Chapter 29

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Steve Cates sat at the table in the interview flipping the aluminum tab on his Coke can back and forth as he glanced around the room before turning his focus to the door; waiting. He was still in his school uniform but his tie was loosened and his shirttails un-tucked.

"He looks nervous." Sam commented from the other side of the one-way mirror.

"Everyone looks nervous in an interview room." Viv said as she tilted her head to study Steve.

After Martin and Viv interviewed Adam they went to his apartment but there was no sign that Jeremy had ever made it there. The key was still exactly where Adam said it would be. The entire team was watching Steve and wondered if he was the key to Jeremy's whereabouts.

"Danny, come with me, let's go see if Steve has any reason to be nervous." Jack said as he patted Danny on the shoulder for him to follow.

"Don't we have to wait for his parents?" Danny asked.

"Don't have to, he turned eighteen two weeks ago." Jack smiled as he reached for the doorknob. Martin stepped aside so Danny could pass before returning to stand alongside Viv and Sam. They watched as Danny and Jack entered the interview room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Jack said, his voice sounding cool and unconcerned. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about Jeremy Owen."

"I already told everything I knew to your other agents, Ken and Barbie." Steve smiled confidently.

Martin groaned at Steve referring to him and Sam as the Mattel dolls. He knew that Danny would never let him live that one down. He glanced at Sam who gave him a sympathetic smile as Viv chuckled.

Meanwhile, Danny's lips threatened to twitch into a grin at the comment but he managed to avoid letting on that he found it amusing. Instead he leaned back in his chair and said, "Well we'd like to ask you a few more. For starters, how long were you and Jeremy seeing each other?"

Steve gave them a perplexed look and said, "Well, we've been best friends since grade school if that's what you mean."

Jack leaned forward and said, "So you're saying that the two you were not romantically involved?"

"No, no way." Steve adamantly replied before he began to laugh nervously.

Danny glanced over at Jack who said, "Well, that's interesting because according to another friend of Jeremy's he said he was seeing someone at school who happened to be a football player."

"Well, it's not me." Steve protested.

"Since it's not you and you are his best friend, can you tell us who it could be?" Jack pushed, giving Steve a little smirk in the process.

"No." Steve answered as little beads of sweat appeared on his upper lip.

"But you did know he's homosexual right?" Danny asked smiling.

Steve shook his head and replied, "No, I had no idea."

"Hmm…because when we asked if you were romantically involved you didn't seem shocked or even surprised." Jack commented as he clicked a pen in his right hand. "And I know if I just found out my best friend since grade school was gay I'd be shocked."

Jack stared Steve down for a few beats as the young man's eyes darted between the two agents.

"You don't have a response?" Danny asked, tilting his head to get a better look at Steve's expression.

They stared at a silent Steve for a moment before Danny began, "You're awfully quiet Steve. Is it because you've been exposed? That now everyone will know that you and Jeremy were more than friends? That you were actually lovers." Steve's jaw clenched and his nostrils flared as anger began to rise up inside of him. "It's a big deal isn't it? I mean, Jeremy's the quarterback, you're the center. That's an awfully personal relationship, particularly for two gay men. And then there's the relationship Jeremy had with Liana; your twin sister. I understand she looks a lot like you."

"Shut up!" Steve shouted as he kicked his chair back and stood up at the table. "Shut up! I'm not gay!"

Danny stood up to meet Steve's gaze as he leaned across the table and firmly said, "Did you get this angry with Jeremy when he said he was going to tell everyone he was gay? That he was going to expose you both?"

"He should have shut up! I warned him, I told him I wasn't gay! That we were just messing around but he had to ruin everything!" Steve argued as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Danny's voice lowered and her sternly said, "You seem pretty emotional, Steve. Did things get this heated when Jeremy told you his plan to come out of the closet?"

"I….I didn't mean to do it but he wouldn't listen. He was being selfish. He didn't care what he was going to do to me, too!" Steve cried.

Jack calmly spoke up and said, "Then tell us what happened."

Steve looked at Jack and fell back into his chair, "It was an accident. I didn't mean to…."

"I know you didn't, just tell us what happened." Jack gently urged.

Steve looked down at the table and said, "I saw him right before practice. He left a note in my locker to meet him in the storage room."

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Steve entered the storage room where all the different sports equipment was located. Along the walls were volleyball nets, wrestling mats, weights, basketballs, baseball bats and other sports paraphernalia. He looked around before closing the door behind him.

"Jeremy, are you in here?" Steve asked into the darkened room.

"Yeah, I'm here." Jeremy said stepping out from behind a shelf. He looked tired and worried.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Steve asked gruffly.

Jeremy took a few steps forward and said, "I told my parents this morning."

"You what? What did you tell them?" Steve walked briskly to meet Jeremy where he stood.

"I told them I was gay."

"Why in the hell would you tell them that?" Steve's voice was low and anxious.

"I'm tired of pretending. I want to be able to be open about who I am, I've seen what trying to be something your not can do to you." Jeremy said softly.

"Well, what are people going to think? They know were best friends, they know we spend lots of time together. They're going to think I'm a fag too." Steve seethed.

Jeremy looked hurt and said, "Who cares what they think? Besides, maybe you need to start accepting who you are too."

"Shut up! I know who I am." Steve argued. "Besides, I told you, what we do is our business, not anyone else's. So you better shut up and go tell your parents that you were joking, that you take it back."

"What? No, that's crazy. Besides, I'm not going home."

"Yes you are. You will go back to the way things were before." Steve insisted as he began pacing the length of the small storage room like a feral cat.

"What are you going to do? Hit me again? Give me another black eye?" Jeremy asked defiantly.

"I told you that I was sorry about that. It's just sometimes you make me so mad when you get off on one of your 'free to be you and me' rants. Why can't you just be happy with the way things are?" Steve asked as he whacked some basketballs off one of the shelves.

"No matter what you do I'm not going home again. I wasn't happy with the way things were before." Jeremy stood firm, he was getting upset and his voice raised a few octaves. "I think if you would just admit who you are maybe you would lose all that anger you keep bottling up or taking out on me. Just admit that you are a gay, a fag, a queer."

Steve shot Jeremy a look of pure anger and shoved Jeremy back as he shouted, "SHUT UP!" Jeremy, surprised by the force of the shove, fell back and hit the back of his head on the corner of a metal shelf before falling to the floor. Steve looked at Jeremy, who was lying perfectly still.

Steve, shocked by what he did, immediately knelt down next to Jeremy's lifeless body whispering, "Jeremy?"

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"I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident." Steve said with a quivering voice. "I'm so sorry." Then he began to sob.

Jack gave him a moment before he gently asked, "Where is Jeremy, Steve?"

Steve looked up at Jack, his eyes swimming with tears and said, "In the woods behind the school."