"It's been the harshest winter I can remember. We've lost half the beef cattle and our best milking cow; though old Bess is still providing more than enough for Samuel and myself. If we hadn't had such a good harvest, we'd have long since starved or been forced to buy from the local merchants. I thank Samuel for that. He's a hard working young man. In fact, I think he works a bit too hard. He's a better farmer, hunter, and fisherman than I ever dreamed of being. He spends much of his time out in the hills, and knows this land even better than I ever did. It gives me hope that even after I'm gone, this farm will endure. It will thrive, and feed yet another generation of Bartons...at least it would if I could convince my grandson to start another generation! The boy needs to spend less time with guns and hounds, and more with young folks his own age..."
--excerpt from the private journal of Ephraim Barton
Smoky Hills Part 41
New Leads
"Sure you want to do this?" Heero asked, as they climbed into his car, and buckled their seatbelts.
He'd noticed Duo's growing tension from the moment they headed out the door. Actually, it had started earlier, when he'd snapped at the braided man for inquiring about his leave of absence. But it was pretty obvious that their trip to the dump site was only causing him more stress.
"I'm sure."
"There's not much to see," Heero told him, offering an out.
Duo set his jaw stubbornly. "Still--I want to."
"Okay." He started up the car and headed for the road, sparing a glance at his companion to try to assess his mood.
Duo sat rigid in his seat, staring out the window while his hands toyed with the end of his braid.
"I'll bet these hills are beautiful in the autumn."
Duo looked over at the Japanese man, blinking in surprise. "Yeah, they are." His eyes drifted back out towards the scenery, and this time he seemed to actually focus on it. "See there?" he asked, pointing to some wisps of mist trailing up from between the overlapping ridges. "On a really damp morning, there'd be a lot more mist. You could almost think the woods were on fire, the way it looks like smoke rising from the trees."
"Yes, I do see," Heero agreed, pleased with his choice of distraction. Duo seemed genuinely interested in the countryside around them. "The name makes perfect sense, when you see the hills at just the right time."
"And in autumn, when they're all red and gold, and the morning is foggy and cool, it looks like something straight out of a fantasy," Duo added, his expression a bit dreamy. "It's not the worst place in the world," he admitted. "These hills really are beautiful." He gave a wry smile. "Unlike the people living in them."
"I wouldn't necessarily agree with that," Heero said quietly, allowing his gaze to rest squarely on the braided man.
Duo looked sharply at him, and then his gaze dropped away and a hint of pink touched his cheeks. "Stick around awhile," he suggested, his tone subdued. "You might change your mind."
"About the scenery, or the people?"
"Either? Both?" Duo shrugged. "I dunno."
Heero responded with a shrug of his own. "So far, I've mostly liked both," he said evenly.
Duo smirked slightly. "Not at first," he pointed out.
The Japanese man smirked back. "You threw my mail in the bushes," he teased.
"I accidentally dropped it. And I tried to pick it all up!" Duo asserted. "Your freakin' bird scared the living shit out of me. You need to keep that thing caged, man!"
"Normally we do," Heero assured him. "He'd gotten loose that one time. And I was out looking--apparently not soon enough." He gave a deep, mocking sigh. "Who'd have thought the mailman was afraid of a little five-ounce bird?"
Duo glared at him, but without any real heat. "A five-ounce bird who hides in the trees and screams like a banshee! The li'l fucker took years off my life."
"I'll make him apologize the next time you're up at the house," Heero offered.
Duo looked surprised. "Next time?"
"Well, since I've told Trowa your boss might be amenable to a dinner invitation, I sort of hoped you'd come along."
A slow smile spread across Duo's face. "Yeah, I suppose I might."
"Good." Heero resisted the urge to grin like an idiot, focusing instead on the road ahead of him. He sobered as they neared the reservoir, closing in all too rapidly on their grim destination. "Tell me some more about you and Solo?" he asked carefully.
Duo drew a deep breath and sighed. "Where d'you want me to start? I told you the basic facts. What details might help?"
"Anything," Heero said with a shrug. "Everything."
"That's pretty damn vague, Yuy."
"I know. But you'd be surprised what small details sometimes aid an investigation."
Duo grinned at him. "More of that hot cop talk," he said a bit coyly, enjoying the hint of color it brought to Heero's cheeks. Now that he felt more certain of Heero's preferences, he couldn't help but try a little flirting.
Heero gave him a sidelong look. "Should I stop?"
"No way," Duo asserted. "It sounds so much better coming from you instead of Ralph."
Heero chuckled. "Does he even know any real 'cop talk'?"
