Foxe Hunt (20 page)

“Damn. That’s…that’s great.” He sounded teary.

“But Jeff. I wonder if you could tell me a few things. One, your neighbor reported some, well, odd behavior. Like you standing outside your house in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well…what were you doing?”

He snorted a laugh. “Getting away. Only as far away as I dared.

I didn’t like to leave Evan alone. It was bad enough I worked two jobs and was gone a lot. I knew he was depressed. But sometimes I just needed alone time. I could see him inside, just sitting there.

And yeah, it made me angry and it also made me a little bit sad. I sure wish he was still there to stare at.”

It made Skyler choke up a little. “I can see that.” And he could. Suspicion could be a dangerous thing. He could see himself doing something like that.

“And two?” said Jeff. “You said there were two things you needed to know?”

“Oh yeah. Why did Evan have a card for the Redlands Orchid Farm?”

“Orchid farm? No idea. Neither of us liked orchids. Hated
158 Haley Walsh

them, in fact.”

“Oh. Well, do you still have that card? I wonder if there was a name on it.”

“Sorry, Sky. I emptied that wallet of anything that wasn’t relevant. Tossed it.”

“Damn.”

“What’s this about?”

“I don’t know. Just thinking outside the box. By the way, do you want to come over this week?”

“No, my sister is coming to town. Wouldn’t you know it took a crisis like this to make amends with her?”

He hadn’t known Jeff had a sister, let alone that they were on the outs. “That’s great, Jeff.”

“Yeah. She’s going to stay with me. The house will be less lonely that way. And we can reconnect.”

“I’m glad.”

“Also…the funeral is Saturday.”

“What time?”

There was a pause and Skyler could hear him swallowing.

“Thanks, Sky,” he said quietly. “One o’clock at Mt. View in San Bernardino.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Skyler. I love you, dude.”

“I love you, too.”

God. A funeral. Well, it meant some sort of closure for Jeff and being reunited with his estranged family. Maybe some good could come from this, though Skyler wasn’t one to attribute these events to Fate or God. God couldn’t be
that
mean.

He automatically headed for home, feeling a little down, but as he drove and thought about it all, he hit the button for his GPS. “Redlands Orchid Farm,” he told it, and the calm female voice told him to, when possible, make a legal u-turn.

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He followed the instructions until he was driving down Alessandro and then across the railroad tracks to San Timoteo Canyon. Groves of orange trees offered vistas of green to his left, while the canyon flattened to a wide pasture on his right.

It wasn’t long until he saw a worn plywood sign with the orchid farm’s logo on it, along with an arrow pointing down a long dirt road.

Giving only a brief thought to his white Bug’s paint job, he turned onto the road and bumped along, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.

The late afternoon sun tinged the outlying pasture’s brown grass and mustard plants with a golden fringe of light. Turning with a bend in the road, he pulled up to a wide greenhouse and turned off the engine. A rusty tractor was parked off to the side under a large out-spreading oak tree. A flatbed trailer with a couple of empty plastic garden pots lying on it was hitched to the tractor, but there was no one and nothing else to be seen.

Skyler got out and stood by his car. He looked down at it and winced. Covered in dust. He sighed and walked toward the greenhouse. He tried to wipe the window to look inside but the glass was soaped from the inside so you couldn’t see in. He tried the door but it was locked with a substantial padlock. There were no posted hours of business. The only thing indicating what the place was at all was the logo above the door.

“You there!”

Skyler jumped ten feet, he was sure of it. With a hand over his heart he turned around. A man wearing dusty coveralls and a few days’ growth of gray whiskers was eyeing him. He clutched a rusty rake.

“We’re closed,” he said. His gaze rose to Skyler’s shiner.

He ducked his head, trying to hide it. “Oh. Well, I was wondering if there was someone around to talk to—”

“No, no one’s here.”

“What time tomorrow should I—?”

160 Haley Walsh

“Better call first.”

“I don’t have the number—”

“Ever hear of the internet?” He turned away and walked back seemingly into the underbrush, but Skyler noted a gray shack just behind the foliage. A dusty ATV was parked beside it and the man was headed for it. He glanced at Skyler once more before straddling the thing and starting it up with a roar and a belch of smoke.

