“Harv, talk to me. We can avoid a lot of trouble if you just tell me what’s going on.” I heard movement behind me, and when local law enforcement pushed closer, I held my hand up for them to stop. They were only going to make things worse.
“I’m sick of seeing innocent people being taken advantage of like Mrs. Gregory. She didn’t deserve the shit he put her through—fucking Boyd Newton right under her nose was totally disrespectful.
“Mrs. Gregory wanted to have a baby with him, and she told me he wouldn’t even try. He offered to go to a fertility clinic and donate sperm, but that’s not the way a baby should be made. It should be made with love.” Rupert pointed the gun at the governor’s heart, which worried the fuck out of me.
“What else did Mrs. Gregory tell you? She and Thomas had been best friends and entered a marriage they believed suited them. She wasn’t taken advantage of, Harvey. She knew exactly what she was getting when she married Thomas Gregory.”
“Bullshit. He promised her they’d have a child, and he didn’t live up to his end of their deal. That’s why I gave her the drugs to make it happen. She wants a child, Jagger, and he won’t give it to her the way God intended a man and a woman to have a child.”
Oh, that wasn’t good. It sounded like Rupert had some religious reason why he was losing his mind. “Harvey, I don’t understand.”
“Caroline terminated her pregnancy when she saw how excited I was about having a baby, and then she divorced me. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever endured. I don’t want to see anyone suffer like that.”
Like a bolt of lightning, it hit me. A memory from back when I was on the protection team. Rupert took two weeks off right after I started, which everyone said was unusual. When he returned to work, he said his wife had lost their baby, and the two of them were taking time apart. He never mentioned she was divorcing him or that she’d had an abortion.
Apparently, Lindsey Gregory had played upon Rupert’s vulnerability from his personal experience and used him to help her try to get pregnant without the governor’s knowledge. What the fuck was wrong with people?
“Harvey, man, this is between the governor and his wife. It’s not your fight. Let the governor go and stand down. You can take some time off and get some counseling. I’ll talk to—”
The gunshot rang through the air as Rupert’s head exploded. His large body pulled the governor’s down with him, and for a moment, everyone held their breath.
Bailey ran through the building, rolled Rupert off the governor, and pulled Thomas to his feet. The governor was covered in blood and brain matter, but it appeared he was physically unhurt. The emotional trauma…? That would likely go on for years.
When the literal smoke cleared, Spitzer, Gallows, and the governor were taken to the hospital while Rupert’s expired body was left on the sidewalk in front of the Coronado Trails building, where the governor had lived.
I had no idea what would happen with the property or the governor, but for now, the situation was over, which was the best anyone could hope for.
Bailey and I sat on the sidewalk, awaiting our turn for the questions from a multitude of law enforcement officers. Keats and Gree were sitting off to the side, having arrived after hearing about a hostage situation at Coronado Trails. The entire event would play out across all news networks for many days to come and would follow Governor Gregory for the rest of his life.
Bailey and I had our hands cuffed behind our backs until the officers could determine what part we had played in the chaotic mess that was still going on in front of us. It was standard procedure, but I wasn’t looking forward to my coworkers seeing the pictures in the paper.
“Do you think you’d ever want kids?” Bailey asked out of the blue as he stared into space.
I didn’t hesitate to answer. “No thinking necessary. I’m forty-four, and I’m too old to chase around little ones. Maybe I could repair the relationships with my brothers and be around my nieces and nephew, but I don’t see it happening since I’m not going to stop being gay. We talked about getting a dog, you and me, and I’d be down for that. How about you?”
He chuckled. “This is funny as hell. We’re talking about having kids while I’m hoping my ass doesn’t end up being railed bysome crazy motherfucker in prison. We’re both more than a little fucked up, but that’s what I love about you.”
I couldn’t hold my raucous laugh. “Yeah, I guess. We’ll get out of this, I swear, and then we’ll figure out what to do about family, okay? I love you, and I’ll fight for you every day, regardless of who I’ve gotta take on.”
Bailey turned to me and smiled. “Regardless of what I do? You’ll fight for me no matter what?”
“Fuck yeah, honey. You’re mine, and I’m yours. We fight together. Do you think you can stand to be with a moody bastard like me?”
Bailey laughed. “Always. After what I saw today, I hope I can have Moods Like Jagger.”
That was good enough for me.
Thomas Gregory’s blood tests came back with traces of MDMA, though there was no way to tie it to Lindsey. After she was detained by the Nevada State Patrol and garnered no sympathy from them, she stated that the drugs were suggested by her fertility doctor to help her conceive. She even gave an interview to the press about her struggle to get pregnant, but drugging Thomas hadn’t won her any friends, though it had won her her freedom.
Beatrice Dawson Gregory arrived in Las Vegas the day after the incident. She doted on Thomas while he was in the hospital for a day and took him to a timeshare she owned in town near The Strip. She also raised hell to get Bailey and me out of jail as the situation was investigated.
I’d actually overstepped my bounds to act as a negotiator, which I wasn’t, but nobody else had stepped up to do it. I was released with a sermon from the captain of the narcotics division, though she thanked me in the end.
Bailey had shot a man, not in self-defense, but he’d saved the life of the governor, which Beatrice continued to remind the authorities until they ruled it a justified shooting and released him from custody.
I went to work the next day as usual, and as I’d suspected, I received a lot of good-natured ribbing from my coworkers when those pictures turned up on the internet. I didn’t take offense. I knew it was meant as a way to deal with an uncomfortable situation, and I laughed with them.
One afternoon, a few days later, a courier arrived at the house I shared with Bailey. “Mr. Hansen?”
