Sand Castles

A Case of Murder _ Part One

2009-08-24T15:14:49Z

Title: A Case of Murder

Author: Bluebirds_sings (Tina)

Genre: AU/AU

Pairing: Jack/Ennis

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel to my writing :-)

Summary: Ennis is a detective who is investigating the murder of a retired professor. He has a witness for the crime, a certain Jack *fucking :)* Twist.

My heartfelt thanks, as always, to dear Beth (bcatjr) for her huge and astounding work as beta.

Chapter SEVENTEEN

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Index:

1. ONE NIGHT, AFTER DARK http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/4181.html

2. A SPARKLING FIRE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/6359.html

3. THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/9150.html

4. CRUSHING A BUG http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/10635.html

5. A PUZZLING GUEST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/11853.html

6. NOISES IN THE DARKENESS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/13789.html

7. RANDALL MALONE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/14533.html

8. OVERCOMING DOUBTS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15224.html

9. ON THE WINGS OF A KISS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15801.html

10. PARKER’S NEAT HOUSE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/16215.html

11. UNWELCOMED DUTY http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/17656.html

12. A BRUISE AND A BUTTON http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/18224.html

13. JOHN TWIST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/19058.html

14. A HARD TRUTH http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/20326.html

15. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/21303.html

16. THE DAY OF THE TRIAL http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/23774.html

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ennis Del Mar _ a detective for more than ten years, who has to solve an intricate case of murder and has a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

Mr. Parker _ a retired professor who lived in the penthouse suite of a four story building on Colombo Street and once was a member of The Bull Rider. He has been hammered to death in front of his house around three in the morning.

Mrs. Bridges _ an elderly lady who seems to have heard a gate clicking in the night.

Mr. McKentzy _ that night heard a car roaring away.

Jack Twist _ who lives at n.17 Colombo Street, had been awakened by a noise and looking out the window saw a stout man in his fifties hammering the victim with gloved hands, than dropping the hammer into the bushes nearby and hurrying away.

Cassie Cartwright _ an officer at the same police district of Ennis Del Mar, dated him for a few months and now is his best friend.

Mrs. Collins _ married to a construction engineer who got along well with Parker, used to invite him for dinner two or three times a year. Then, about five years before, he started to turn down the dinner invitations, saying that he was planning to have a friend living with him. A friend they never met.

Randall Malone _ the operative special agent that escorts the witness Jack Twist in his commuting, who is openly gay and frequents the Blue Bear Café, a gay friendly bar in Abbey Road.

John Twist _ left the falling down ranch he grew up on when he turned twenty for a job in town. After having made good money selling second-hand cars and repairing their engines, he married and had his only child: Jack, with whom he doesn’t see eye to eye. He is a member of The Bull Rider.

Richard Landon _ the friend that introduced Parker to The Bull Rider.

Lawrence Daniel Newsome _ president of The Bull Rider, owns Bronco, a winner bull, and wrote an official note to ban Parker and Landon from the club.

Joe Aguirre _ the janitor who takes care of the building in front of the one in which Parker lived. He called the police early the next morning to report the murder.

Bert Klein _ a good lawyer and Cassie’s boyfriend. He is the public prosecutor against the man who stands trial for the murder of Parker.

Roger Hampton _ a well known attorney who is in with all the right people in the city. He is the defender of the murderer.

Chapter SEVENTEEN

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

PART ONE: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/24803.html

A Case of Murder _ Chapter 17 Part One

2009-08-24T15:04:42Z

Chapter SEVENTEEN

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

PART ONE

The place used to feel comfortable to Jack. Fine ornaments, blue china, silver candelabra, antique furniture, old master’s paintings and colorful lithography, all used to speak to him of a good job and an unruffled life. It had been a long trip since he’d shrugged off his father’s callousness but Jack had finally gained the contentment he wished for. Still, his art shop wasn’t feeling like home anymore, nor could Jack reckon that he was going to be happy here ever again. In fact, he was wondering if he was ever going to be happy again at all.

What am I supposed to do now? Angst was rising in the back of his throat, memories of Ennis threatening to choke him.

In his darker moments as a child, when his life was ruled by the iron will of his father, Jack used to let his fantasy fly high across the sky of his dreams, like a bird impossible to grasp, but a constant source of joy anyhow. Getting away from home should have meant he’d gained the freedom to finally let his plans happen, but Jack had only fooled himself into thinking that life could be sweet. He’d wished, and wished hard, but his dreams had been broken once more bringing him nowhere at all.

Jack kept telling himself that the clouds had to slowly disappear from his life, and that one day he had to admit that the thing he and Ennis had was over, without harboring any hard feelings.

So he forced himself to stop thinking and just went through the motion of his daily life. Earlier in the week he even decorated the shop’s window and, with a sinking heart, put up Christmas lights, the impending bright holiday spirit sending shivers of sadness down his spine.

He knew he should have been grateful that the trial’s ordeal was over at last. But as soon as he was done, the energy had gone completely out of him. He felt drained, filled only with memories that he wished he could shove aside. The overwhelming sense of expectation that he’d come to rely on since Ennis awkwardly embraced him the night of Aguirre’s first failed ambush hadn’t subsided yet, and Jack could tell it never would. He knew he was stretching his soul to the breaking point, but he couldn’t stop longing to know the little things about Ennis: like his favorite color, or the flavor of ice cream that never failed to put him in a good mood, or what he’d done the summer he was nineteen. He couldn’t stop longing to have Ennis in his life, even if he desperately wished he could forget and move on.

Jack’s mind wandered as did his gaze until it stopped at the window of the shop and he idly looked out. A young man was hopping from foot to foot on the sidewalk and was glancing at the items on display. He pointed to a wooden carving of the fertility goddess to a slim girl whose bright red lipstick couldn’t go unnoticed, a special twinkle in their smile which spoke of shared love. Jack closed his eyes at their happiness and he shut out the flickering Christmas lights and the shiny ball ornaments, welcoming the darkness behind his eyelids.

The next thing he knew was the bell over the glass shop-door jangled.

Randall pushed the door open and flashed him a wide smile. "I have a gift for you," he said as a greeting.

Jack pretended to grin in return but felt nervous around him. Randall’s sure steps towards the back of the shop made him cringe, a reminder that he’d let Malone in here previously. In fact, he’d agreed to go on a date with him only a couple of days before, to occupy his brain. He wanted to forget for a moment that he wasn’t going to see Ennis ever again and try to act as if his heart wasn’t broken. But it didn’t work. There was no way to keep his heart from aching that much.

So now he was stalling, finding it hard to turn Randall down but knowing all the same that if he didn’t, this would be a step along the wrong path.

“I don’t know that you should have bothered,” Jack said, and his body tensed as Randall sighed and looked him in the eyes, silently asking him what was the point in being overwhelmed by grief.

Jack took the brightly wrapped parcel and was startled by his thoughts: all he could care about was what Ennis was doing, wondered if he was already working on another case, and if he still thought of him. He forced his attention back on Malone.

"Since you said you didn’t have plans for Christmas, there you go, you can always use a good reading,” he looked grudgingly at Randall and motioned to a red leather book that was on the desk in the corner of the room. “It’s a first edition of Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, hope you like it.”

"How did you know that I think highly of Sherlock Holmes’ system?” Randall grinned and walked around the table to pick up the volume.

Jack did his best to convey to Randall his thoughts, Just a Christmas gift, there’s no strings attached here. And he must have succeeded indeed, because Randall regarded him with weary eyes, as if weighing the depths of hurt that was still in Jack’s soul and that Jack did nothing to hide.

I wonder how long it will take me to not think of Ennis? The thought was poised on Jack’s lips and, even if he kept from saying it aloud, its force resonated between him and Randall all the same, along with the dull ache in Jack’s soul.

Malone pointed to the Christmas present he brought that was now in Jack’s hands. “I only made sure you didn’t run out of liquor after Aguirre messed with your whiskey case during his ambush,” Randall said, his eyes now clear and smiling, as he was undoubtedly trying to lighten the mood.

“I see,” Jack tried his best to avoid eye contact with him while opening the champagne case. “It was nice of you.”

“By the way,” Randall added, “you should have reported to Judge Gary about the intruder that had been in your house two times and that must have been good old Aguirre both of those times. I’m sure even Del Mar would have wanted you to do so.” Then he added, almost to himself, “It took me great effort to simply answer Hampton’s questions without telling the Court about Aguirre’s stalking.”

“Bert said he didn’t need Aguirre’s confession about the ambush to have a guilty sentence guaranteed. He believed it was unnecessary to put my personal life on the spot and make the Court wonder whether Aguirre threatened me as a witness or just as another man he disliked,” Jack explained. “Bert made a point of not using any random information that Hampton could work against us. He assured me that what I saw that night, Aguirre murdering Parker I mean, was proof enough that the man was the killer. If we added my words to the plentiful notes that Ennis took on the whole case, we couldn’t fail to have Aguirre sentenced guilty. He was right, after all.”

All the while he spoke, Jack absent-mindedly unwrapped Malone’s case and freed the champagne bottle. “Well, thank you for providing me the proper Christmas toast,” Jack said as he turned the bottle so he could read the label, “even if Aguirre didn’t do much damage anyway.”

“Really?” Randall grabbed hold of the chance to stretch their small talk.

