Page 56 of Sundowners
Roman
I metup with Rey and we hung out for a bit, but things were dead at the Boardwalk. We even drove his unmarked car up and down the streets in the neighborhood to make sure they weren’t lurking. At three, his jaw cracking each time he yawned, Rey said we should call it a night. We went back to the station to pick up my car and then went back to the house. Rey mumbled something about things to discuss in the morning, and then trudged up the stairs to go to bed.
I checked my texts, but no response from Creed. I knew he had to work the following night, so I decided that if I hadn’t heard from him, I was going to Puesta to confront him.
Like, what the fuck happened?
Something spooked him at the bar, and I had no idea if it had to do with the attacks or if it was the guy he’d run into, but he’d acted so weird.
I was still brooding the next morning over coffee, hating how much I’d let this situation affect my mood. I knew better than to let a man have such sway over me. You’d think I would have learned after Basajuan.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up.
“Hey, Tita.”
“Roman, we need you down here this morning, whenever you can come. Wake Reynaldo, too. There’s been a development in the case and I need you.”
I loved hearing her say those words more than I should. Talk about too much importance placed on other people’s opinions of me.
“Let me get cleaned up and I’ll be right down.” It was Friday and I didn’t have class, only office hours. I could reschedule them.It’s good to be the prof. Okay, the TA. But I was ABD, and would have my degree soon.
She thanked me and hung up just as Rey came groaning down the stairs.
“Fuuuuuu this special-duty shit is fucking with my program.”
“Don’t worry, there’s coffee. Want me to throw on some eggs?”
“You better,” he said, scratching his balls at the foot of the stairs. Then he stopped and looked around. “Wait, you don’t have company, do you?”
“No.”
He laughed. “No? After the way you two lovebirds were acting yesterday morning, I thought for sure—”
“Yeah, you thought wrong.”
“Ouch. Trouble already?”
“You know what—” I’d been about to chew him out, but that would have been the immature Roman move he’d expect. “Yeah. Something happened last night before I came and met you and…I don’t know…it’s like he was all in, and then he pulled back.” I told him the entire series of events at the bar while I cooked us breakfast. The night before, I’d only had time to tell him that the assholes had shown up before we went on a wild goose chase trying to find them.
“It’s just…he told me some stuff yesterday that I don’t feel at liberty to share, but it was like he’d seen a ghost at that bar. Something about these attacks and the guy from the band…it’s got him really spooked. He’s keeping something from me, and I don’t know whether to push it or let him tell me when he’s ready.”
Rey finished his first cup of coffee and started to pour a second. “You want Tito Rey or Officer Dicknaldo here?”
I chuckled. “That’s tough. I don’t think I ever want Dicknaldo, but in this case—”
“Yeah, you gotta find out what he’s holding back. Especially now that you’re officially working with the PD.”
I nodded and finished up the eggs. “That’s what I was thinking.”
Rey took his plate of eggs and we sat at the table. What a difference a day made, huh?
“Do you think he knows more than he’s told you about the suspects?”
I shrugged. “I think they’re somehow connected to him, but I don’t think he knows why or how, although something about last night…I get the sense that he’s trying to protect me from something, but I don’t need protection.” I stabbed a bite of eggs a little hard and my fork scraped the plate.
Rey snorted and made a face as he repeated what I said.
“Fuck off,” I said, throwing a piece of toast at him.
