Chapter 20 - Fallout

Brian's eyes opened slowly. Soft breath on his neck caught his attention and he shifted carefully to see the face of his own personal dose of sunshine calm and peaceful on his arm. "Good," Brian thought. "He's still asleep."

Brian carefully extricated himself from Justin, moving quietly into the next room, gently shut the door behind him and pulled out his cell phone.

After a few rings, Carl's voice came across the line. "Mornin', Brian. How's Justin?"

"Fine." Brian had no time for pleasantries. "I needed to talk to you before Justin talks to the police. I want to make sure he doesn't get charged with anything."

"Why? What did he do?"

"Remember Cody?"

"How could I forget? Half the force hated him and his pink posse and the rest loved him."

"Just before Justin stopped hanging out with Cody, that little shit got a gun and gave it to Justin. They used it to scare the hell out of Chris Hobbs."

"Did anybody get hurt?"

"No, but it was pretty nasty." Brian took a deep breath. "Apparently Cody wanted Justin to kill Hobbs. Justin walked away, but not before he put the gun into Hobbs mouth and threatened him."

"Christ." Carl thought for a moment. "Criminal charges are possible, but not likely. In theory, it's classified as an assault with a deadly weapon. In practice, it was over a year ago and nobody got hurt except for a suspect in a mass murder."

"How can we be sure? I don't want to see Justin charged."

"Get Justin a lawyer before he talks to anybody. Right now it's all hearsay. Hobb's word against Justin's. If Justin doesn't talk, there's nothing. Problem is, if Justin doesn't talk, the police might get annoyed and threaten charges. Then it would all depend on Cody as the only eye witness. " Carl cleared his throat, clearly thinking. "Another thing to consider is the fact that it gives Hobbs an additional motive, which could help make the case against him."

"How much time do we have to get a lawyer?"

"Not very. This is a high profile case. People don't like bombs. They won't want to drag Justin back to Pittsburgh. He's a victim and harassing victims always looks bad. Justin should expect a call from the New York police department, most likely a homicide detective, today or tomorrow."

"Okay. What did you find out about the case against Hobbs?"

"It's pretty good. Hobbs works in construction. They had dynamite to demolish a building. He had access to everything and some of it's missing. He was also seen on Liberty Avenue that day, near Babylon. The detective tells me that he's so homophobic, he's not really sane. They might actually get a confession out of him. He'd be proud of it."

"Christ. What an asshole."

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Carl. Is Emmett home? I need to talk to him."

"Sure."

Brian waited for Carl to hand off the phone, his mind churning.

Emmett's normally sugary voice was muted as he came on the line. "Brian, how's Justin?"

"I don't think it's really hit him yet. That's why I'm calling."

"What can I do?"

"Get your ass on a plane to New York today."

"Beg pardon?"

"I can't stay. I've got clients lined up in Pittsburgh. The meetings are all intended to reassure them that my move to New York isn't going to impact their bottom-line. What's worse, Justin knows all about it. He knows I can't afford to miss an appointment, which makes it very difficult for me to make up an excuse to stay here with him."

"And knowing Justin, he'd be insulted if he thought you believed he couldn't handle it."

"No shit. And it's not true, he can handle anything. He's resilient."

"He's had to be."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean he has to handle it alone, does it?" Brian groused. He could feel a headache coming on. "So, are you coming?"

Emmett was silent for a moment. "Brian, I just want to say, the thought of asking you this makes me nauseous." He sighed. "I'm only doing it for Justin."

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"I wasn't completely honest about why I was moving." Emmett sighed again. "I'm broke. I got fired over Drew and with the notoriety I lost a lot of clients. I was about to go back into retail. The job offer was a god-send. I can afford the flight, but not the cost of hiring someone to move everything. I just don't have it. You want me in New York, you'll have to lend me the money for it."

Brian made an irritated noise at the back of his throat. "If it'll get you up here to Justin, consider it a gift. I'll get Cynthia to set the whole thing up."

"In that case, I can be in New York today."

"Let's never mention this again, Honeycutt. I wouldn't want people to think I'd lost my mind by giving you money."

Emmett huffed out a small laugh. "Agreed. One other thing, Brian."

"What?"

Emmett smiled at the irritation in Brian's voice. "Don't call me Honeycutt."

Brian hung up the phone with a wry grin. Emmett would keep Justin sane. He walked over to his laptop to find a good defense attorney in New York. He sat back as a familiar name came up. This might be easier than he thought.

Justin had awakened to the scent of golden gardenias and the sound of movement in the next room. Not wanting to get up, Justin lay in bed, fingering his ring. A few minutes later, Brian came in, heading to the shower.