As soon as Jack saw him beaming he regretted he’d said those words in the first place. “Yes, he only wasted half of the whiskey case my father gave me and stole the rest of it. I got lucky since I had most of the valuable liquor in my cellar and a few of the best bottles within arm’s reach. It should have been way easier to grab those bottles than that case in fact.”

“That’s odd,” said Randall. His eyes were gleaming and Jack forced himself to think that it was out of curiosity for the awkwardness of Aguirre’s behavior. Because if it wasn’t professional inquisitiveness to lighten Randall’s brown eyes then… Jack cursed under his breath. Despite knowing all too well that the best thing for him would have been to let thoughts of Ennis go and maybe consider dating Randall, he knew even better that he could never bring himself to do it. Outgrowing his feelings for Ennis didn’t seem to be an option.

“Well, I’m positive that Mr. Holmes would say there’s something we accidentally overlooked here,” Randall said, and Jack surprised himself with an open laugh at his joke. But seeing Randall’s joyous face felt wrong nonetheless compared to the rightness of Ennis’s hazel eyed gaze caressing him. Ennis’ eyes were the very treasure that Jack kept carefully tucked away in his mind.

“Listen, Jack…” Randall said with hope in his voice.

Jack felt sick. “No, Randy, don’t…” he squeezed his eyes shut and held out a hand as to stop Randall asking for another date. Now he knew without any doubt that he wasn’t willing to accept whatever life threw his way. “I know it might be all kinds of wrong but I need time to sort things out, and I need time alone. I’m sorry.”

Jack opened his eyes and all he could see through the blur of unshed tears was the painting of Venice’s canals hanging on the wall behind Malone, the golden frame triggered thoughts of Ennis’ curls and the little freckles that were gently spattered over his face like golden dust. “I’m sorry,” Jack said again and dismissed Randall as quickly as he could.

After Randal left, he stared at the painting for long moments, his listless mood matching the color of the still, green water that was too thick to let the surrounding majestic buildings of the canal be reflected in its murky depths.

It’d been a long time since Jack’d decided he was fed up pretending he was straight and living a life he didn’t belong to so he could please his old man. So far discarding deception in favor of openness had seemed the only trouble he had to face. It was time to stop fooling himself once and for all. Bottom line was that if his heart’s longings were deaf to his mind’s reasoning, he still needed to get a grip over himself all the same. If he couldn’t put Ennis Del Mar totally out of his mind, at the very least he should succeed in preventing memories from haunting him, so he could move on with his life.

With heavy heart and chilled fingers, he took a white card from the desk drawer, snatched up a pen and scratched out:

Friend,

I’ve done a lot of thinking lately. Nothing more could make me feel better than to have the chance to clear the air between us. But you wanted to run away from our chance at a sweet life and I know that nothing can be done about it. You shot my airplane out of the sky so to say, and I need to learn how to live with it.

Despite his pain, Jack felt compelled to write more. He pinched the bridge of his nose in concentration, fighting off tears.

You are my first thought in the morning and my last one at night. I wish I knew how to quit thinking of you, Ennis.

Guess this is why I want you to have this picture, because I need some closure. Whenever I watch the water flowing quietly along the canals, all I can see are memories of those few times we spent together. I hope you know how precious those moments had been, even if you don’t ever know how bad it gets when you miss somebody so much that you can hardly stand it.

May the new year bring you happiness, friend, and may it bring me peace of mind.

Sincerely,

Jack

He stared blankly at the paper for a long moment.

When he moved his gaze away at last, he saw outside the shop the familiar outline of the little boy who used to play with collector cards on the front step. The boy was staring intently at the Christmas lights and the decorations in front of him, inquiring eyes and ruffled dark hair not so different from those Jack sported when he was a kid himself.

Jack figured he could use this kid’s help to get the painting to Ennis. He opened the shop door and smiled brightly at him. “Hi there, what’s your name?”

The boy weighed his options between speaking and staying silent, then muttered, “Bobby, sir.”

“Well, Bobby,” Jack said with a soft smile, “bet you’d like it if I added one more present to those that Santa’s going to give you, right?”

Bobby’s eyes widened and sparked with anticipation, his hair soft under Jack’s light caress.

“Okay, then. Bobby, this is Jimbo. Jimbo, this is Bobby,” Jack made mock introductions as the boy’s eyes lingered over the small figure made of blown glass that Jack had picked from a shelf full of Murano glasses. It was a lovely clown with orange spiked hair sticking out from a broken top hat and a bright red balloon in his hand that matched his nose perfectly.

“Do you like him?” The kid nodded, chewing on his bottom lip, and Jack noticed that he was speaking to the boy in a hushed voice, the same tone that his mother used when she would soothe him for his father’s reproaches. Suddenly he realized that he hadn't even spent time with her in a very long time. Were the tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened? And the faint lines around her mouth? Were they softened now that she was divorced and not constantly angry with her husband anymore? He resolved to spend Christmas with her. It would do them both some good.

“So, do you want me to give Jimbo to you?” Jack asked almost cheerfully, pushing thoughts of his mother and Ennis as far from his mind as he could. Bobby nodded enthusiastically.

“Then, you have to do me a little favor. You take the parcel that I’m going to give you,” Jack gestured as the boy entered the shop, following him, looking around at the many knick-knacks with fascination.

“This is a Christmas present for a friend of mine,” Jack said busying himself as he wrapped the painting with a large sheet of red paper decorated with white poinsettias, a golden bow, and secured the card he’d written with an adhesive tag.

“Do you know where the police district is, don’t you?” he asked, smiling to a brown curly head bobbing yes. “Then go there and ask for agent Ennis Del Mar. You give this to him personally, okay?” Jack raised his eyebrows stressing the word ‘personally’.

Bobby fiddled with the edges of his scarf. “Yes, sir,” he said gravely.

After pushing a few unruly curls off Bobby’s forehead, Jack promised the boy that Jimbo would be right there waiting for him. He only had to come back and tell Jack what Ennis looked like and what he’d said when he got the painting. The kid gave one last look at the small clown that instantly enticed little dimples and Jack handed him the large parcel that meant to Jack a broken heart.

TBC

The Postcard _ A Blazing Fire

2009-08-08T07:51:25Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Comments are the fuel to my writing :)

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

A Blazing Fire

Entry number 38 in my series:

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Dedicated to Carole (bmshirts)

A.N.: Don’t forget to enlarge both Torry’s lovely drawings. They’ve been great inspiration for this entry. :)

A Blazing Fire

The early morning sun was barely warming the crisp late September air when Ennis pulled up in his rusty pick-up in front of Alma’s place, feeling contentment for the very first time since he’d been in Riverton.

He had asked the foreman permission to bring his little darlings to the ranch this bright Sunday morning.

“As long as it’s you showing them around it’s okay, Ennis,” Mathew had said, an amused smile on his lips.

The trip out there had been just long enough for the girls to sing “She’ll Be Comin Round the Mountain” three times.

“So, do you like where daddy is working?”

The look of awe and joy in his girls’ eyes made Ennis’ heart skip a beat.

“You’re gonna stay here, then!” Junior yelled, launching herself at his neck as Jenny lifted her head up to stare directly into his soul.

He shook his head, his throat suddenly dry.

“Just for awhile, baby girls. You know that I’m in the habit of working on a friend’s ranch far away.”

Junior’s arms slumped. Jenny kept her head tilted up, wide-eyed, sulking and looking as if she might bolt at any moment.

“Why daddy?” Junior was digging her feet into the muddy ground.

“Because I love you and I want to help with the rent and do anything to make you safe as you grow,” he muttered, well aware he was walking on thin ice at the moment.

“But why isn’t this here place enough for that?” Junior demanded, her lips trembling.

"I don't want you to go away, daddy!" Jenny chimed in and Ennis felt at a loss for words before his stubborn angel, who was dressed in a cowboy outfit with a red bandanna around her thin neck.

The vision of an equally obstinate cowboy wearing a darker kerchief flashed before his eyes. Jack, who had taught him how to soften the hard shell of fear that he’d lived within. Jack, who should be riding by his side now, leading him safely across this flood of anguish that threatened to drown him.

“I'm sorry, darlings," he said gently. “But trust me, you have nothing to worry about. There’s a small ranch house waiting for you there,” he reassured them, wondering if John really would put up with his girls.

Junior shifted her feet, and a frown worked its way onto Jenny’s brow.

“You can come and spend time with me whenever your mom lets you, and you’ll meet my friend’s parents,” he said, struggling against his shyness to meet his girls’ eyes. “You were always sorry you didn’t have grandparents on my side; well, my friend’s mother is so much like my own mom that I’m sure you’ll love her.”

“We don’t want to meet her,” said Jenny as she headed for the gray colt close by. She tipped her head to one side, pulling from a basket one of the carrots Ennis had brought as a treat for the horses.

“We don’t want to meet your friend either,” Junior added in a low voice. “He’s taking you away and we hate him.” Then she fell silent, as if mesmerized by the colt crunching the carrot. But Ennis knew better from the way her eyes glistened.

He closed his own.

“You can’t tie dreams down, darlings. They are like a blazing fire, like flames that scare you as they lick their way around the wood. But they warm you inside, no matter how cold the night might be. They are as much a part of you as your own skin.” Ennis softly caressed his girls’ smooth, round cheeks with his calloused fingers. “You’ll understand when you’re grown up. But for now, just know that I love you and if you need me, no miles will keep me from being there for you.”

