Part 28 (1/2)
”Hutch, take her away,” Ranson overrode me.
Hutch separated from the crowd. It didn't take much, since he alone was about a third of it. He made Milo's goons look puny.
”Michele Knight, this is Hutch MacKenzie,” Ranson said in a toneless, going-through-the-motions voice. ”Get her out of here and keep her safe. I don't care how. You can take her to jail or to the zoo.
Just keep her out of a body bag.”
”You got it, Sergeant Ranson,” Hutch answered.
She turned to go, leaving me with this gorilla.
”Wait a second, Ranson, if you think you can just-”
”The hardest part will be shutting her up,” Ranson interrupted. To me, she said, ”Micky, for once, be a good girl.” The anger was gone, replaced by a weariness that wasn't physical.
”Ah, you've found Ms. Knight,” said our hero from Was.h.i.+ngton as he came bounding up the stairs to us. ”Of course, we'll want a full statement from you,” he continued.
”You want a full statement from me?” I said as I walked by him.
”You guys f.u.c.ked up. That's my full statement.”
I caught the barest twitch of a smile on Ranson's face, but she suppressed it. Then I went down the stairs and out the door, Hutch following and soundproofing me from any comments from the law officers.
When we got to the parking lot, Hutch motioned me one way, but I went another. I had to make a stop by a pink limo.
”It was Frankie, wasn't it?” Buddy asked as I approached. He had probably heard rumors; the look on my face must have confirmed them.
”Yeah. Tell Torbin,” I said, ”tell Torbin to buy another black dress.
He'll need one for the funeral.”
Buddy gave me a big bear hug. Torbin probably already had several black dresses. Gay men go to too many funerals these days.
Maybe that's why Buddy knew to hold me. Finally letting go, I just nodded to him, because there was nothing really to say. Then I followed Hutch to his car.
He tried to make small talk on the way back to the city, but I was silent and morose.
”Where are we going?” it finally occurred to me to ask, as we started driving on unfamiliar side streets.
* 187 *
”Home,” he answered.
”Yours or mine?”
”Mine. I don't know where you live.”
”I could tell you.”
”But don't the bad guys know?” He settled it.
We pulled into a parking lot next to his building. Oh, great, I was going to go home with this gorilla who I'd just met and I wasn't even wearing underwear.
He led the way in.
”This is going to be kind of hard to explain,” he said from the foyer as I followed behind him. Now what, I wondered. But he wasn't talking to me.
”What is going to be hard to explain?” a female voice answered from the living room. ”Ah, I see. Bringing home a strange woman,” she said as I entered.
”Following orders. Both of us,” I told her as I sat down on a couch.
I was suddenly tired. She arched an eyebrow at him.
”Ranson's orders. This is Micky Knight and she's in protective custody,” Hutch explained.
”And I was all prepared to be insanely jealous,” she commented.
”Aww, Millie,” Hutch said, enjoying the attention.
”No need to worry,” I added. ”I'm a lesbian.” So much for oiling the wheels of social discourse. I figured that would make them leave me alone. If one is going to be an outcast, one might as well be blatant about it.
”Huh?” Hutch asked, a perplexed look on his face.
”It means you should be jealous of me, not me jealous of you,”
Millie explained. Then she plopped down next to me and put her arm around my shoulder for purposes of ill.u.s.tration.
Hutch laughed.
”Oh, you're gay. My brother's gay,” he said. ”I wasn't listening very well. I thought you said thespian, which didn't make much sense.”
”Coffee, tea, bourbon, or all three?” Millie asked, still sitting next to me.
”Coffee and bourbon, hold the tea,” I answered.
Somewhere in the last few minutes, the tension had disappeared. I was no longer feeling like such a social outcast.
* 188 *
Millie got up to make the coffee. I followed her to change my order, remembering my still unsettled stomach.
”How about tea and toast?”
”A better idea. You folks have had a rough night,” she said, putting on water.
”G.o.d, it's good to be out of that monkey suit,” Hutch said, joining us. ”I had to go to five different places before I could find one my size.”