Welcome to Blissville

by Walker, Aimee Nicole

  My temporary partner, Detective John Dorchester with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department, showed up about thirty minutes later. Adrian and I were split up when it was determined that the man responsible for bringing the largest amount of drugs into our county was also Josh’s ex. Billy also stalked and harassed Josh while trying to make it look like Nate’s killer had shifted his attention to Josh. The captain decided it would be best if I worked on Nate’s homicide case while Adrian worked on wrapping the loose ends locally when the DEA took Billy Sampson off our hands.

  Adrian and I were both assigned temporary partners. John Dorchester was cool and funny while Adrian’s partner, David Whitworth, was uptight and asshole-ish. Luckily for Adrian, his time to work with Detective Stick In His Ass Sideways was over.

  “Good morning, fellas,” Dorchester said, tossing the green apple that would be his breakfast in the air. “What’s going on?” His apple hit the floor along with his jaw when Adrian and I told him what we learned over the weekend.

  “Shit! This could be the break we needed,” Dorchester replied excitedly.

  “It could, but right now it just leads to more questions,” I told him then explained how Silver just appeared in 2014 out of nowhere.

  Dorchester blew out a sharp whistle before saying, “This is some complicated shit.”

  “We’ll find out just how complicated when we re-interview Nate’s attorney and former silent business partner this afternoon,” I told him.

  “I want all the details later,” Adrian said to us as we were leaving. The slight pout in his voice made me smile.

  “You got it, partner,” I hollered over my shoulder.

  During the ride to Cincinnati, we speculated about Jonathon Silver’s identity and the timing of his appearance in Nate’s life and questioned if it had something to do with his death. Most of it was legitimate discussion about questions to ask, but things started to go awry as we got closer to the city.

  “I bet aliens abducted him as a baby,” Dorchester gave as the reason for Silver’s lack of documented existence. “Only Nate was left behind.”

  “We may need a judge to unseal the adoption paperwork,” I said suddenly. “If we know the birth mom’s identity then maybe we can locate her or people she knew well who can tell us why the babies went to different homes.”

  “Fine, be practical,” Dorchester groused from the passenger seat.

  The task force had already gathered by the time we arrived. I passed out a copy of Jonathon Silver’s driver license to everyone in the room. Their surprise was clearly etched on their faces and in the way they all started asking questions at once. I held up my hand to silence them.

  “Here’s what happened and here’s what I know right now.” Then I told them about my dinner and what my research turned up. “You can’t tell me that Turner’s attorney didn’t know about Silver’s existence, especially if he inherited Nate’s fortune. He was either protecting the guy or is afraid of him. Today we’re going to learn which one it is.”

  “Have you been able to connect him to Owen Smithson?” Detective Weston Jade asked, referring to the guy who had sent the threatening emails and photos to Nate. The CPD had traced the IP address used in the emails, and it led them to Owen, who unfortunately was found dead.

  “I have not attempted that yet this morning. I’ll assign that task to you, Detective,” I told him. I looked around the room and asked, “Are there any more questions before we start our interviews?” No one had any, so I assigned interviews, times, and locations. I looked at Dorchester and said, “We’re going to take a little field trip before our interviews this afternoon.”

  “Oh goody,” he said, skipping beside me. “Can I buy a souvenir?”

  “Depends on how well you play good cop,” I replied.

  It was nothing more than a hunch that had me driving to Vibe at such an early hour. The club closed at two in the morning so finding anyone there at nine was a stretch. I knew my gut had been right when I saw the sleek, black sedan parked around the back of the club near the employee entrance.

  “That car is nearly identical to Nate’s,” Dorchester observed out loud. I suspected that black was probably the most common color on all luxury sedans, but that car appeared to be the exact year, make, and model as the one Nate was driving when he died. “I mean, Nate’s car is still in the impound lot, so this clearly isn’t it, but…” Dorchester let his words trail off.

  “It looks like someone is trying to step into his brother’s shoes,” I said.