Ennis couldn't fill his girls’ silences, so he focused on the very wish that was filling his heart. He wanted Jack there with him more than anything else.

Trash

2009-07-17T15:34:36Z

Written as a “just for fun” entry for the July week 2 contest at brigits_flame.

Feedback: yes please. I'd like to know what you think.

The topic was:

trash

A gust of chilly air blew wildly down the dusty road.

It was too cold out to be dressed only in a tiny blouse and worn out shorts, as the night tasted of winter already. Achieng considered walking around a bit. Maybe get a few steps away from the gas station, but dismissed the idea immediately. She badly needed the cash that would come along with her next client. She tightened her grip over her tiny purse instead.

A car slowed down and angry eyes scrutinized her, lingered on her as reflected in the rear-view mirror.

Vaca, the driver hissed increasing his speed again.

Achieng shrugged her fear away - almost.

She felt awfully exposed under the yellow light of the streetlamp, but allowed a half smile to creep slowly over her lips all the same. It felt ironic how the name she’d been given meant that she was born under the sunshine, since all she had now was this disheartening artificial light that put her body on display and denied her soul even the enchantment of a starry night.

Another car passed by. A white-haired man looked blankly at her from the backseat.

She felt tired. Her calves ached and her ankles stretched over shoes whose heels were impossibly high.

A truck slammed on the brakes only to steady itself, leaving behind a stink of burnt rubber.

A welcome change compared with the whiff of rotten garbage coming from the trash bin, she mused.

The stench was overwhelming from her spot, even if the bin was a few feet away. A reek that was making her feel sick.

It, in concert with the soon-to-be-a-baby inside my womb.

She couldn’t bear to think any further to the child she hadn’t wanted but that now was growing to be part of her flesh and soul.

Her soon-to-be-a-baby… if she got lucky, that is, and her protector didn’t find out her secret for another couple of months. Then she could gather enough money and enough strength to make it, and run off. Far away from this place and this life forever.

Otherwise, this little thing that was growing inside her was doomed to be only some scrap that her boss would throw away. Rubbish, that’d be all.

Shivering, she let a single tear roll down her cheek.

The cold wind hit a can that tumbled out of the overflowing bin and the tin rattled loudly.

Achieng was surprised at the noise it made. It was jolly, and turned the intense silence into a carefree jingle. Nor did the half-crushed debris look like a wasted piece of junk anymore. Now it was a nice shining metal, rolling free under the moonlight, dancing in a whirl, moving faster and faster. Leaving all Achieng’s miseries behind.

With chilled fingers, she lightly smoothed the skin of her belly, covered only in goose bumps.

She was going to call her baby Ekundayo, she resolved. The name meaning ‘sorrows becomes joy’ – magic that could happen. It just needed for the humblest of things to meet the right blast of air.

A Case of Murder _ The Day of The Trial

2009-07-15T10:15:01Z

Title: A Case of Murder

Author: Bluebirds_sings (Tina)

Genre: AU/AU

Pairing: Jack/Ennis

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel of my writing :-)

Summary: Ennis is a detective who is investigating the murder of a retired professor. He has a witness for the crime, a certain Jack *fucking :)* Twist.

My heartfelt thanks, as always, to dear Beth (bcatjr) for her huge and astounding work as beta.

Index:

1. ONE NIGHT, AFTER DARK http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/4181.html

2. A SPARKLING FIRE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/6359.html

3. THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/9150.html

4. CRUSHING A BUG http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/10635.html

5. A PUZZLING GUEST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/11853.html

6. NOISES IN THE DARKENESS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/13789.html

7. RANDALL MALONE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/14533.html

8. OVERCOMING DOUBTS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15224.html

9. ON THE WINGS OF A KISS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15801.html

10. PARKER’S NEAT HOUSE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/16215.html

11. UNWELCOMED DUTY http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/17656.html

12. A BRUISE AND A BUTTON http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/18224.html

13. JOHN TWIST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/19058.html

14. A HARD TRUTH http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/20326.html

15. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/21303.html

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ennis Del Mar _ a detective for more than ten years, who has to solve an intricate case of murder and has a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

Mrs. Bridges _ an elderly lady who seems to have heard a gate clicking in the night.

Mr. McKentzy _ that night heard a car roaring away.

Cassie Cartwright _ an officer at the same police district of Ennis Del Mar, dated him for a few months and now is his best friend.

Randall Malone _ the operative special agent that escorts the witness Jack Twist in his commuting, who is openly gay and frequents the Blue Bear Café, a gay friendly bar in Abbey Road.

Richard Landon _ the friend that introduced Parker to The Bull Rider.

Lawrence Daniel Newsome _ president of The Bull Rider, owns Bronco, a winner bull, and wrote an official note to ban Parker and Landon from the club.

Joe Aguirre _ the janitor who takes care of the building in front of the one in which Parker lived. He called the police early the next morning to report the murder.

Chapter SIXTEEN

the day of the trial

http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/23472.html

A Case of Murder _ The Day of The Trial

2009-07-15T10:03:46Z

Chapter SIXTEEN

the day of the trial

A gust of chill wind blew through the risen collar of Ennis’ raincoat as he took the last few steps toward the Court.

The early December sun wasn’t providing him with much warmth. The bright memories that he conjured, that were circling endlessly around in his mind weren’t helping in warming him either.

The events of the last two months were marred by several unanswered questions about what really happened the night of the murder, but the ones that mattered the most to Ennis were those revolving around Jack. The fact that these ones were going to remain unanswered haunted him deeply.

Everything had happened so quickly. Ennis had found happiness for the first time in his life where none had been expected, in such unfulfilled circumstances, because of this murder case. It seemed like this new-found joy had lasted only long enough to let him know what it was like to be finally true to oneself though, then it slipped away. Forever. Ennis never tasted such solitude before. And he couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that it had been his own fault that things hadn’t worked out. He felt disoriented and lost, and deep down he didn’t trust himself for having done the right thing.

Squinting at the unsightly building, Ennis tried to avoid the crowd of people that were already gathering to follow the trial. He took a few steps into the large hall and looked for signs that would direct him toward the room where the hearing was expected to start at any moment.

His presence wasn’t due, since his job had been perfectly settled a few weeks before when he charged Aguirre. But he couldn’t help attending the trial all the same. It was about Aguirre who might plead not guilty, putting a heavy burden on his heart. And it was about seeing Jack one more time. The last time, most likely. And this was quite a heavier burden that nobody could lift but himself and it was threatening to drown him in everlasting sorrow.

He took a deep breath and headed resolutely toward the second room on the left. The emptiness of his heart couldn’t match the noisy throng of inquisitive people. Vulnerability and discomfort showed on his face, he could bet.

To him, the place almost felt overpowered with a tension that matched his disquiet.

He tried to block out the disappointment, regret, guilt and every other sentiment he didn’t even know how to name, and sat back. The seat was uncomfortable and he closed his eyes, letting the thought of Jack soothe and upset him at the same time. The memory of Jack’s hands gently rubbing over his flesh was still buried in his mind, and so was the anger in Jack’s voice during their last confrontation, twenty-four days ago, in Ennis’ office.

The armed officer next to the entrance turned the doorknob and Ennis’ gaze was focused on the tips of his shoes when he heard the door snap open. His head popped up. Jack was standing there, surprising him with a warm smile that lit up his face as soon as he spotted Ennis.

Ennis felt himself relax.

Jack took a seat at the bench waiting for his turn to testify, and Ennis’ gaze kept getting drawn to him. He was sitting still, but locked eyes with Ennis for long moments. Ennis found it hard to measure Jack’s hurt, but Jack’s eyes seemed drained of life so he guessed that he was feeling the same weariness that was in his very soul. Ennis felt like an empty shell since their last argument, and he thought that Jack looked just as hopelessly lost.

After thousands of heartbeats spent longing and aching for Jack’s touch, Ennis revived just by staring raptly at him, a half smile on Jack’s lips in spite of the confusion in his eyes. Clearly, sitting in front of each other was a relief for them both.

When the judge entered the court, with slender fingers tightening on a black leather case, Ennis’ eyes stayed glued on Jack. He glanced toward the tall shape in a black robe only after Jack blinked, acknowledging the judge’s presence.

Ennis knew who the judge was, since he’d had to endure Cassie’s bitching about how grumpy Bert had been since he came to know that Judge Gray, the one who’d made him lose a case not long before, was due to attend this trial. In fact, Ennis had urged Cassie into prodding her boyfriend to take the public prosecutor on the case, and he wasn’t regretting it one bit. Bert Klein had spent law school burying his nose in books and had been working at the public defender’s office since before he graduated. So he was a good public prosecutor, the best Ennis could be hoping for. And to Ennis, having Aguirre sentenced to a very long term mattered a lot.

Aguirre didn’t stand a chance, Ennis kept telling himself. This was not going to be one of those cases of circumstantial evidence in which the court would throw out because of too many mistakes. This case was simple, no doubt about it. But the lawyer that was going to be Aguirre’s defender was Roger Hampton, a well known attorney who was in with all the right people in the city. A fact that couldn’t go unnoticed.

The buzz that had risen faded as soon as Judge Gray stepped into the room and went to the bench.

“The case for the accusation,” he said in a harsh voice.

Bert, with pale face, thin lips and wide black eyes, approached the bench and outlined the case by means of the evidence that Ennis had gathered. Then proposed to call his first witness.