Skyler returned to his car and got in. Why all the secrecy? And what was with the creepy Scooby-Doo caretaker?

But more importantly, what did Evan have to do with this orchid farm?

§ § §

He scarfed down a hasty dinner of instant macaroni and cheese and called Jamie.

“Want to do some investigating with me tonight?”

Jamie laughed. “Not another Nancy Boy Mystery!”

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

“Skyler, seriously, what are you getting into? I thought Sidney told you to lay off that stuff.”

“I know, but she’s the one who arrested the wrong guy. She has only herself to blame.”

“Oh, so this is about your friend Jeff? Okay, I’m in. Can I call Rudy?”

“Why not? Let’s get the whole Baker Street Irregulars together.”

§ § §

Jamie insisted they
not
call Philip because he was a spoilsport and would talk them out of it.

Which didn’t seem like such a bad option after all when Skyler turned down the dirt road in the dark with Jamie chatting nonstop beside him and Rodolfo clinging to his seat back.

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He turned off his headlights, hoping to be a little stealthier about it. And then he decided to park well up the road and walk the rest of the way in.

Jamie zipped his weathered Fossil leather jacket and looked down at his Converse All Star Duck boots. “These will get ruined,” he said.

“They’re just shoes,” muttered Skyler, using his flashlight discreetly.

“You say that, but you know it isn’t true.”

Rodolfo put his arm around Skyler. “Uh, Rodolfo, honey.

What are you doing?”

“It’s scary out here. I thought I’d protect you.”

Skyler could see Jamie’s smile even in the dark. “Rudy is so sweet, isn’t he?”

“He’s adorable, but he needs to keep his hands to himself.”

Skyler grabbed the hand on his shoulder and pushed it gently but firmly away. “I’ll be fine.”

“You used to be more fun, Skyler.”

“Yeah, I know. That was before…never mind.”

Jamie looked smug. “You were going to say ‘before Keith’

weren’t you.”

“I don’t know what’s so great about this
Keith
,” said Rodolfo, saying his name with particular vitriol.

Jamie snickered. “Are you
blind
? He’s fucking gorgeous, that’s what. And if he’s half as good in bed as he looks like he is—” He glanced at Skyler for confirmation. Skyler nodded enthusiastically.

“See? I think you should give Skyler some credit. He’s never had a boyfriend before and he’s just feeling out the new territory.”

Skyler sniffed. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Then he’s a Fuck Club member,” said Rodolfo.

“No, he isn’t that either. He’s not likely to ever be that.”

“Oh my God!” said Jamie, lurching to a halt.

162 Haley Walsh

“What? What is it?” Skyler waved his flashlight around, peering into the darkness ahead.

“Do you realize that this might be the end of the S.F.C. as we know it?”

“Jesus Christ,” breathed Skyler.

“No, I mean it. An era is ending. Rudy, you might just be the last inductee.”

“Goody for me.”

Skyler grabbed Jamie’s arm and urged him along. “Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?”

“Well, I suppose. God, it seems like we’re all growing up.”

“We’re twenty-five. Don’t you think we should?”

“Ahem,” said Rodolfo.

“Oh yeah,” said Skyler. “You’re older than twenty-five. By the way, dude, just how old are you?”

Rodolfo’s shirt shimmered in the darkness. “I never kiss and tell.”

Skyler smiled. The man was probably pushing forty, though he wasn’t pushing it very hard. He always looked damned good.

Skyler turned his attention to the path ahead, aiming his flashlight down along the rutted dirt road. The air in the canyon cooled and the swaying of the eucalyptus trees on either side of them cast eerie shadows along their starlit path. A rustling in the underbrush to the left stopped them all cold.

Two sets of hands grabbed him and he gave a startled squeak before he realized it was Jamie and Rodolfo. “Would you guys stop doing that!” he whispered. No one moved. The rustling in the foliage continued and Skyler whipped his flashlight in that direction. He couldn’t see anything past the deepened shadows.

“Probably just a raccoon or possum.”

Everyone seemed to relax…until the screech.

They all screamed and ducked as the white apparition swooped over them and then arced up into the distant trees behind them.

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Skyler waited for his heart to slow before he could trust his voice. “A screech owl.”

“Damn,” whispered Jamie. “I guess there’s a good reason they call them that. What a horrible sound.”