  “Yeah, it certainly looks that way,” Dorchester agreed. “Wonder if he’s wearing his clothes and sleeping in his bed too?”

  The thought creeped me out, but I wouldn’t classify anything out of the realm of possibilities in the case—well, except the alien abduction angle. “Let’s go find out, Mulder,” I said to Dorchester.

  “Smartass,” he mumbled under his breath as he exited the car. “I guess that makes you Scully.” He laughed much harder at his joke than I did.

  I knocked loudly on the metal door marked as Employee’s Only several times and grew frustrated when they went unanswered. I had been in Nate’s office twice and knew damn well how close it was to the door I was banging on. Silver either wasn’t in the office and didn’t hear me or heard me and ignored me. It also could’ve meant that he met with foul play like his brother. I tested the handle and was surprised to find the door unlocked. I looked over at Dorchester and saw that he was just as surprised.

  “That’s probably not a good sign,” he said, stating the obvious. Dorchester and I automatically reached for our guns. I moved to the left side of the door and gave him a nod when I was ready, and he pulled open the door with his free hand.

  “Police,” I yelled loudly down the long hallway that led to Nate’s office and the rear of the bar. In the hallway, there were two glossy black doors directly across from one another. I knew one was Nate’s office but had no clue what was behind the other one. “Mr. Silver,” I yelled as we approached the two doors. “Are you in there, sir?” There was no response.

  I kept my gun aimed in front of me in my right hand and grabbed the door handle for Nate’s office with my left. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Dorchester had done the same. “One, two, three…” We pushed the doors open and entered the rooms at the same time.

  The lights were on inside the office, but no one was there. I was about to see if Dorchester had found Silver when a secret panel behind Nate’s desk opened, and Jonathon Silver walked out buck naked, toweling his hair as if he’d just come out of the shower and completely unaware that I was in the room.

  “Mr. Silver,” I said firmly.

  He jerked to a stop and yanked his towel off his head, but made no move to cover his dick from my view. “Well, this is a surprise, Detective Wyatt.”

  “You know who I am?” I asked.

  “Of course, I know who you are. You’re the man who rejected my brother when he turned to you for help,” he said bitterly. “Do you mind putting your gun away?”

  “Do you mind putting yours away?” Dorchester asked as he entered the room.

  Jonathon Silver chuckled as he wrapped the towel around his waist and knotted it. “Does my nudity offend your sensibilities, Detective Dorchester?” Silver asked him.

  “How do you know my name?” Dorchester asked him. “Better yet, why don’t you explain to us how we don’t know about you? I find it odd that you’ve made no attempt to get involved and assist us with the investigation to find your brother’s killer. Does that sound odd to you, Gabe?” Dorchester asked me.

  “I’d move heaven and earth if it were my brother,” I replied, which was the truth. I still reviewed Dylan’s case file and checked if any new leads popped up twenty years later.

  “And you think that makes me look guilty?” Silver asked. “Put yourself in my shoes and see how you’d feel. My brother—identical twin to be exact—is killed after reaching out to the good detective here twice and the Cincinnati Poli
ce Department once. Can you maybe see how I don’t have any faith in you to catch whoever was harassing Nate?”

  I could see how he felt that way, but that would only motivate me to get in their faces more, not less. “Put yourself in our shoes, Mr. Silver,” I said, mimicking the words he’d used. “We had a man who claimed he was threatened but wouldn’t cooperate when we tried to help him through legal channels. What exactly could we have done differently?”

  “More than what you did.” Silver shook with anger. “I know all about the new task force, which is too little too late in my opinion, and those who are on it. I’m staying vigilant even when those who should are not.”

  He sounded like some sitcom vigilante. “Mr. Silver, you weren’t so vigilant when you left the back door unlocked.”

  “Ah, that’s how you got in,” he said. “I guess I need to have a longer chat with Alexander—well, perhaps an actual chat that includes words and not body language next time. Don’t be too mad at him, Detectives, because I promise he wasn’t capable of much thought when he left.” Silver had deepened the timbre of his voice, and his words were filled with sexual innuendo, leaving no doubt in our minds what, or who, Alexander had been doing in the club at the early hour.

