IslandAffair

in that case, John. I think you’re right to be concerned though. I
need you to lay low while I look into it.”
    There would be no argument there. He and Robin had only just
found each other again. John wasn’t going to risk anything happening to either of
them. They went to bed tense, neither one in the mood to do much more than hold
each other. In the middle of the night John was woken by his lover’s jerking
movements as he was gripped in the jaws of another seizure. When it was over he
cleaned them both up and changed the bed. Tucking Robin back into his arms and
murmuring soft reassurances while his partner wept with humiliation, John raged
at the situation and the person who had caused such irrevocable damage.

Chapter Eight
     
    Robin watched from the apartment window as Linda Shaw, the
mother of one of his students, flirted with the two officers in the patrol car
across the street. The officers had shown up this morning to ferry John to the
police department to answer more questions about the “evidence he had
withheld”. It was apparent that Dan Sanders had been burning up the phone lines
to the Barretts Cross PD. He wondered how long it would be before the man
himself showed up.
    Rob was almost glad the police interrupted them this
morning. The atmosphere between them was awkward and strained. Mostly his fault
he knew. He felt unbearably embarrassed about the fact he’d had another seizure
during the night. John seemed to be fine with it, which made him feel worse
because Robin was the one having a problem accepting it.
    By early afternoon John still wasn’t back and Robin was
getting impatient. He needed to get to work. The short interview the police had
promised evidently turned into a long one. He tried calling the department but
no one would help him. They wouldn’t even admit that his partner was there.
After talking with Agent Sanders last night John had planned to go with Rob to
work but that obviously wasn’t going to happen now. Frowning, Robin called a
cab instead and jotted a quick note, leaving it on the kitchen table for John.
He would be annoyed, no doubt, but his job might be hanging from a thread as it
was and he didn’t want to give them any more ammunition.
    The parking lot was disappointingly empty again when he
arrived and as he walked up to the entrance he saw why. There was a sign on the
glass announcing that the swimming lessons were canceled today. The door was
locked, in case anyone didn’t get the message. Scowling Rob fished out his keys
and unlocked them. Was this his colleagues’ way of telling him he wasn’t needed
anymore? Anger flooded him as he ripped the sign off the glass door and marched
inside. He was almost to the office door when he realized how quiet it was. It
had been a long time since Rob had been alone in this building and he’d forgotten
how eerie it could be. Distantly he heard the hum of the pumps that filtered
the pool but otherwise it was silent. He carried on to the office, finding it
empty and dark. His footsteps sounded loud on the concrete floors. He stuck his
head into the public changing rooms and called out.
    “Hello?”
    The pool itself was calm and still as glass. Rob was walking
around it when he heard the slam of a door in the staff changing area. He
quickened his pace and pushed open the swinging door. There were short rows of
cubicles down the middle with lockers on either side. At the far end were the
restrooms and a shower area. He called out again, thinking perhaps someone was
in the bathroom.
    “Hello?”
    Scuffling noises answered him and the back of his neck
tightened. He walked down the length of the cubicles toward the sound. A pair
of boot-clad feet stuck out from under the shower stall doors, tied at the
ankles. Robin froze for an instant. He recognized those boots. He’d fallen over
them just this morning. The feet moved again. This time the scuffling was
accompanied by muffled moans.
    “John!”
    He rushed forward and reached for the door. Something hit
him hard in the back of the head and he fell to his knees, the world grayed
around the edges. He was pushed, throwing him face first onto the heated tile.
Rob’s cheek throbbed painfully where it connected with the roughened surface.
Before he could make sense of what had happened his hands were yanked behind
his back and secured. Shit!
    Robin squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, blinking
until the world came back into focus. He turned his head to see a