Benny & Ray 104

Tommy

 

 

Ray Vecchio burst through the doors of the University Med Center as they barely opened in time. He headed straight for the reception desk, interrupting the woman on the phone.  He whipped out his badge, “Tommy DeBenedetto! Which room?!”

 

The young brunette looked up calmly, making the silent gesture for ‘one moment’ as she clicked the keys of her computer, cradling her phone.

 

“Ray!” a voice near him yelled before the woman could finish. 

 

Ray turned, and met the blue eyes of Tommy’s Fabio-look-alike boyfriend.  “Bruno! What’s going on? How is he?”

 

“He’s pretty messed up, man.  Fuckers got him pretty bad.  They just got him settled into a room. Patricia’s in there with him right now.”  Patricia was Tommy’s older sister.  “I wanted to give her a few minutes alone.”

 

“Damn,” Ray swore, shaking his head.  “They catch the guys yet?”

 

“I didn’t call the cops.”

 

“What?!” Ray already had his cell phone out.

 

Bruno’s eyes teared up.  “I came home and found him lying there in a pool of blood. I called an ambulance. Came right here with him. There was no time.”

 

“You secure the house?”

 

“No. The back window was smashed.  I left the door unlocked.”

 

“Are you crazy?!”

 

“I thought he was dead, Ray! I thought he was dead! I don’t give a fuck about the house!  I only care about Tommy.” The anguish in his voice was plain.

 

“You’re right, man.  You did the right thing. I’m sorry.”

 

“God! I love him so much, Ray.”  Bruno collapsed onto a hard yellow plastic chair. “You know?”

 

Ray sat down next to him.  “Yeah.  I know.  I know.” He didn’t know what else to say to this man he barely knew, so he said nothing.

 

Long moments went by.

 

Ray heard stiletto heels on the linoleum floor.  He looked up. An older bewildered-looking woman had marched down the long corridor as the two men sat in silence.  “Patty?” Ray asked uncertainly. He stood.

 

Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed.  “Hi, Ray.  Been a long time, huh?”

 

He leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.  “At least ten years, I think.”

 

“You’re bald,” she said ruefully.

 

“Yeah,” he agreed.

 

“Looks good on you.”

 

Ray shrugged modestly.  “How is he?”

 

Patty shook her head violently, hair swinging wildly.  Fresh tears welled up.  “They took out his left eye! They couldn’t save it!  Oh God!”  She began to sob.  Ray put his arms around her.  Closed his eyes and held her. Patty sobbed quietly for a moment, pulled out of Ray’s arms, and pulled herself together.  “Ma will be here any minute, with Carla.  She shouldn’t see him like this! Oh God!”  She crossed herself.  “It’s going to kill her.  Her baby boy.”

 

“It’ll be all right,” Ray soothed. But he didn’t believe it himself.

 

“Who could do such a thing?” she cried.  “Tommy never hurt nobudy.  This world, I tell you.  This world is evil. God save us all.”  She shuttered.  “I’m gonna go outside and make a few calls to the rest of the family. I gotta go call Rex. I left the grandkids with him.”

 

“You got grandkids?”

 

“Yeah.  My daughter Rebecca’s got twin boys that I look after.  Three years old already.  Crazy, huh? Me, a grandmother at my age.” She produced a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose.

 

“How ‘bout that?”  Ray stuck his hands in his pockets, marveling the fact.

 

“I’m just gonna step out,” she said.  Ray stood and watched her as she departed. 

 

Bruno stood.  “You wanna see him now?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They began the walk down the long sterile corridor.  Bruno stopped Ray from entering the room at the end of the hallway.  “Listen.  I gotta warn ya.  He looks pretty bad.”

 

Ray nodded, steeling himself.  “Okay.”

 

Bruno stepped aside and let Ray enter first.  The room was dimmed, and various fluids ran from clear bags, attached to Tommy.  Equipment softly beeped and whirred.  Monitors flashed. 