“So, do you want to tell us about what you heard that night?” Bert’s voice sounded gentle as he leaned toward the old lady.

Mrs. Bridges strained to listen to Bert’s question, a proud look on her face. “I already told the young detective sitting over there that I clearly heard a gate clicking at about three in the morning, that night. Then, a couple of days ago the agent sitting here in the second row asked me to pay attention to the noise I would hear at the same hour the next night and I recognized it without any doubt as the one I heard before,” she said confident.

While Mrs. Bridges was speaking about Ennis as ‘the young detective over there,’ Jack flashed him a smile so bright that it reminded him of the first glorious sunrays scrambling over the peaks at dawn warming the crisp mountain air. With longing, Ennis imagined grasping Jack’s hand in his own, until his gaze met Joe Aguirre’s cold stare sitting at the dock, and the gloomy reality of his surroundings were forced into his brain again.

“Mrs. Bridges heard Mr. Parker’s gate click shut,” Bert made clear. “The same noise must’ve been heard by Mr. Aguirre that night. He must have thought it was a door squeaking in the building where he is a janitor, so he went to check on it. Got near the window and saw Mr. Parker, who had just emerged out onto the street.”

After dismissing Mrs. Bridges with a smile, he turned and, opening a big folder, said, “Well now, I can show you evidence of what he did after that.”

He showed the jury the formal evidence that had been given by the coroner and started to remove additional evidence when Hampton, a rather small man in his forties with a smart and self-confident air, shouted, “Objection!” and approached the judge taking the leather briefcase that was sitting at his feet.

Ennis wondered what kind of legal files that case could house to do Aguirre any good.

“I do not think Mr. Klein here is allowed to draw such a conclusion, Sir,” he said taking a look around the court. “The Prosecutor might as well not bother showing the court those files,” he added with an arrogant smirk, and acted as if he expected to know exactly what was inside Bert’s folder.

“Mr. Klein thinks you should care about some little flaw that happened to my client long ago. He thinks he shouldn’t let such an excellent opportunity go by without turning it into something valuable for this case,” Hampton overstated the sentence for dramatic effect, then shot a piercing glance to Randall, who was the agent in the second row to which Mrs. Bridges had referred, and who was sitting right behind Jack.

“Officer Malone knows all about the accident that happened five years ago. So I ask him to testify.”

Randall stood up and moved closer to the jury, his body language giving away his surprise and displeasure.

“Agent Malone, do you think you know enough about my client that you already have a general idea of who he is, don’t you?”

Randall studied Hampton a minute, clearly trying to figure out if this was some kind of trick question. Then he answered flatly, “Yes indeed. I know about him being involved in the young Stepson bashing at the Blue Bear five years ago. And I know you succeeded in persuading Judge Carter that Aguirre was only watching a couple of friends giving the boy a lesson, as you expressly said, without taking active part in the attack.”

Ennis sympathized with Randall and his barely held in temper. On the contrary, he didn’t know what to make of Hampton, but he was slowly realizing how much of a mistake it was to underestimate him.

“Exactly, Mr. Malone,” Hampton said, his voice polite but stern. “And come on, you have to agree with me. Any honest and trustworthy man such as Mr. Aguirre is, can’t see men like Mr. Parker or like this Stepson fellow without wincing at the least!” Hampton looked around once more, seeking the audience’s approval.

Ennis saw Jack rolling his eyes in dismay and when he glanced at him he tried to convey to him silently, See, this is the way of the world, in spite of his heart clenching at the defiance in Hampton’s voice. The challenge in it sent a pang of anger through his bones mixed with sadness as dull as the sky had become since the trial started.

Aguirre’s lawyer trailed off and went to sit by the large window, while a few snowflakes started to fall.

The feeling of apprehension slowly increased in Ennis, since it was Jack’s turn to stand up and be questioned.

“I had seen a heavy stout man by the light of a street-lamp, he was hitting the victim with a hammer that he held in gloved hands. Then tossed the hammer into the laurel bushes and hurried away in the night.”

It was with impatience and distaste that Aguirre watched Jack testify.

“And do you see the man here in court?” Bert asked.

Jack looked straight at Aguirre in the dock, Aguirre’s gaze was overflowing with something more definite than disappointment; the eyes that darted over Jack were bright with a burning hatred.

“Yes,” Jack said without flinching, “there he is.”

Jack spoke very firmly again when Bert asked him about the time at which he saw the fact, and then the judge told him, “Now, Mr. Twist, you must remember that Mr. Joe Aguirre’s life may depend on your evidence. Are you sure the man you saw is the prisoner?”

Aguirre’s lawyer was giving careful but hostile attention to Jack, an expression of alert interest on his face.

Jack didn’t hesitate. No need to collect his thoughts. “I couldn’t be mistaken, Sir,” he answered.

“But, it was the dead of the night, for Christ sake!” Hampton jumped to his feet and shook his head in fake exasperation. “My client is a janitor, he doesn’t work third shift, does he? So why would he have heard that gate instead of being sound asleep, only to find himself staring out the window to an empty street and seeing the unfortunate Mr. Parker who, only sweet Lord knows why, wasn’t home just yet?” Hampton ended, without taking his eyes off Judge Gary.

“Now,” Bert interjected sharply, “we know which house Aguirre is a janitor in. We counted the buildings and the result fits perfectly in with the investigation. It’s the house in front of the one in which Earl Parker lived. This man, Joe Aguirre, was a neighbor of Earl Parker, the guy he killed. His house was in front of that of the victim and he had watched Mr. Parker several times before that one night. He’d watched him meeting his partner through his 10x42 binoculars day after day! He spied on them and didn’t like what he saw and that was enough to take advantage of the first chance that occurred in order to end poor Mr. Parker’s life.”

“It’s not my client’s fault that Earl Parker lived on the other side of the road!” Hampton shouted for effect, trying to have his client acquitted for lack of evidence once more.

“He only used his binoculars to make sure that no thief was nearby. And he had to stand seeing that brutal amorality. I’m sure that your disapproval of Parker’s conduct would deepen if you had to see what Mr. Aguirre here saw,” said the lawyer with a vigorous nod that unmistakably marked his opinions. He forgot to specify that peering at your neighbor living on the opposite side of the street with a binocular wasn’t exactly having something slammed in your face. “Sin requires condemnation,” exploded the lawyer, “but anyone who is righteous enough knows that while we must censure a behavior such as the one that was of Mr. Parker, our Lord is the only one who is allowed to judge and to push those who sinned in the burning inferno of eternal suffering. And my client is a righteous man. So he saw and stood what is hardly decent to endure, confident only in the divine justice.”

As soon as Hampton ended his imperious tirade, Ennis worriedly watched the judge. But he only looked annoyed by the intolerant speech and by the small-minded lawyer that surely was a good match to his bigoted client.

“Now, think very carefully, Mr. Twist. Can you swear that you have no doubt whatsoever that the man you saw is the prisoner?” Judge Gary asked thoughtfully.

“None whatever, sir,” Jack said adamant.

Ennis breathed a sigh of relief.

And that was it.

A little voice inside Ennis’ head kept telling him that something in Bert’s speech didn’t seem right. However, the trial had been fair in the end. Judge Gary found Aguirre guilty, sentencing him to twenty-four years of imprisonment.

When the Court rose, Jack left, his piercing stare lingering on Ennis as long as he walked out the door. He clearly was paying no mind to Randall, who was telling him something that Ennis couldn’t decipher.

Ennis sat until there was nothing left but frosty quiet.

He was sure he’d never be able to put this case out of his mind, nor Jack Twist out of his heart.

TBC

The Postcard _ Matthew's Ranch

2009-07-02T08:34:47Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel to my writing :)

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

Entry number 36 in my series.

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Dedicated to Carole (bmshirts).

A.N.: Don’t forget to enlarge Torry’s lovely drawing. It has been great inspiration for this entry. :)

Matthew’s Ranch

Ennis had been in Riverton for two weeks and it was difficult even to breathe without Jack. But he couldn’t abandon his little girls.

Matthew, the aged foreman who ran a ranch just out of Riverton, had hired him for a while.

Ennis spent his days alone, mending fences in the green sea of the prairie, his hat pulled low on his forehead, a stranger to the other hands as his thoughts and fears ran free. He made enough to pay for his motel room, and to buy some cheap whiskey and a doll for the girls.

His lunch was little more than a bottle of beer gulped while sitting in the shade of an oak, his heart lost in yearnings. Today was no different. Regrets and longings followed the swirling smoke of his cigarette.

He wondered how could he rip either Jack or his girls out of his soul.

There was a time when his actions were driven by fear of his feelings. On Brokeback, the blow of his fist had come hard and fast; he remembered Jack’s blue eyes full of confusion as he stared up at Ennis from the ground.

That time had gone.

As he smoked, Ennis pictured Jack’s shirt and his own hanging in the bunkhouse together. He imagined how it might feel to turn out the light in his baby girls’ room as they fell asleep, to come to Jack’s warm lips, waiting to fill the night with soft sounds.

His feelings clicked like the pieces of a jigsaw snapping into place.

Tomorrow he would spend the day with his girls. And for once he was going to believe that hopes could defeat worries after all.

The Postcard_ Shooting an Elk

2009-06-23T09:39:36Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel to my writing :)

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

Entry number 36 in my series.

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Dedicated to Carole (bmshirts).

A.N.: Don’t forget to enlarge the amazing charcoals that Torry has been so sweet to draw for this entry!