"Good morning." Justin said with a grin.

"You're up," Brian returned the smile.

Justin lifted the sheet slightly, looking under it. "Definitely."

Brian's laughter filled the room as he joined Justin in bed.

Don Renton, Pittsburgh's district attorney, leaned back in his chair and wondered, yet again, why anyone would set a bomb. Chris Hobbs was a homophobe, but was that enough for a jury? The train of thought was interrupted as his assistant, Larry Rourke, entered the office. From the look on Larry's face something interesting had happened. "What's up?" he asked, sitting up quickly.

"We just got a call from Lydia Avery on the bombing case."

Don immediately recognized the name. "Shit." The distinguished man rubbed a hand through his graying hair in frustration, leaving it standing upright. "Hobbs hired one of the best defense attorney's in New York? I'm surprised he can afford her." Don thought further. "Can she even practice here?"

"She's licensed in Pennsylvania but she didn't call about Hobbs. Do you want to take a guess?" Larry grinned as his boss glared at him. "She's representing Justin Taylor."

"The guy Hobbs hit in the head with a bat?" That was even more confusing. "Why would he need a lawyer? We just sent the request for an interview to NYPD for some background."

"Apparently the two of them have a lot of history. Avery says it speaks to motive, but that her client needs immunity from prosecution on one confrontation."

"Is that so?"

"It gets better." Larry smirked. "According to Avery, no one got hurt, no charges were brought and Hobbs isn't likely to talk about it. He'd find it embarrassing."

"Didn't you say you had somebody working for you who knew them both?"

"An intern - Miles Davey. He's a second year law student who went to St. James at the same time as Hobbs and Taylor. Told me he wasn't surprised Hobbs could set a bomb."

"Get him in here."

Minutes later, a short, rather plain-looking young man with glasses entered the room. "You wanted to see me?"

"Have a seat. You knew both Hobbs and Taylor at school?"

"We were in a lot of the same classes."

"Taylor has asked for immunity before talking and we don't know why. What can you tell me about the relationship between them?"

"I can tell you that you should give Justin immunity for anything short of killing Hobbs." Miles looked out the window for a moment, thinking. "The two of them didn't have much to do with each until our final year. Justin's an artist, straight-A student. Hobbs was a super jock and not too bright. Something happened part way through that year. I don't know what. Justin suddenly became Hobbs' favorite target."

"Target?"

"Hobbs was a vicious bully. He and his little gang of jocks made life hell for a lot of kids at St. James, including me. He got away with it because he was also captain of the football team, the star quarterback. His parents had a lot of influence. Hobbs focused in on Justin just before Justin came out. I remember being relieved he had somebody else to pick on."

"Do you think Hobbs knew Taylor was gay before anyone else?"

"I doubt it. He would have told everyone." Miles leaned sideways, rubbing his hand on his temple. "Not that Justin would have cared." Miles sat up with an odd look on his face. "Let me tell you one particular incident. It'll give you a good feel for both of them."

"One morning in class, the teacher was late. Hobbs was pulling his usual crap, calling me a faggot, pushing me around. Justin came in and told him to stop. The two of them started to get into it. I did nothing, just sat there like an idiot." Miles grinned ruefully. "It wasn't one of my prouder moments"

"I won't hold it against you." Don smiled. "We're all idiots in high school."

"The teacher came in, broke it up and blamed Justin for the fight. During the roll call, Hobbs called Justin a queer. The teacher ignored it and Justin called him on it." Miles eyes lit at the memory. "When the man refused to do anything about Hobbs, Justin told him to fuck off and got suspended. As usual, nothing happened to Hobbs."

"Brave kid."

"Justin changed my life – the bashing is what motivated me to go into law. I couldn't believe Hobbs got off with a slap on the wrist."

"I agree. My predecessor was an idiot."

Miles continued hesitantly, "Justin's bravery is probably what got his head bashed in."

"Why do you say that?"

"Justin was openly gay. He started a club, had a senator out to the school to talk about gay rights. It drove Hobbs nuts, especially when Justin invited his boyfriend to the prom."

"I read about that."

Miles peered at Don over his glasses. "Have you made the big connection yet?"

Don exchanged a glance with Larry. "What do you mean?"

"The boyfriend - the one who ended Hobbs' football career with a baseball bat to the knee. You know who he is?"

Don thought for a moment. "I don't recall."

Miles raised an eyebrow and smiled. "None other than Brian Kinney - the owner of Babylon."

Don turned to Larry with a triumphant smile. "Call Avery and give Taylor immunity."

"And Kinney?"

"Give him immunity, too. I think we want them both talking."

"I'll get right on it."