"Doubt it," Duo shrugged. "Though considering his attitude towards gays, I'm lucky he didn't think of saying 'just the facts, ma'am,' to me. He'd have loved takin' a cheap shot like that."
"Fucking bigot," Heero muttered under his breath. "I don't know how you and Solo put up with so much."
"I guess it didn't really matter to us," Duo replied. "We were so freakin' nuts for each other, nobody else's opinion really mattered." His gaze drifted to the road they were traveling. "That spot up there by the sign--that's the first place Solo ever kissed me," he said quietly. "I can still remember the look on his face--"
Heero's fingers tightened on the steering wheel, as he refrained from reaching out to comfort the man beside him. "You said it was your thirteenth birthday."
Duo shot him a quick look. "Yeah--you remembered."
"I took notes," Heero said dryly.
"But you're not looking at them right now," Duo pointed out. "You don't have some kind of freaky total recall thing, do you?"
"No--just attention to detail," Heero assured him. "So, feel free to keep talking. I'll pick out the pertinent information as we go."
"Okay." Duo leaned back in his seat, watching the scenery drift past. "Solo and I had gone out hiking on my birthday. We had some favorite places around here where we liked to go to get away from it all. Up until that day, I didn't even know he was gay--or that I was. We were just good together. I liked his company, bein' around him, and pretty much everything about him. But then, he all of a sudden up an' kissed me." Duo shook his head. "I was just shell-shocked for a bit. And then he started apologizing, and saying he didn't want to mess up our friendship, but he couldn't help liking me as more than a friend--" He smiled at the memory of how awkward Solo had been in the wake of his confession.
"I take it you reassured him he hadn't messed up?"
"Yeah." Duo shrugged one shoulder, absently reaching to toy with the chain around his neck. "After that, we were a couple. And a few weeks later, someone saw us kiss, and then the whole town knew."
Heero grimaced. "I can just imagine how well that went over in a place like this."
"Not very," Duo agreed. "Father Maxwell was pretty cool about it, in spite of telling me I should wait until I was older for sex, whether it was with a guy or a girl. The Stevens family blew a gasket, though. If the adoption hadn't been all legal and binding, I think they'd have sent Solo back to the orphanage."
"How old was he?"
"Fifteen and a half."
"And he was eighteen when he died--so for over two years you had to put up with shit from just about the whole town, right?"
"Pretty much."
Heero shook his head. "Is everyone in this town from some outdated century?"
"Not everyone," Duo replied, thinking of Sally, Hilde, and even some of the older residents like Mrs. Heinz. He frowned at his companion. "You can't tell me there are no homophobes in the city."
"No. You're perfectly right. There are plenty of them," Heero admitted. "They just don't seem to be so--concentrated."
"You think Solo's death was some kind of hate crime?"
"It's as sound a theory as any," Heero told him. "Mind you, I wouldn't rule out an accident, or even a random killing. This town is close enough to a few major thoroughfares that the wrong type of person could've passed through eight years ago."
"Used to be quite a few strangers," Duo agreed. "But they were mostly the bums and hoboes from the railroad yard."
Heero looked over at him. "There's a railroad yard?"
"There was. With cutbacks and stuff, none of the tracks in town have been used in years. I heard there's some kind of plan to rip out the rails and make a walking path or something." Duo gave a wry smile. "Civilization comes to Smoky Hills--" he quipped.
"Walking trails would be nicer than train tracks, don't you think?" Heero prompted.
"It's just the end of an era," Duo explained. "Like the big farms all going under one by one, and ending up with housing developments or parking lots on 'em. Not here yet. But if you head down route 10, you'll see what they've done to neighboring towns--shopping centers an' wall-to-wall development. I might not want to stay in Smoky Hills forever, but I guess I kind of hope it'll always be here." He shook his head, looking a bit bemused. "Does that make any sense?"
"It makes perfect sense," Heero said quietly. "And if I were you, I wouldn't worry about any imminent demise of Smoky Hills. From an outsider's perspective, it looks like a town suspended in time--like the outside world hasn't really touched it yet."
Duo smiled a bit ruefully. "That's both a blessing and curse, huh? If time caught up here, maybe the old status quo would change for the better."
"One can only hope."
Heero was slowing down by that time, pulling onto the logging road towards the dump site. He parked on grass that had just begun to lose the flattened look from the forensic team's van and the fire engines that had rested their only a couple of weeks before.
"Are you still okay with this?" he asked once again, looking over at Duo's taut features.
Duo nodded, though his expression seemed to contradict the gesture.
"You really don't have to," Heero offered.