Shooting an Elk

Jack didn’t know how long he’d been sitting on the bed, staring at the emptiness out of the window.

Guess so. In his head, Ennis’ last words said over the phone replayed over and over, quivering uncertainty in his cowboys voice.

He made himself think instead of the perfect words Ennis had whispered to him before leaving. “I’ll come back in a couple of weeks, I swear,” he’d said, his vow protected by the safe cocoon of their shirts. But a sick feeling was now growing in the pit of his stomach, making Jack shiver.

When his phone rang he took the call with shaking hands, ready to say Ennis’ name, bracing himself to hear the words Can’t come back.

But instead, he heard Lureen’s unusually weary voice.

As she hesitantly explained how caring for Bobby left her hardly any time to spend with friends and how she surely could use some help for a change, Jack’s attention wavered at first, focused as he was on his gloomy thoughts.

Then he smiled slowly, the elk staring out at him from Ennis’ postcard, making his heart swell with hope again. “You just gotta be fast and pull the trigger before he runs off, bud,” Ennis had playfully replied to his cheers on Brokeback.

“Lureen, listen,” Jack said, his mind clear now. “I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.” After I’ve driven to Riverton and made damn sure to shoot that elk. He swallowed hard thinking of Ennis possibly being forced to say a final goodbye to his girls.

His skittish cowboy wasn’t going to feel good about Jack being there for him, he could bet. But it was time to stop letting himself be jerked around by his bull's twists and turns. It was time to get off and take action. His soft smile lingered on his lips. He had a plan.

Chasing the Rainbow

2009-06-20T19:11:22Z

Written as a “just for fun” entry at brigits_flame.

Liza and Jenny started to talk to me again as soon as I read this week’s topic (it was CAESAR). So here we have another bit of their story.
If you want to read more about them here is the link: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/4562.html
No need to read that entry to (hopefully) enjoy this one though. :)

Feedback: yes please!!! I so love hearing from you!

Chasing the Rainbow

“No sweetie, the twins won’t come to the lake with you tomorrow. They don’t even like swimming, just like their mother! You should have seen her when she was six years old and her dad taught her to swim. She was scared, and hated the cold water so much.” Two pairs of disconsolate eyes were following their grandmother’s conversation on the phone. Their most desired trip to the lake had been dismissed already, their wishes drowned in the flow of granny’s memories of the daughter she lost seven years before and that she never quit searching for in her grandkids’ traits.

“But we…” Liza started in protest, her words fading in front of her sister’s resigned shrug.

“Let it be,” Jenny whispered.

“Damn, Jenny! Even complaining isn’t any use with her. She’d only start to go on and on about how I’m moody and scowling like mummy was at times. Everything comes down to mum for her. Always,” Liza muttered. “It seems that we don’t even exist.”

Then she added with scorn, “She’s a tyrant, tougher than our Caesar ever was.” The last remark raised a knowing smile from Jenny, offering the siblings a thin bubble of shared feelings, like a warm and safe shelter against the stiffness of the outside world. Jenny longed for this shelter with a vengeance, although living with their granny seemed to make it more fragile by the day.

The sisters had giggled at first, when the teacher spoke about the ancient Roman dictator after whom their father must have been called. They immediately switched from the ordinary ‘dad’, they still used in front of him, to their father’s given name in their hush-hush chats, agreeing that he had to be doomed. His dreary inclination to rule their lives as them were of his own was a destiny written in it, after all.

The giggles soon turned into tears though, as their mum wasn’t there anymore to soften the edge of Caesar’s stinging remarks and hard punishments.

The girls started wondering if it was his unending silences or his calloused and cutting demeanor they disliked the most, well aware that they had no other choice than letting him be in control of their lives, day in day out.

Until he left.

When their granny offered to take them in, they believed they’d found the shiny rainbow that could easily be climbed to get to unrestricted freedom and unreserved love.

But their grandmother’s lingering chatter about all the ways in which they took after her daughter without even having half of her qualities though, cut fast the sisters’ hopes, letting their dreams about freedom and love crumble into a grey dust where none of the sparkly colors of their imagined rainbow could be found anymore.

Their father could have ruled their lives, but grandmother was challenging their very souls. And this last tyranny turned out to be well more dangerous for them than the first one. When they were grounded at their father’s pleasure, the sisters always coped with his abuses acting as a whole, gaining strength by their fight against him. But now that they were twelve and left on their own to struggle with the fake attentions and the blurred feelings that their grandmother reserved for them, they were swallowed in the tyranny of indifference. And lack of truthful concern parted their ways.

Jenny came slowly to believe in the tale that her granny’s hurt feelings were telling. Started to think she could find her rainbow lulling herself into the illusion that her mother could still live through their very lives.

To Liza, however, the rainbow was nowhere to be found. It was only a ghost, like the hollow smile of the Cheshire cat. She made her own glass sliver searching the strength that was inside her though, so that it would put the rainbow in her hand. It wouldn’t be as beautifully shaded and magnificently wide as the real one could be. But still, it was a colorful shaft of light; enough to lead her away from tyranny, even if it would never be enough to give her perfect happiness.

The Postcard _ The Siesta Motel

2009-06-13T09:31:54Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel to my writing :)

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

Entry number 35 in my series.

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to

Dedicated to Carole (

A.N.: Don’t forget to enlarge the stunning charcoals that Torry has been so sweet to draw specifically for this entry. Our cowboys’ fantasies run wild! :-)

The Siesta Motel

“Keep talking, bud,” he pleaded into the phone, his voice rasping as his rough fingers played with his own cock. He could hear Jack fumbling with the phone across miles, his frantic panting speeding through the line. Ennis wrapped his hands tighter around his length, stroking furiously, matching the pace of Jack’s frenzied breathing.

"En… yours…" Jack moaned and sputtered at last, his sounds pushing Ennis over the edge.

Legs still shaking, Ennis lay on the worn out blanket on the shabby bed and quietly recovered, Jack’s now unruffled breath like a lullaby in his ear.

“When are you coming back home, friend?” Jack’s voice was like a caress with an unmistakable hint of yearning as Ennis stared at the peeling paint on the ceiling of the cheap motel room.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Jack,” he answered softly. “I need to make sure I’m not losing my girls to Alma’s revenge before I’m on my way for good, though.”

“Sure… who says that she wants revenge, anyway?” Jack’s caring concern filled Ennis with enough strength to make him spill the truth.

“She thinks I cheated on her with another woman.”

Jack gasped in surprise, so Ennis added reluctantly, “I couldn’t stay and do what she wished I’d do, but she didn’t need to know the whole truth either or she’d never let me see the girls again.”

“Yeah, suppose she might have some issues,” Jack sighed resignedly. Then he trailed on tentatively, searching the shadowy space inside Ennis’ mind. “Just… will you come back home even if she happens to get wind of what is really going on and cuts you out from spending time with the girls alone?”

Ennis closed his eyes for a moment. “Guess so,” he answered, hoping for Jack’s sake that he could sound more convincing than he felt.

bmshirts). Happy birthday wherever you are, sweet lady!

soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Chapter 15 _ What a Difference a Day Makes

2009-06-09T09:01:39Z

Title: A Case of Murder

Author: Bluebirds_sings (Tina)

Genre: AU/AU

Pairing: Jack/Ennis

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! Your comments are the fuel of my writing :-)

Summary: Ennis is a detective who is investigating the murder of a retired professor. He has a witness for the crime, a certain Jack *fucking :)* Twist.

My heartfelt thanks, as always, to dear Beth (bcatjr) for her huge and astounding work as beta.

Index:

ONE NIGHT, AFTER DARK http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/4181.html
A SPARKLING FIRE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/6359.html
THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/9150.html
CRUSHING A BUG http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/10635.html
A PUZZLING GUEST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/11853.html
NOISES IN THE DARKENESS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/13789.html
RANDALL MALONE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/14533.html
OVERCOMING DOUBTS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15224.html
ON THE WINGS OF A KISS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15801.html
PARKER’S NEAT HOUSE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/16215.html
UNWELCOMED DUTY http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/17656.html
A BRUISE AND A BUTTON http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/18224.html
JOHN TWIST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/19058.html
A HARD TRUTH http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/20326.html

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ennis Del Mar _ a detective for more than ten years, who has to solve an intricate case of murder and has a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

Mrs. Bridges _ an elderly lady who seems to have heard a gate clicking in the night.

Mr. McKentzy _ that night heard a car roaring away.

Cassie Cartwright _ an officer at the same police district of Ennis Del Mar, dated him for a few months and now is his best friend.

Randall Malone _ the operative special agent that escorts the witness Jack Twist in his commuting, who is openly gay and frequents the Blue Bear Café, a gay friendly bar in Abbey Road.

Richard Landon _ the friend that introduced Parker to The Bull Rider.

Lawrence Daniel Newsome _ president of The Bull Rider, owns Bronco, a winner bull, and wrote an official note to ban Parker and Landon from the club.

Joe Aguirre _ the janitor who takes care of the building in front of the one in which Parker lived. He called the police early the next morning to report the murder.

Chapter fifteen

What a difference a day makes

Jack looked out his shop’s window, his gaze drawn to the blur of people rushing by. All the commotion that he used to see as pointless felt reassuring today, as if it could be a safe cocoon against the ambush of the man whose identity he still didn’t know, and most of all an assurance that life was going on as usual. Morning had drifted to afternoon, and was now giving place to evening. Even the rhythmic shifting of the neon light that had him wincing in annoyance every time he looked at the bookstore across the street now felt lulling, like a welcome sign that time was flowing and bringing him closer to meeting with Ennis again.

