“It hurt me. I’d planned to grow old with him.” His voice hitched on a sob. “I loved him. More than anyone else in this world. I loved him. After he was nominated, I kept hoping the press would find out.”

Gonzo waited for him to continue.

“I figured if it got out, it might derail the nomination. As far as we’ve come, I don’t know if America is ready for a gay Supreme Court justice. I’m ashamed to say I even considered leaking it. But I discovered I couldn’t do that to him. That’s how much I loved him. So when I heard he was in Washington for the hearings, I went out, got drunk, met a thug named Ron and went home with him. You know the rest.”

“Ron’s last name and address?”

Grimacing, Duncan rattled off the information.

Thirty minutes later, Gonzo stood at the door to Ron Spaulding’s apartment, accompanied by two South Beach police officers. Obviously, they had gotten Ron out of bed, and Gonzo was gratified to note that his bottom lip was split and swollen. Duncan had gotten off at least one good shot in self-defense.

“Waddya want?” Ron mumbled. He was blond and handsome in a cocky sort of way with a pierced ear and perfect pecs. Gonzo wanted to smack him around for roughing up Duncan, a man thirty years older.

“Ron Spaulding?”

“What’s it to you?” he grumbled, scratching his belly above the waistband of gym shorts.

Gonzo flashed his badge. “Detective Tommy Gonzales, Metro Washington, D.C. Police. Did you spend last night with a man named Duncan?”

“Yeah, so?”

“What time did you two hook up?”

“I don’t know. Nine maybe?”

Sinclair was still alive at eleven-fifteen when the O’Connors dropped him off at the hotel. “Were you with him all night?”

“Uh-huh.”

Whereas Duncan had seemed ashamed of hooking up with a stranger, this guy was so matter-of-fact about it that Gonzo suspected it was a regular occurrence in his life. He turned to the cops he’d brought with him. “He’s all yours.”

“You’re under arrest for the assault of Duncan Quick,” one of them said.

“What the fuck?” Spaulding said. “Get your fucking hands off me!”

Gonzo left them to fight it out. He had what he needed.

Chapter 16

“What do we know about Preston Sinclair?” Sam asked Jeannie McBride as she drove to Sinclair’s place in Georgetown.