IslandAffair (10 page)

He sat in the back of the patrol car and watched while the
recovery vehicle hauled his SUV out of the ditch. The sheriff’s officers looked
on, talking in low voices while the familiar sound of radio chatter filled the
air around them. Every now and then one of them would glance at him
surreptitiously, leaving him in no doubt of the subject of their discussion.
They still believed that some homophobic arsehole was to blame for this but
John was beginning to get other ideas. He had phone calls of his own to make
when they got home. This was beyond threats and intimidation. Besides, he and
Robin had barely been in public together before the first attempt. There was
little time for someone to see them, get hold of stolen license plates and try
to run them down. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. He didn’t share his
theory with the sheriff though. There was no way he was going to draw that kind
of attention from them unless he had some solid proof. It would be bad enough
to have to call Dan.

Eventually the SUV was loaded up and they were satisfied
that there was nothing else to learn from the scene of the accident. One of the
officers climbed into the car and drove John home. Neither one of them were
inclined to make conversation so after checking his address they fell into an
uncomfortable silence for the short drive. The lights of Robin’s apartment
glowed a warm welcome into the darkness and John stepped gratefully inside. Rob
was sitting on the sofa watching TV but he looked up when John entered and
smiled.

“Hey.”

John sat down beside him, taking him into his arms and
sighed as the other man relaxed against him. “Hey yourself.” He kissed the top
of Rob’s head. “How was work?”

“It was okay. Only half the class turned up though. And
someone stuck condoms and HIV pamphlets all over my locker.”

“Bastards.”

“If that’s the worst they can do then I can live with it.
How’s the car?” He ran his fingers over a streak of dried mud on John’s face.
“And why are you covered in dirt?”

When John hesitated Rob pulled out of his arms to face him.
“What happened?”

By the time he finished explaining the evening’s events the
younger man was on his feet, anger and fear coming off him in waves.

“Do you really think it’s related to the case?”

John reached up and caught Rob’s hand as he passed, easing
him back onto the couch and into his embrace. “I don’t know. It seems likely.”

“Then make your phone call.”

“Sanders.” Dan answered brusquely on the first ring and just
the sound of his voice was enough to make John frown. The sound of a football
match was audible in the background and he realized he must have caught him at
home. John hated to ask this man for anything but it was the fastest and safest
way to get the information he needed. As the agent responsible for John’s
safety he would have the most up-to-date information on the Armstrong case.

Reluctance colored his tone as he greeted the agent. “Dan.”

“John. What’s wrong?”

“We’ve had some problems here. I need to ask about the
case.”

The other man was immediately alert and the background noise
disappeared. “What kind of problems?”

John explained the events of the last few days, concluding
with the attempt on his life that evening. Dan listened intently, interrupting
occasionally to ask a question. There was no evidence of their altercation in
the agent’s calm voice as he reassured John there had been no movement among
the people involved in the Armstrong case. His concern was immediately evident
when John told him someone had taken shots at him.

“As far as I know there’s no one left who cares about your
involvement in that case, John. I think you’re right to be concerned though. I
need you to lay low while I look into it.”

There would be no argument there. He and Robin had only just
found each other again. John wasn’t going to risk anything happening to either of
them. They went to bed tense, neither one in the mood to do much more than hold
each other. In the middle of the night John was woken by his lover’s jerking
movements as he was gripped in the jaws of another seizure. When it was over he
cleaned them both up and changed the bed. Tucking Robin back into his arms and
murmuring soft reassurances while his partner wept with humiliation, John raged
at the situation and the person who had caused such irrevocable damage.

Chapter Eight

Robin watched from the apartment window as Linda Shaw, the
mother of one of his students, flirted with the two officers in the patrol car
across the street. The officers had shown up this morning to ferry John to the
police department to answer more questions about the “evidence he had
withheld”. It was apparent that Dan Sanders had been burning up the phone lines
to the Barretts Cross PD. He wondered how long it would be before the man
himself showed up.

