Page 64 of Beyond the Darkness
He was tall with gingery blond hair and a beard.Muscular and attractive.Only there was something familiar about him.Disturbingly familiar.
Luke turned to watch him walk away.
Last week, when he and Hudson had been attacked by the three men in the car, the man on the passenger side had had a very similar appearance.It had all happened so fast, but Luke had gotten a better look at him later, when they’d watched the CCTV footage captured in the foyer.
Is this him?
The man had an arm draped possessively over the shoulder of his girlfriend.He wore a pale yellow T-shirt, revealing tattooed forearms.Just like their attacker.
Luke was torn.Did he go after him?And do what?He wasn’t even sure this was the same man.Get a photograph of him?Compare it to the security cam footage?
By the time he’d considered all his options, it was already too late.
The two couples had disappeared into one of the bars further along the waterfront.
Damn.He’d missed his chance.Had it been him?Or just a random stranger with a similar appearance?
He ran his hand through his hair.Perturbed, he continued on his way to the car.He couldn’t have challenged the bloke on his own anyway.
In all likelihood he’d been mistaken.His nerves were on edge after what had happened with Hudson, and he was imagining things.
Much like Hudson had today.
Christ.He’d accused him of killing his ex and maybe murdering Julian too.
His car was parked in the shade of an alleyway behind The Blue Pearl.Music blasted as he started the engine, and he shut it off immediately.
Now that he was alone, in private, tears were threatening to come.His breath was choked.The prospect of losing Hudson was more overwhelming than he’d ever expected.Especially on the basis of such a dumb misunderstanding.It was ludicrous, and proved that Hudson didn’t know him at all.Luke detested violence.He’d spent his entire life avoiding it.The murders throughout the city in recent years, the escalation in abuse against the LGBTQ+ community—it was all sickening.He hadn’t known any of the victims of the Blyham Strangler personally, other than a slight acquaintance with the manager of one of the city bars, but their deaths had all hit hard.He’d mourned each of them.Then a string of separate killings earlier this year when young gay men had been the primary victims, it was all too much.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes.Hudson couldn’t really believe he was a killer.He was stressed out of his mind, that’s all.Luke would make him understand once the weight of the next few days had passed.
He turned the air conditioning up to max and started on his journey home.
This morning, it was a journey he’d intended to be making with Hudson.
Now they both faced the reality of an anxious night alone.
Reece’s death had devasted Luke.Their relationship had been short and fraught with problems.He hadn’t understood the full extent of Reece’s drug and alcohol misuse.Like many addicts, Reece had been an expert at hiding it from those close to him.In the beginning, it had been fun.Reece had been a lively, boisterous drunk.Full of fun and humour.He’d encouraged Luke to drink to excess and stay out and he’d enjoyed it for a while, still young enough to handle the late nights and make it to work the next day.
Good times like that couldn’t be sustained for long.It was when Luke objected or wanted to cut back that the problems began.
In the eight months they were together, Reece never gave any indication as to why he got so drunk, other than that he liked a good time.Anyone who challenged him or tried to curb his excesses was labelled a killjoy.Luke couldn’t keep up with his lifestyle and it was inevitable that they would break apart.
They had fought at the party on the night of Reece’s death.The only reason Luke had insisted on accompanying him home was to save face for both of them.Reece’s behaviour had gotten out of hand, and he’d embarrassed everyone with his crude language and unwanted attention.Luke had naively thought he could get him home, calm him down, then break up with him the next day when he was sober.
Reece had sneered and needled him the whole time and when they’d reached his apartment, Luke hadn’t been able to stand it any longer.He’d snapped.Told Reece it was over right then.He was so used to seeing him drunk, he’d thought nothing of his welfare when he’d stormed out of the flat.He’d just had to get away from him.
It was the biggest mistake he’d ever made.The greatest regret of his life.
He’d heard the screams from the balconies above when he’d reached the ground floor and found Reece’s body outside.
Nothing he’d experienced before or since compared to the horror of that moment.
Hudson had not been wrong on one count.Luke had been arrested and questioned by the police following Reece’s death.The timing was too suspicious for them not to.Thankfully Reece’s building was well covered by security cameras inside and out.The time codes showed that Luke was on the stairs, down to the first floor, when Reece fell from the balcony.
He was no longer under suspicion, but it did nothing to relieve his guilt.
If he’d stayed that night, they would surely have argued more.It would have been ugly, petty, but Reece would still have been alive afterwards, and Luke would have broken up with him in the morning.That one outburst, the momentary lapse of control when he’d blurted out that they were finished and stormed out of the apartment, had altered everything.
