CHAPTER XVII: DANNY

Alex:

"Stew, what are you thinking. Tell me, and what do you know?"

Stew kinda caught himself and after looking at both of us, started in to tell what he knew.

"Thinking? I don't know. But I'll tell you what I know."
"Okay. Good start baby," Alex told him.
"Okay," and after swallowing a couple of times...here is what he told us.

Danny had called stew about 5pm this afternoon, and told him about his father having been found dead out in the barn behind the house. He hadn't been seen all day and finally Danny said he had gone looking for him. At first he didn't see him as his father was laying behind a pile of straw. But finally Danny did see his feet sticking out and when he went to investigate he saw the body.

He told Stew that his father had been beaten badly, REALLY badly, and was obviously dead. Danny ran to the house and called 911 for help which arrived pretty quickly. Danny had told his mother who did not evidently take the news well, and the paramedics finally sedated her. The sheriff's deputies were out in the barn doing whatever it is they do at crime scenes, but had told him to stay put and not to leave. That was all Danny knew at that point, and thus was all Stew knew.

"Ok, but you seem worried. Do you think there is something going on here that we should know?" Alex asked.

Stew looked at Alex and then turned to me.
"God Alex, Dylan...I am so worried."
"Why," I asked.
"Danny and his dad had a really bad fight the other day."
"OH?" Alex said.
"Yeh, see his father is one major homophobe and he had caught Danny and I kissing and was NONE TOO PLEASED, to say the least."
"Do you worry that they had another fight and...let's just say it didn't end well?"

Stew started to cry again.
BIG TIME cry.
We let him.

Finally and still teary...
"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know what to think. Oh my God, I am going nuts. I love Danny. I really do. He wouldn't ever hurt a fly not even his father, but if there was a fight and it got out of hand..."

SOB.

I hate homophobes. There is NEVER a fucking winner there. FUCK.

"Ok, Stew. You stay with us tonight. Tomorrow, we head up to find out what we can...and we will go from there."
He nodded as did Zach and I knew we would do whatever we could. Friends do that you know.

I didn't really know Danny. Only met him once or twice...but he seemed nice and obviously in love with Stew. Oh well, nobody is perfect. LOL. From what I knew his family were not exactly starving but not exactly affluent either. His father drove truck, when he had a job, and his mother kept the house and I gathered tried to keep Danny's father sober and employed. I gathered she was only partly successful. They had a small place with a little land up just outside of Rockford about 60 mi north of us, and that is where we headed the next morning.

Once there we saw several of the cops I knew (not professionally of course).
"Hey Dylan. How goes it?" My friend Mark came up to me.
"You know this family?"
"Sorta. Through Stewie Barber."
"Of course," Mark said as I stepped aside and Stew stepped forward.
"Hey Stew.:
"Hey."
"Sorry about Danny."
"What?"
"You dont know?
I saw Stew stiffen.
"Know what?"
"He has been taken in for questioning. Not arrested mind you, but...."
and he just kinda let that hang.
Zach leaned in and whispered in my ear...
"Honey, how do you know these cops?"
I damn near giggled.

I turned to him.
"Checkered past."
He gave me a funny look.
"Actually couple of them are from down home."
"Oh."
He believed me of course.
Love will do that. LOL.