Page 59 of Sean's Sunshine
Billy nodded. “I’ll still be worried when you go back in the field,” he said.
“But you can’t—”
Billy buried his face in Sean’s neck, not proud of himself in that moment. “I won’t,” he whispered. “I won’t be mad at your job no more. I swear.”
Sean nodded this time. “Okay,” he said softly. “I… it poisons a lot of relationships, you understand?”
Billy nodded, remembering his father’s anger, his temper on being in a quiet place when he seemed to long for the movement, the violence, the decisive action of deployment.
“Dangerous jobs do.” He swallowed. “But I can’t be a jerk about it. I know. I just…. Rivers isn’t gonna get no justice for himself, you know that, right?”
Sean’s mouth turned up a little. “It’s never like the movies,” he said, and then rolled his eyes and corrected himself. “It’srarelylike the movies. Sometimes the system can hand out justice, and sometimes it takes a little more than good guys with guns and badges to cart away the bad guys.”
“Like what?” Billy asked.
“Well,” Sean said thoughtfully, “I would watch the press in the next week. Ellery hasn’t wanted the case tried in the press because his client would have a really hard time with all the people in his face. But Jackson took off his shirt, and that’s going to get people on alert. Jacksoncantake that sort of flack, and if Ellery’s smart about it, the story behind that wound is going to make the rounds. Just… pay attention,” he said softly. “I know you’re not good at politics. Neither am I. But have a little faith, okay?”
Billy took a deep breath. “Sure. Now let’s go. Randy wants to meet all the dogs again.”
“Sure.” And then Sean turned his head and kissed him, long and deep, surprising Billy with the intensity, the tenderness, and the passion. When they separated, Sean was the one who kissedhimon the forehead, and Billy had to admit it.
He sort of liked that.
RANDY ENDEDup throwing balls to, like, half the dogs who went to play in the park that day, so Billy showed Randy which thruway they were taking for their investigation. Sean’s movement had improved enough that they managed to question the three houses hit in the next cul-de-sac and then make their way down the connecting street to the cul-de-sac over.
Pretty much everybody had the same story to tell. They’d either heard a noise in their garages or they’d awakened to find something portable but high value missing from their jimmied-open garage door. This wasn’t a wealthy neighborhood—most people didn’t have high-tech security, and on the few occasions when an alarm had gone off or a security camera had captured footage, the perp had either been gone before anybody got down to see more than a flash of a black outfit, or the only salient feature the camera had captured had been a wisp of blond hair.
After viewing some footage—people were really accommodating about showing the two of them the videos on their phones—Billy and Sean waited on the main road for Randy to come pick them up.
Sean was tired but not overly so, and Billy was reminded once again that he really would be ready to go back into the fray in a couple of weeks.
“You’re sure Randy has a driver’s license?” Sean asked seriously.
“Yeah. Henry helped him get it when Rivers was laid up.” Billy shrugged. “I mean, not that I’m not taking over when he gets here, but I’m pretty sure he’ll get here. What do you want to do after your nap?”
“Want to stop on the way back and get a whiteboard and some magnets and a map? I need to… you know. See what’s going on. And then we need to maybe phone interview the people with the dogs to see if there’s anythingtheyhave in common that we’re missing from the people who got hit.”
“We can talk to more of those people at the park,” Billy said. “So get their addresses and put them on your little murder board here.”
“Good thinking. But it’s only a map. Nobody’s been hurt.” Sean gave him an almost flirtatious smile. “You know. We’re just doing this as a hobby.”
Billy rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Sure.” Then quickly, before he could back out, “So, uhm, if we’re just doing this as a hobby, is there any way we could take tomorrow evening off? My, uhm, mom would like me to come to dinner, and, uhm….” He took a deep breath. “I need backup,” he explained, feeling weak and awkward. “I… if I don’t have someone there who knows how to make grown-up noises come out of their piehole, I’m going to end up screaming ‘I’m a porn star!’ and then running off into the night.”
Sean chuckled. “And into the family histories forever.” He made his voice deep and authoritative. “Dear Reader, he was never seen again.”
Billy covered his eyes with his hand. “Please?” he begged in a little voice. “I swear, if you and me weren’t a thing, I might ask Lance if I could borrow Henry. I, uh… you know. Need proof of adulting. Seriously.”
“Don’t you have report cards?” Sean chided, and Billy dropped his hand and gave Sean a gaze of mute appeal. “Oh my God!” Sean clutched at his chest. “The eyes! The Bambi eyes! No wonder you work so hard at being an asshole. Those forest animal eyes—so limpid. So cute. They should be classified as a weapon!”
“So you’ll come eat at my mommy’s table?” Billy begged, aware that he was being pitiful but beyond pride at this point.
“Yeah, of course,” Sean told him, his voice dropping softly. “I bet she can cook, right?”
“If she’s forgotten, I haven’t,” he promised fervently. “I swear, if you do this for me, I’ll make her enchilada casserole. It’s gotcheese!”
“Wow. Thisisserious!” The subdued roar of a powerful engine sounded, and they both looked up to see Randy pulling alongside the curb.
To Billy’s intense relief, the car appeared to be in one piece, and the joy on Randy’s face was worth the two miles of potential disaster, he figured. “And here’s our ride,” Billy said, happy to get out of the embarrassing asking-for-help conversation.