“Am I your enemy,baby boy?” he asks, using my old nickname. Two words that send me reeling back in time.
“I always liked you, Jack.” I try to sound convincing by remembering the pieces of him I did enjoy in moderation. “You were fabulous. Bold. Wickedly funny.”
“All I was, it turns out, was young.” He bows his head down. “I tried to remain bold. I’ve tried to help people. To make medicines that will alleviate their pain.”
Years of headlines about the company flow through my head.New medicines. Questionable practices. Audacious experiments. Unmitigated greed. The rise and rise of Whitman & Whitman.
“Help people?” I ask. “Don’t you price your medicines so only the wealthy have access to them?”
“How else would we fund research into the next miracle cures?”
“You mean the next gift to the rich and powerful.” I remember something else. Something horrific. “You... You tested medicine on prisoners without their consent, didn’t you?”
He doesn’t seem bothered by the accusation. “They were criminals. This was a way for them to pay their debt to society.”
“Not every prisoner is a criminal,” Bram says sadly. I know he’s thinking of Lily’s Uncle Alton. Of the countless people thrown in prison all over the world for having the wrong skin color, loving the wrong gender.
“We were criminals when we met,” I add. “According to the unjust laws of the time. But you already knew that. Not that you paid a price like the rest of them.”
“Look at my face to see the price I paid. I’m hideous.” I want to despise him, but a part of me also feels sorry for him. Unhappiness is indeed etched onto his face. “At least I know it. I’m aware I don’t have a face aged with warmth. The face of a beloved grandparent. Wise and sweet and sexless. No, my cheeks are hollow. My life is hollow. Cold blue veins line my skin. Every bit of me is twisted out of shape.”
“That’s just your physical appearance,” Bram says. “All that could change if you just... opened yourself up to love. It’s never too late for love.”
Jack laughs like the devil himself. “You’re such a fool. Of course it’s too late for love. Unless you tell me your secret. I promise not to experiment on prisoners. No, this time, I’ll experiment on myself.And once I’ve perfected the science and returned to my youthful form, I’ll bring it to market.”
“So you’re doing this to be young againandto profit?” I ask. “My God, is there no end to your greed? Whitman and Whitman is already one of the biggest companies in the—”
Archie’s body suddenly shivers. A little earthquake inside him. He freezes up as he repeats the words, “Whitman and Whitman?” Archie doesn’t seem afraid of the blade grazing his neck anymore. “You— You experimented with ways to cure homosexuality, didn’t you?”
Jack shrugs. “We experiment with ways to cureeverything.”
“Lobotomies,” Archie says. I turn to Bram, confused. “Shock therapy.” When Archie says those words, his body vibrates again. A small seizure. A memory relived.
“Ah, so it didn’t work for you?” Jack says. “Well, we can’t all be cured.”
“Look at you,” I snap. “You’re a lecherous old man stalking gay clubs in foreign cities. You’re not cured.”
“My wife would beg to differ,” Jack says coolly.
“You—” Archie releases a deep exhale. “You experimented with implanting the testicles of corpses into gay men.”
Jack waves a limp wrist in the air. “It was worth a try. We made sure the corpses were heterosexual. Besides, if a person doesn’t want to be gay, shouldn’t they have the option? Just as one wants to rid themselves of a headache? Or diarrhea?”
Archie’s face goes beet red. “Being gay is not a headache. And the people who were subjected to your evil experiments didn’t choose it. They were forced into it by their hateful parents who think like you.” Archie sighs sadly. “Some of them didn’t get out in time like I did. Some of them were lobotomized. Operated on.For what? Perhaps you’re not the serial killer preying on London boys, but you did prey on gay boys. You did so much harm. To us. To me.”
I see tears in Bram’s eyes. “Archie, I didn’t know. I’m... I’m so sorry.”
“No boo-hoo backstories, right?” Archie says sardonically.
I feel my own eyes well up too. For Archie. For me and Bram. For all of us. The ones who are nothing but pawns to the Jackals of the world. “Archie, what you suffered—”
Archie raises a hand up. “Not another word.” Then, “We all had our secrets, as it turns out. Now they’re out in the open. So what do we do?”
“That’s up to these two,” Jack says, cocking his head toward me and Bram. “All they need to do is tell me the secret that matters.”
“So you can gain more power and make more money!” I shout.
Jack looks at me like I’m a toddler. “Baby boy,” he says. “Greed is the reason humanity has dominated the planet for so long. It is our desires that have led us to make new discoveries. Yes, I’m greedy. Unapologetically so and proud of it. But this time, my greed may help others. You must know what’s happening to men like us all over New York and San Francisco. They’re dying. Maybe together we can help them.”
