I'd decided the only way, if there was a chance at all, of getting Andrew's trust back was to find the proof of who was responsible in this damned adventure we'd found ourselves in. I decided I must speak to the one responsible for it... Rudy Marinaro.
I was outside Andrew's old place of employment-- Royal Catering. I'd seen Rudy go inside and was waiting for him to leave. I didn't want to cause a scene in a public place and I was nervous as hell, but committed. I felt like an old detective, waiting to speak to my number one suspect.
Andrew's words still burned badly-- his anger at finding me with Mark Fitzgerald. Mark, on the other hand was almost blasˇ. After Andrew had walked into the bathroom, seen us and left silently, Mark almost wanted us to continue having sex. Of course, I was humiliated and ashamed. I pushed him away and turned to face him-- for a moment, God, for a moment it felt like Mark was glad Andrew had walked in on us.
And now, all I had to come home to was Andrew's hate, his contempt for me. I knew his decision to end our relationship wasn't far away-- and that's why I sat in this car, that's why I was willing to do anything to keep us together...
And there was Rudy Marinaro, coming out of the store, heading for his truck.
"I want to talk to you."
"Who are you?" he asked, instantly defensive. I was shaking, feeling really unstable but it didn't show. On the outside, I was calm and direct.
"I'm Eric Lewis-- I live with Andrew."
Rudy stopped in his tracks, took a breath and looked away, "Go to hell," he said and moved to his truck. I grabbed him.
"You got the wrong guy, mister. My father told me Andrew thinks I'm harassing him. That's bullshit."
"What about the harassment when he was here? What about your pressuring him to fool around with you? What about you leaving things in his car? It all points to you, man! Don't deny it!"
"You want the truth? All right. I liked him, understand? I admit that, I admit while he was here, yes-- I wanted him-- but once I found out he was married-- I dropped it."
I stared him down, realizing he was telling the truth.
"I'm not messing with you here. I dropped the whole thing and that's the truth, whether you want to believe it or not! Now move away from me, or I'm gonna call for help. You've caused me enough bullshit."
He opened his truck and got in. "I have alibis, I have proof. Where's yours?"
Rudy told me if I pushed it any further, he'd call the police. Then he softened a bit and actually saw how upset I was. And I was... Jesus, if it wasn't Rudy Marinaro-- what leads did I have? Where else could I look? I was even more afraid than before.
"Compare the notes, Eric! Look at them and you'll find who's doing this. And when you do, I'll be waiting for your apology," Rudy said. And though I didn't have a lot of reason, I agreed that there must be a way to trace them.
Rudy drove away. I knew this was the end of another chapter of this lousy detective novel I was living.
And a new chapter was about to begin.
