Page 20 of Deadly Sins: Gluttony
Dwayne had a point.
I needed to pivot.
“Did either of you see or speak to Gideon when he was in town?”I asked.
“Nope,” Blake said.
Dwayne raised a brow, eyeing Blake like he wasn’t sure whether he believed him or not.
“I was passing by the bakery, and I saw him inside,” Dwayne said.“Hadn’t seen him in years, so I wasn’t sure it was him at first.I walked past, and then I turned around and decided to go in and speak to him.”
“When did you see him?”
Dwayne went quiet for a time, then said, “I’m sorry to say, we spoke a few hours before he was murdered.And I’ll tell you the same thing I told the sheriff.I had nothing to do with his murder.”
I appreciated the honesty, if in fact he was being honest.
“Tell me about your visit with Gideon,” I said.
“When I first walked in, he looked over, and it was obvious he wasn’t happy to see me.I thought I’d made a mistake approaching him, so I turned to leave.I’d almost made it to the door before he stopped me.”
“Then what happened?”
“I asked how he’d been, and we spoke for a few minutes about what my son’s been going through at school.Then I apologized.”
“How did he take your apology?”
“He thanked me and said he’d never felt the same way about me as he had about the others.”
Blake shot Dwayne a dirty look, huffing a frustrated, “Appreciate you tossing me to the wolves, dude.”
Dwayne raised his hands.“Hey, I’m just repeating what he said.You’re more than welcome to speak for yourself.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Blake said.“I’m done with this conversation.”
He rose and began to walk away, and I cut in with, “An exit fitting for a guilty person.”
He said nothing, as he entered a back room, slamming the door behind him.
“I know what you must be thinking,” Dwayne said.“Blake and I have spoken several times about the way we behaved when we were in high school, and I’m not the only one who harbors guilt.He does too.He just has a lousy way of showing it.”
Lousy or no, I found it suspicious.
“Why didn’t Gideon feel the same way about you as he did about the other guys?”I asked.
“When they were heckling him, I stayed silent.Standing by like that—it was its own kind of cruelty.I should’ve spoken up.I should’ve tried to stop it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was worried I’d lose them as friends.”
“Did you ever consider that might have been a good thing?”
He leaned back, crossing his arms.“I know how it looks, how we must seem to you.We’re good guys.I’d like to think we are, at least.Maybe we weren’t back then, but we’re different people now.”
Dwayne may have been different.
I wasn’t so sure about the others.