Raising an eyebrow, he turned to gaze at the telephone over the counter. He wasn’t expecting it to ring, not really, though deep inside he was hoping that Ennis would call. It would be nice to hear from him after he’d questioned Jack’s old man knowing how much Ennis would have to swallow the bitter taste of those vicious retorts.

Jack was already dreaming about spending the evening with Ennis and helping his Casanova to forget all about it. Biting his bottom lip he let his mind follow his hopes, dreaming of making Ennis savor the tempting flavor of sweet kisses and finally giving himself the chance to breathe and taste the pulsing warmth and the sharp goodness of Ennis’ dick. Jack felt giddy from his own reverie, and grinned wide. Every worry flew out of his mind: his father’s grouchiness and the assailant’s naughtiness. They all crumbled away when compared to his wishes that were about to turn into the finest reality ever.

The more Jack thought about it while looking out of the window with glazed eyes, the more he beamed and the more he grew tired of waiting until seven in the evening when Ennis promised to meet him. His eyes danced over the ripped fabric that Malone had given him, and he playfully twitched the small button, peering out to the horizon. It was growing dim, early in the evening since it was winter by now. And Jack listened to the whispers of his heart. No harm in shutting the shop a couple of hours in advance, he reasoned within himself. Then it’s only a five minutes’ walk out of the pedestrian zone, and I can take a cab to the police department. No chance of scary guys stalking me again so soon, and Randall did such a poor job anyway that I bet if I don’t wait for him to escort me I won’t put myself in any major harm.

Jack admitted he was running out of patience. Drumming his fingernails on the counter, he started to hum a happy tune and eventually leapt to his feet whistling still more cheerfully at the recollection of Ennis’ soft thumb that had so slowly glided down his cheek the evening before.

After closing his shop, he walked block after block through crowded streets, a smile playing around his lips. The drive across town didn’t take long and his head felt light when he finally walked across the police department’s halls, toward Ennis’ office.

“You really should tell him, you know,” came a voice from behind Ennis’ door, different from the raspy one he was expecting and that always filled his heart. Squinting at the bullet proof glass, he caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette waving his arms.

“I wish I could be more help, Ennis,” the same voice added. “Anyway, I’ll leave the folder about Aguirre here for you. See when you want to question him.” Jack shook his head and grinned. So Randall had been early in his schedule and was already reporting the morning attack to Ennis. Jack opened the door and leaned through the doorway.

Randall, who was handing over a plastic folder to Ennis, inadvertently recoiled at the sound of the opening door, looking uncomfortable. No wonder here, Jack thought, he gave me this spare fabric just for the sake of making fun of me. “Guessed I was supposed to be the one talking to Ennis first,” Jack said lightly to him, flashing a smile while searching Ennis’ eyes.

Jack sobered some, though, since Ennis’ face was showing unexpected stress. Pressure had clearly built up on him as Randall had been speaking.

“I just… I was leaving right now,” Randall stammered in an odd overly embarrassed voice, exchanging a look with Ennis. Then he laid his hand on Jack’s shoulder briefly, letting out a breath while Ennis scowled and dismissed him with a curt nod. Jack frowned at being left out on some big secret, but tried not to let it get to him. Basically Ennis and Randall were colleagues, and surely they were capable of achieving the goals everyone expected from them by catching up and working together.

Jack’s smile turned into a full grin again as soon as Randall left and Ennis’ flickering glowing eyes washed over him making him feel warm inside.

“Hi there,” he said quietly, smirking at Ennis’ mumbled, “Hey you.”

Moving around, Jack examined the room which was filled with stacks of file folders. “I bet you use to sit up half the night working, immersed in a bundle of notes covered in dust,” he said, a fond smile still on his lips.

“So I really am predictable… and boring,” Ennis countered smiling back, and he looked happy that Jack had him all figured out. Jack raised his eyes from the papers and basked in Ennis’ soft gaze on him. All the heat from those feverish kisses they had exchanged during their make out session last evening came full force into his mind, making his cheeks glow.

Ennis must have noticed, since he blushed, dragging a scribbled paper with his index finger around the desktop. Suddenly though, he threw himself into the inquiry and became awfully interested in the files on his desk.

In an instant, Jack realized that something wasn’t quite right. Ennis should be smiling, or acting all shy, but not looking so truly embarrassed. Jack swallowed and carefully tucked the memory of those shining moments he’d spent the day before with Ennis into the back of his mind, trying to focus better on the here and now.

“Then, Randall told you already about me being ambushed by the killer this morning, didn’t he?”

Ennis nodded slowly. “Yeah, nothing more to worry about. Aguirre, the janitor who called the police, was the murderer. We have him in jail now.” As soon as he ended speaking, Ennis turned back to the papers on his desk.

Jack rubbed at the back of his neck, wishing again for the warmth of Ennis’ gaze. “Well, that’s good. Aren’t you happy?”

Ennis mumbled a perfunctory “Huh,” which was followed by a silence so thick that Jack could count his heartbeats. He couldn’t ignore anymore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him that something was seriously wrong. As a child, he’d learned to take no notice of his father’s mood swings: trying to understand him would’ve been a waste of might. But Ennis was a whole different story. He had to know if it was his father who had caused problems, messing with him once again.

Gathering strength, Jack broke the odd silence. “I wondered if my old man could help pinning down the culprit,” he said. And since Ennis just grunted and shrugged, he went on again, “did he tell you something significant, or did he stick to his usual crappy gibberish?” Better make a point here, Jack couldn’t help thinking. He is a fool if he lets my old man get in our way.

“Well, it has been quite upsetting,” Ennis started tentatively. “I surely hate your father for how much he’s wronged you, but…” Ennis trailed away for a painful instant, then resumed speaking in an even more somber voice, “it’s not my turn to tell him a single word about it, Jack.” After stopping to let another heartbeat flow, he struck his hands over his denim clad thighs like he needed time to recover, then added, “it was like his eyes were on me the whole time, scrutinizing me as if he knew about us.”

“I see he wasn’t the least bit friendly as usual,” Jack countered, holding back the urge to tell him that they shouldn’t care less of what his father supposed, or knew.

“This isn’t all about your father, anyway,” Ennis carried on in dismay. “As it turns out, most people at the club knew Parker, and do you know what kind of sordid details I found out that aroused people’s interest so much to kick him out of their club?” Ennis was nearly shouting, banging his hands on the desk. “Parker was gay, and his gay friend introduced him to the club. That’s all. That’s all it took for those people to hate their guts and want them out of their decent club,” he blurted, and after a moment added, sounding defeated, “I didn't know what to say, Jack. Not even your father showed any signs of understanding. And yet he was supposed to be sympathetic since it was his own child who struggled with that same battle.” He looked Jack straight in the eye for the briefest of moments, then bowed his head, elbows on his desk, hands clasped in front of his face. “I’m sorry, Jack, but trying to rebut their blame would only make it worse… I’m so sorry.”

A flicker of recognition crossed Jack’s mind. Clearly he had been right in thinking that Ennis’ day had gone bad, but now he was starting to fear that it went way worse than he could imagine. So bad that now Ennis was maybe thinking of backing away from this blossoming thing between them.

“Ennis, it’s alright,” Jack said with a shiver. “You don’t have to worry about this. You’re not supposed to worry that much about my old man’s thick head,” he said, willing his rebuke to be in a gentle voice, despite the fretting he felt inside.

Brown eyes peered at him, and he could see desire mixed with sorrow, and longing, and hurt. Please, don’t let the fear mar the brightness of our feelings, Ennis. Please, Jack beseeched silently to himself, afraid to even consider the days that were going to stretch before him otherwise.

“Do you think I never saw that cold stare before, Jack? I’ve heard the sermons of the righteous when I was a kid and I’ve been lectured about the wrongness of it all, about the shame of falling so low. I’ve been told that no decent person could ever have approved of such depravity. Dammit, Jack, don’t you see that it’s the way of the world?” Ennis stopped abruptly and sank wearily into the chair.

Jack’s stomach started aching and his heart sank to the soles of his shoes as he wondered if he ever could help Ennis to cross the divide that society had put where none should have been. He searched for the right words to say, but Ennis glanced up only long enough to make sure Jack was still listening and then added, "I’m trying, Jack, I really am, but I can’t ignore the world’s condemnation. I’m a detective, and I need people’s respect to go on with my inquiries. It’s difficult even to concentrate on anything as long as I can’t stop being upset all time, thinking how my job would change for the worst if some guy I’m questioning comes to know that I’m gay. Now you can call me fearful and small-minded, but I can’t let this thing eat away at me,” Ennis said, a hint of exhaustion in his voice. He stopped speaking and stood up, not looking at all at Jack.

Something twisted inside Jack, but he fought to hold onto that last ember of hope. He surely wouldn’t impose on Ennis, yet he could swear that something was ringing false in Ennis’ speech. The talking had been unusually long for his shy detective and Ennis had constantly averted his gaze while speaking. Jack felt allowed to dig some more, even if his head or heart weren’t clear at all about what it was that bothered Ennis for real. "You… we could ask a therapist for help maybe, instead of you trying to do everything by yourself…” he tried cautiously.

