Psychic Detective 23 By: Jake Preston
This is a work of erotic gay fiction, intended for readers who enjoy a murder mystery in which fully developed characters interact sexually and in other ways. Their sexual encounters are sometimes romantic, sometimes recreational, sometimes spiritual, and almost always described explicitly. My attention is equally divided between narrative, character development, and sex scenes. If you don't care for this combination, there are many other excellent "nifty" stories to choose from. And remember that while nifty stories are free, maintaining a website is not. Please think about donating at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html
Writing is usually a solitary avocation, but not necessarily so on nifty.org, where a longer story appears in installments. If my characters and my story grab your attention, you can always intervene with suggestions for improvements. All sincere comments will get a response!
Jake, at jemtling@gmail.com
Chapter 23 Thursday Night at Apollo's
Dmitri Zarvopoulos and David Gabrioli returned to their jobs as dock-boy and groundskeeper at Wayward Island Resort. They got cabin fever cooped up in Ben Hasek's home in Hibbing, and anyway they needed to work to save money for their senior year at Bemidji State. They had a second job, modeling for Anna Ravitch. She painted Dmitri cleaning walleye for a customer on the dock, David chopping wood for the fireplace in the lodge, Dmitri and David in a canoe on the bay, Dmitri and David nursing a wing-wounded loon that they nursed back to health, and Dmitri and David nude by a rock used for diving-a variant 'swimming-hole' scene. Mrs. Ravitch talked about paining them in a reprise if their romantic encounter on Eight Eagles Island- if it ever got safe to go there.
"Albino and his Dark Companion are like Grendel and Grendel's dam," Mrs. Ravitch said. "They kidnap men at night and carry them to some redoubt in the forest." Deputy Nelson and his Sergeant were still missing. Dmitri and David had ambivalent feelings about that. They no longer had to worry about Nelson's bullying, but Albino was an existential threat.
Meanwhile, by the harbor-docks in Superior, Apollo's was crowded on Thursday night. Jésus the Bartender spread the word that the Lakota Sheriff would perform his go-go routine at nine o'clock. Live shows at Apollo's usually started at ten, but as Jack put it, "the vampires will have to emerge from their coffins an hour earlier." Sheriff Matthews and Agent Tom Eidan assembled a team of undercover cops and agents to be on the lookout for Albino and his Dark Companion. They went to a lot of trouble, considering the possibility that nothing would happen, but as Göran put it, "That's usually what happens on a stake-out."
The patrons at Apollo's were not disappointed. Calvin had planned a routine. He dressed in leather silver-studded chest-straps and tight trousers open at the rear. Jack wore his dark blue dress-uniform, complimented by the gold of his badge. When the disco music started, Calvin swayed and pranced around Jack, while Jack stood still, gazing across the room at Jésus behind the bar, looking arrogant and unconcerned. Jack's hundred-yard stare got the crowd rooting for Calvin and wondering how he would stimulate the icy Sheriff into action.
The music mellowed for a time, while Calvin left the stage. He returned with a cattle- prod and a leather whip. When the disco beat returned, Calvin prodded Jack's butt with the cattle-prod, and whipped his behind. Jack looked at Calvin for the first time, with studied lack of expression, imitating the style of a Titan Man. Then, in postponed obedience to Calvin, he swayed to the disco beat.
Calvin looked distracted at times, too, but it wasn't an artificial pose. He glanced at his band-members and noted the absence of Craig Clark. "What happened to him?" he wondered. He could only forget his worries about Craig by getting into the action on stage. He motioned to Jack to remove his boots. Jack ignored him. Calvin motioned again, and administered the cattle- prod and the leather whip to Jack's butt. Jack looked at him intently for a moment, kicked off a boot, danced to the beat, and kicked off the second boot. They repeated the routine for his socks. Jack danced barefoot. Calvin groped his butt. Jack ignored him. His hundred-yard gaze was part of the act, but not without purpose- he surveyed the crowd looking for Albino. Calvin motioned for Jack to remove his trousers. Jack ignored him, until Calvin applied the cattle-prod and the whip to his butt and motioned again. Jack stared in his eyes for a minute. He lowered his pants and kicked them aside. While Calvin groped his crotch, Jack resumed his hundred-yard stare and glimpsed a tall curly-white-haired man standing by the back wall. He averted his eyes and looked at Jésus at the bar. He extended his right arm toward the bar and made rabbit-ears with two fingers. He did the same with his left hand and pointed in Albino's direction. Göran and two FBI agents-Ross Kratz and Guy Stone- moved in his direction. Jack stepped out of his black jockey-shorts and danced provocatively, hoping to distract Albino. As Göran got closer to Albino, Ross Kratz was diverted by a drug deal in progress- one young man passed a marijuana cigarette to another. He called for Guy Stone to arrest the drug dealer, while Albino struggled to get out the door. Göran grabbed Albino's right hand and twisted his arm with such force that he dislocated a shoulder. Albino screeched in pain, but he broke loose and disappeared into the night. When Göran looked around in the darkness, he saw no back-up in sight. Agents Kratz and Stone were busy body-searching two patrons for drugs.
