“Honeycutt.” Wills spoke quietly. “The man who was keeping Connor? I’m sorry, sir.”
“Not your fault, Matheson. Shit happens.”
“Okay, so the tape belonged to this Honeycutt dude. That still doesn’t explain why Connor didn’t tell me about it.”
“Couple of reasons. He didn’t want to blow a good thing, and he was jealous.”
“I can understand the not-blowing-a-good-thing thing. His ‘daddy’ had bucks and as far as I could tell didn’t have a problem spending them.” I remembered the Cartier watch Connor had said he wanted, and which had been bought for him without blinking an eye. “But what was Connor jealous about?”
“The one thing you had that he didn’t think he’d ever have. Your relationship with Matheson.”
Yeah, that made sense. It was what every rent boy dreamed of and so few achieved, although for a time it had seemed he’d had it. But…”What did he freak out about? Why did he run? How did he find out Wills works for the WBIS? I never mentioned him by name.”
Vince shrugged. “To answer your questions in order: Connor freaked because he realized who his sugar daddy was. He ran for the same reason. As for him finding out Matheson’s employer, he didn’t know, but Honeycutt did.”
“Who the fuck is this Honeycutt?”
“He liked to see himself as a player when it came to politics. Having said that, he had resources he could call on,” Vincent gave me a flat look, “and that’s all you need to know. According to Connor, Honeycutt wanted you—he was positive you were the boy from the tape—and he was royally pissed when you tore up his business card. He managed to get Connor to give him your address—he wasn’t above doing a little arm-twisting—and with that it didn’t take him long to dig up what he needed to know.”
“Blackmail, sir? His silence about Theo’s past in exchange for…He doesn’t need money.”
“Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have liked more if he could get it. But, no.”
Wills’s lips tightened. “Theo in his bed?”
“But that’s stupid!” It was more than stupid, it was idiotic. “You know all about my past.”
“Honeycutt didn’t know that, but blackmail wasn’t his intent, although the end result was still supposed to be you in his bed. It was more for revenge, to get at you through Matheson.” Vince stopped petting Miss Su, picked up a piece of the baklava, and took a bite. It looked like he wasn’t planning on using a fork. “He knew Davies from college.” He scowled, and I wondered if he’d bit down wrong on an almond and hurt his tooth.
“But Mr. Davies isn’t my department head. He couldn’t fire me.”
“No, but I could. And no, Theo, I wouldn’t.”
“Jesus.” I shivered and stared at him. “But why would Honeycutt think he’d get me just because Wills was out of a job?”
“The way he saw it, Matheson wouldn’t be able to afford you, so he’d be completely out of the picture.”
“What? That’s…that’s…” I had no words.
“Mrrow.” Miss Su butted Vince’s hand.
“I’m eating, cat.”
“Sorry, sir. She’s usually better behaved than that.” But it was easy to see Wills had something on his mind.
“Just like a woman. Okay, here.” He offered her a finger that was covered in honey, and she began to lick it off. “No, Davies couldn’t fire you, but he could see to it that I got the tape. Davies and Honeycutt both assumed that once I’d seen what was on it, I’d kick you out of the WBIS so fast you’d leave skid marks.”
“Not to mention seeing I was blackballed?”
“Yeah. ‘You’ll never work in this town again.'” He reached for his coffee and took another sip.
“Because Wills was involved with a whore.” I started shaking and couldn’t stop.
“You’re not a whore.”
“Former whore, then.” For a minute I thought I was going to throw up.
Wills snarled and reached for my hand. “You’re mine, and whatever happened in the past wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t your choice. It means nothing to me.”
I turned my hand so we were palm to palm, and our fingers twined and we held on tight.
“Touching,” but there was no mockery in Vincent’s tone. “Stupid assumptions on both their parts.”
“I don’t understand, sir. With all their poking around in this, how did they never discover you knew Theo?”
He bared his teeth in a lethal grin. “That’s why Davies does what he does and not what I do.”
“Uh…”
“He was never in the field,” Wills murmured to clarify Vince’s statement.
“Okay, but what about Connor?
Vince put his cup back on its saucer, pushed it back, and started to rise from his chair. Miss Su jumped down. “Thanks for the coffee and the cookie.”