I could feel I was distancing myself from Javier as the elevator fell to the ground. “I’ll be okay,” I said, because I knew I had to be.

  We got the manager to let us in the apartment, holding some tissues over our noses and trying to breathe through our mouths. Javier was in the bedroom, sprawled face down on the sheets where he and I had fucked a few days before. He was naked, and his legs were spread. Next to the bed was a syringe without a needle, a tiny drop of water at the end of the plunger.

  “Oh, man,” Ray said.

  We called the medical examiner’s office, and reported in to our dispatcher. We turned the air conditioning up on high, and opened the windows. Neither of us wanted to stay in the bedroom, so we waited in the small living room. There were a few photos on a bookshelf—Javier at his high school graduation, with a couple of friends back in Jersey, a few vacation shots on the family islands. A computer against one wall, programming books piled haphazardly around it.

  “I’m assuming the rules are the same in Honolulu as they are in Philly,” Ray said. “Department frowns on you investigating the murder of a guy you fucked.”

  I’d been through this problem before, when I was undercover on the North Shore and a guy I’d had sex with had been killed. At the time, I was the only detective Lieutenant Sampson could trust, and he had no choice but to keep me on the case. But here, I’d be pulled off as soon as I made a statement. And inevitably, word would get around the department, and there would be rumors and gossip and people saying that a gay guy shouldn’t be a cop at all.

  “Looks to me like a booty bump,” Ray continued. “Strictly off the record, did you guys ever…”

  I shook my head. There are lots of ways to get crystal meth into the body; one of them, used among gay men, is the booty bump. Meth crystals are poured into a syringe without a needle on the end. Then water is dripped into the syringe to dissolve the crystal. You squirt it up your own ass, or have your partner do it, and in ten to fifteen seconds you’re feeling the high. I’d never tried it, but we’d learned about it in drug interdiction cases. “We did a lot of stuff, but no drugs.”

  “Once the crime scene techs get here, are they going to find your prints?”

  I nodded. Ray looked at me. I could see he was considering things in his head. Finally, he said, “I don’t see any reason to put the full extent of your relationship with this guy in the file. At least not now. You met him at a bar, you talked about trading MP3s, and when you couldn’t get in touch with him, you thought something was wrong. You gave me his number, and I called his office to track him down. The receptionist said he hadn’t showed up for work, so you and I decided to check out his apartment.”

  If I’d had any doubts about Ray Donne before that, they were gone. He trusted me. We weren’t going to lie; we were just going to present selected facts. As detectives, we used our judgment like that every day, deciding whose story to believe, which facts to consider and how to interpret them.

  By the time the crime scene techs arrived, the air was a little better in the apartment. We set them to the computer area in the living room first, so we could log in ourselves and explore. While they were in the bedroom, jockeying with the ME to collect what they needed, Ray turned on Javier’s computer. “I think it’s best if I do this,” he said.

  “I understand.” I hovered over his shoulder, though. Windows booted up, and Ray double–clicked on the Microsoft Outlook shortcut. “No password,” he said, as the program opened. “Beauty.”

  “The shoemaker’s children always go barefoot,” I said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s a saying. When you do something for a living, often you ignore the simplest things in your own life. Like a programmer not securing his email with a password.”

  The most recent message in the list was dated on Sunday, around eight o’clock, showing us that was the last time he’d downloaded his email. Because I hadn’t emailed him until after that, there were no messages from me. A few messages down on the list, a title read “U Free Tonight?”

  “Click on that one,” I said, pointing.

  Jojo28@alohamail.com had written to let Javier know he had some premium coke and a hard dick. “Let’s look at the sent mail,” I said.

  Ray switched folders and found the response Javier had sent, which read, “Bump me, dude! My hole is waiting for u.”

  Ray right–clicked on the address and brought up Javier’s address book listing for Jojo28. Javier kept good records; Jojo’s full name was Jose Santilla, and Javier had a cell number for him.

  Back at the station, we ran Jose Santilla through the system and found he had a rap sheet for prostitution and drug possession. My buddy Thanh Nguyen in the fingerprint lab matched Santilla’s prints to those found on the syringe from Javier’s bed. By two o’clock we had a booking photo of Santilla and a warrant for his arrest.