  Silver pulled the towel off his waist and dropped it to the floor before he reached for his clothes from his desk chair. “If you want to talk to me, then you can do it in the presence of my attorney. It’s the same attorney Nate used, so your task force should be familiar with him.” He took his sweet time pulling on his underwear.

  “Rick Spizer?” Dorchester asked, nonplussed by Silver’s actions.

  “The one and only,” Silver replied.

  “That’s great news,” I told him. “We have an appointment with him at noon so why don’t you join him at the precinct?” Jonathon Silver narrowed his crystal blue eyes in speculation. If he refused, he would look guiltier and if he agreed he would have to answer questions or have his mouthpiece decline or interject on his behalf, which would also make him look guilty. “This is your moment to step up and prove that you want to help catch the man who killed your brother, as you claim.”

  “I won’t be baited by you, Detective. I don’t owe you a fucking thing,” he replied hotly, “but I will be there at noon.”

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  “I’m not doing it for you; I’m doing it for Nate.”

  “We’ll see you at noon,” I told him. “Be sure to bring your alibi information with you for the night that your brother died.”

  Dorchester and I were almost to his office door when he spoke up. “Detective Wyatt, am I identical to my brother in every way?” His words shocked me, but I kept walking instead of responding to his crude question. I could hear his dark laughter ringing through the hallway as if it was chasing me out of the building.

  “So, you and Nate, huh?” Dorchester asked once we were back in the spring sunlight.

  “Once,” was my response. “We were never a couple or anything like that. In fact, a year passed between our two meetings.”

  “You’re investigating the death of a former hookup while working with another. That’s got to be some interesting ‘how was your day, dear’ dinner conversation. Unless Josh doesn’t know,” Dorchester added.

  “How’d you know about Paul?” I asked him after picking my chin up off the damn pavement. I didn’t like that my personal life connected to this case, but I knew that my objectivity was uncompromised.

  “I’m a detective,” he replied. “I’m paid to read body language and stuff. I’m not sure if the other team members are as astute, but I saw the way your eyes widened slightly and your body stiffened. Paul’s a smooth customer, but he had similar reactions as you. The first impression wasn’t enough to convince me, but then he offered to show you to the bathroom when you asked for directions. Most guys would’ve told you to turn right outside the conference room and then left at the end of the hallway.” Dorchester laughed. “You didn’t answer my question about Josh.”

  I unlocked my car with the key fob. “He knows.”

  “And?”

  I thought back to the conversation I had with Josh the previous night. I knew by his body language and words that he didn’t like the situation, but he trusted me. I smiled when I thought about how much faith Josh had in me. “He trusts me,” I told Dorchester.

  “As he should,” he replied. “I have to ask something, and I promise your answer stays between us.”

  “What?” I asked uncertainly.

  “I’m coming at this from a purely scientific angle,” Dorchester said seriously. “Are they identical everywhere?”

  I noticed Jonathon Silver’s cock, of course; I was a gay man after all. Although I knew the answer to Dorchester’s question, I wasn’t about to answer it. I pinned him with a disbelieving glare instead.

  “Your silence speaks for itself,” he said smugly. “I guess I know why Nate’s stalker was so hung up on the size of his dick in that email.”

  I had temporarily forgotten about the exact wording in that email due to the discovery of Silver’s existence, but Dorchester was right. Dorchester had never seen the email or the pictures, or he’d have known the answer to his one question. Commenting on the size of Nate’s dick and being remorseful that it was wasted on him wasn’t something a brother would say to another, especially one who was equally as endowed. That didn’t necessarily mean that Silver was in the clear; hell, he could’ve said those things intentionally so that he could avoid scrutiny. Smoke and mirrors.

  “Unless they had a twincest thing going on,” Dorchester commented.