Rob was almost glad the police interrupted them this
morning. The atmosphere between them was awkward and strained. Mostly his fault
he knew. He felt unbearably embarrassed about the fact he’d had another seizure
during the night. John seemed to be fine with it, which made him feel worse
because Robin was the one having a problem accepting it.

By early afternoon John still wasn’t back and Robin was
getting impatient. He needed to get to work. The short interview the police had
promised evidently turned into a long one. He tried calling the department but
no one would help him. They wouldn’t even admit that his partner was there.
After talking with Agent Sanders last night John had planned to go with Rob to
work but that obviously wasn’t going to happen now. Frowning, Robin called a
cab instead and jotted a quick note, leaving it on the kitchen table for John.
He would be annoyed, no doubt, but his job might be hanging from a thread as it
was and he didn’t want to give them any more ammunition.

The parking lot was disappointingly empty again when he
arrived and as he walked up to the entrance he saw why. There was a sign on the
glass announcing that the swimming lessons were canceled today. The door was
locked, in case anyone didn’t get the message. Scowling Rob fished out his keys
and unlocked them. Was this his colleagues’ way of telling him he wasn’t needed
anymore? Anger flooded him as he ripped the sign off the glass door and marched
inside. He was almost to the office door when he realized how quiet it was. It
had been a long time since Rob had been alone in this building and he’d forgotten
how eerie it could be. Distantly he heard the hum of the pumps that filtered
the pool but otherwise it was silent. He carried on to the office, finding it
empty and dark. His footsteps sounded loud on the concrete floors. He stuck his
head into the public changing rooms and called out.

“Hello?”

The pool itself was calm and still as glass. Rob was walking
around it when he heard the slam of a door in the staff changing area. He
quickened his pace and pushed open the swinging door. There were short rows of
cubicles down the middle with lockers on either side. At the far end were the
restrooms and a shower area. He called out again, thinking perhaps someone was
in the bathroom.

“Hello?”

Scuffling noises answered him and the back of his neck
tightened. He walked down the length of the cubicles toward the sound. A pair
of boot-clad feet stuck out from under the shower stall doors, tied at the
ankles. Robin froze for an instant. He recognized those boots. He’d fallen over
them just this morning. The feet moved again. This time the scuffling was
accompanied by muffled moans.

“John!”

He rushed forward and reached for the door. Something hit
him hard in the back of the head and he fell to his knees, the world grayed
around the edges. He was pushed, throwing him face first onto the heated tile.
Rob’s cheek throbbed painfully where it connected with the roughened surface.
Before he could make sense of what had happened his hands were yanked behind
his back and secured.
Shit!

Robin squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, blinking
until the world came back into focus. He turned his head to see a pair of small
white sneakers and looked up at the petite figure of Linda Shaw. She was
dressed in a fitted white T-shirt and pink shorts, blonde hair tied back in a perky
ponytail, looking every inch the pretty single mom. The image just didn’t
compute with the situation he now found himself in.

“Linda? What the hell?”

He didn’t know her well, except that she had recently gone
through a bitter divorce. Her husband Kyle moved to the next town and took
Shelly, their daughter, every second weekend. Linda and Kyle were high school
sweethearts who had gotten married straight after school. Shelly came along
soon after and the town had been split on whether they’d married out of love or
necessity. It hadn’t mattered either way to Rob, they had never been in his
circle of friends. He gaped up at her stupidly, completely astonished.

“Robin. Just so you know, Shelly won’t be attending lessons
again,” she said with a smile as she walked around him. He slowly rolled to his
back and sat up. Keeping her in his line of vision, like she was a viper risen
out of the grass, poised to strike. “I just don’t feel that you are the correct
influence on her.” She continued in that same reasonable tone, “The last thing
she needs in her life is another
queer
!” She slapped her hand against
the shower stall door, slamming it back against the wall. John sat against the
back, hands cuffed to the pipe above his head. There was duct tape over his
mouth and dried blood on his head.

