Page 24 of Grave Danger

It was definitely for the best Cody and Jugs had taken the raccoon job across town. They’d most likely had more space to work in. But Demetrius was curious about the text Cody had sent a short time ago to let him know the raccoon had been released out by Parson’s Pond, but they would need to go back later to pick up the net. Before Demetrius could even think what to ask, Cody had sent a second text that he needed to ‘run some errands’ before heading back to the office, and maybe they could meet at Margie’s for lunch. The suggestion of Margie’s for lunch was a good one, of course, but Demetrius was curious about Cody’s errands.

He had a feeling he might know what kind of errand Cody needed to run. If he knew his husband at all—and after nearly twenty-five years of friendship plus several years of marriage, he figured he knew him pretty damn well—he suspected Cody might be trying to track down the mayor. And of course he was doing it on his own to try and keep Demetrius safe and out of danger. The entire thing was weighing on Cody, Demetrius could see that. And he could definitely understand why it weighed on him so heavily.

One time years and years ago, Demetrius had hit a deer while driving along Route 118. The damage to his car hadn’t been the worst part of the experience by a long shot. Far more awful had been the suddenness of the deer showing up in front of him. One second the road was clear in the wash of his headlights, and the next he’d been startled by the deer simply appearing. His heart had pounded and his stomach dropped as he’d screamed and hit the brakes. But it was too late.

Some nights, right on the verge of sleep, Demetrius still heard the awful crunch of plastic and the clatter of the deer’s hooves across his windshield.

He’d stopped, of course, and had run back to find the deer thrashing and snorting where it lay half on the shoulder and half on the road. After a call to the police, he’d leaned against the trunk of his car and tried to reassure the deer everything would be better soon as it flailed its legs and thumped its head on the asphalt. When the police officer had arrived, he’d casually put the deer out of its suffering with a bullet to the head, the shot making Demetrius jump and sounding so loud and brutal in the still, quiet night.

So, yes, when Demetrius thought about it, he could definitely understand why Cody would want to go back out and try to find the mayor and prove to himself that everything that had happened had really, truly happened. Because if hitting a deer could have such a lasting impact on him, he couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to hit a person. Even one who had been memorialized and buried the week before.

A quiet rustle in the darkness brought his focus back to the job at hand. He decided to proceed on his hands and knees, the long handle of the snare with a loop at the end dragging over the boards behind him. He’d gotten pretty good at dealing with possums over the last few years, and he really wanted to be done with this job and out of the cramped and dusty attic.

Forty minutes later, Demetrius had the possum caged and secured in the back of his truck. He’d secured the loose board in the eaves overhang, removed his coveralls, and dusted the cobwebs and stray bits of insulation from his head. The homeowner, a sour-faced man in his late sixties or early seventies, with dime-sized eyes the color of old pennies and tattered slippers on his feet, had muttered about the cost and how he could have handled it himself if he’d been a few years younger as Demetrius swiped his credit card and turned the tablet for his signature.

“Thank you for calling us to come help you with your critter problem,” Demetrius said. “I’ve secured the access point, so you should be all set.”

“You have a guarantee about that?”

“Sure. If you get another critter from that same access point within thirty days, we’ll do an extraction free of charge.”

“Thirty days isn’t much of a guarantee.”

“It is for a business with three employees.”

The man humphed and retreated inside his house, closing the door firmly behind him.

Ah, the joys of being a small business owner.

Demetrius’s stomach rumbled again as he got into his truck. He took a moment to search the storage compartments for something to tide him over. Half a chocolate chip granola bar, still in its wrapper with the open end folded shut, lay at the bottom of the center console, and he gobbled it down in two bites. It helped, but not much.

During the drive, he dictated a text to Cody letting him know he was heading out to Parson’s Pond. He asked where he’d left the net, and made a point not to ask for details. Cody texted back that it was the usual spot, then sent another text that clarified he hadn’t meant their usual sex spot, but the usual critter release spot. Demetrius chuckled, then rolled his eyes when another text came in and he asked his phone’s virtual assistant to read it, laughing at the nearly monotone female voice saying: “Maybe we should visit our sex spot soon. I’d like to see you spread out before me in the back of my truck, with my tongue in your mouth and my cock balls deep in your ass.”

“Jesus Christ,” Demetrius whispered, adjusting his sudden erection even as he laughed at Cody forcing his phone to talk dirty to him.

Once again, he really loved that tall, gorgeous man-child.

After bumping along Morley’s Trail, the dirt and sand old logging road that circled Parson’s Pond, Demetrius pulled off between a couple of trees and got out of the truck. Before he set the possum free, he walked a good distance into the woods to look for the net Cody had left behind. A bit farther out among the trees than he’d expected, Demetrius saw sunlight glint along the aluminum handle, and he picked up the net. A quick inspection proved the netting was still intact, so he headed back to his truck, holding it over his shoulder like he was a kid carrying a bamboo fishing pole in a Norman Rockwell painting. He was definitely looking forward to Cody’s explanation about why he’d abandoned the net.

He rounded the truck and lowered the tailgate, sliding the net along the bed on the opposite side from where the cage with the possum had been secured in the back corner.

“Okay, little friend, time to check out your new home.” Demetrius was about to get up in the truck’s bed when he stopped and looked at the cage. “What the hell?”

The cage door had swung open, but there was still a critter inside, crouched in the shadows way in the back. Demetrius moved to that side of the truck’s bed and peered into the cage. A white and gray face with a black mask looked back at him.

“Um, hi there, Mr. Raccoon, where’s the possum I brought with me?”

Demetrius looked around but found no sign of the possum. He climbed into the bed of the truck and got on his hands and knees to look into the cage. No sign of the possum in there, just the big raccoon, wringing his hands and blinking back at him.

His phone buzzed. Demetrius sat with his back against the side of the bed and tugged it from his pocket. It was a call from Cody.

“Hi there,” Demetrius said.

“Hey. I’m just pulling up to Margie’s. You almost done?”

“I thought I was, but something weird just happened.”

“Uh oh.”