“Think about it,” Jem said.“The killing must have happened around South Jordan—Brennon wasn’t going to go far, and then the killer attacked Daniel in relatively the same area.”
“But the body was found in the Uinta Basin,” Tean said slowly.“That’s a couple of hours’ drive at least, depending on where exactly you’re going.”
“Why drive that far with a body?There’s got to be somewhere closer you could hide it.”
“Maybe not.Maybe this area’s too populated.”
“Are you kidding me?”Jem made a scoffing sound.“If the killer was from around here, he’d have driven it up one of the canyons and dropped it down a ravine.Why drive all the way to the Uinta Basin?”
“Because he knows it.He’s familiar with it.”
“Bingo, bango, bongo,” Jem said with a tight smile.“Dollars to donuts, that’s where he’s from.”
“Or he works there.Or he has some sort of association there.”Tean’s words were careful, but a note of—not exactly excitement, maybe closer to renewed intensity—filled his voice.He met Jem’s gaze.“We need to go look around.See where he tried to hide the body.But there are a million places he could have hidden the body.And I don’t think they’ve released that information to the public.”
“They haven’t,” Jem said.“But theydidsay that a UFOlogist found the body.How many UFOlogists who found a dead body are going to be in the Uinta Basin?”
Resolve steeled Tean’s expression.But he checked Jem, and his voice was hesitant when he said, “We can stop.We should stop.Let the police handle it.”
Jem snorted.“We can’t stop.Daniel’s going to get himself killed if we don’t find this guy.And Ammon’s not going anywhere because he was stupid enough to give a confession.The police are halfway convinced that if Ammon didn’t do it, we did—or that we’re helping him.If we sit on our asses, we’ll be lucky if they don’t arrest us as accomplices.”
The furnace came on.Lukewarm air licked the back of Jem’s legs.
“Tomorrow,” Tean said.“After work?”
Jem grinned.“It’s a date.”
19
They moved around each other, getting ready for bed, with an ease that had been missing in the last few days.In the last few weeks, if Jem was being honest.Tean brushed his teeth at the sink while Jem took off his clothes.Then Jem had enough time to stick a toothbrush under the water before Tean started washing his face.When Tean was done, Jem rinsed out his mouth and took his turn with the face wash.
Scipio, flopped onto his bed, watched everything with casual uninterest, tail occasionally flopping when either Jem or Tean looked at him.
In bed, with the lights off, Jem closed his eyes.He could smell the faint astringency of the face wash, the hint of mint from the toothpaste, and a subtler note—the familiar smell of Tean’s hair and skin.The tension from the day seemed to lock his body, his muscles stiff, his back aching from overlapping bruises.He tried his side.He tried adjusting the pillow.He tried scrunching down.
“Roll over,” Tean said, and then warm hands were on him, guiding him onto his stomach.
Tean’s hands traced some invisible map on Jem’s back, barely brushing the skin.When he grazed the bruises, Jem tried not to wince.He must have failed because Tean let out a soft, knowing sound.Then the hands were gone.The click came of a cap opening, and when Tean touched Jem again, his hands were coated with something cool and slick.Tean worked the oil into the bruised flesh—not with his usual, sometimes overenthusiastic kneading and pressing, the way he did when he was giving Jem a massage, but lightly, in smooth, glazing touches.That sensation of cool quickly transformed into warmth, the heat approaching but not quite reaching discomfort.The effect was a simple one: Jem melted.
“Oh my fucking God,” he mumbled into the pillow.He was drooling a little.“That’s fucking amazing.”
Tean laughed quietly.
“Right there,” Jem said.
Obediently, Tean slowed the movement of his hands and paid more attention to that spot.
Jem groaned.The drooling thing was embarrassing, but the groan took it to a whole other level.
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” Tean said after a while.
He was straddling one of Jem’s legs, bare skin against bare skin.Jem started to get hard.
“You were so good with Daniel.”
“At least I’m good at something,” Jem murmured.
“What does that mean?”
