Bobby had driven over to Jeremiah's house after the talk he'd had with Jack. He needed to talk to someone, and who better than Jerry?
"Here you are," he said as he handed Bobby a small cup of coffee.
"Thanks."
"So, what did you find out?"
Bobby sighed as he ran his finger over the rim of his mug.
"Jack's gay," he replied flatly.
Jerry raised his eyebrows.
"See, I told your ass to quit making fun of him. I knew it."
"Yeah…I know," he sighed, "The things is, the guy he's with, well, he's into trouble. He killed a guy, and Jack saw it. He's been threatening to hurt him unless he keeps his mouth shut…"
"Is he?" Jerry interrupted.
"Well, yeah. The only person he's told is me as far as I know."
"Then he has nothing to worry about, so long as you keep your mouth shut."
Bobby was quiet.
"Are you saying I should leave this alone?"
Jerry sighed.
"What I'm saying is, Jack's an adult, and he can handle his own life."
They were quiet for a while as they both entered into their own trains of thought. Bobby took some sips from his drink every so often, before Jerry spoke up again.
"Is he in love with him?"
"What?"
"This dude…does Jack love him?"
"I…I don't know. The only thing Jack said is that he wouldn't hurt him and he knew it because they were sleeping together."
Jerry looked thoughtful.
"What do we do about this then? I mean…we can't be havin' this guy over for Christmas, you know? And if Jack loves him…"
"Man, this guy isn't going to be getting anywhere near Jackie as far as I'm concerned."
"Bobby…"
"Jerry, no. I'm serious. This kid's not good news."
"How do you know?"
"Have you not been listening?"
"No, I mean. Like Jack said, he won't hurt him…"
"He killed a guy!"
"And so have you, but that doesn't make you a bad person."
"He killed a guy because he was irritating him, I had a reason."
"And how do you know he didn't have a reason. He might not have told anyone what it was, but he might have a reason!"
They were quiet, staring each other down.
"Whatever, Jerry…I'm gonna go back to Ma's house," Bobby finally stated before getting up to leave.
"Thanks for the coffee…" he said before closing the door behind him.
---
Jack was sitting on the couch watching some TV, trying to occupy his mind. He didn't want to think about anything that had happened in the past few days. It was too crazy. His life had suddenly been thrown up and down all in a manner of minutes when he'd woken up, he didn't know how much more he could take.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Hello?" He questioned as he answered it.
"Hi, my name is Detective Briscoe, do you mind if I come in and ask you a few questions?"
Jack nodded and stepped aside, allowing the officer to enter his home.
"Can I get you anything?" He offered, not really wanting to talk to any police.
"No thanks, I'm ok."
Jack nodded, "so what do you need then?"
"I need to know if you've ever seen this man?" He asked as he held up a small photo of a thin and attractive man.
"Yes…" he choked, "his name is Evan."
"Yeah, I know. So, have you seen him lately? He's been reported missing and we also like him for a murder case."
Jack swallowed hard, a pit forming in his stomach.
"I, um, no. I haven't. I haven't seen him for weeks."
"See, we happen to know that you saw him on the night of the death of Aarin Pickens."
Jack fiddled with his hands.
"Yeah…um, well, that was a few weeks ago, right?"
"Yes."
"So I didn't lie to you just now."
The cop laughed, amused.
"Relax, son. I'm not here to hurt you. So, did you see Aarin with Evan?"
"Yes…well, only at the bar. Aarin left after Evan…so they didn't leave together…"
"How do you know?"
"I, um, I was with Evan."
"Yeah? For how long."
"The whole night."
"Can anyone else confirm that?"
"Um…well, I don't know, we were at my place and we didn't really stop anywhere or do anything, we were in a hurry to get home, you know?"
"You live together?"
Jack paused.
"Yeah, he's my roommate. Makes having the house cheaper."
The cop nodded.
"Ok then…we'll keep in touch."
Jack nodded, eager for the cop to leave.