"Yeah, I do. It's--important. To me, at least." Duo unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. "Besides, anything that might help you find Solo's killer is worth doing."
Heero nodded and then climbed out of the car, watching as Duo looked off into the trees, scanning their surroundings. "Ever been here?" He found himself tensing as he studied the braided man, watching for any indication he might know where they'd be heading.
Duo shrugged. "We did lots of exploring out this way, back in the day. Used to try to find old man Barton's still--"
"Which 'old man Barton' would that be?" Heero asked with a smirk.
Again, Duo shrugged. "The last one," he said, walking over to run his hand across the brand new No Trespassing sign Heero and Trowa had posted. A faint smile touched his lips. "Won't keep anyone out," he said flatly. "Old man Barton used to back his signs up with a shotgun full of rock salt, an' it didn't stop us kids from poking around out here."
Heero shook his head. "He sounds like quite the character."
"Yeah, he was. Supposedly he had a still out here somewhere that he inherited from his father, who ran moonshine during Prohibition." He gave a short chuckle. "That was one fucked-up family."
"Trowa's been finding that out," Heero told him. "Going through all his grandfather's and great-grandfather's journals has been quite enlightening."
"Y'mean even Dekim kept journals?"
"Seems to be a family tradition," said the Japanese man. "He's got journals written by Ephraim, Samuel, and Dekim, as well as some old letters I believe a Jacob Barton wrote during the Civil War."
"Wow," Duo breathed, looking at him with obvious interest. "Think he'd let me read some of them?"
"I don't know. He's kind of fussy about them--several have some serious damage, and the rest are so old, they're quite fragile." Heero tried an encouraging smile. "You should ask him, though. I'll bet he'd like to talk to you about local history, and what it has to say about his family."
"I will ask him." Duo looked around them again, and turned to face Heero. "Which way are we headed?"
Heero gestured to the trail the forensic crew had more or less beaten into the leaf litter.
"It's a bit of a hike," he warned. "Nearly a mile in."
"I can manage it," Duo said firmly. "I hike all the time, out on State land. I've probably covered every square mile by now."
"You have?" Heero glanced aside at the braided man as they started into the woods. "You like to hike?"
Duo snorted. "Gets me out of town," he explained.
"Yes, but--weren't you the one who warned me about the wild animals out in these hills?"
"They're better than the ones in town," Duo replied with a mirthless smile.
Heero's face darkened. "That reminds me. I wanted to ask you if they're still harassing you the way they did at Howie's that night."
Duo shrugged. "It's sort of an ongoing thing," he said flatly. "Any time we cross paths, someone's liable to get their ass kicked--either verbally or physically."
"Why?" Heero asked, voicing the question he'd wanted to ask since that first time.
There was a deep sigh, and Duo shoved his hands into his pockets, looking down at the ground as he walked. "I dunno when it started," he admitted. "Years ago--back in grade school--we all got along okay. Heck, sometimes a bunch of us kids went camping together, and we'd all be there--Solo an' me, Mueller, Alex, Ralph, Otto, Trant, Nikol-- Solo and Trant were actually good friends for awhile. They were in the same class in school--a couple of years ahead of me."
He seemed lost in thought, and Heero waited a moment before speaking up. "So, when did things change?"
"I guess around the time Solo and Trant started high school. I'd have been almost twelve then." He frowned in recollection. "Solo had been hanging out with Trant a lot, over at the house, and then he just stopped. A few days later, they had an argument at school, in the locker room, that turned into a fight and got them both suspended for three days. An' after that, Solo would have nothing to do with Trant at all. Acted like he hated his guts."
"You don't suppose--?" Heero hesitated. "Could it have been because Trant found out Solo was gay?"
Duo shook his head. "I asked Solo about that, after we started dating a couple of years later. I was sure that had to be what happened--that Solo told Trant he was attracted to him or something and Trant freaked about it. But Solo said it had nothing to do with his sexual orientation." His frown deepened. "That didn't really make sense either, because Trant got ten times worse when Solo and I became an item. Almost like he was jealous." He looked up with troubled eyes. "You think maybe he decided he was gay after all, and wanted another chance with Solo?"
"I don't know. Isn't that something Solo would have told you, though?"
"Yeah, he would've," Duo said with conviction.
"And if that was the case, it would have been more likely for Trant to back off as soon as Solo was gone. There'd have been nothing for him to be jealous of."
"I s'pose not." Duo drew a deep breath and let out a frustrated groan. "I dunno. None of it makes sense t'me."
"Unless--Trant was interested in you," Heero said thoughtfully. "And Solo got angry and protective?"
