Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 51803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Valenti could understand his partner’s defensiveness. He knew there had been rumors about them before because of their close friendship and the way they were so comfortable in each other’s space. Rumor was one thing, but to hear their captain say they should play a gay couple because they were more “suited” for the part than any other detective team was something else. Talk about damning us with faint praise, Valenti thought sourly.
“No, hell, no!” Harris blustered furiously, finding another pencil to bend. “But, well ... damn it, O’Brian, you two are just more comfortable around each other than any other detectives we’ve got. You’ve been partners a long time -- you know each other. And you’re not a pair of rabid homophobes like a lot of the guys here. Who am I gonna send, huh? Jenkins and Johnson? Jenkins snickers like a schoolboy every time he sees a drag queen, and Johnson would lose his lunch if I asked him to stay at a gay resort -- let alone pretend to be gay himself. And the rest are just as bad or worse.
“No.” Harris shook his head. “You two are my only option. I know it’s awkward, but that can’t be helped. Of course ...” He put the pencil down on his desk blotter beside the broken one and leaned back in his chair. “... you two can refuse the assignment. Technically it’s out of our jurisdiction, so it’s strictly voluntary.”
“But this Conrad is putting some heavy-duty shit on the street, and kids are getting killed because of it. I’d really like to nail this bastard, and I thought you’d agree with me.”
“We’ll do it,” O’Brian said, at the same time Valenti said, “No way,” emphatically. They looked at each other, confused. They were almost always in agreement.
Harris looked at both of them and frowned. Valenti knew what he was thinking -- O’Brian should be the one having a problem with this assignment, not his partner.
Everyone knew that despite being so touchy-feely, O’Brian was the more macho of the two men. Valenti knew that his partner’s upbringing probably had something to do with that. Growing up in one of the toughest blue-collar Irish-Catholic neighborhoods in Boston, and being short and blond, with features that were so finely molded they were almost pretty, had given O’Brian something to prove. Valenti was more easygoing -- more willing to keep an open mind about things like this. But, then, he hadn’t had to fight every dumb jock in his neighborhood that called him a “fucking faggot” growing up because he was small and cute, either.
Captain Harris just sighed and shook his head. “Talk it out and let me know. Got to have both of you on board for this one to work.” Harris motioned for them to leave. “Shut the door behind you, and let me know by the end of the day,” he said, turning back to the paperwork on his desk.
Outside the office, the partners argued in lowered voices.
“What’s with you, O’Brian? I thought this kind of thing made you sick. Why the sudden change of heart?”
Valenti was genuinely baffled. O’Brian had never been one of those cops that went in for gay bashing, but he had never been exactly gay-friendly, either. Valenti usually ended up dealing with their few homosexual informants. And ever since O’Brian’s little brother, Ian, had left his wife and three young children for his insurance salesman, homosexuality -- especially man-on-man homosexuality -- had been a touchy subject. Valenti sometimes thought it was Ian’s duplicity more than his sexuality that bothered O’Brian, but it still wasn’t something they talked about very much or very easily.
“What’s with you, Valenti?” O’Brian demanded, without answering his partner’s question. “You never struck me as a homophobe. Thought you were a real open-minded kinda guy.”
“I am open-minded, but Sean, we don’t know what we’re getting into here,” Valenti protested, knowing it sounded lame, but unable to come up with a better excuse. There was no way he was going to give the real reason for his reluctance to accept the mission, given his partner’s usual take on the gay lifestyle.
O’Brian snorted dismissively. “Yeah, I do -- we’re gonna go in there and nail the scum that’s been handing out poisoned candy to every twinkie in town. Ya know, Valenti, I may not agree with the lifestyle, but they got a right to live, same as you and me.”
“I know. It’s just ...” Valenti floundered, completely unable to find the words. “Well, the captain’s right -- we are more comfortable around each other than the other guys, but still -- we’re only comfortable up to a point, you know?”
“Aw, whatza matter, Nicky, afraid you’ll have to hold my hand?” O’Brian made light of it, but there was an angry glint in his eye.