The Dream Ender by Dorien Grey Page B

out someone from the Male Call was deliberately infecting others, he’d kill the guy himself. I’m sure it was just a heat-of-the-moment comment, but it still gave me pause.
    I decided I’d put off talking with him until Monday, which would give me a few more days to see if anything else might come up to make me consider someone other than Hysong.
    *
    Craig’s dad drove him over around six thirty Friday evening. We’d already fed Joshua—chicken potpie, a close runner-up to hot dogs and macaroni and cheese on his list of gourmet foods—and I was just putting him into his pajamas when Craig arrived. We’d told Joshua that if he promised not to give Craig an argument when it came time to go to bed he could help Craig make popcorn later. Of course, Joshua considered Craig his best buddy and was almost always on his best behavior around him.
    We had made reservations at Napoleon, our favorite restaurant and were just heading for the door when the phone rang. I had to head Joshua off at the pass to beat him to it.
    “Hello?” I said, displaying my keen sense of originality.
    “Dick Hardesty?”
    “Yes.”
    “This is Mel Franklin, Tom Kester’s roommate. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner; I was out of town. What did you want to know?”
    “I appreciate you calling, Mr. Franklin…”
    “Mel,” he corrected.
    “Mel,” I said. “While it’s really none of my business, could I ask about your relationship? Roommates? Friends? Partners?”
    “We were best friends since high school,” he replied, “which always amazed both of us, considering how very different we were.”
    “In what way?” I asked.
    “Tom was the classic extrovert, never afraid of anything. He was up for any adventure and liked living on the edge.”
    “I understand he was a regular at the Male Call,” I said.
    Franklin laughed. “Oh, yeah. He loved his leather. He loved the fantasy of it.”
    “And you?” I asked.
    “Not me. I always found the leather scene kind of silly. Tom would drag me along with him to the Male Call every now and then, but…I was afraid that exactly what happened would happen.”
    “So, you think he contracted AIDS from the Male Call?”
    “I’d bet every penny I have, and I’ll bet you I know exactly how he got it and who gave it to him.”
    That got my adrenalin pumping! “Who do you think it was? And how do you know?” I asked as calmly as I could.
    “Like I said, I always thought the leather scene was just one big fantasy trip for most guys,” Franklin said. “That butch thing is a real turn-on for a lot of guys, and there’s one guy there who takes it well past the limit. His name, I think, is Cal…”
    He paused a second, during which my adrenalin level kicked up a notch.
    “And?” I prompted, though I knew he’d continue when he was ready.
    “And like just about every other guy in the place, Tom wanted him. Bad. And one night he got him. Tom was walking on air, and he described it all to me in glowing detail. They did it in the back room of the bar, which wasn’t exactly what Tom had hoped for, and he said the guy had refused to wear a condom. Tom never went anywhere without a condom, and he always insisted the guys he went with wear them. But he was so hot for this Cal character that he went along with him.”
    He paused again. “That was it. I know it was. Tom knew it, too, the minute he found what he thought was a bruise on his forearm, about a month later. He died the third of July. He was thirty-four years old.”
    “Do you know if the guy said anything to Tom after they’d had sex?”
    “Not that I know of. Tom didn’t say anything. Why?”
    “No reason,” I lied. “Oh, and did he say anything about the lights being on?”
    “Yes, he did say that when they went into the room there was only one small light on, and that the guy went over and unscrewed it before they had sex. There were a lot of guys in the room, but no one said anything.”
    They wouldn’t have dared, I