Duo shook his head again. "Trant's not gay," he said firmly. "He's the biggest homophobe on the planet. And I didn't figure out I was gay until Solo up an' kissed me that day." A bemused smile touched his lips. "The same time I found out he was. I'll tell ya--he hid it well right up until then." He looked over into the deep blue eyes. "No--whatever went wrong between Solo and Trant didn't have anything to do with bein' gay or straight. It was something else."
"Trant would know," Heero noted.
"Psh--yeah. Good luck gettin' it out of him, though."
Heero gave a small, dangerous smirk. "I don't plan on needing luck," he replied. "Just the right questions."
Duo just snorted skeptically, and lapsed into silence as they hiked the more rugged part of the trail.
Once again, Heero glanced aside to see if his companion was looking ahead in the direction of the clearing; and once again, he was relieved to see that Duo was following his lead, and concentrating more on the rocky trail than their direction.
When they neared the clearing, Heero thought of one final test, and he stopped at the edge of the trampled and raked ground. "There it is."
Duo stopped too, paling slightly as he let his gaze roam over the secluded hollow. "This is where he was buried?"
Heero nodded, watching as Duo looked around, and releasing a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, when the braided man completely overlooked the fallen pine, and turned with a questioning expression on his face.
"Under that pine," Heero said, gesturing to the tree trunk that the forensic crew had rolled more or less back into place when they were done with their thorough search.
Duo turned around and focused on the decaying log that had been partially covering Solo's remains. It was obvious that it took years for the tree trunk to crumble to the point where the bones were reachable.
He walked slowly over to it, and then whirled to face Heero. "So he was just stuffed under a goddamned tree?" he demanded.
"It looks that way," Heero acknowledged. "Chang surmised that whoever hid the body here dug a shallow trench under the already-fallen tree, and put the victim into it, before backfilling it and shifting around some other branches to help camouflage the site."
Duo crouched down, looking at the tree, and the faint depression underneath it. "And--are they sure they got everything?" he asked quietly. "I mean, they didn't leave any of--him--did they?"
"No. The forensics team went through every ounce of soil here until they recovered even the smallest fragments of bone. The few they're still missing were probably carried off by scavengers."
"Like Thor," Duo pointed out.
"Exactly."
Duo looked up from his hunched position, his face taut with grief. "How could somebody just shove a person in a hole like that? I mean, you'd think they'd at least leave him where someone could find him--bury him properly--"
"Murderers are more concerned with concealing their crime than providing closure to the friends or family of their victim."
Duo trailed a hand down the crumbling tree trunk, blinking a few times to regain his composure and then pushing himself back up to his feet again. "Does the location give any kind of indication who might've done something like this?" he asked, tilting his head curiously. "I mean--the shows on t.v. have the cops finding all kinds of clues based on how the body's left, and where, and stuff--"
Heero gave a long look around the clearing, letting his eyes travel the nearby woods and study the lay of the land. "The location tells me the murderer, or murderers, knew the area well enough to know they could carry or drag a body down here without detection. That suggests it was someone local--someone familiar with the back roads and trails out here--or a frequent visitor." He walked a few steps up towards the trail, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he went. "Furthermore, the manner in which the body was concealed suggests it was not a well-planned act. There are rocks and boulders around here that would do a much better job of permanently covering a body. I think it was a rushed job. Probably not a premeditated murder. Maybe a case of road rage, or a fight gone bad--maybe someone drunk, or on drugs."
Duo had trailed along after him, and climbed on one of the aforementioned boulders, settling onto the flat surface. "Well--lotta kids used to come out here drinking," he told the Japanese man. "Not right in this spot, exactly, since it was on old man Barton's place and he was such an anti-social asshole. But up the ridge there. And on the overlook by the reservoir."
"Experience talking?"
Duo grinned wryly. "Maybe. Kinda. Solo an' I weren't really into drinking; but we used to come up here to make out a lot." He gave a small shrug. "When you live in a town full of homophobes, you learn to keep your preferences behind closed doors, or far enough out in the woods that no one will catch you. It's one thing for people to know you swing that way, and quite another for them to see any kind of public displays, yanno?"
"I do know," Heero said firmly, with just enough inflection in his voice to make Duo sure he was talking from personal experience.
Duo gave him a sidelong look. "Yeah?"
Heero nodded. "Yeah," he said, thinking of the locker rooms back at the precinct, and how careful he'd always been to keep his eyes to himself and his preferences low-key. He shifted restlessly and let his gaze rake the scenery again. "So--who else came out this way besides you and Solo? Other kids? Hunters? Hikers?"
