Page 92 of Your Hate, My Claim
“Not the grizzly details, but I know.”
“Chase, how did he know who he was and why did he do it?”
“It’s kind of a long story. Look, Noah is difficult to explain if you don’t understand the psychology behind it. He fixates on things, obsesses when it's something that piques his interest, and I’m talking obsession on a scale you couldn’t fathom.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“When you were so upset on the plane, and then you had the nightmares where you were calling out for Leo. It triggered his obsessive tendencies, so when we parted ways, he got a hold of your files from social services.”
“He did what?! How?”
“Noah is from a very powerful family, he can find out anything. Anyway, when he noticed you were placed at the same time as Leo, he searched into it more and found out the guy who you were in the care of assaulted Leo after you left.”
My vision blurs. No…no, not Leo.
“What did he do? I left a day before Leo.”
“It didn’t go too much into detail but he beat him up pretty bad. All I know is that Leo spent some time in the hospital and moved to Canada. After reading the multiple arrests and this guy's long record of homophobic attacks, Noah was convinced he’d hurt you for that reason and that's why you were struggling. Noah hates homophobes anyway, but he made this his new obsession. To find him and send him to you.”
“Oh, he did that alright.”
“Simon, I know it’s odd behavior.”
“You think?”
“But this is how his brain works. It wasn’t even something that he did for you because he cares, he just couldn’t focus on anything else. It’s just how he is, but in this case, he wanted you to know.”
“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to say thank you to him, but do it anyway.”
“No problem, Simon. Look after yourself.”
“You too.”
After the call ends I remain glued to the spot. I don’t know if that answered my questions or gave me more questions. But I don’t know what to do, let alone know how to feel about this. I’m more disturbed by Noah than the fact he killed that fucker.
“Hey, did you get any answers?” Jules asks as he approaches me.
“Only that Noah is the scariest motherfucker I’ve ever met.”
I need to see Carlos, so I decide to drive over to the docks to update him on what's happened, hoping he can help me make sense of it all.
45
CARLOS
“I really appreciate you going out of your way, Pedro.”
“Anytime, Carlos,” he says.
Pedro was visiting New York with his family, and was kind enough to physically bring me all the documentation from
my lawyer, worried something would go wrong in the mail. All the legal copies I needed, but also the account information for two offshore accounts in other names that my lawyer had stumbled across. Gabriel was definitely a planner.
“How long are you here?” I ask as we walk outside of my office and over to his car.
“I’m leaving tonight, meeting Daniel in Miami for a few days before we head back to Brazil.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Pedro. For everything.”
