“Yeah, I just said that.”
“Why wouldn’t his parents let you see him?”
“They’re insane.Have you met them?”
I played the waiting game.I didn’t have to wait long.
“The dad is a huge homophobe,” Rory said.“Like, out of control.He pretends Tip isn’t gay, and when he can’t, like if Jordan is all over Tip, then he leaves or turns on the TV or something.And the mom—” Rory seemed to grope for words before finally saying, “She’s obsessed with Tip.”
“Overprotective?”
Rory shook his head.“No, obsessed.She used to have a tracker on his phone, and this was after he was an adult and on his own phone plan and everything.”
An adult, I thought, remembering the boy in the hospital bed.
“And that’s not even the worst of it.”Rory’s voice took on the excitement of someone sharing ugly but interesting gossip; his head must have been feeling better.“Did you know Tip’s not even from here?”
“From Wahredua?”
“He grew up in Kansas City.And when he graduated, he decided to go to Wroxall because he got a scholarship and everything.And get this: when he moved here, his mom moved here too.Made the dad move too.They literally followed him to college.”
“How’d they make that work with jobs?”
“She’s got money; that’s what Tip says.But the dad works for Highway Patrol, and I guess they let him relocate.”
And that explained why Mr.Wheeler had seemed savvier than an ordinary citizen about law enforcement.
“How does Tip feel about all of that?”
“He hates it.I mean, the whole reason he came here was to get away from them.”Rory slouched against the counter, arms folded across his chest to display nicely developed biceps, but his expression was distant, as though he were trying to decide something.“She kisses him on the lips.”
“The mom?And Tip?”
Rory nodded, mouth twisting.“I went over there once for dinner because Tip begged me.Never again.So fucking weird.Shit, sorry.”
I ignored the apology, my attention on what Rory had told me.There’d definitely been something strange going on between the parents at the hospital.Had the mom’s reaction simply been an extreme emotional response because of her attachment to her son?Or would even a “normal” mom—whatever that meant—have had the same kind of response?I wasn’t the right person to ask; when my mom had called, after, when I’d still been in the hospital, she’d asked me how bad it was, told me it was horrible, and then wanted to talk about her vaginal rejuvenation surgery.I don’t want Robert to feel like he’s throwing a hot dog down a hallway, do I?I didn’t even know who Robert was.
“Did something happen?”
Rory’s words drew me out of my thoughts.“What?”
“To Tip?I mean, at the hospital?Is that why you’re here?”
It took me another moment to process the question.Then I shook my head.“I need to take a look at his room.”
“Uh, yeah.It’s that one.”He pointed down a short hallway.“At the end.”
“Stick around,” I said.“I might have some more questions.”
“Yeah, totally.”
Tip’s bedroom was more or less what I’d expected.An extra-long twin bed, a wobbly dresser, loose change scattered together with vape pods and phone chargers.A FUCK BOI snapback that had a suspicious stain on it.He’d hung a progress flag and couple of art prints that looked like TJ Maxx specials; the frames were dusty.I checked the drawers and found, again, what I’d expected.Clothes, a pump bottle of lube that looked simultaneously crusty and sticky, a leather-snap cock ring, a jelly dildo that probably needed to be thrown away.Instead of a desk or nightstand, he had a table with white legs and an oak veneer, where a stack of beaten-up textbooks lay—since we were past the end of the semester, they must have been the ones he couldn’t sell back.A backpack beneath the little table held an aging Chromebook, another phonecharger, a flattened pack of Orbit gum, a vape pen, and so many Bic mechanical pencils he could have been dealing.
Nothing stood out to me.No drugs—although, from our conversation at the hospital, it seemed like a safe bet that Tip used occasionally.No suspicious amounts of cash.The few pieces of jewelry, rings and bracelets, all looked like sterling silver shit that had come with the Fuck Boi starter pack.And while the clothes tended toward expensive, they were still all things that a college boy with a financially stable family could have had.
When I got back to the combined living area, Rory was vaping at an open window.He shot his eyebrows when he noticed me.“Find what you were looking for?”
“Maybe.How were things with Tip and Jordan?”