His suggestion was of no help, on the contrary, Ennis’ anger escalated.

“No fucking shrink can fix things for us, Jack. We are grown up, after all. It’s a damn shame, but we aren’t supposed to daydream!”

“But, don’t you even want to try and make things work between us, Ennis?” Jack’s voice was barely more than a murmur.

“Nothing can work, Jack. The world wants nothing to do with boys like you…” Ennis’ eyes flashed with undecipherable feelings, than he added subdued, “or me. And I’m going to keep doing what I’m supposed to.” Then he moved closer to him and added in a whisper, “I’m sorry, Jack, I really am.”

The words echoed in Jack’s head, but they were nothing more than a pile of rotten excuses that he couldn’t buy.

“Let me get this straight,” he tried one more time, hating Ennis’ demons and his bogus resolve, wishing with a last glimmer of trust that he could bring him to do different. “Have you been thinking about this for a long enough time, Ennis? Or is it what my father said with his nasty words that’s causing this mess? Or perhaps was there something in the way you got to the murderer that has you so afraid that you think you can’t fix things between us anymore?” Jack could hear the desperation in his own voice rising as each word was reflected in Ennis’ troubled look.

“You could think that a man always kills in order to obtain what the other man possesses, either by theft or by inheritance,” Ennis started, as if this would explain it all, his eyes utterly sad. “But sometimes men kill only to stop another man from acting in a way that disappoints them. And I mean not even a way that thwarts them, but one that simply doesn’t seem right to them. Aguirre is one of those men. He killed Parker just because he was different. And he’d already done it before. And he isn’t the only one to act that way, he’s far from being alone on this sentiment. It isn’t safe for us to keep on seeing each other, Jack. Just, it isn’t safe,” Ennis ended with pleading eyes.

“Shit happens, Ennis, and most of the time you can’t help it,” Jack retorted hotly, trying to shrug off the knot of shapeless fear that was spinning through his head. He didn’t understand at all, and it seemed to him that Ennis was failing to consider all that really mattered: their happiness.

Through the mist of a swelling emptiness, Jack heard Ennis say stubbornly, “well, this is just the right time for us to manage and help it.” The deep silence which followed Ennis’ words melted the last bit of Jack’s hopes.

After a while Ennis asked with a grimace, pushing a set of three photographs at Jack. “Okay, then. Do you recognize the killer as this man?”

“Yeah, of course. This is Aguirre, isn’t it?” Jack answered mechanically.

“Yes, he is. Well, soon you’ll be asked to testify in court. That’s it.”

“Is that it, Ennis? Are you for real? ” Jack raised his hands in defeat. Maybe he had a better clue on what was going on in Ennis’ mind now, but it didn’t matter anyway, since the monsters that seemed to live permanently inside Ennis were too huge to be overcome.

Ennis started gnawing on his thumbnail, his attention on the yellowed sheets piled on his desk.

“Fine,” Jack stated, rage and desperation equally filling his senses. “Go to hell, Ennis Del Mar. You wanna live your miserable fucking life, you go right ahead.” He stopped speaking, stopped hoping and stormed off.

TBC

Settling on a Divorce

2009-05-22T16:34:05Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

Entry number 34 in my series.

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Dedicated to Carole (bmshirts).

settling on a divorce

… what a real man should like best. Alma’s reproach against him stung.

“I can’t handle being a father and a husband… Is that what you’re suggesting, huh?” Ennis spat the words through gritted teeth. In a haze, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, anger threatening to swallow him. She wasn't going to get away with this, he was going to make sure of that.

Alma’s eyes went wide, pain mixing with the hurt that swelled inside her.

He squeezed briefly and let go. “It’s you who’s failed to deal with our marriage and now you blame it on the long distance. I’ll be happy to leave you alone,” he said at last, feeling the pressure slowly lessen.

She fidgeted, searching for her cigarette and struggling to make sense of the situation.

“You’ve never been there for us, Ennis. And don't try to fool me, I know what it means.”

Unwanted memories crowded Ennis’ mind. She’d been in his life, but in a way that he never desired. Yes, he knew what it meant, too. He didn't love her, never had.

“What’s she got anyway, to make you walk out on me and the girls?” she asked, subdued, the cigarette unlit between her fingers.

Ennis rummaged in his shirt pocket for a match, trying to cover his surprise. “Sure as hell I’m not ditching my baby girls, Alma,” he said, evading the question. “I won’t ever be ready to let go of them.” And he meant it.

“Fine,” she sighed, abandoning the argument. It was as if her mind was already beginning to wander away from distant memories of incomplete joys.

He stroked the match and stared entranced at the glittering flame, recalling the lure of a fire on the mountain and blue eyes like an enticing beacon toward home.

Writer Block: Limerick Day

2009-05-12T08:34:14Z

It's Limerick Day! Share a favorite or compose your own humorous five-line poem with an AABBA rhyme structure.

View 501 Answers

When I read today’s writer block topic this instantly popped up. Hope I got the rhyme right even if this isn’t humorous by a long shot.

Unbetaed, so please let me know all my mistakes. :) Looking forward to your comments.

Ennis

Lungs filled with smoke,

He choked on a recalled joke.

A memory fluttered in his eyes, then it sparkled bright

Trailing hopelessly towards the starry night.

Dreams trapped between two fingers, he gave the cigarette a poke.

The Postcard _ Prospects

2009-05-10T09:21:30Z

Genre: AU

Series: The Postcard

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Summary: On January 1966 Ennis takes a surprising decision. He tries to reach Jack writing him a postcard and addressing it to Lightning Flat.

Entry number 33 in my series.

Index and links to the previous entries: http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/12396.html

Huge thanks to soulan for her invaluable help as beta and to torry28 for the awesome drawings she dedicated to this story.

Dedicated to Carole (bmshirts).

Prospects

Blond hair gathered in a ponytail, to Ennis Alma looked paler than when he’d left. Tired, most likely, from looking after by herself the family he’d sought and which satisfied his primal need for life’s continuance.

The family he owed her. He couldn’t dismiss the thought, while watching her setting water to boil for coffee, and wondered at her gestures devoid of emotion. Had been him to cheat her out of happiness, maybe. Or she’d never longed for happiness at all, and the quiet acceptance of a life without hopes was the only trait they shared.

Until his heart made the leap and led him to the man who gave him happiness and never held back.

“You’re just in time,” she said pointing at a scrap of paper lying on the table. “They got a opening over at the power company. Might be good pay. And you wouldn’t need to stay away six goddamn months to bring home bucks that aren’t even enough to pay for Jenny’s drugs.”

His resolve to go back to Lightning Flat wavered, thinking of his baby girl having an asthmatic wheeze while he couldn’t be there to kiss her pain away.

Wavered. But didn’t die, like an ember ready to spark again as soon as the wind blows fittingly.

He silently drew from the back of his mind the memory of two shirts entwined and hanging on a nail, and knew he had to be strong enough to talk to her before leaving.

Unwilling to trust Alma with his secret, he weighed his chances.

“They need me over there. And I like ranching best,” he mumbled.

“Supporting his own kids, that’s what a real man should like best,” she hissed back, making his blood boil with anger.

A Case of Murder _ Chapter 14 _ A Hard Truth

2009-05-05T18:48:13Z

Title: A Case of Murder

Author: Bluebirds_sings (Tina)

Genre: AU/AU

Pairing: Jack/Ennis

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: the characters belong to Annie Proulx; no profit from this

Feedback: yes, please! *makes puppy eyes*

Summary: Ennis is a detective who is investigating the murder of a retired professor. He has a witness for the crime, a certain Jack *fucking :)* Twist.

My heartfelt thanks, as always, to dear Beth (bcatjr) for her huge and astounding work as beta.

1. ONE NIGHT, AFTER DARK http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/4181.html

2. A SPARKLING FIRE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/6359.html

3. THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/9150.html

4. CRUSHING A BUG http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/10635.html

5. A PUZZLING GUEST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/11853.html

6. NOISES IN THE DARKENESS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/13789.html

7. RANDALL MALONE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/14533.html

8. OVERCOMING DOUBTS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15224.html

9. ON THE WINGS OF A KISS http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/15801.html

10. PARKER’S NEAT HOUSE http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/16215.html

11. UNWELCOMED DUTY http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/17656.html

12. A BRUISE AND A BUTTON http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/18224.html

13. JOHN TWIST http://bluebirds-sing.livejournal.com/19058.html

To make up for my delay in posting I present you with the cast of characters we already met in the story, hoping it could be of use.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ennis Del Mar _ a detective for more than ten years, who has to solve an intricate case of murder and has a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

Mrs. Bridges _ an elderly lady who seems to have heard a gate clicking in the night.

Mr. McKentzy _ that night heard a car roaring away.

Cassie Cartwright _ an officer at the same police district of Ennis Del Mar, dated him for a few months and now is his best friend.

Randall Malone _ the operative special agent that escorts the witness Jack Twist in his commuting, who is openly gay and frequents the Blue Bear Café, a gay friendly bar in Abbey Road.

Richard Landon _ the friend that introduced Parker to The Bull Rider.

Lawrence Daniel Newsome _ president of The Bull Rider, owns Bronco, a winner bull, and wrote an official note to ban Parker and Landon from the club.

CHAPTER FOURTHEEN

A HARD TRUTH

Ennis was slowly making his way down the austere police department corridor, his mind unfocused and exhausted from dragging information out of Jack’s father, and even more so by bearing the weight of the very kind of information he acquired.

