The Man I Love (The Fish Tales, #1)(52)
Detective Khoury sat Erik down by a window. A woman brought him some tea.
“Start from the beginning,” Khoury said.
Erik tried, but it was hard to tell a coherent story. His mind kept dissolving and melding back together, losing the thread. He did better answering when Khoury asked him things.
“When was the last time you saw James?”
“About ten days ago. He left school after a suicide attempt. I saw him the day before.”
“Where?”
“He came over to my house. I live with Will Kaeger. The guy they just took to the hospital with my girlfriend.”
“He came to your house. Was he your friend?”
“He was in my circle of friends, yes. But not like my best pal or anything.”
“How did he seem to you that night?”
“Strung out. Stressed out. Sad. A lot of people were mad at him.”
“Why?”
“Few reasons. Couple weeks before he was high in a rehearsal and he dropped my girlfriend. She twisted up an ankle and broke a finger.”
“Was disciplinary action taken against him?”
“No. Nobody could prove he was on something. I heard he hung with a crowd doing a lot of shit but I have no proof there either.”
“Why else were people mad at him?”
“Well right after the incident he failed. Not failed. I mean, he didn’t make his minimum GPA so he couldn’t dance in the concert. Will took over his role.”
“Will is your roommate?”
“Yes.”
“Were he and James friends?”
“Yeah. And they worked together on some choreography last semester.”
“Any idea why James would want to shoot him?”
Erik licked his lips. “I think James may have had a thing for Will. A lot of people thought that.”
“A thing?” the detective said.
“James is gay. Was gay. He had a thing for Will.”
“Is Will gay?”
“No, he’s straight. That’s his girlfriend over there.”
“So James had a crush on your straight roommate. They were friends to a degree and artistic collaborators as well. That was the extent of the relationship?”
“To my knowledge, yes.”
“Could there have been more?”
“Nothing that I saw.” Which was not a complete lie. He hadn’t ever seen James in Will’s bedroom. He once saw a pair of jeans on the floor and Will in a towel.
“Did you know James owned a gun?”
“No. I know his father and his brothers hunt.”
“You don’t hunt with a Glock.”
“His sister was in the army. Maybe it was hers.”
“Do you know his sister?”
“No, she died. Last February. In Saudi Arabia.”
“I see.”
“But how could it have been her gun, wouldn’t the Army have taken it back?”
“A Glock isn’t Army issue, no. Do you have any idea why he would have wanted to shoot your girlfriend?”
Erik shook his head, his throat tight. “She didn’t do anything to him.”
“Why would he have wanted to shoot you?”
“I don’t think he did.”
The detective tilted his head. “He shot the windows of the lighting booth out. He must have known you were in there.”
Numb and stunned, Erik went on shaking his head. “He liked me.”
“In what way?”
“As a friend.”
“When he came over to your house the night before he attempted suicide, what did he want?”
“To talk.”
“To Will or to you?”
“He was out in the backyard, staring up at the window. We all woke up and I said I’d go down.”
“Why you?”
“He liked me.” He showed Khoury the penny, told him what it meant. Told what happened, as much as he could remember. “He trusted me. I know he did.”
The detective again took him through what happened in the theater. “You came out of the booth?”
“Yes.”
“That was an insane thing to do, Erik. You could’ve been killed.”
Erik’s face burned and he looked at the cop through narrowed eyes. “She’s my life,” he said. “She was shot down and bleeding to death on the stage. What was I supposed to do?”
Khoury put a gentling hand on Erik’s arm. “I said it was an insane thing. It was also a courageously beautiful thing. If it were my wife or daughter, I would have gone out too.”
“You’re a cop. It’s your job to go out,” Erik muttered, staring between his knees to the floor.
“True. Which makes your insane act all the more beautiful. Still, I won’t want to be around when your mother gets her hands on you.”
She doesn’t know where I am, Erik thought. “Jesus, she’s gonna kill me,” he whispered absently.
The interview went on a while longer. The detective repeated a lot of the questions, twisting them into different angles. Erik’s answers, though not articulate, stayed consistent. Finally Khoury thanked him and gave him his card in case he remembered anything else.
“You might see me at the hospital later,” Khoury said. “But give me a ring even if you don’t. I know your girlfriend will be all right. But will you call and let me know?”