Page 15

Chapter 15

Benji Morrison

Zack wanted to meet at a cozy coffee shop in Brooklyn. He was already waiting for me at a table flanked by two large green ferns. He stood up and immediately waved me over.

“Benji, hey there.”

He wore a pair of clean blue scrubs, a golden necklace shining from around his neck. A book bag rested at the foot of his chair, which he almost kicked over when he was sitting back down. He had a frantic energy to him, completely opposite to the calm and collected nature of his best friend.

Opposites attract, I guess.

“Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice,” he said, sipping from his coffee cup. “I was going to get you something but didn’t know your order.”

“It’s fine, I’m not a big coffee guy.”

“Really? Damn, I need an IV drip of pure caffeine. It’s the only thing getting me through nursing school. Well, that and Adderall.” He gave a chuckle. I noticed the dark circles under his eyes, proving his point.

“I’ll try not to keep you for long, then.”

“Don’t even worry about it. I’m just here to help in any way I can.”

“I appreciate it, and I’m sure so does Eli.” I leaned back in the wicker chair. The coffee shop was busy but not overly so. The walls were cluttered—in an artful way—with paintings made by local artists. All kinds of media were represented. Oil, sketches, watercolor, acrylic. A bright orange cat sat on a shelf, sunning and slowly twitching its long tail. “How long have you two known each other?”

“Pfft, I’m not even sure. Feels like forever now. We’ve been best friends for a while. We were both raised in the same small town. When he said he wanted to leave, I realized I wanted the same thing. We left together, both of us getting accepted into NYU.”

I nodded, absorbing every little detail. Being a detective sometimes meant sifting through the mundane before finding the piece of the puzzle that made everything click into place. “So you’ve been in his orbit since before this thing with Nomad started?”

“I sure have.” He shook his head, looked out the window. “So fucked-up. I hate that he’s going through this. He’s one of the best people I know. I’m just scared for him.”

“I’m going to make sure nothing happens to him. You said you had some information?”

“I do. I was going to tell Eli first, but I figured, why scare him? I got your information after he mentioned hiring you and decided to just reach out directly to you. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course.” I leaned back in my seat. The remnants of the hangover echoed through my skull with a dull throb. I figured after this meeting, I could stop at a bar and have a drink or two. Hair of the dog really did help fight off any aches and pains from the night before.

“Okay, so I don’t know how much he’s told you—probably everything—but there’s this other performer. His name is Damon, and I think he should be suspect number one.”

I already had Damon on my list of people to look into, although my focus had been on Brian. “Really? Why?”

“Because I’ve talked to him. He’s a sick guy.”

“You have his contact information?”

“I do. I actually, well, used to be a fan of his. Don’t tell that to Eli, obviously. But I would watch Damon. Gift him sometimes. Chat with him. And even with me, he started becoming obsessed. Then when I wouldn’t donate to him because I just didn’t have money, he’d get upset. He’d message me saying that I must be giving it all to Eli. That everyone on the site was obsessed with Eli.”

“When was this?”

“The messages?” Zack chewed the inside of his cheek. “I want to say like three months ago?”

“Do you still have them?”

He pursed his lips. Dropped his head. “I don’t think so. I deleted my account, and I think that deletes the messages. I can check, though.”

“Yeah, find out if you can still access the messages. That’d be helpful.” Although I didn’t have the exact paper trail, Zack’s words were enough to set off multiple alarm bells. “Is Damon local?”

“That’s the other weird thing. So when I first started to watch him, he was located in Miami. Then, about a month later, he was streaming from a new bedroom. I asked him where he moved to once, and he said New York.”

The alarm bells grew louder. “Did he explain why he made the move?”

“He did. He said he wanted to be closer to his family.”

“Do you know if he’s ever spoken directly to Eli?”

“He has. And I’m not sure how he found out, but he knows that he and I are good friends. He brought it up once. Said that I’d be better off dropping him. That Eli would just end up breaking my heart.”

“Breaking your heart? Odd.”

“Yeah… really weird. I think he must think that everyone has the same twisted feelings for Eli that he does.”

“What’s his username?”

“It’s DBater89.”

How had I never seen this Damon character? I wasn’t about to tell Zack, but he wasn’t the only one who liked to visit that cam site. Then again, I never browsed through the other guys. I’d only click directly on Eli’s page and ignore all the rest. I wondered if the website archived any footage. If I had Damon’s username, then maybe I could get them to send me some recordings. I wanted to see this guy’s demeanor, see if there were some digital bread crumbs left behind.

“Is all your communication with Damon done through the website, or did you guys ever take it to your phones?”

Zack sighed. He grabbed his coffee cup in both hands and took a sip. “I knew I probably shouldn’t have, but yes, I gave him my number. Well, not really my number—I gave him a burner number. There’s an app I have that makes fake numbers for you. I downloaded it specifically to talk to him.”

“Do you have those messages?”

“I do, actually.”

“Can I see them?”

His cheeks flushed a bright strawberry pink. “I need to go through them and clean it up a bit. Honestly, it’s mostly just a lot of dick pics.”

