Page 13 of Brody
“It’s all right,” I said as gently as possible. “We’ll figure it out. If you did bury someone, I’m sure you had a good reason. There’s no point in jumping to conclusions until we know what happened.”
In an unusual offer of comfort, Pip crawled into Ellis’s lap. The little Chihuahua usually hated strangers, but he allowed Ellis to pet him and run fingers through his fur.
There was a reason dogs were often used as therapy animals, and I saw the proof right in front of me. Almost immediately, his breathing evened out and he calmed down.
“What, um…” His voice was so quiet I felt the vibration of his words more than I heard them. “What were you talking about earlier?”
“Earlier? You mean when I was out on the porch?”
He nodded, uncurling from his defensive posture a bit while also holding Pip closer to his chest. “I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but I heard you and the others talking about a body you found. What, um, what was it?”
There was an almost audible click in my mind as the mystery of his sudden panic snapped into place. “Oh, no. Magnus and I did discover a body buried on our property recently, but I promise you, there’s no way you were the one who buried it.”
As succinctly as I could, I explained about the one hundred and twenty-five year old body we’d uncovered. I mostly stuck to the relevant details, skipping over the unsavory parts like the objects in the coffin that people were following over the secret mausoleum, and the fact that there seemed to be some sort of cult connected to the whole thing.
He must have guessed that I was leaving some things out. As he listened to my explanation, he opened his mouth several times as if to ask a question, but he always stopped himself, shook his head, and stayed quiet.
It was for the best. Ellis had enough on his plate now. He didn’t need to be getting involved with our affairs.
The most important thing was that the body we’d found had died over a century ago, and presumably been buried not long after. There was no way that Ellis could have been involved.
“But what if I was?” Ellis whispered so he was nearly drowned out by the sound of the wind rustling through the trees. “Not with the body you found, obviously, but somewhere out there is a body that I buried. What if I did something bad? What if I killed them? Maybe losing my memories was a good thing. I don’t want them back if it means remembering something horrible.” This time, even Pip’s comfort wasn’t enough to keep him from getting worked up as he started shifting back and forth where he sat. “That’s selfish of me. If I killed someone then I deserve to remember what I’ve done. Maybe I should go back to the police. Turn myself in. If I really did hurt someone then I should be locked up.”
He moved as if to stand up, like he was going to run off to the cops right that moment.
I acted on instinct and grabbed him by the back of the neck, forcing him to sit back down. Once he was seated again, I still didn’t let go and continued to hold him by the neck, even going so far as shaking him a bit.
It was a ridiculous sight. This was a large man in his early forties, yet I was scruffing him as though he were a misbehaving kitten.
No matter how ridiculous, though, it worked. Almost as soon as I grabbed onto him, he immediately calmed down. He didn’t even try to fight me as he slumped on the ground, clearly exhausted.
“Stop,” I ordered him. “There’s no use getting worked up. We don’t know what happened, and your memory isn’t reliable. You’re just going to get yourself hurt running off into the dark, and that’s not going to help anything.”
When I was sure he wouldn’t try running off again, I let him go. For a moment, I considered apologizing for handling him soroughly, but he wasn’t complaining, and it had worked, so I kept my apology to myself.
Through it all, he’d still kept a gentle hold on Pip. The Chihuahua didn’t even look startled as he continued to sit in the other man’s lap, perfectly content.
Ellis gave the dog’s fur a few strokes before turning to look at me.
“If I get my memories back, and it turns out that I did hurt someone, will you make sure I turn myself in?”
I doubted the situation would be so simple, but that wasn’t what he wanted to hear right now. All he wanted was some reassurance, so I agreed.
“Yes. I’ll drag you to the police myself if I must. But not until we know exactly what happened. For now, you need to get some rest. Come on. I’ll take you back to the house.”
It turned out that Ellis was more exhausted than he initially seemed. Even once we got him standing, he was unstable on his feet. I had to escort him all the way to the guest room and practically tuck him into bed like a child. He was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, and to my surprise Pip chose to curl up on the bed next to him.
Looking down at the sleeping man, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
What had I gotten myself into?
Leaving the bedroom, I turned off the light and closed the door as quietly as possible. Near the front door to the house, I looked out the front window where Magnus and Trent were still sitting. This was exactly where Ellis had been standing earlier when he overheard us, but now I was the eavesdropper.
When I’d left, Magnus and Trent had each been occupying their own chairs, but now Trent had moved over so he was sitting on the arm of Magnus’s chair. I wasn’t worried about the furniture. Magnus and I were both on the hefty side, so I’d built all the furniture extra sturdy. Even if all three of us plus Creed piled onto the chair it would still be able to support us.
No, what brought me up short was the way Trent was leaning into Magnus’s space so they could whisper intimately to each other.
In all the years I’d known Magnus, he hadn’t dated many men, and those he had dated didn’t last more than a few weeks at most. This was different. Trent had already lasted longer than any previous lover before and was slotting into Magnus’s life with an ease that said he’d probably be staying for a long time.
