Talbot nodded. “He’s been nice to me even though I’m a…a…”
“A man getting by the best he can in difficult circumstances?” Bryn nudged shoulders with Talbot. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Talbot relaxed enough to lower his legs. He kept hold of the bear. “You must think I’m pathetic.”
“I think you’re incredibly brave. You got out of a crappy situation and you survived. No way could I have done that.”
“I’m not even any good at it.” Talbot sighed. “You didn’t need to know that, did you?”
Bryn chuckled. “Everything takes practice, or so I hear. What would you rather be doing?”
“Anything! Garbage collector, sewer cleaner, grave digger…anything! Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I want any old dick in my mouth.”
“I get that, but did you have an idea of a career or college, anything like that?”
“It’s going to sound real boring but I love computers. I wanted to get into IT.”
“You mean you want to tell tech-idiots like me to turn it off and on again?”
For a moment, Talbot seemed uncertain but then he broke into a smile. “Yeah. I think I’d be good at it.”
“Rather you than me. For me, ram is a male sheep and gigabytes are what I take when someone hands me a Twinkie.”
“I love Twinkies!” Talbot exclaimed.
“Which is why we are definitely going to be pals. So, how do you feel about me having a poke around in your head?” Bryn softened his words with a smile. “You won’t feel a thing, I promise.”
“You can read my mind?”
“No, not quite. I can’t see what you’re thinking. I can see your strongest memory and that’s what we’re banking on. Even though you think you can’t remember what you saw, it’ll be in your memory. Your brain is protecting you but I can see right past the block.”
“I want to help. What do I need to do?”
Bryn took off his gloves. “I need skin-to-skin contact with you. It works best if I hold your wrist at the pulse point.”
“Okay.” Talbot held out a very thin arm.
“All you have to do is relax,” Bryn said. “You can think about anything you like, it won’t make any difference.” He wrapped his hand around Talbot’s wrist and concentrated. Talbot’s memory was strong and clear. He was kneeling on cold concrete in a dimly lit alley. To one side of him was a yellow dumpster and there was a strong smell of rotting garbage in the air. To the other was a haphazard stack of empty pallets. Talbot didn’t like the taste in his mouth. He spat on the ground then unwrapped a stick of gum. He was putting it into his mouth when he heard a noise and froze. Bryn could sense his fear as Talbot peeked around the dumpster, a fear that escalated at what he was seeing. A man, wearing a dark hoody and pants, had entered the alley from the other end and made his way to a point about halfway down. Talbot couldn’t make out his face but the body the man had slung over hisshoulder was obvious. Talbot made himself as small as possible and held his breath. He watched in horrified fascination as the man dumped the body alongside a wall then kicked some trash over it. He straightened, glanced around then pulled a fistful of petals from his pocket and scattered them around the corpse. Talbot whimpered and the man stared in his direction. He took a few steps toward him and Talbot’s heart pounded. A fire-exit door on the other side of the pallet pile creaked open and someone came out, heaving two garbage bags. The hooded man turned and walked away. Talbot sobbed and that was the last Bryn saw.
“Wow, that was fucking scary,” Bryn said.
“Did you see what I saw?” Talbot asked.
“Yeah. Gimme a minute while I talk to my partner so he can make some notes, okay?”
“Sure. Not going anywhere.” Talbot hugged his bear.
Bryn took Gunnar outside the room to relate what he’d seen. “He was lucky he didn’t end up dead too.”
“No wonder he’s blanked it out.”
“I don’t think the killer saw him.”
“That’s good. I don’t like the idea of Talbot being back on the streets, though.”
“Me either. You think we could talk to Warden about maybe giving him a job and a place to stay for a while?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea. That work for you, Bell?”