  Though Santilla was twenty-nine, from his photograph he was a scrawny guy who looked no older than nineteen. He had no fixed address, but from his rap sheet we could tell he usually hung out in the triangle at the end of Waikîkî, around the area where Javier had lived.

  Lieutenant Sampson raised an eyebrow when we presented the story of how we’d come to find Javier’s body, but didn’t say anything more, and didn’t tell me I had to leave the case to Ray.

  As we drove toward Waikîkî, Ray asked, “How’re you taking all this, Kimo?”

  I wasn’t happy; I didn’t like my personal life entering the station, and I didn’t like massaging the truth when it came to my own behavior. But I shrugged and said “I’m taking it.”

  I slowed down as we crossed the Ala Wai Canal and started scanning the sidewalks. We spotted Jose Santilla, in a tank top and skimpy shorts, lurking against a building near the corner of Niu Street and Ala Wai Boulevard. I pulled the truck over and Ray and I got out.

  “How you doing, Jojo?” Ray asked.

  Santilla twitched his nose, like a nervous rabbit with a drug habit, and sniffed. “What’s it to you?” he asked.

  Ray leaned his hand on the wall next to Jojo. “You know, I’ve got a sixth sense when it comes to the kind of kinky stuff people are into. I look at you, and I think booty bump. How about it, Jojo? That turn you on?”

  Jojo took off down Ala Wai Boulevard. Ray and I raced after him, and Ray took him down just before Kuamo‘o Street. “What made you run, Jojo?” Ray asked. He pointed at a glassine bag sticking out of Jojo’s waistband. “You got something there you don’t want the police to see?”

  He turned out to be holding a felony quantity of crystal meth, and his eyes were wide and bloodshot. I thought I’d be angry with him—he’d killed my hot date—but all I felt was sorry for the guy.

  We took him downtown, processed him, and put him into the system. There was enough evidence against him to put him in jail for a long time, but I didn’t feel particularly good. On my way home, I stopped past the Rod and Reel Club.

  Gunter was there, relaxing after his shift as a security guard at a pricey building in a much nicer part of Waikîkî than the one where Javier Moreno had lived. I told him what had happened.

  He shook his head. “Like Nancy Reagan always said. Just say no to drugs.”

  “I was right, you know. Javier and I hit it off. He wasn’t just dodging me.”

  “Kimo,” Gunter said. “You had great sex with the guy. That doesn’t mean he was going to marry you.”

  “I know. But we would have had some more sex, I’m sure.”

  “And would that have been enough for you?”

  I shifted uncomfortably on my barstool. “You know what I want, Gunter.”

  “You want to meet a guy and fall in love at first sight, then pledge to spend the rest of your lives holding hands behind a white picket fence.”

  “Something like that.”

  “I hope you find it, Kimo.” Then he smiled devilishly. “But I hope you have a lot of hot sex while you’re looking.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  NEIL PLAKCY is the author of Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Vice, and Mahu Men, about openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka. His other books are Three Wrong Turns in the Desert, Dancing with the Tide (2010) and GayLife.com. He edited Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog and the gay erotic anthologies Hard Hats, Surfer Boys and Skater Boys (2010). His website is www.mahubooks.com.

  MLR PRESS AUTHORS

  Featuring a roll call of some of the best writers of gay erotica and mysteries today!

  M. Jules Aedin

  Maura Anderson

  Victor J. Banis

  Jeanne Barrack

  Laura Baumbach

  Alex Beecroft

  Sarah Black

  Ally Blue

  J.P. Bowie

  Michael Breyette

  P.A. Brown

  Brenda Bryce

  Jade Buchanan

  James Buchanan

  Charlie Cochrane

  Gary Cramer

  Kirby Crow

  Dick D.

