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“Along those lines, did Jesse have anyone that didn’t like him? Did he make any enemies that you knew of?”
Back to the lip chewing. This time I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. “Yeah, I mean, he wasn’t the nicest of guys all the time. I saw him snap back at a couple of annoying patrons when we were at Blizzards. He didn’t have the shortest fuse, but I do think he got on some people’s nerves.”
“Any names?”
Another “No.”
Fucking hell, is this a dead end?
“Did he ever snap at you?”
“Never. We were good friends. I understood him more than other people. We had similar pasts. Dysfunctional families and backstabbing friends. It was hard to trust people, but with Jesse, it was easy… until it wasn’t.”
A group of drunken college kids stumbled in through the rotating door, shouting loudly about the girls they wanted to bang. I tuned them out and asked, “What would he say about his family?”
“A lot. How his dad was an alcoholic who hit him for no reason as a kid, and his mom was more interested in finding guys to cheat on his father with than raise him, or defend him. His little sister was a bright spot for a while, but that went sour. She started hanging out with the wrong crowd and ended up turning against him. They’d fight constantly. I think Nick convinced him not to even talk to his family. He cut them off, and then they won the lotto. Jesse tried fixing it real quick, but the damage was done.”
I had been wanting to talk to Nick, but this conversation made my interest spike.
“Do you know where I can find Nick?”
She shook her head, her frown deepening. “He’s deleted all his social media accounts, or at least he’s blocked me from seeing them. I think I heard him talking about how he worked at a circus, or maybe that he had a gig for the fair that was coming up… I can’t really remember.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Did Jesse have any relationships I should know about? Girlfriends, boyfriends?”
Kristen gave an empty laugh. “Boyfriends. Nah, he should have come out of the closet, but he never did. He dated a few girls, but none of them ever lasted.”
“So you think he was closeted?”
She shrugged. “I guess I’ll never know for sure, but the thought crossed my mind a few times.” She went back to eating. The waitress came around to ask if we needed anything. I was still digesting all the information Kristen had given me while Kristen was digesting her questionably cooked steak, the sad plops of mashed potato looking a little crusty from where I sat.
I talked with Kristen for another hour, trying to find any little kernel of information I could use to hunt down Jesse’s killer. The interview ended as the diner was becoming full with the late-night crowd. She didn’t reveal any bombshells, but I still felt good about the meeting.
I didn’t have the answers I wanted, but at least I had a thread or two to follow. I wanted to investigate Jesse’s family a little further, and I wanted to hunt down Nick and ask him a few questions. One of those avenues would lead to something, I could feel it.
And if they didn’t, then I was just going to keep on digging. For Hazel.
For Sam.
15
Sam Clark
One Week Later
My parents chattered on about politics while I blocked them out as I sat on the couch. The cheap wooden table I was playing my game on shook every time things got intense and I had to do some button mashing.
“Icey, come on! Don’t let the aggro build up,” I said into the mic. “Or I’m going to get spanked. And not in the good way.” I winked at the camera. On the side of the screen, I got a notice that someone else had subscribed to my channel.
“Thanks so much!” I said, returning my focus to the game.
Focus. That was a funny word, considering I barely had any of it over the past week. My mind had dropped into a paper shredder and scattered into the wind, flying off in a thousand different directions. One second I’d be thinking about Hazel and helping exonerate her, and the next I’d be thinking about Rocky and the star-shattering kiss we had shared in his pool
My first kiss, and it was with a man who could light me on fire with a single look.
“Sam, now you’re the one slacking!” Silk shouted as an ogre ran around me and smashed into her with a crippling blow, her character icon blinking red as she took on damage.
My phone vibrated next to me. I shot a glance down and almost started hyperventilating.
Rocky? What’s he texting me for?
“Sam!”
“Sorry, Angel, sorry.” I went back to clicking furiously on my laptop. The screen started to stutter as the internet connection began to slow, making the problems even worse. I groaned as it froze to a complete stop, just when we were getting the damn ogre down to its last healthpoints.
