Free The Wild Heart by David Menon

did nobody would listen, right?’.
         ‘ Well like I said, everything’s fine, officer’.
         Stuart’s policeman’s nose was sniffing. There was something about this whole scene that wasn’t right.
         ‘ I’ll be locking up and getting home soon. The wife has been nagging, you know how it is’.
         ‘ Right’ said Stuart ‘ Well I’ll be on my way then’.
         Stuart stepped back onto the street. The light was fading and there was nobody about. He was going to make his way round to Blackfriars, past the Renault showroom and then think about taking a break.
         Then it clicked. He had met someone called Ian Taylor before but it wasn’t the guy who’d just introduced himself in the yard.
        Stuart was fanatical about rugby league and when his team, Failsworth, had played a fixture against Worsley in the amateur league a couple of seasons ago, he’d had a long conversation with Ian Taylor in the bar after the match about how the England team was suffering without Jonny Wilkinson. Ian Taylor was a brilliant player and had scored two of the tries in Worsley’s 21-9 victory over Failsworth but, rugby being rugby, they were all friends afterwards. Stuart had even got him to give his parents a quote for an extension they were thinking of putting on their house and it was that part of the recollection that made Stuart’s nose finally sniff the bullshit he’d just been fed. The tall, thick-set builder who’d worked on his parents’ house in Whitefield wasn’t the same short, weedy man who’d introduced himself to Stuart in the yard and who’d commented about pleasing his wife. Stuart knew that Ian Taylor was gay, it was well known in local rugby circles, and that little detail clinched it for Stuart. He should’ve realised it before but there can’t be that many gay builders who play rugby even in these more enlightened times and it would be beyond all reason for there to be two with the name of Ian Taylor in the Greater Manchester area who both originated from Northern Ireland. So who was the guy in the yard?
         He should radio the station with his suspicions but he wanted to go back to the yard and check things out first. He was about to turn when he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head. He reached out his hands to steady himself but his legs were giving way and as he dropped to his knees he felt the second blow hit the back of his neck, sending him into unconsciousness.
     
         Mark put on his bathrobe and went downstairs to make some breakfast for him and Ian who’d just gone into the shower. He was just laying the table when his brother Simon and sister-in-law Anne turned up. Simon looked him up and down and tilted his head to one side coyly. ‘ You look a little … flushed little bro’. 
         ‘ Yea’ said Anne with a knowing smile. ‘ And I see you’ve prepared a table for two’.
         ‘ Is that the shower I can here going?’ asked Simon looking up at the ceiling.
         ‘ Well nothing gets past Mulder and Scully does it?’ said Mark. He was always pleased to see them. He and his brother Simon had a relationship that wasn’t just close but solid and tight. Simon was older than Mark by six years and Mark was close to Simon’s wife Anne too. They were mates. He sat down next to her and she placed her hand on his shoulder.
         ‘ His name is Ian’ said Mark. ‘ I’m glad you stopped by actually. I’d like you to meet him’.
         ‘ Is it serious then?’ Simon asked. He’d never had a problem with his brother’s sexuality but tended to be a little protective of him. They had no parents to rely on and he felt responsible even though he knew that Mark didn’t need him to. He was the strong one out of the two of them. ‘ You’ve got that look on your face’.
         ‘ What look would that be?’ Mark teased.
         Anne dug him in the ribs. ‘ That look!’ 
         When Ian came