Page 57 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

A violent shiver wracks his body, and he pulls the blanket tighter around him. “D-Dusty?”

“Oh, Bruce,” Dusty whispers, reaching out to touch his face. Her bright pink fingernails are a shocking contrast to his deathly pallor. “I’m so sorry, I should have come sooner. I was being selfish and petty.”

“No.” His hand emerges from his blanket cocoon to grip hers against his cheek. “No, you have nothing to be sorry for. I should have told you about him a long time ago. Especially when I realised how I felt about you.”

“Bruce, don’t.” She swallows hard and shakes her head. “You don’t have to explain. You loved him long before you met me. I have no right to be jealous.”

“I did love him. So much,” Bruce whispers, closing his eyes momentarily but not before I see the flash of pain. “I thought if I told you, it would make you run.”

Dusty lets out a slow sigh. “You weren’t exactly wrong, were you?”

He opens those exhausted eyes and his gaze locks on her. “I’m sorry.”

I want to walk away, give them some space. This is too much, too intimate for me to be witnessing.

Feeling like an accidental voyeur, I go to take a step back, to climb down from the dais and give them as much privacy as I can in a giant silent cavern of a room that echoes even the breathiest whisper, amplifying it until it reaches every damn dark corner.

“Tristan, wait,” Bruce says. “You should probably hear this too.”

“It’s okay, Bruce.” I shake my head. “You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to, especially with me. What you decide to tell Dusty is between you two.”

“You’re wrong,” he replies, his eyes filled with sadness. “I think you do need to know, if for no other reason than because I don’t believe he had anything to do with my death.”

“Who was he?” Dusty asks quietly.

“I won’t tell you his name.” Bruce gives a weak, almost imperceivable shake of his head. “Even after all this time, it still feels like I would be betraying his confidence.”

“Okay.” She nods in understanding as she continues to stroke his pale cheek. “What do you want to tell us then?”

“He played for my team.”

“He was gay? Yeah, we guessed that.” Dusty smiles.

“No.” Bruce chuckles. “I mean he actually played for my team. We played rugby together. It was how we met.” He lets out a sigh and his eyes focus at a space somewhere between us and the walls. “It was a different time back then. Not as many people were so open about being gay. I was out after a fashion, wasn’t hiding who I was, but sports were different. Even though it was only a local team, I didn’t socialise with any of them outside of training and matches. I don’t know if any of them knew I was gay, but they didn’t mention it and I sure as hell wasn’t going to.”

“But obviously, someone did know,” Dusty murmurs.

“You know how it goes,” Bruce says quietly. “Like attracts like, I guess. We just gravitated to each other. We were friends at first and then… becoming lovers was as easy as breathing and falling in love happened between one breath and another.”

Dusty reaches up with her other hand and strokes his hair. “What happened?”

“He wasn’t married or anything like Ari thought, he just didn’t want anyone to know. He was afraid of his father finding out.” Bruce releases a slow breath. “Stolen moments,” he mumbles. “In the end, that’s all we had… just stolen moments.”

“I’m sorry,” Dusty soothes him as she continues to stroke his hair.

“I need you both to understand, he had nothing to do with my death.” Bruce frowns. “He loved me. I know from the outside looking in, he’s the first place you’d go for a suspect, but I’m telling you he would never hurt me like that. Neither of you knew him, but I did.”

“Okay,” Dusty says softly. “Okay, honey.”

“Bruce,” I say, not sure I should interrupt but needing to ask the question. “You said he was afraid of his father finding out?”

Bruce nods.

“What if his father did?” I suggest. “Not just that his son was gay, but about the two of you.”

“I don’t see how. We were so careful.”

“But no matter how careful you were, it could be possible that he found out and that he was the one who hurt you,” I point out.