I waved off his concern. “No judgment here. Those pictures may actually be helpful. Not that I’m in the field of collecting dick pics, but let’s say he took one of them near a window which allows me to see the building next door to help and locate him. Or maybe he caught something else in the background that could help.”

“Hmm, true. I guess I’m just always so focused on the dick I forget there’s more to the picture.”

That got a laugh out of me. “Trust me, I get it.”

He cocked his head, smiled. He was a good guy. I could see why he and Eli clicked so well. Made me glad that Eli had someone who cared about him in his corner. This world could be ruthless and bloodthirsty. Going at it alone made things so much more difficult, but having a good friend by your side was like donning an invisible layer of plot armor. Felt like nothing could touch you.

I envied that. Growing up, I had felt very isolated. I was bullied relentlessly as a kid for a lisp that I grew out of and for body hair that sprouted earlier than other boys. So not only did I have to deal with bullshit at school and around the playground, but I also had to deal with it when I got home, and my mom was finishing off a handle of vodka before dinner while my dad was gambling away all our money at the casino, only to get home later and fight loud enough that the police were called to our house.

Escaping to a friend’s house—to Michael’s house—was the only thing that had helped me keep my sanity.

Zack glanced at his watch. He sighed and stretched his arms over his head, a fresh-looking hummingbird tattoo on his forearm catching my eye. “Nice tattoo. Where’d you get it done? I’m thinking of getting one myself.”

“Thanks. It was at a place called Garden of Adam Tattoos.”

“I have to look them up. I’m thinking of getting one on my thigh. Not sure what I want yet.”

“If you go, ask for Gina Luna. She’s the artist that did mine. Fucking incredible line work.” Zack reached for his book bag. “I didn’t realize how quick time was passing. I’ve got to meet up with a study group soon.”

“Go for it,” I said. “I think you’ve given me a good amount to chew on so far.”

“I just hope I can help somehow.”

“I think what you’ve given me already has. Keep being a good friend to Eli, that’s what he needs now.”

“I will. And keep being a great detective.” Zack gave me a wink before standing up.

“Send me the messages when you get a chance,” I reminded him as I also stood.

“I will.” Zack shook my hand and took me into a hug before he left, winding around the busy tables and out into the even busier streets.

I walked over to the counter and checked out the menu. A coffee sounded good. So did a matcha. But a vodka tonic sounded even better. It’d help cure the headache and help me think a little clearer. Just one.

I left the coffee shop and looked around. There were bars galore here in Brooklyn, but I wanted to go to one closer to home. I walked Lucky before I left, so he should be good for a while, but I still wanted to be close so I could just walk home after my drink.

I went toward the subway station, heading down the steps, past the cluster of tourists trying to figure out how to pay the fare with their phones.

“You can just tap it,” I said to them. “Like this.”

The apparent matriarch of the group thanked me as if I had given her the answer to life itself. She herded her brood through the turnstiles, the dad busy with an important-sounding phone call.

I got to the platform just as my train screeched to a halt. I picked a relatively empty train car and sat down on the hard orange seat. Zack had given me some solid information about this Damon character. Now, I just needed those messages so I could figure out if there were any other leads tucked away inside the horny sexts. The train sped through the underground tunnels of the concrete jungle. I started to search for Damon’s online presence, using the screen name Zack had given me as a jumping-off point.

His adult-oriented pages ranked first. I decided not to click them since the old lady sitting next to me had wandering eyes and would likely pass out if I opened up the wrong video. I clicked on a blog link instead, the same username being used to post what appeared to be benign product recommendations.

The train stopped at a station. The momentum pushed the older woman against me. She mumbled an apology and stood to exit.

Eli lived only a couple blocks away from here. My stop wasn’t for another six or so minutes…

I followed the woman out and up the stairs, exiting the station.

The sounds of the city enveloped me—cars honking, people chatting, a baby screeching. I walked down the street, past a busy bakery, the smell of fresh baked cookies drifting out of the dark blue door.

I walked as if on autopilot mode. My feet carried me past a corner store, turning, walking down a quieter street, toward Eli’s apartment building.

I rationalized it by considering this part of the investigation. I wanted to circle the building, make sure there weren’t any areas someone could easily break in through. Eli’s apartment windows looked out to the street, so I could also possibly get a glance inside. I had already deleted the security camera app, so I wasn’t tempted to open that.

…

Fucking hell, what was I thinking? What if he was getting home and spotted me staking out his place? There were already too many “coincidences” between us. I just wanted to keep him safe, to keep an eye on him, but I didn’t want to scare him in the process.

This… this obsession was growing inside me like a malignant tumor, shifting from cell to cell. It was a hostile takeover of my entire body and mind. The seed had already been planted months ago when I first started watching Eli online, and that seed experienced explosive growth the moment Eli’s dick pushed inside me.

I stopped at a crosswalk. His building was just ahead. I was going to turn around and walk home when my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a text from Eli.

ELI: Are you busy?