Free Boystown 7: Bloodlines by marshall thornton Page B

little fridges and stock it with snacks. Or at least ice cubes. It would be nice to sit at my desk and have a scotch on the rocks once and a while. Of course, I could simply walk over to Brian’s and rifle through his kitchen for a sandwich or something, but I was beginning to feel like I’d accepted enough of his hospitality. Which didn’t mean I was going to run out and get the Reader to start looking for an apartment. It just meant I needed to start thinking about doing something.
    My answering machine had five messages. I felt popular. I ran the tape back so I could hear them. The first message was from Mrs. Harker, my sort of onetime mother-in-law. All she said was, “Is Easter Sunday, you come to dinner.” Which meant that I was to show up at her condo in Edison Park at two o’clock Sunday afternoon, preferably shaved, showered, and wearing a pressed shirt. I’d been to dinner a number of times that winter, but that had stopped when Mrs. Harker found out that her priest had lied to her about the departure of the deacon, who’d been having sex with his students, including Terry. Father Dewes had told her the Deacon was dismissed due to theft. She hadn’t appreciated being lied to and somehow her priest lying to her became my fault. Apparently, though, she’d forgiven me, so now I had to go out and have some ham to celebrate Christ’s resurrection.
    The second message was a woman saying, “Hello? Is someone there?” I didn’t recognize the voice. She said, “Hello” a couple more times and then hung up with a clunk. I rewound the tape and listened again. She didn’t sound happy. But then, she might have been calling to sell me something. Something she wasn’t happy about.
    The third message was Joseph, “Hi. I’m calling to confirm dinner tomorrow and to give you my number. I realized you didn’t have it and I thought if you had to cancel you wouldn’t be able to reach me. I don’t want you to cancel, don’t get that idea. I just thought, you know, you should be able to reschedule if something came up.” I scrambled for a piece of paper as he gave me the number. As I wrote it down, I was happy. Too happy. And that bothered me. Though I couldn’t figure out if it was because he was a priest; going on a date with a priest couldn’t possibly be a good idea. Or was I bothered because I wasn’t ready to be happy in that way? I didn’t know. Wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Maybe I should just be happy and not worry about it.
    The next message started and I was barely paying attention. “This is Kimmy Crete. I heard through the grapevine that you wanted to talk to me. I called Maddy’s lawyer and got your number. Um, I’m available whenever. I’m not working so, just give me a call if you want to talk about something. I really want to help Maddy. She was always nice to me.”
    The final message was silence. I had the feeling it was the same woman who’d called earlier but there was no way to tell. Now I had a decision to make. I was hungry and wanted to go have lunch, but I also wanted to return Joseph’s call and possibly Kimmy’s.  
    I dialed Joseph first. When he answered I said, “I didn’t think you had a phone. I was imagining you living like a monk in a barren room with a twin bed and a crucifix on the wall.”
    “You’re not that far off. But I do have a phone all to myself. We’re medieval but still civilized. I’m glad you called me back.”
    “You may not be that glad in a minute.”
    “You’re going to cancel, aren’t you?”
    “Actually, I’m wondering if we could have dinner tonight and see a movie if you’d like.”
    “I’m supposed to have a counseling session at six. I could be at your office at seven-thirty. Is that too late?”
    “No, it’s fine. I need a favor though.”
    “All right.”
    “Could you bring one of your black suits with the black shirt and clerical collar?” I asked as blandly as I could.
    “Um…we should stick to dinner and a movie. And