Naive Charles Royce (great novels .txt) 📖

his notebook and laptop on the table between them. He touches it. This is quite possibly the ugliest piece of furniture I have ever seen, he thinks, noticing the newer light-maple slats that have been interwoven with the dark oak table base. The whole piece is covered in a light coat of army-green stain that looks like someone has simply shellacked piss over the top, hoping it would bring the look together.

“Hmm, let’s see,” Micah says. “A gay guy who’s been all over the news for killing his partner, about to be shipped off to the Manhattan Detention Office or God forbid, Riker’s Island … I’d say I’m practicing my ‘Don’t fuck with me’ stance, what the hell do you think I’m practicing?”

“Oh, Jesus, Micah. You’ll be fine, I mean, look at you,” Shawn sits down, squirms, tries to make the most of a small bistro chair. “You’re short, sure, but there’s not an ounce of fat on you. Who would want to mess with that?”

Micah ignores the comment. Statements about his physique have always made him uncomfortable. “I really don’t know how we got here, Shawn. I mean, one minute everything was fine, and the next I’m trying to save my husband then end up being hauled away for killing him.”

“You didn’t kill him.”

“I know that!” Micah barks, startling Shawn. He lowers his voice. “At least I think I do.”

Shawn places his bag on the table with a loud thud and an even louder glance.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice. Thank you, thank you, Shawn, for helping me.”

“No worries, buddy. Lennox was a dear friend, one of the best people I have ever met, and I know how much he loved you.”

“Thank you.”

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” Shawn says. He pulls his laptop and legal pad from his bag. “Is there anything else you remember from that night?”

Micah leans his full torso against the table in front of him, elbows supporting him, and runs his fingers through his hair. “Well, before I got home, the only weird thing was I couldn’t get ahold of Lennox. I called a couple of times, I think … or texted, I can’t remember how many times.”

“Think, Micah. Remember. Details can be important.”

“Well, I texted twice, I think. And I definitely called him once and left a message.”

“What did you say?”

“Something like ‘Where are you? You said you’d be here.’ I sounded kinda angry, I’m sure, like frustrated meets worry, ya know?”

“Yes, okay, good, that’s good to know, and completely understandable. Okay, continue.”

“Like I told the police, James West was asking about Lennox at the party, which seemed strange to me, cuz he never asks me to get Lennox to come find him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, our conversations are always very surface-y and trivial. It seemed a little heavy for the moment, especially since he was in event mode, meaning he needed to talk to everyone, be the life of the party. So why the need for business, especially through a third party?”

“I’m still not clear.”

“I dunno. Just trying to make sense of what happened, who else could have done this.”

“I see. Okay, so James West was acting a little weird, that’s good. We’re already exploring some sort of company angle.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Jenna told me about an alleged bookkeeping scheme.”

“That Lenny was involved in?”

“Potentially. We’re looking into it.”

Shawn does not want to tarnish Lennox at this crucial point in someone’s grieving process. Nor does he want to tell Micah of a possible link between the two murders that happened that night. He changes the subject.

“Tell me about who saw you at the party, when they saw you, what time you arrived, what time you left, all that you remember.”

“God, I have relived this over and over.” Micah sits up. “But I understand. I said good-bye to Lennox around 7pm, maybe 7:15? I remember it being around 7pm, and I was at our condo waiting for him to finish getting ready, but he said to go on ahead because he had to meet someone real quick.”

“Wait, meet someone? This is new. Do you have any idea who?”

“Actually, no, I don’t. Since the thing with Josh, I’ve been working on just trusting him, ya know? So even though I was curious, I didn’t ask. I just figured it was a work thing.”

“You didn’t have a fight or anything?”

“No, we’d been doing really well, like really well.” He thinks of the night before the awful event, how Lennox had been so loving, as if he knew it was the last night he’d have the chance. Micah begins to feel teary but snaps himself out of it, blinking and shaking his head at the same time.

“That’s good,” Shawn says. “We’re pulling the videos from anywhere near your place, so if we can find he last person who saw him alive, then maybe we have something.”

“That’s good, that’s good. The video to our place hasn’t worked for a while, but I’m sure the whole block has cameras. Nine-eleven initiative and everything.”

“Yep. Okay, go on.”

“I catch a cab outside my place, going uptown, probably around 7:20, 7:25.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. But I’m sure I’m on the cameras.”

“Good, good. You got to the event around what time?”

“Traffic wasn’t bad, so I’d say around 7:45?”

“Again we’ll pull the videos, maybe look through some social media photos to make it definite. Go on.” Shawn is busy typing everything into his laptop.

“We were supposed to meet Jenna there at 7:30, so I was looking for her at our meeting point just next to the red carpet, but I didn’t see her. I did see Josh, though, looking fucking dapper as ever.”

“Ha ha, well, he was the man of the night, according to the Post AND the Times.”

“Fuck off,” Micah says with a half-smile. “I ran into him, like literally, partly by accident, partly on purpose. Okay, mostly on purpose.”

“Oh my God, you are a child.”

“Then I saw you trying to talk to Meryl Streep. Did you have any luck with