  “Gross,” I replied. “This case just keeps getting weirder every single day.”

  “Do you have the feeling that we haven’t even scratched the surface of weird yet?” he asked.

  “I do,” I replied, which was why I was eager to get back to the police station to do more digging into Jonathon Silver’s property company. I didn’t want to be caught off guard more than I had already been.

  It was by pure coincidence that I talked Chaz into coming with me to take Diva for her booster shots. I didn’t have an ulterior motive for the invite at all. Wink. Wink. I didn’t think it was coincidence though that Chaz dressed up a little more than he normally would for a visit to the veterinarian either, but I didn’t remark on it. I was becoming one of those annoying friends that everyone groans when they see them coming. You know the type—the one that has fallen madly in love and wants everyone else to feel the same things too. So, yeah, I totally twisted Chaz’s arm to come along with me and used his guilt against him to get my way. It wasn’t like Diva needed an extra hand because she was a shameful slut when it came to Dr. Dimples. It was embarrassing the way she purred the second he walked into the room.

  “Is that a new cologne?” I asked him, although I knew the answer. Okay, maybe I couldn’t just let it go by without a mention. I glanced over and saw a pink flush creeping across his cheeks. I saw him fiddling with the buttons on his shirtsleeves. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Chaz wear something other than a T-shirt or long-sleeved T-shirt.

  “It was a birthday gift from my mom,” Chaz said softly. His birthday was eight months prior, and I’d never smelled it on him before or heard him mention it.

  “Well, it smells nice,” I told him. “New shirt?” Why stop when I was on a roll?

  “It was a birthday gift from my grandmother,” he replied, squirming in his seat. He was such a bad liar, but I chose not to call him on it.

  “Well, Grandma Gertie has great taste.” She totally did not have good taste and another reason I knew he was holding out on me. Again. I remember very well the hideous things she bought him in the past. I nearly lost my cool when I recalled the knitted sweater she made him during his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase. It was the most disgusting color green I’d ever seen and had sea turtles all over it; as if that was anywhere close. His mother made him wear it to school where it had an unfortunate accident with ket
chup and mustard at lunch and couldn’t be saved. That sweater was so ugly that no one asked how Chaz got his hands on those two condiments on sausage and pancake day.

  “That combination of blues and grays makes your pretty blue eyes pop. I’ll have to ask Grannie where she got it so I can see if they have any that would look good on me.”

  “Macy’s,” Chaz said quickly as if he didn’t want me to call her. “She left the tag on it.”

  “So, who bought you the brown leather half boots?” I asked. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. Hmm… Your aunt Sandra.”

  “Hanging around that detective has rubbed off on you. Can’t get nothing past you,” Chaz said sarcastically.

  I wanted to come back at him with a snarky reply about Gabe rubbing off on me every chance he got, but I didn’t. It was obvious to me that Chaz was going through something that he didn’t want to discuss. He gave the excuse about the video games, and I thought there might be a little bit of truth there, but I suspected that something else was going on.

  “You look and smell very nice,” I told him. It was good to see some color on his cheeks; even if it was because he was slightly embarrassed over dressing up to see Dr. Dimples.

  “Thank you.”

  Diva softly growled her displeasure from inside her cat carrier on Chaz’s lap. “I’m not sure Diva agrees, but you know how fickle she can be. Don’t take her opinion to heart,” I told him. “She just wants me to speed up so she can get to rubbing her head against her favorite vet’s dimpled chin.” I saw Chaz squirm in his seat and I knew he was thinking about rubbing a certain head of his against the good doctor’s square chin.

  Alyssa smiled brightly at us from behind her desk when we entered the waiting room. “Well don’t you just look adorable this morning, Chaz.”

  “Uh… thank you,” he muttered. “I’ll take Diva and have a seat while you fill out the paperwork,” Chaz told me.

  “Better yet,” said Dr. Delicious as he stepped out of his office, “why don’t you and Diva come with me. I’ll get started with her checkup while Josh fills out the paperwork.”