“Do you know why Kyle left me?” Robin shook his head but she
continued on without waiting for his reply. “He left me because he woke up one
morning and decided he wanted to fuck men. Who knows what diseases he brought
into our marriage?” She sneered. “Six months later I meet another nice guy.
He’s sweet and cute, and so nice to me. Loves kids.” Belatedly Rob realized she
was talking about him. “So I stay late after my daughter’s swimming class to
ask him out and what do I find? Another fucking FAG!” She kicked John’s leg and
he grunted.

Robin gasped and tried to draw her attention back to him.
“What do you want, Linda?”

“What I want is for all the damn
gays
in this country
to learn their place!” She paced as she ranted, pointing at him, voice gaining
volume with her passion. “You’re an abomination! I don’t want to see it or hear
about it. You should all be sent to those camps.” She leaned down, getting into
his face. Spittle flew from her lips. “They should
lock you all up
!”

She straightened, face composed again, arms spread wide. “I
mean, how could you turn down this?”

How indeed? Robin didn’t know what was scarier, the
screaming maniac or this relaxed, calm person who was so familiar. He’d like to
say that he saw madness in her eyes but she looked just as sane as she always
had. It was clear, though, that Linda Shaw had left sanity far behind.

“It’s your own fault, you know. I’d have been happy if you
just left. I did my best to
make
you leave. But still you’re prancing
around town holding hands and I hear people talking. They think it’s nice. That
you aren’t doing any harm. That maybe we should be more tolerant. Next thing we
know there will be more of you people coming out of the woodwork. I
won’t
have my daughter raised in that kind of environment.”

“So you are just going to
kill
us?” he gasped
incredulously. “Linda, please, don’t do this. Think about Shelly.”

She whirled on him, putting the full weight of her body
behind the backhanded blow. Rob’s lip split with the force of it. John growled
and struggled against his bonds.

“SHUT UP! Don’t you even say her name! This town needs a
strong example and since you couldn’t take the hint, you’re it.”

She drew a small black gun from under the back of her
T-shirt and pointed it at him. “Stand up and turn ‘round.”

Robin did as she asked, struggling awkwardly to his feet. He
had beaten the odds once against a bullet, he had no desire to try his luck a
second time. If he let himself, he could still remember the burning agony that
had spread through him when the numbness had worn off. She stepped behind him.
The light, floral scent of her perfume drifted around him as she unfastened the
handcuff from one hand. He thought about it. Even with the memory of that pain
fresh in his mind he could see himself turning, grabbing for the gun. He raised
his eyes to John’s and knew that he saw it too. The other man flicked his gaze
over Rob’s shoulder and shook his head infinitesimally. Linda stepped away and
the moment was gone. She prodded him in the back with the barrel of the gun.

“Now go and get nice and cozy with your
friend
. Cuff
yourself to the pipe.”

Robin obediently did as she ordered, taking his place on the
floor beside his partner. Linda watched, gun in hand, until he clicked the
handcuffs shut. Satisfied, she tucked the gun back into her waistband. Though
he knew it was fruitless he tried once more to reason with her.

“Linda, please don’t do this. We’ll leave right now if you
want. You can’t possibly get away with this.”

“Talk, talk, talk! Why are you all so obsessed with
talking?” A pink gym bag lay by the privacy wall shielding the showers from the
door that led back to the main hallway. She rummaged in it, taking out the roll
of silver duct tape and tearing off a strip. “For weeks now all I’ve heard from
Kyle is ‘you’ve got to talk to someone, Linda’.” She made a face, mimicking a
whiny voice, and covered Rob’s mouth with the tape roughly, knocking his head
back against the wall. He winced at the fresh burst of pain from the bruised
area. “Then I get a letter from him saying he’s suing me for custody of
my
daughter. I wasn’t worried. After all, what judge in his right mind would give
custody to a
fag
in this town?” She grabbed Rob’s chin in her hand,
manicured nails digging in painfully. “Can’t be sure of that now? Can we?”