Knowing that Earl Parker had been banned from the Bull Rider’s Club only because they had found out he was gay, was much too close to Ennis’ personal life to be simply annoying, it was deeply disturbing to him. Ennis couldn’t stop thinking on Jack, couldn’t stop the sweet memories of the needy tangle of tongues and limbs that were filling all his senses. Nor could he deny that nothing in the world meant more to him than the thing that was starting to grow between them.

But, what about Jack? What if my want to be with him ends up jeopardizing his very life? Ennis couldn’t bear the feeling, nor could he dismiss it completely.

His muddled thoughts made him nearly miss the corner that led to his own office, and he totally failed to spot Randall Malone, who was standing near the bulletproof glass door, shuffling up and down the vinyl tiles, looking around in disquiet. He startled when Randall caught sight of him, waving his hands as he approached, calling his attention.

“Ennis, here you are at last!” Randall shouted, excited. “We got lucky, boy! We’re finally getting the handle on things with your case,” Randall’s voice was taking on a hint of buoyancy.

Ennis grunted in disbelief. Malone’s words didn’t make any sense to him, and for a moment he wondered if the man had gone crazy. Why would his colleague care of an investigation that hadn’t been his to solve in the first place? But in spite of Ennis’ coldness, Randall went on with renewed eagerness.

“My mind didn’t play tricks on me, Ennis. I’m totally sure. This man is the murderer you are looking for,” he said lively, coming to a halt and fishing awkwardly around in a manila folder, until he produced three different close-ups of somebody that had been caught attacking a guy a few years before, according to the police file he gave Ennis, together with the attached pictures.

Looking at the round face of the man in the photo, Ennis was starting to feel a considerable unease. Those little piercing eyes and that short moustache reminded him of the man he caught a glimpse of when trying to grab the intruder in Jack’s house that night. The mere suspicion that this guy, who Randall believed had murdered Parker, was the same one that was threatening Jack added to the anger due to Ennis’ previous talk with John Twist.

“Who in the hell is this man, Randy? Do you mind explaining this to me?” he asked, annoyance apparent in his need for some answers.

Randall grinned proudly, clearly letting the experience of being ahead of Ennis in knowing things seep through his consciousness.

“This morning, when I went to Twist’s house, I was about to ring the doorbell when the door swung open, and for a moment I simply stood there astonished. The guy that was standing in front of me and was trying to run away in spite of being hampered by a wooden case… damn it, it took me only one second to recognize him. I knew that scrum well, from a very long time ago. And if he hadn’t thrown a corner of that fucking box into my stomach, I would have stopped him then and there. That son-of-a-bitch… I’m still hurting.” Randall shook his head, trying to put the bad memory out of his mind as if doing this would lessen his aching belly.

Ennis gave no mind to Randall, though. “This guy… he was inside Jack’s house? How…” he was frantic now, and gained a sympathetic smile from Randall.

“Yeah, he was hiding in the cellar, and Twist went down in a foolhardy attempt to chase him. Good for him that the bastard hadn’t a weapon,” Randall said, shrugging as if it weren’t a big deal.

Ennis’ sight wavered and swayed. He could picture Jack sweating, fighting the numbing anxiety in his bones, almost choking in his own panic for a few moments. Ennis knew that Jack never got used to his panic attacks. Jack hated feeling powerless against the increasing sense of dizziness, and he must have tried hard to react to the unsettling feeling. Ennis saw in his mind’s eye Jack trying so hard to counter his discomfort to end up taking action even in reckless defiance of the risk. A grunt was all he could come up with in order to prevent his bubbling emotions showing in front of Randall. But Malone seemed to take in his misery anyway, and gestured to the door nearby which was the one to Ennis’ office, silently suggesting for them to enter.

Ennis nodded slightly, unlocked the door and stepped aside to let Randall through.

“So you say you know this man, huh?” he asked Malone, although all he could hear was his own heartbeat thudding.

“Yeah. And you just have to interview the suspect and charge him for your case, if you want,” Randall glanced over his shoulder and flashed a smile at Ennis. “Fact is,” he carried on clearly pleased, “that I knew how to get hold of the bastard and I have him under arrest already, as a preventative measure since he had been charged before, on this previous case.”

“The one, in this file,” Ennis acknowledged, shuffling towards his own desk, Randall following closely.

Randall nodded. “See, there is a small café I used to frequent, the Blue Bear,” he said, Ennis noting Randall struggling to disclose that this place was gay friendly.

Randall’s sudden need to be shy about being gay felt almost foreboding to Ennis about who the attacker could be, his worst fears from the talk with Jack’s father threatening to turn into a dreaded reality. Unwilling to let the feeling in, he pushed a few smudged files and yellowish papers under plastic covers to the far side of his desk, and muttered, “I know the place.”

It felt ironic that while he was surprising himself and conceding Randall to be acquainted with that café, maybe even to have been inside it, there was going to be no need anymore for him to “come out” since Jack’s very presence in his life seemed to be doomed to slip away anyhow, if he wanted to protect him.

Warily, Malone looked over Ennis’ face, making sure he hadn't imagined things. Then he went on slowly, as if he had to be careful to not miss a single detail in his explanation or maybe a single thought swirling in Ennis’ mind.

“Good,” he started, a note of softness in his voice. “Maybe you heard about that guy who was ambushed by three rednecks five years ago, then. He was only nineteen. I still recall his wide brown eyes from the photo that the police took of the corpse the morning after,” Randall murmured taking a long breath.

“Did you know him?” Ennis’ voice was hoarse.

Randall slowly shook his head no, “I’d only seen that photograph and other shots in the file. His knuckles were bloody and the skin of his palms broken. He must have fought back.”

The sadness in Randall’s voice made Ennis swallow. And the tightness in his chest became unbearable when images of Jack being attacked and beaten by three men flashed in his mind.

Trying to shut out those depictions, Ennis straightened on his seat and prodded Randall to continue, more harshly than he intended.

“A gay bashing had taken place that night in the bar where I use to hang around, Ennis,” Randall said, with a searching glance. “Obviously I took an interest in finding out who did the deed. Well, it turned out that this Joe Aguirre guy,” Randall spat the name with venom, pointing a finger to the picture he initially showed Ennis, “was one of those involved. Judge Carter has been disappointingly weak with the hatemonger though, his verdict was unbelievably sympathetic since the guy bought a good lawyer who made the court believe that his client only watched and didn’t actively take part in the attack.”

“When Twist’s door opened wide, I was taken aback,” Randall continued, in a spirited voice. “I couldn’t believe that the fucker would be up against the law once again. I tried to handcuff him on the spot of course, but the dumbass caught me off-guard, hit me and run away.” Randall shook his head, “not a big deal anyway. He didn’t know me, but I knew him all too well. It took me less than an hour to find out that he is now the janitor at n.10 Colombo Street, the high building just in front of the one in which lived the murdered guy you’re investigating.”

Ennis was agape for a moment, then exclaimed, “so this Joe Aguirre is the janitor who called the police early in the morning that day!” His full attention was on Randall, in spite of him remembering Jack’s regrets for not having been the one to call the police.

“He could have called the police that morning, but he slew the man in the night. Twist recognized him without any doubt,” Randall added flatly.

“The janitor of number ten… no wonder he recognized Jack as a witness of his crime. And it was easy enough for him to study Jack’s each and every move in order to plan his assault.” Ennis couldn’t take the quiver out of his voice. Nor could he stop himself from silently blaming Jack for his hope that could easily turn into lack of care.

“Jack was so sure that Aguirre didn’t see him standing at the window that night, since the room was dark, but he obviously was wrong,” Ennis’ voice was barely audible, but Randall heard him all the same and answered, trying to keep his tone as soothingly as he could.

“See, Ennis, Jack was right, I guess. I may be wrong, of course, but for how I see it, Aguirre is a mean bastard who takes pleasure in bashing. If I’m right, the killed man in your case had to be gay, such as was the unlucky teen at the Blue Bear.” Clearly uncomfortable, looking away from Ennis, Randall kept talking. “And Twist, well… I pushed his buttons a bit this morning, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things and that you two were really dating. I know I’m not supposed to meddle. This is nobody’s business but yours, I’m so sorry, Ennis,” his was quickly becoming anxious, but surprisingly enough Ennis found out he didn’t care if Malone had his suspicions confirmed. At least at the moment, he was too troubled to care, so torn between fear for Jack’s safety and the ache at the very idea of having to end their thing, when they almost hadn’t even started it yet.

“So,” Randall resumed, “Aguirre saw you paying him visits regularly, I guess. Maybe he was spying on you even the very evening in which you spotted him out of Jack Twist’s door. And started planning his next little good job…”

Ennis stood up, turning away from Randall, feeling his eyes fill with unshed tears. No chance for him other than uttering a casual see you around remark to Jack, and let him out of his sight now that the case was coming to an end.

“Did you say anything to Jack?” Ennis forced out the words almost unable to breathe.

“No need to do it,” said Malone, in a reassuring voice. “Jack was safe enough with me going to catch the dumbass. Moreover, I don’t think it’s my turn to say things to him.” Randall looked straight into his eyes, and Ennis fought not to flinch. He tried to keep his cool on the outside, but down inside he felt he was in a slow-motion, but headlong, irreversible fall.

TBC