Skyler huffed an uneasy laugh. “I had a trick once who pretty much sounded like that.”

Jamie gasped. “Doug, right? Dark-haired guy with a star tattoo at each shoulder? I did him, too.”

“Maybe he should start his own fuck club,” said Rodolfo.

Jamie giggled. “He could call them the Screech Owls.”

“Yeah,” said Skyler, feeling more at ease, “cause ‘Hooters’ is already taken.”

They collected themselves and started out again. Skyler looked around, eyes adjusting to the dark, and saw lights in the distance up on the hills above the railroad tracks that snaked through the canyon. There were a lot more houses in the canyon than there used to be but this stretch of it was still fairly lonely. Nothing but fields, a few horse ranches, and one orchid farm. If someone jumped them here it would take a long time for a rescue, if one ever came.

He swallowed. Once again, he had led his friends into danger.

But even with the fear tickling the edge of his senses, there was also an adrenaline rush, the kind he felt while prowling at Trixx.

Could he be an adrenaline junky?

The road made a long curving sweep to the right and the shadows seemed to deepen. Crickets softly chirped in the background and the breeze kicked up just enough dust to obscure their path, making the use of the flashlight a necessity.

“I’ve never been out here at night,” said Jamie quietly. “It’s really lonely here.”

“This reminds me a lot of my town in Ecuador,” said Rodolfo.

Skyler turned to him and tried to discern his expression in the dark. “You never talk much about life back in Ecuador.”

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He shrugged. “There was a lot of discontent. And a coup.

That’s why I’m here.”

Jamie smoothed his hand over Rodolfo’s shoulder comfortingly. “I’m sorry you had to leave your homeland, but whatever the reason, we’re glad you’re here.”

He took Jamie’s hand, kissed it, and smiled. “Me, too.”

Skyler sighed. If only Rodolfo and Philip could get along as well.

They continued on in silence, and after a careful walk that seemed to go on forever, Skyler’s flashlight beam finally swept over the greenhouse ahead. He switched the light off and everything seemed to fall quiet in the darkened night.

Skyler crept forward toward the shack. It was slow going without his flashlight on, but he managed to get near enough to see that no one was there. He returned to his friends and motioned for them to follow. He got to the front of the greenhouse and tested the padlock. It was secure. Then he tried looking through the windows and even shone his flashlight through, but there was no way to see through the dried soap. “Let’s go around the other side,” he said quietly.

Jamie took Rodolfo’s hand and followed. “I still don’t know what you expect to find, Skyler.”

“I don’t know either. But Evan obviously had some reason to keep that card.”

“Maybe he just wanted some flowers,” said Rodolfo.

“No. Jeff said they both hated orchids.”

“So the reason to have a business card,” said Jamie, thinking, “is that you intended to do some kind of business?”

Skyler nodded. “Makes sense.”

Rodolfo took the lead and pulled Jamie along, right up next to Skyler. “But what kind of business?”

“Don’t know. That’s what we’re here to find out.”

Jamie’s eyes were bright in the darkness as he looked anxiously Foxe hunt
165

around. “Why are we doing this at the dead of night again?”

“Because…” Skyler stopped. “Um…because I wanted to just look around without anyone stopping me. And I wanted to take my mind off this stupid black eye.”

They all picked their way carefully over the rutted dirt path as brambles and other dark foliage stretched out branches to snag on their clothes.

“What
about
that,
amante
?” said Rodolfo at his ear. Skyler felt the man’s hand resting on his shoulder. “Are you going to report that guy for hitting you?”

“Yeah, Skyler. That was physical assault. It could even be classed as a hate crime because he only hit you because you’re gay.”

“I don’t know. I figure Sidney would hear about it and then I’d be doubly in trouble.”

“She’s gonna hear about it anyway. You know she will. She’s got Spidey sense or something.”

“I know. But the longer I can put it off the better— Hey!

Another door.”

He turned the flashlight on it and examined the door with its peeling paint and soaped window. He turned the rusty doorknob but it seemed to be corroded in its position. Yet when he pulled on it the door moved. He pulled harder and it slowly scraped along the ground, dusting Skyler with dried bird droppings and flaking paint. “Whoa.” He yanked and pulled it opened just enough for him to slip through. He was about to go in when Jamie stopped him.