sorted out. Meet me at your place. I’ll be right behind you.” Brian nodded to both requests.
Half an hour later they were sliding the elevator gate up on Brian’s floor. In front of his door were two packages. One was from the local Japanese place Brian liked; the other was a carrier bag with Gucci on it. With a look at Horvath, they took the bags in with them.
“You like sushi and vegetable tempura with teriyaki chicken?”
“That’s what I usually order from that place.”
“What’s in the bag?” Brian was over by the dining room table, his back to Horvath.
“It’s a jacket I was looking at last week. I decided not to get it.” Carl put his hand on the sleeve, it was butter soft leather and fabulous. The price tag, which had been removed, had to have been a month’s pay for him.
“So he’s feeding you and dressing you. The man wants to take care of you, it seems. You mind if I take a look at those e-mails?”
Brian crossed over to the computer station. “I printed them out.” He handed them over then rebooted the machine. He had mail.
Dear Brian,
I hope that you liked the shirt, but you never answered my e-mail
to you so I don’t know if you did or not.
You know I’d never criticize you, but I went to a lot of trouble
to get something that you’d like and you never even told me if you even
got it. In fact, I was starting to get angry with you (like I ever thought
that would even be possible!) but then I realized that you’re really,
really busy and even though I like you a lot, you don’t know that I
don’t want anything from you and so it had to have been pretty weird
for you.
I’m really sorry that you might have thought that I’m some
crazy person or something. Honestly, I’m not, I just like trying to
make you happy.
I don’t think that there are too many people who care if you’re
happy or not and I just think that’s terrible because you’re such
a good person.
Justin doesn’t try to make you happy. He just likes to see how
much he can get out of you. I know that you’re such a good person
that’s hard for you to believe, but some people are like
that.
I was getting upset with you when that twat called you and you went
running over to see what his problem was this time, like you always
do.
I mean, can’t he deal with anything himself without whining to
you?
Of course you’d go over to see if you could help because that’s
how nice you are, but he shouldn’t always make you fix everything for
him.
I just wish that he’d leave you along, I really do. I was so
happy when he left you—oh, that’s not what I meant, please don’t
get mad at me. I mean I was happy when he wasn’t bothering you anymore.
You should be with someone who can take care of themselves and who wants
to take care of you instead of you always having to be the one everyone leans
on.
You must get really tired of that.
I bet there are days when you’d like to just come home and know
that someone else has taken care of all the stupid things like the laundry
and cooking dinner and making sure there’s gas in the
car.
You shouldn’t have to deal with things like that. You know, like
you have Cynthia at your office to do things like that for
you.
If you ever need someone to help out, just let me
know.
Oh. I hope you like the jacket. I know you were looking at it on Thursday,
but then you looked at the price tag and kind of thought about it and then
didn’t buy it. I hope you’re not mad that I got it for you. It
looks really good on you, like it was made for you and I just really wanted
you to have it.
Yourfan
“How much was it?”
“Three thousand and change.”
“Shit, I’ve had cars that cost less.”
Brian smiled. “So have I.”
The phone rang, Carl told him to check the caller ID. Yeah, no shit.
“Bri?”
“Lindsay.”
Her voice was tight, like she was pissed but determined to keep her temper, at least for now. “Gus would like to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For the cute little fluffy kitten you had delivered this afternoon. Mel and I would like to thank you, too, Bri. Here’s Gus.”
“Daddy—thank you! Thank you. I love him!”
“That’s great, Sonnyboy—what are you going to name him?”
“Brian!”
“That’s a great name for a tom cat. I’m glad that you like him, Gus—put your Mom on, OK?”
“…K.”
“Lindsay, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“He’s cute, he’s got fur and your son has already bonded with him, so we have a cat. I really wish you had discussed this with me first, Brian. You said you wouldn’t get the thing and then you went behind our backs and did it anyway.”
“Look, Linds, it’s not what you think…”
“Well, at least you had the courtesy to include the food and the litter box and the money for the shots and getting the thing fixed.”
“Lindsay, I wasn’t…”
“Save it, Bri. Gus is happy. I may kill you, but Gus is thrilled. Thanks a lot. Bye.”
Brian hung up the receiver.
“You didn’t send your son a kitten, I take it?”
“You got it.”
“You’ve got yourself a problem.”
“Yeah, no shit. So what do I do about it?”
Carl held up the e-mails. “You care if I take these?” Brian shook his head. He could print out more. “You have any idea at all who might be doing this? A former boyfriend? Someone with a crush? One of your old tricks? A co-worker?”
Brian just shrugged.
“Obviously it’s someone who’s been around you for a while. How long did those pictures of Justin go back?”
“Some of them were almost two years old.”
“And this guy knows your work schedule, your weekend schedule, your regular food places, your favorite shopping places. My suggestion is that you change your regular schedule. If you usually go to the gym at ten, go at three, or change gyms. That sort of thing.”
“What about Justin? Is he in any danger?”
Horvath gave Brian a steady look. “He might be. This guy—and I think it’s a male because of the references to Babylon—is jealous of Justin. He’s made that clear and he’s warned him to stay away from you. You might want to limit your contact with him for now.”
“Shit.” He started to walk Carl to the door. “You think this guy could become dangerous?”
They paused at the slider. “Look, Brian, this nut thinks he’s in love with his image of you—you’re fucking perfect. As long as you stay that way you’ll be fine, but as soon as you do something that disappoints him—which you will—he might get mad.”
“And then I’ll have a bigger problem.”
“And then, if he’s crazy enough, you might have a very large problem.”