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“I’m trying to tell you—”
“Did you do what they’re saying? Did you go to that club?”
“Will you let me finish one goddamn sentence?”
“There you go, then,” Tean said. “That’s the answer. You did. You went to that club like they said, and you’re still lying about it. The proof is right there, and you can’t even tell me the truth right now.”
“If you’d let me explain—”
Lurching away from the table, Tean shook his head.
“Dr. Leon,” Emery barked.
“Tean, wait a second,” Jem called.
Tean glanced back in time to see Jem start after him.
Theo stepped into Jem’s path. “I think you need to answer a few questions.”
“Get out of my way. Tean, please!”
“Dr. Leon, we’re not finished,” Emery said.
“I need a minute,” Tean said. “I need some air.”
“I said get out of my way,” Jem said, hand dipping into his pocket, cocking his shoulder like he meant to drive through Theo.
“Sit down, Jem,” John-Henry said.
“This is all wrong,” Shaw was saying over everyone else. “Everybody calm down.”
Jem’s hand started to come out of his pocket.
“Jem,” Tean said, and the shock in his voice must have transmitted itself, because Jem gave a furious shake and settled back onto his heels. After a moment, Tean said, “I can’t do this right now. I’ll—I’ll be back.”
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” North shouted after him.
Tean slipped out of the multipurpose room and let the door fall shut behind him.
12
Tean couldn’t go far; he knew that. He had left Jem, left him with strangers, with men who didn’t trust him. Who had no reason to trust him. The opposite, in fact, since the proof of Jem’s lie was right in front of them. A distant part of Tean’s brain registered the reality that Jem might even be in danger; how well, after all, did Tean really know those men? What might they want from Jem, and what might they do if Jem resisted, fought back, did something reckless?
He had barely made it to the water cooler at the next intersection when he realized he had to go back. He turned around as John-Henry emerged into the hallway.
The blond man was still dressed in the linen suit he’d worn to the cat sanctuary, and he gave Tean a tired smile as he moved to join him. A nice smile, Tean decided. It might have been fake; people said Ted Bundy had been quite charming. But in that moment, when the hurt and disappointment and, beneath them, the fear were so great, Tean latched on to that smile.
“That was a lot,” John-Henry said. “I want to apologize. I’m sorry it happened that way.”
Tean shook his head.
“I didn’t want to do that, if it makes any difference.”
Tean thought about shaking his head again to that, but the effort seemed too great. He heard himself say, “You’re separating us.”
John-Henry cocked his head. The smile dimmed. But all he said was, “Nobody’s going to do anything to Jem, but he did seem pretty upset. Of course, you seem pretty upset as well. I thought maybe you’d like to call him, and then he can go back to your room, and you can get some air.”
“And someone will watch the room. And you’ll watch me.”