"You name it," Duo sighed. "There were lots of kids, like I said. Hunters, not so much. Barton had the place posted, and the land around the reservoir is state-owned. They don't let folks hunt there."
"Hikers, then."
Duo nodded. "Lots of 'em; but mostly on weekends. Solo disappeared on a Monday."
"You said you two had a fight that afternoon," Heero reminded him. "Would Solo have come up here to cool off?"
"Not here, exactly. But he might've gone to the overlook on Beech Bluff." Duo felt a pang of nostalgia as he mentioned it, recalling how many times they'd spent long afternoons up there.
"Let's go there," Heero said, turning back towards the trail to the car.
"Wait--why?" Duo yelped, jumping up and hurrying after him.
"Because while this might be where his body was dumped, I highly doubt he died here."
"You think--on the overlook?"
"That's exactly what I think."
They made the return hike at a pace that left little room for talking. In fact, Duo had to nearly jog to keep up with Heero's brisk, long-strided walk.
Heero reached the car first, and unlocked the passenger door for Duo, before going around to get in the driver's side. "Buckle up," he ordered automatically, as Duo slid in, panting a little from the exertion.
The braided man hurried to comply, even as Heero started the car and threw it into gear.
"What I think happened," Heero said, feeling energized by the new lead, "is that Solo went to the overlook after your argument, looking to calm down and think. I suspect he encountered his killer or killers there, and was in a bad enough mood to maybe end up in a fight. From that point on, I don't know. He could have been killed accidentally, or on purpose, depending on who was involved and how the confrontation escalated." He gave a small shrug. "Solo ended up dead, and the murderer was left with a body to hide, and a crime to conceal."
"So they brought him to that clearing and stuffed him under a tree?"
"Probably." Heero tossed his cell phone over to Duo. "Can you do me a favor? Chang's number five on speed dial. If the signal's good enough, call him up and tell him I need him to send a couple of people to sweep that clearing for trace evidence--bottles, cans--something that might give us insight as to whether your friend interrupted a drinking party or something worse."
Duo eyed the phone warily. "Chang's on your speed dial?"
"Yes."
"Cuz you used to work together?"
Heero's face colored just slightly, and Duo hastily flipped the phone open. "Never mind. None o' my business." He hit the button and waited for the phone to dial and start ringing.
"We--dated for awhile," Heero said uncomfortably. "Chang and me. A long time ago."
"Ah." Well, that answered once and for all the question of Heero's sexual preferences.
Duo decided to refrain from asking why a long-past ex still rated a place on speed dial. "'S okay. Like I said, not my-- Oh, hi. Mister Chang? Ah, right--Doctor Chang. Yeah, I'm uh--here!" He thrust the phone at Heero, who took it and held it to his ear.
"Chill out, Wufei. I was driving, so I had Duo dial the phone." Heero shifted it to better hear over the rush of the wind in the windows. "I need you to send a cleanup crew to the clearing where the body was found. I'm interested in anything not of natural origin--wrappers, bottles, screw-caps--the kind of junk kids might've brought out to a hangout in the woods. Yes, I'm serious. I think I might be able to locate the murder scene, and I'd love to be able to tie it to the place the body was dumped. Anything man-made could help."
He was silent for a moment, listening to the other man, and cast a quick, sideways glance at Duo, offering a brief, reassuring smile. "No, Chang. He's not a suspect. He's the one who knew the victim better than anyone, and can hopefully help me pinpoint some clues." A flicker of annoyance crossed his face. "Don't listen to the local idiots. They don't know what they're talking about. It wasn't like that. And, no, I'm not going soft, you idiot. If you don't believe me, you come interview Maxwell yourself." He snorted derisively. "Yeah, I thought so. Let me know if your team finds anything useful. Okay? Yes, thanks. Bye."
He flipped the phone closed and dropped it on the seat.
Duo ran a hand back through his bangs. "Um, thanks," he mumbled quietly, smiling when Heero glanced his way. "Sounds like you got me off the proverbial hook, there."
"I merely corrected Chang's misconception."
"Well, thanks for that."
Heero shifted uneasily, his gaze back out on the winding road they were traveling. "And just to make sure you have no misconceptions, Chang and I are over."
"It's not my--"
"Well maybe I'd like it to be!" Heero said just a bit more sharply than he intended.
Duo blinked, a slow blush spreading up his cheeks as he processed the very clear message. "Oh." He tried rather ineffectually to suppress a smile. "Um, that's--that's good."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Of course, now that one hurdle had been cleared, neither of them knew quite what to say next, but the silence on the way to the overlook was the most companionable one they'd shared yet.
TBC...
Back to Snowdragonct's Fanfictions Page