Page 28 of Mann Hunt (The Declan Hunt Mysteries)

On the drive home, Declan pulled into a gas station to fill up, then placed a call to Katherine Mann.

“Declan? Is everything okay?”

“I need your help. You mentioned a series of new photographs that Ian took of a young man. Do you have them?”

“Yes… Do they have anything to do with Ian’s death?”

“I’m not sure. Can I come by and have a look at them? It won’t take long.”

“I’ll have them ready.”

Declan pulled into Katherine’s drive forty minutes later. As he approached the door, it opened.

“I’ve laid them out in the kitchen,” Katherine said. “Can I get you a coffee?”

“I’d love one. Thanks.”

Declan walked into the kitchen and pored over the pictures. There must have been thirty or forty shots. Individual images of a young man in various states of dress—no nudes—with and without makeup. And not just subtle makeup. Broad character makeup—almost theatrical, accentuating the subject’s physical features while, at the same time, eliminating the signs of an identifiable gender. No. Not eliminating gender, but accentuating both the male and female. Ian was showing the body as a spectrum, not a binary. The model was definitely Justin.

There were also a few photographs that appeared to be selfies showing both Justin and Ian, dressed in similar makeup. In all of the images, Declan saw joy in their faces.

“They’re the best he ever shot,” Katherine said.

“Were there any others…with other young men?”

“No. Just these… Is this what got him killed?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Declan took a swig of coffee, then headed to his van and drove back to the office.

When he got there, he logged into his laptop. He opened his email and noticed a message labelled Sheldon Prescott CCTV. He clicked on the message and found a link for downloading the video files. There were six of them. He chose the one labelled West Driveway Camera—July 8, 6:00 p.m.—2:00 a.m.

* * * *

It was eight-thirty when Charlie’s cell phone rang. It’s probably Declan, he thought as he picked it up, then he saw the caller ID—it wasn’t Declan.

He answered the call. “Hey, Justin.”

“Sorry to call so late.”

“No problem. What’s up?” Charlie asked.

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Justin said, “Can we talk?”

“Sure,” Charlie replied.

“In person, I mean?”

Charlie tried to play it cool. “Yeah… Where do you want to meet?”

“Can I come to you?” Justin asked.

“Sure. I’m at the Comfort Inn.” Charlie paused before saying, “Room two-oh-five.”

Justin said, “Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ve got no one else to talk to. See you soon.”

As soon as Justin disconnected, Charlie texted Declan.

Good news. Justin wants to talk. He’s coming over to the hotel. I’ll let you know what happens.

Charlie set the phone down and noticed a strong odour. He hadn’t had a shower since practice, and he needed one. He stripped off his clothes and headed to the bathroom.

He’d just finished drying himself off and thrown on something clean to wear when there was a knock at his door. He opened it and let Justin in.

* * * *

Video from the west driveway camera came to life on Declan’s computer. Several times, he saw a shadow of someone moving in the garden. At one point a head was clearly visible from the rear—one with light hair in a man’s cut.

Ian came into view wheeling his suitcase to the car. Declan saw motion in the garden again. Out stepped his possible assailant. Ian let go of the suitcase and backed up. The person stepped forward, their features still shadowed by the trees. Declan paused the video. Although he couldn’t clearly identify any definite facial features, he could assess the person’s physique. It was most certainly a male, about the same height as Ian’s six feet and of a moderately muscular build.

He pressed ‘Play’. Something in the guy’s hand flashed, like polished steel catching the light. He’s got a knife.

The person with the knife came into view. It was Justin.

Ian and Justin seemed to be in a heated discussion. Justin gesticulated wildly at times. He made advances on Ian, who at first backed away, then moved forward, putting his hand on Justin’s shoulder.

Declan continued to watch. To his surprise, Justin left Ian and walked back into the garden. Ian put his suitcase into the trunk, got into his car and drove off.

Ian drove away by himself…

Declan’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. It was Luke.

“Hey,” Declan answered.

“I was just thinking about you. I’m just around the corner. Mind if I come up?”

“Sure. The door’s open.”

A few minutes later the door alarm beeped and Luke walked in. “What are you looking at?” Luke asked.

“I got a hold of the CCTV footage from the party house where Ian Mann was last seen. Justin Neves was definitely there on the night Ian disappeared.”

“He was at the party?”

“No. He was waiting in the bushes for Ian by his car. He had some sort of confrontation with him. And it looks like he may have had a knife. The interesting thing is, Justin walked away and Ian left the party by himself.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s not involved,” Luke warned.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. I sent Charlie in undercover to try out for Justin’s hockey team—”

“You did what?”

Declan continued, “He met with Justin this afternoon and discovered a link between him and Ian Mann connected to some photos Ian took.”

Luke leaned towards Declan. “This is a murder investigation, and Charlie’s got no experience. Just because Justin walked away doesn’t mean that he wasn’t working with an accomplice…or he might have seen something. It’s enough to bring him in for questioning. And Charlie could be in danger.”

“Isn’t Airdrie out of your jurisdiction?”

“Given what you’ve told me, my boss’ll back me up on this one. I think I should go now.”

A text arrived from Charlie.

Good news. Justin wants to talk. He’s coming over to the hotel. I’ll let you know what happens.

Declan said, “I’m coming with you.”

* * * *

“I hope you don’t mind. I brought these,” Justin said, pulling a couple of beers out of a plastic bag. “They’re not the best, but it’s what my dad drinks.”

“They’re great. Thanks,” Charlie replied.

Justin opened a beer and sat on the edge of the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Charlie asked as he sat beside him.

“There was more to that story I told you about Ian.”

Charlie looked at Justin. He seemed more like a scared kid than a young adult.