 

The man in the bed was unrecognizable.  Ray thought unkindly that what lay in the bed looked like road kill.  He felt his stomach turn.  Tommy’s face was swollen black and purple.  His left eye was covered in thick bandages and his right eye was swollen shut. 

 

There was a deep depression where the left side of his face used to be.

 

“He’s gonna need dozens of surgeries, the doctor said,” Bruno whispered. “They’ll have to rebuild his cheek, his nose.  Rebuild his jaw.  He may never look the same again.  He lost a ton of blood.  Three ribs broken.  A collapsed lung.  Some internal bleeding…” Bruno shook his head incredulously. 

 

Ray was unable to speak.  Unable to keep looking.  He escaped into the hallway.  He leaned forward and put his hands on his knees.  He stared down at his hands.  They were shaking. In fact, his whole body was. He slid down the wall until he sat on the floor.  There he sat for quite a while, utterly paralyzed, utterly silent.

 

The door swung open, finally, and Bruno walked right by him sobbing loudly.

 

"Bruno, hold up," Ray called.  The man kept going without acknowledgement.  Ray clambered to his feet and slowly followed, feeling awkward.

 

Bruno ducked into the men’s room, and into a stall.  “I’m sorry,” he said from behind the door. 

 

“You got nuthin’ to apologize for.”

 

Ray stood by, silently as Bruno wept out his grief.  He leaned back against the door, guarding him. 

 

Bruno finally said in a small voice that echoed in the tiled room nonetheless.  “I was gonna ask him to marry me, you know.  I was going to do it the night of the pride parade.  Kind of have a pride party and an engagement party all at the same time.  You know?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Thought I’d take him to San Francisco this summer, and we’d go to the town hall.  They say they’ve issued hundreds of licenses to same-sex couples so far, and more coming.”  The pride in his voice was clear.  “San Francisco is nice and cool in the summer. It’s so beautiful. Tommy never got to go.  I wanted to introduce him to all my old friends there.  I was so proud of him. I was so proud to be with him.” 

 

A chill ran up and down Ray’s spine, hearing Bruno refer to Tommy in the past tense.  Like Tommy was dead.  He was suddenly choking in a blinding rage.  “I gotta get out of here.”  He walked out, not seeing anything or anybody around him.  He didn’t stop until he was in the raw night air.  It had started to rain again, in fact was pouring.  Ray zipped up his light jacket, and pulled his hood on to protect his naked head.   He saw Patty pacing on the far side of the entry, underneath a ‘no smoking’ sign, smoking and talking on her cell phone.

 

Ray felt so helpless. So helpless. So this is what happened to all gay men at some point or another, right?  This is what you got for being a fag.

 

Ray took a few steadying breaths.  He retrieved his phone from where he had absently stuck it in his breast pocket.

 

Ray called his old number. 

 

A pleasant and familiar voice answered, flooding Ray with relief.  “Twenty-seventh precinct. Detective Fraser speaking, how can I help?”

 

Ray had to smile.  God, it was good to hear Benny’s voice, safe at his desk, sounding so assured, ready to take on anything that came his way. Ray listened to him breath.

 

“Hello?” Benny prompted.

 

“Benny?” Ray said in a voice that came out sounding child-like.

 

“Ray? What’s wrong?”

 

Ray took a deep breath and told Ben what happened. Ray could hear Benny begin to breathe hard. 

 

“Stan and I are one the way to the house now, Ray,” Benny said with grim determination. “We’ll send two uniformed officers, also.  Can you send Bruno home for questioning?”

 

“I’ll take care of it.”  They decided on a time, and then he hung up. He had a few minutes before he had to leave to meet Benny and Stan at the house. 

 

Ray moved off to the side of the building, into an alley, where it was empty, private.  He glanced around.  There was nobody at all nearby, within earshot.  No loiterers hanging around on cold rainy night like this. 

 

Ray Vecchio then made another phone call.