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** KEVIN **

“Can you believe him?”

“He’s upset, Kev.” Howie replied. “You need to cut him some slack.”

“He’s being unreasonable.” I argued. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with us staying here for a couple of days.”

Howie gave me a look that was almost patronizing. “Brian clearly feels differently.”

“He needs to come to terms with what’s happened sooner rather than later.” I deadpanned. “Staying here might help him do that.”

“Or it might cause him to fall apart completely.” Howie pointed out. “In all fairness, Brian’s not the only one who needs to come to terms with what’s happened.”

I took note of Howie’s pointed look before dropping my eyes to the floor. “I’ve come to terms with it.”

“Have you?” Howie pressed. “You just had a screaming match with Brian over sleeping arrangements.”

I sighed; damn Howie and his ability to see through my façade. “I can’t stop thinking about the fact that things just don’t seem to add up.”

“What do you mean?” Howie’s eyes drifted towards the surveillance photos that the detectives had left behind.

“Why was Nick even at that club in the first place?” I rubbed forcefully at my face and leaned forward so that my elbows were resting on my knees. “The European leg of the tour ended less than two months ago. We had no indication that Nick was using again and all of a sudden he turns up dead with a baggy of coke in his pocket.” I took a deep breath and pushed myself to continue. “I spoke to him less than a week ago and he seemed perfectly fine. He was telling me that he and Lauren were planning on having us all over for a belated housewarming party before we hit the road again. He was going on and on about their wedding plans. He was in a good place, Howie.”

“Maybe he was just doing a really good job of hiding the fact that he was in trouble again.” Howie suggested. “This wouldn’t be the first time that Nick has hid his problems from us.”

“No.” I shook my head empathetically. “Something is definitely off. The fact that Lauren is nowhere to be found is what’s really getting to me. Why aren’t the police making more of an effort to find her? Why haven’t we been contacted by her family? It seems as though nobody is making a big deal over the fact that she’s missing. Why wasn’t she with Nick on Saturday night?”

“It’s bugging me too.” Howie agreed. “She hasn’t called us. She hasn’t contacted the police. She hasn’t reached out to anyone, as far as we know of. I’ve tried calling her God knows how many times and her phone always goes straight to voicemail.”

“I tried calling her mother.” I admitted. “The call went straight to voicemail as well. Nobody has called me back.”

“Do you think that she’s being tortured somewhere?”

I started at Howie’s rather blunt question and delivered my own honest answer in response. “I think the police already know that she’s dead.”

It was Howie’s turn to look surprised. “What?”

“Why else wouldn’t they be publicizing the fact that she’s missing?” I challenged. “I think that the police must know something about her whereabouts on Saturday night that we don’t.”

“Lauren – Lauren wouldn’t hurt Nick.” Howie looked as if he was going to be sick. “She just wouldn’t!”

“Jesus, Howie!” I shook my head in admonishment. “I know that! I just told you that I think she’s dead, not a murderer!”

“I’m sorry.” Howie apologized, leaning his head back against the plush cushions of the couch. “What are you saying?”

“The attack on Nick was targeted, we know that.” I chose my words carefully. “I think that whoever carried out the attack against Nick has probably already killed Lauren. I would be willing to bet that the police have already found her body and that they’re staying tight lipped about their discovery until they have enough evidence to bring in a suspect.”

“I don’t understand.” Howie still looked confused. “Why wouldn’t the police tell us if they already know that Lauren is dead? Why would they make us suffer like this?”

“Think about it, Howie.” I sighed. “It’s obvious from the Next of Kin Contact form that Nick recently revamped his will so that Lauren would be the primary beneficiary.”

Howie's eyes lit up as he made the connection. “Shit! If Nick made Lauren the only beneficiary and she were to suddenly become ineligible to claim everything …”

I pressed my lips together and squeezed my eyes shut. “Guess who it would automatically default to?”

“This is all just speculation, Kev.” Howie was clearly nervous; his voice was shaking. “We need to find a copy of the will.”

