Page 10 of Rising Storm

Gareth took the rental car the next day, leaving Helix at the motel. He picked up a bouquet of flowers and drove to the cemetery where his uncle was buried. After parking, he walked through the rows until he got to the small headstone and set the flowers in front of it. He settled onto the grass, the sun beating down on his head. Slipping his sunglasses off his head, he then plopped the glasses on and stared at the place Sam rested, his heart feeling heavy.

“I miss you so much,” he said, voice raspy. Clearing his throat, he continued. “I live in Maine now. I know, crazy, right? But not as crazy as what I’m doing. Remember that guy I was investigating while you were sick? Hayrick Letsen? He blackmailed a bunch of kids into being thieves and stole a lot of things. I’m helping to get those things back to their rightful owners and also helping to find all the thieves, so they know they’re free. I know how it sounds. But you would love what I’m doing. It would have been right up your alley. You always did have a thing for the underdogs.”

He picked a sliver of grass and ran it between his fingers. “The guys miss you, too. Carter and Liam aren’t on the force anymore. They’re sort of floundering so I’m trying to talk them into helping me up in Maine. I think they’re going to go. Isaac is still working, but I get the feeling he’s antsy as well. And you wouldn’t believe Quincy. He’s taken over running this thing just like he always ran our work. He’s a born leader, that one. And he’s so in love. You would have loved Lane—that’s Quincy’s boyfriend.”

He dropped the piece of grass and smoothed his hands over his thighs. “No romance for me, though I am attracted to someone. Someone completely inappropriate, as usual. You know me. He’s nothing like Jake, but then you never liked Jake.” Gareth thought of his on- and off-again ex and frowned. “But I don’t want to think about him. This guy I’m attracted to is all prickly edges. He’s not in the closet, which is a nice change. I have to work with him to steal back a statuette. You’ll remember it. Rising Storm. I’m headed to see Larry after I leave here, in fact. Hope he’s still volunteering at the house he funds.” Gareth stood and stared down at the headstone. He missed Sam so much—it was like a part of him was gone. “Thanks for raising me and being the kind of father anyone would be lucky to have.”

Gareth walked back to the rental and got in, grimacing at the heat. He started the car and turned the AC on high. It blew hot air into his face. The dash said it was one hundred and one degrees outside, so inside the car it was much higher. Sweat dripped down his forehead and he wiped it off with one hand and steered the car out of the cemetery.

It didn’t take long to drive to the LGBTQ house where he’d spent a lot of his teen years. Rising Star was in a nice part of OKC, surrounded by neighborhoods. The building itself was a small one, one story with a colorful rainbow flag hanging beside the front door. When he walked in, the first person he saw was Larry, much older now and laughing as he played ping pong with one of the kids. He completely missed the small, white ball when it came to his side. Looked like he still played badly. Gareth couldn’t stop his grin. He’d played ping pong with Larry many times.

Larry spotted him and let out a whoop, which startled the kid he was playing against. He set down his paddle and strode toward Gareth. He was a short man with thinning hair. In his sixties now, he was still fit and walked with a lot of energy in his step. He came up to Gareth and pulled him into a hearty hug.

“It’s good to see you!”

“You, too,” Gareth replied, hugging him back. “I see you’re still trying to get your ping pong game going.”

“And still failing. I’ll never give up, though.” He beckoned the kid over. “This is Peter. He’s been here a few months. Peter, this is Gareth and he used to come here as a teen, then volunteered later. We miss you around here.”

“Nice to meet you,” Peter said, holding out his hand politely.

Gareth shook it, taking in the thin teen with the brightly colored long T-shirt over board shorts. The boy smiled at him, then went back to the table where another kid started playing with him.

“Come into my office and catch up,” Larry said as he turned and started walking toward the same room he’d used when Gareth had been coming here. Inside, it was cool. It still held a desk and two chairs, still had all the personal touches in framed pictures, including the one of Larry and his boyfriend who had died.

Larry didn’t sit behind his desk, taking one of the two chairs in front of it. “Sit down. Tell me what you’ve been up to. You moved out of state, right?”

He sat. “Yeah, I live in Maine now. I moved up there with Quincy.”

“You two together now?”

“Nah, he has a boyfriend. I just didn’t have anything left here for me and Quincy is my family. We’re working to set something up there that’s pretty cool. Helps out kids, too.”

“I always knew you had the work in you.”

“I can’t believe you’re still here.” Or that theplacewas still there. Some people had tried to shut it down in the past, but Larry had always managed to keep it going.

“I love this place. Always have.” Larry crossed one ankle over his knee. “We’ve got six kids staying here right now, but I think a couple more are considering it. If I could get all the kids off the streets, I would. So what are you doing back in Oklahoma? I heard about your uncle and I’m sorry.”

Gareth decided not to tell him about Rising Storm until he had it back in his possession. There wasn’t a reason to get his hopes up should things go wrong. “I just came back for a visit. I still have good friends here. Is Sarah still working here, too?”

Larry nodded. “She’s off today, but yes, she’s still keeping this place in tip-top shape.”

“Are you still funding it by yourself?”

“We actually have a couple more sponsors now. More support from the community. It warms my heart. If there’d been a house like this when I was a kid, my life would have been a lot different.”

Gareth knew Larry had had a rough childhood, but he’d overcome it and ended up in oil and gas, becoming a millionaire by forty. And he’d taken a lot of his money and turned it around into this house to help kids who were like he’d been. There might be more sponsors now, but he knew Larry still funded the majority of the place.

“Like I said, we miss you around here. We’ve got a few more volunteers now, some you may know since two of them work on the police force. And your friend Liam shows up now and then.”

“Liam’s a good guy. Though I’m trying to get him to move up north with me, so you may lose one volunteer.”

“You help kids there, you said?”

“Well, most are in their early twenties now, but there are still some in their teens. But yeah, it’s not the same thing you’re doing here, but I’d like to see about setting up a similar place there.” And once he thought of it, it felt like the right thing to do. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before and he was sure Quincy, Lane, and the others would be interested in setting up a shelter for homeless LGBTQ teens. Excitement thrummed through his veins. He’d been trying to come up with something to appease his restlessness and this could be just the thing. And there would be a true poetic justice in using Letsen’s money for it.

“Let me know if you do. I’m always available for advice.”

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