Page 45 of Jared

“Or maybe we'll get coffee, they'll let you talk enough that they have something to file a harassment complaint over, and we'll lose our jobs,” James muttered.

“Don't be like that,” R.W. said, opening the car door and getting out. James sighed, took the key from the ignition, and hurried to follow R.W.

Asshole couldn't even wait for me. Just had to hurry after them.

Steve eyed the two men sitting across the table. “Okay, look. I'll admit that Desmond did move into my building. I can also tell you that Desmond is a good guy. I'll give him your card, and if he knows anything, he'll no doubt give you a call. Now, as to why he moved, it's quite simple. He and my boyfriend work together and decided to move in together and split the bills. Apartments like the ones in my building don't come up very often, so they decided to get it while the getting was good, especially as Des can afford to keep renting it even after Jared and I get married.”

“We'd appreciate that,” James said, proffering a card. Steve took it. “And I doubt we'll need to sit outside your building again. We were just hoping to catch him, so we could ask him for any information he might have.”

Steve turned the card over between his fingers. “I see,” he said in a tone that let the two agents know he wasn't buying it. “I hope you catch these guys.” he rose from his seat, quickly followed by Tim doing the same. “Scum like them need to be locked up and the key thrown away.”

James nodded. R.W. sat stiffly, saying nothing.

Steve pocketed the card. James watched the two men leave. “Well, that could have gone worse, and we might just get a lead on our two perps.”

R.W. glanced over at him. “See the little guy sitting at your 4 o'clock? He focused on the two guys as they came in and has been trying to listen in on our conversation. I've seen him before, on footage from some of the clubs, and I'm pretty sure I've seen him go into the apartment building.”

James glanced at him sharply. “Think he knows something?”

“Yeah, I do. Let's go and see what he does.”

It didn't take long. The man followed them out the door and down the sidewalk at what he obviously thought was a discrete distance and was caught off guard when R.W. suddenly whirled about and confronted him. “Can we help you?”

The man blanched. “I- I'm sorry. You're looking for two men who've been raping guys at the clubs?”

“Yeah,” R.W.said. “Do you have any information? Would you like to go somewhere and share it?”

The man licked his lips nervously. “I-I...”

“Look,” R.W. bulldozed ahead. “I'll make this easy on you. I've seen you on footage from a couple of the clubs.”

“Well, shit,” he muttered. “Um, okay, I might know something.”

“Do yo gave me some names that were obviously fake and umm... they tried to attack me after I left the club.”

“Then what happened? Did they run way?”

“Easy, R.W., let the man talk.”

“They didn't exactly run at first.”

“Okay, so what did happen?”

“You guys are going to keep looking until you catch them?”

R.W. gave a predatory smile. “We'll hunt them down if it's the last thing we ever do. There's no place they can hide. No stone will be left unturned, I promise you.”

The young man looked alarmed, then puzzled as a strange look of recognition quickly passed across his face. He leaned in towards James and gave a subtle sniff. The look of alarm crossed his face again. “Oh, fuck, I'm going to have to come clean no matter what.” He looked at James. “can this dude be trusted?” he jabbed a thumb towards R.W.

“Yes,” James answered.

“I mean, really, really trusted. Like, he won't share secrets that aren't his to share?”

“What the fuck kind of question is that?” barked R.W.

“Fuck it,” the man said, grabbing onto both James and R.W. and dragging them towards the back of the shop. Or at least, where the back of the shop used to be, as now, there was something else there in the alley, and James wasn't sure what it even was. Before he could ask or R.W. lodge a protest, they were through it and then they were simply somewhere else.

James and R.W. looked around wildly.