Justin was silent for a moment, then said, “He brought a lot of makeup to our last photo shoot. He said he wanted to recreate some of the early pictures taken of Bowie. The ones where he was made up almost to look like a clown.” Justin took a swig of his beer.

“And you were okay with that?” Charlie asked.

“I didn’t think anything of it. You really lose yourself when you’re totally made up, like when I used to wear masks at Halloween.”

“What do you mean?”

Justin turned to face Charlie. “You’re not afraid to be whoever you want to be, even the real you.”

Charlie took a sip of beer.

Justin continued, “Ian made himself up, too. I painted this big black star on his face and he covered the rest in white. Then we got into these cool white suits. He turned on some music, then started taking pictures as we both started to dance around. We were killing ourselves laughing. For the first time I didn’t care about anything—school, hockey, my dad, nothing—because for that moment I was just me.”

“That all sounds great.” Charlie said.

“It was. Then a couple of days later he showed me the pictures. They looked fantastic. He told me he was so proud of me. He said I was a natural.” Justin was getting agitated. He started to rub his thighs with the heels of his hands.

Charlie’s phone chirped with an incoming text. Without looking, he silenced it and put it on the nightstand. “What happened, Justin? What did he do?”

Justin took a few deep breaths before saying, “He said he was going to show the pictures to other people. Here. In Airdrie! He wanted to get people’s reactions.” Justin started to rock back and forth. “I emailed him and asked him not to, but he said he was going to submit them to a big magazine and people around the world would see them!”

“But…that’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?” Charlie asked.

“I never thought about it. Then all of a sudden it hit me. People would see me. Dressed up like that. They’d all know I was a fag. My dad would find out.”

Justin started to cry. Charlie moved closer and put his hand on Justin’s knee.

“I kept emailing Ian, telling him that he couldn’t do that. I told him people might hurt me if he did. Ian tried to tell me that no one would know it was me, but I knew better. They’d spot me the second they saw the pictures. Then Ian stopped returning my emails.”

Justin was choking with sobs. Charlie wrapped his arm around him and Justin leaned into him.

“I knew I had to do something to stop him,” Justin said.

“Justin… What did you do?”

“I went to his house but he was just leaving in his car. So I followed him.” Justin paused.

“It’s okay,” Charlie said. “You can tell me.”

“He went to one of those mansions in Mountain River Estates. I had to jump a stone wall to get in and I waited by his car until he came out. He was mad that I’d followed him.”

“Then what happened?” Charlie probed.

Justin continued, “When I told him he couldn’t publish the pictures, he still wouldn’t change his mind…so I pulled a knife on him.”

Charlie felt Justin’s body tense.

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything like that,” Justin said. “I thought if I scared him enough he’d rip up the pictures!”

Charlie held him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Justin…did you hurt Ian?”

“No,” Justin said. “When I pulled the knife, Ian just looked at me with these really sad eyes. He said he saw how much it was upsetting me. He apologised and said he never wanted to hurt me.”

Charlie asked, “Did you believe him?”

“Yes. He said that he’d give me a set of the photos and get rid of the files. And maybe someday, I would look at them and be proud of what I’d done.”

“And then what did you do?” Charlie asked.

“I got back into my truck and went home. We were going to meet up the next day, but Ian never showed. Then I heard that he’d disappeared.” Justin started shaking.

Charlie wrapped his arms around him, and held him tight. For the first time he noticed how muscular Justin was. He remembered the first time they’d seen each other, outside The Greek—how attractive Justin had looked. How in control he’d acted. And now, here he was, so vulnerable.

“Thanks for being here for me,” Justin said.

“Any time.”

“I feel like I can really trust you. It figures that if I was ever going to find a real friend, he wouldn’t be from this town.” Justin stared at Charlie, then leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. Then a second, more passionate kiss. Justin undid the top button of Charlie’s shirt, then looked at him.

Charlie wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to blow his cover and he sensed in his gut that Justin had told him the truth. And Justin was so… Charlie nodded that it was okay. Justin pulled open the shirt to reveal the bruises on Charlie’s torso.

“Oh, God, what happened to you?” Justin asked.

“Oh…I was hit by a car.”

“You were what? You poor guy. Does it hurt much?” Justin caressed Charlie’s bruised ribs. Goosebumps rose on Charlie’s flesh. He inhaled.

“Sorry,” Justin said. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“No. You didn’t.”

Justin’s eyes gleamed as he stepped away from the bed and began to undress. Charlie sat motionless and watched transfixed. Justin’s shoulders were sculpted, as were his chest and toned stomach. He peeled off his tight jeans, revealing that he wore no underwear. His uncut cock and low-hanging balls were like fruit waiting to be picked.

Justin lay on the bed and said, “Your turn.”

Charlie removed his shirt, then hesitated a moment before taking off his pants. He was nervous. He stripped away his underwear and lay down beside Justin.

Justin put his head on Charlie’s chest. “Does this hurt?” he asked.

“No,” Charlie responded.

Justin put his hand on Charlie’s chest and began to slide it towards his navel. Justin’s cock started to swell against Charlie’s thigh. He grazed his lips over Charlie’s left earlobe and teased it with his teeth.

“Does this hurt?”

“No,” Charlie replied, breathing faster.

Justin took Charlie’s cock in his hand. Charlie’s heart pounded. Then Justin rolled on top of him. “Does this hurt?” he said.

“No,” Charlie whispered.

Justin took Charlie by the wrists and pinned his arms above his head and began to grind his crotch against Charlie’s.

“I’ve never gone this far before.” Charlie moaned.

“I’m gonna take good care of you, Charlie Watts. You can trust me.”

And Charlie believed him.