“Hank and I weren’t overly close to Ted,” George says.“I was always more of a man’s man, fishing all the time, playing all sorts of sports.Ted was more into board games and long talks.”
I nod.
So far, nothing I don’t already know.
“And you?”I ask Hank.
He shrugs.“I didn’t hang out with him much, either.I mean, he was my brother and I love him, but I was quite a bit younger.And Ted… How well did you know him?”
“Pretty well, I think.”
“Then you know he was gay.”
I keep my eyebrows from flying off my head.
“Sure,” I say.
But no, I didn’t know he was gay.
My father said that Ted might’ve raped my mother and my sisters if he hadn’t killed him.
I know rape isn’t a sexual thing, but Ted was a very gentle person.And if he was gay, he probably wouldn’t have been interested in raping women.And he certainly never laid a finger on me or any of my brothers.
I never felt unsafe with him.In fact, I felt very safe with him.Safer than I did with my own parents.He was never inappropriate with me.He was a surrogate big brother, even kind of a father figure.
My father must’ve severely misunderstood Ted’s intentions…
Or there’s something more to the story.
“So what else about Ted?Was he in a relationship?”
“Not that we knew of, at least not at the time of his death,” George says.“He had an on-again, off-again relationship with a guy from college, but I think they were off at the time he was killed.”
“College,” I say.“He and I never talked about that.Where did he go to school?”
“He studied English and math at Texas Christian University,” Hank says.“Then he went abroad and did some volunteer work for a couple years after he graduated.When he came back to the US, he freelanced, mostly personal assistant stuff until he landed the Bellamy gig.”
“Right,” I say.
“He was good at that kind of stuff.Ted was always really organized,” Hank says.
“Where did he go when he was volunteering abroad?”I ask, raising my cup of coffee to my lips.
“He was all over.He spent some time in Togo, Africa, and then in Mongolia.But then for the last year he focused on South America.Specifically Colombia.”
Colombia?
This is all a little too eerie.
But I keep my eyes focused, my demeanor normal.I sip the coffee.
“Colombia.Really?Do you know what he did there?”
George shakes his head.“Nope.Ted didn’t talk about his time there.”
12
DANIELA
