Parole (Hypernaturals 7)

What Type is That, Praytell?

Tommy excused himself and left the table. His beer is warm and perhaps twenty percent consumed. He went off to the restroom, and I looked directly at Morgan, who watched him like a hawk.

I looked at Helen, who glanced my way from Holly. I head nodded at Morgan, and Helen looked over to see Morgan's focus. Helen waved a hand in front of Morgan's eyes.

"What?" Morgan asked her, irritated.

"What has you so focused on Tommy?" Helen asked quietly

"I am concerned about him. Well, to be more accurate, he is Adrian's Probate, so if he does something wrong, that affects Adrian. I have been trying to figure him out. He is very hard to get a read on. I will not let him do anything that could hurt us or our family. I cannot tell what goes on in that weird head of his."

Jessica looked over at the bathrooms, then added confidentially. "Me either. I never met a person so utterly unreadable to me. He acts like a total goofball, but ... I cannot tell."

Morgan asked Jessica: "Has Tommy ever done anything to make you think he is in any way attracted to you?"

"No. Nothing. I will admit I found that odd. Most men at the very least look at my breasts before they look in my eyes. Not him. Not that he ever really looked into my eyes either." Jessica said.

"I have never seen him look at any of us in such a manner. He has all the female body types and colors to choose from at the house. Tall, Short, Blonde, Brunette, curved, thin. Dark skinned. Light. You name it. Not any of the three of us. Not my mother. Not Angel. Angel turns heads at the Siren bar more than anywhere else, and that is a different mystery. Still: Nothing."

"You think Tommy is gay?" Helen asked.

"I can't tell exactly, but possibly? On the other hand, I have never seen him look at Adrian in any way to make me think he desires him, nor, despite all the studying of the men in here tonight, seen him focused on any particular men, with two exceptions."

Morgan looked around to be sure Tommy is not headed our way. She then indicated a booth on the far wall. "You see those two men? Leaning in for a close conversation?"

We all looked as surreptitiously as we could. "Yes?" Helen asked.

"They have been into no one but each other all night so far. Their body language tells me they are a couple, but not out. Not in here anyway. Maybe at Pride or a different club. Not here."

"You were a cop. You are a PI. How good are you at reading people like that?" Jessica asked curiously.

"Well, when I first met each of you, I noticed that Helen watched everyone. Men and women. She seemed to like women more, and most men were scanned and rejected. In particular, a classically handsome man with a strong jaw, five o'clock shadow, narrow waist, and broad shoulders would attract a glance and usually be rejected. My read of Helen then was that if they acted as Macho as they looked, Helen tossed them from sexual consideration. Jessica, on the other hand, looks at that same man, and also rejects them, but in a more nuanced way. It is like she sees them, then forces herself to not see them. Knowing what I know now, I ascribe this to her so-called chemical preferences being overridden by her experience. Women, other than Helen and to some degree recently, myself, she looks at hardly at all, unless something is interesting like colors or clothing or a necklace attracts her eye. External things. She likes subdued Navajo silver, but not the gaudy items."

Morgan looked at me with her patented small, knowing smile. "In the case of Adrian, the first day I met him, I saw the way he scanned me head to toe. I know in his mind I was naked and in his bed, but I was not sure which of us was on top. Now I know it was me, but back then I could not tell. He never acted on it, or even acted like he was aware he had done it. Adrian ONLY ever pays attention to women, and he has a type."