The commotion at the front door was Jack's cue to end the strip-show. He dressed quickly, and joined the hunt for Albino, and for his Dark Companion, who also escaped- if he was there at all. The FBI agents confiscated the videotape from the camera above the front door. They weren't aware that Jésus the Bartender videotaped the scene on his cellphone.
While all this was going on in Apollo's, Harv Winik and a patrolmen kept watch a half- mile away in the harbor, near the dock where Albino had been seen cruising a year earlier. To avoid losing his temper in front of everyone in the bar, Göran walked down to the harbor to report to Winik. "Two men apprehended for doing a drug deal?" Winik was astonished.
"One guy passed a joint to another. It wasn't a drug deal. It was misdemeanor possession at most," Svenson replied. "Look, Harv, I don't trust Kratz or Stone. They screwed up this operation. They'll try to cover up their dufus by elevating a possession misdemeanor to a felony drug deal." Winik promised to keep an eye on the case.
Jack and Calvin crossed the High Bridge on their way to Calvin's home on the west side of Duluth. Calvin invited him to stay the night, but he declined: "It's too early, CC," he said. "Let's wait until we're ready to tell your folks that we've decided to become life-partners. Only then can we spend the night at their place."
"Is that a proposal?" Calvin asked.
"It is," Jack replied.
Calvin didn't respond. They passed the highest point of the High Bridge.
"I never tire of this sight," Jack said, pointing to the street lights on the steep hills of Duluth's east side, rising up from Lake Superior. After another silence, Jack continued: "Look, CC, maybe I spoke too soon.... It's okay if you need more time to think about it."
"It's not that," Calvin said. "You're the right guy for me, but I worry that maybe I'm not the right guy for you."
"Don't underestimate yourself, CC," Jack said. "Look at what happened tonight. In the confusion over arresting Albino... or, I should say, over not arresting Albino, you didn't lose your cool, while those two FBI agents- Ross Kratz and Guy Stone- they were useless, worse than useless! They couldn't keep their mind on the mission. The War on Drugs is more important to them than crimes of lust-murder."
"What about Jésus? He didn't lose his cool," Calvin said.
"Jésus is already spoken for," Jack laughed. Then he got serious: "I have to drive back to South Dakota on Monday. Duty calls. I've been absent from Lakota County too long. If I don't get back to work, I'll lose my job. I'm hoping that you'll come with me."
When they got to the Cohn's house, Abraham and Sarah were waiting up for them. "I hope you boys weren't drinking and driving," Sarah said. It was the sort of thing a mother could say.
"No booze for me- I was on duty, and so was CC, in a way," Jack replied. They told Abraham and Sarah about the evening's adventures. Jack left it up to Calvin to say how he posed as a go-go dancer as a ruse to entice Albino into the bar. Calvin omitted the more colorful details of Jack's strip-tease act. "Not to worry, Jack," Abraham said. "We've watched five seasons of 'Queer as Folk' on cable TV, so we get the picture."
"The dance floor at Apollo's is smaller. It's not as dramatic as Babylon," Calvin said. "There's plenty of cruising, but no unlit rooms in the back."
Jack didn't think it was necessary to remind Calvin about the time he gave 'Brad Nails' a blowjob in the men's room. Instead, he looked puzzled. "Babylon?" he asked. He said he'd never seen 'Queer as Folk'. He'd never heard of the show. He changed the subject, by extending an extravagant invitation to Abraham and Sarah to spend the weekend with them at Wayward Island Resort. He promised them a rustic cabin at the edge of the lakeshore. They agreed to drive up in the morning. When Jack announced that it was time for him to leave, Sarah urged him to stay: "You can sleep on the pull-out sofa in the living room," she said. "It's comfortable."
"Jésus is staying with Göran tonight," Calvin pitched in. "You'll be a third wheel at his place."
Jack agreed to stay. He pulled out the bed and helped Sarah with sheets and blankets. Calvin came downstairs in his pajamas, carrying his clothes, and offered to put Jack's clothes into the washing machine along with his. "Your jockey-shorts, too, Jack," he said. Jack blushed, and handed Calvin his black shorts from under the sheet.
A couple hours later, Abraham got out of bed to use the bathroom. Calvin heard him stirring, and up, too. "I'm going downstairs to put our clothes in the dryer so they'll be ready in the morning," he whispered to his father.
Minutes went by. Abraham expected to hear Calvin returning to his bed. When he didn't, he crept to the upstairs landing and looked down into the living room. There, in the moonlit living room, he saw his son lying naked over Jack, riding his stallion and pouring himself into him. Jack seemed to have no complaints. Sarah awoke when Abraham crept back into bed. "I think Calvin's finally found someone who really loves him," he said.
"I could have told you that," Sarah replied.