  Ethan Day

  Jason Edding

  Angela Fiddler

  Dakota Flint

  S.J. Frost

  Kimberly Gardner

  Storm Grant

  Amber Green

  LB Gregg

  Wayne Gunn

  Samantha Kane

  Kiernan Kelly

  J.L. Langley

  Josh Lanyon

  Clare London

  William Maltese

  Gary Martine

  Z.A. Maxfield

  Patric Michael

  Jet Mykles

  Willa Okati

  L. Picaro

  Neil Plakcy

  Jordan Castillo Price

  Luisa Prieto

  Rick R. Reed

  A.M. Riley

  George Seaton

  Jardonn Smith

  Caro Soles

  JoAnne Soper-Cook

  Richard Stevenson

  Clare Thompson

  Lex Valentine

  Stevie Woods

  Check out titles, both available and forthcoming, at www.mlrpress.com

  the trevor project

  The Trevor Project operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. Every day, The Trevor Project saves lives though its free and confidential helpline, its website and its educational services. If you or a friend are feeling lost or alone call The Trevor Helpline. If you or a friend are feeling lost, alone, confused or in crisis, please call The Trevor Helpline. You’ll be able to speak confidentially with a trained counselor 24/7.

  The Trevor Helpline: 866-488-7386

  On the Web: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

  the gay men’s domestic violence project

  Founded in 1994, The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project is a grassroots, non-profit organization founded by a gay male survivor of domestic violence and developed through the strength, contributions and participation of the community. The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project supports victims and survivors through education, advocacy and direct services. Understanding that the serious public health issue of domestic violence is not gender specific, we serve men in relationships with men, regardless of how they identify, and stand ready to assist them in navigating through abusive relationships.

  GMDVP Helpline: 800.832.1901

  On the Web: http://gmdvp.org/

  the gay & lesbian alliance against defamation/glaad en español

  The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (glaad) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

  On the Web: http://www.glaad.org/

  glaad en español: http://www.glaad.org/espanol/bienvenido.php

  servicemembers legal defense network

  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (dadt).The sldn provides free, confidential legal services to all those impacted by dadt and related discrimination. Since 1993, its inhouse legal team has responded to more than 9,000 requests for assistance. In Congress, it leads the fight to repeal dadt and replace it with a law that ensures equal treatment for every servicemember, regardless of sexual orientation. In the courts, it works to challenge the constitutionality of dadt.

  sldn Call: (202) 328-3244

  PO Box 65301 or (202) 328-FAIR

  Washington DC 20035-5301 e-mail: sldn@sldn.org

  On the Web: http://sldn.org/

  the glbt national help center

  The glbt National Help Center is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that is dedicated to meeting the needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and those questioning their sexual orientation and gender identity. It is an outgrowth of the Gay & Lesbian National Hotline, which began in 1996 and now is a primary program of The glbt National Help Center. It offers several different programs including two national hotlines that help members of the glbt community talk about the important issues that they are facing in their lives. It helps end the isolation that many people feel, by providing a safe environment on the phone or via the internet to discuss issues that people can’t talk about anywhere else. The glbt National Help Center also helps other organizations build the infrastructure they need to provide strong support to our community at the local level.

  National Hotline: 1-888-THE-GLNH (1-888-843-4564)

  National Youth Talkline 1-800-246-PRIDE (1-800-246-7743)

  On the Web: http://www.glnh.org/

  e-mail: info@glbtnationalhelpcenter.org

  If you’re a GLBT and questioning student heading off to university, should know that there are resources on campus for you. Here’s just a sample:

  US LOCAL GLBT COLLEGE CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS

  http://dv-8.com/resources/us/local/campus.html

  GLBT Scholarship Resources http://tinyurl.com/6fx9v6

  Syracuse University http://lgbt.syr.edu/

  Texas A&M http://glbt.tamu.edu/

  Tulane University http://www.oma.tulane.edu/LGBT/Default.htm

  University of Alaska http://www.uaf.edu/agla/

  University of California, Davis http://lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu/

  University of California, San Francisco http://lgbt.ucsf.edu/

  University of Colorado http://www.colorado.edu/glbtrc/

  University of Florida http://www.dso.ufl.edu/multicultural/lgbt/

  University of Hawaiÿi, Mânoa http://manoa.hawaii.edu/lgbt/

  University of Utah http://www.sa.utah.edu/lgbt/

  University of Virginia http://www.virginia.edu/deanofstudents/lgbt/

  Vanderbilt University http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/

 

 

  Neil Plakcy, Mahu Men

 

 

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