“That’s partially why I wanted to stay here.” I forced my eyes open. “I need some time to look around.”

The room was suddenly illuminated by the brilliant glow of headlights. Brian was obviously back from his errand and I steeled myself for the impending hostility. If it hadn’t been for Howie’s peacemaking skills, Brian and I would still be at each other’s throats.

“Are you planning on sharing your theory with Brian and AJ?” Howie asked. “Or is this just between you and me?”

I brought my eyes to the window and watched as AJ and Brian exited the car. AJ pulled two massive pizza boxes out of the backseat in place of the KFC bags that I had been expecting to see. I rolled my eyes as the two of them approached the house with smiles plastered on their faces; immensely proud of their intentional disregard for my instructions. “We’ll keep it just between you and me.”

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of music; loud, thumping pop music to be exact. It took me a few minutes to figure out where I was, and when I finally remembered that I was in Nick’s house the nightmare that was the day before came flooding back in a wave of emotion. I groped for my phone and pulled it off of the nightstand. Ignoring the steady thump of the bass from downstairs, I pressed Kristin’s number and brought the phone to my ear. I suddenly had a desperate, overwhelming need to hear my wife’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Hi, honey, it’s me.” I pushed myself up against the padded headboard and stuffed one of the many throw pillows behind my back. “I was just calling to check in.”

“I was expecting to hear from you earlier.” Kristin’s voice was laced with worry. “It’s already after ten.”

“It is?” I hurriedly glanced at the clock on the nightstand. The little red numbers informed me that it was 10:19 A.M. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had slept-in past eight o’clock. “I went to bed pretty late.”

“You’re just waking up?” Kristin was incredulous. “You must have been exhausted.”

“The whole thing – the whole Nick thing is really taking its toll.” I rubbed absently at my eyes. “If Lauren doesn’t show up by the end of the day, everything becomes my responsibility.”

“The other guys are there with you.” Kristin paused. “Don’t be afraid to ask them for help.”

“I don’t know if they’ll be allowed to help.” I hesitated, not wanting it to sound like I was making excuses. “I was the one who Nick identified on the form.”

“He also named Brian.” Kristin reminded me. “He’ll help you if you ask him to. If nothing else, he’ll go with you when you have to – when you have to – when you confirm that it’s Nick.”

“Yeah.” I answered simply. I didn’t see the point in telling Kristin that Brian and I had gotten into an argument over something as petty as where we were going to spend the night. It would only make her more worried than she already was. “I know that he would come with me.”

“I tried calling Lauren.” Kristin sounded more than a bit sheepish. “It went straight to voicemail.”

I let out a small laugh. “I tried calling her too. So did Howie.”

“Do you think that she’s being held captive somewhere?” Kristin asked the question with far more emotion than Howie had. I could tell by her voice that she had already convinced herself that Lauren had met the same fate as Nick.

“I dunno, Kris.” I also didn’t see the point in sharing my conspiracy theory with my wife. Howie hadn’t been judgemental because he could see my reasoning. Kristin would likely think that I had gone crazy, and she would probably insist on signing me up for therapy if I started raving about the police concealing the fact that Lauren was dead. “I really don’t know where she is.”

“I was talking to Leigh and Ro yesterday.” Kristin announced. “We were wondering if there’s anything that you guys need us to do ... if there’s anything that you want us to help you arrange.”

I took a calming breath; she was talking about the funereal. I hadn’t even allowed myself to think that far ahead. “Not yet. We’ll let you know.”

“Okay.” There was a long pause. “You guys might want to think about releasing a statement to the fans. The Internet is becoming a pretty nasty, spiteful place as far as you guys are concerned.”

“Great.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’ll phone Eddie at some point today. At the very least, we should be able to post an official statement on the website before the end of the day.”

“I wasn’t saying that you needed to make it a priority.” Kristin clarified. “Ro and I can always post something on Twitter if you want. That may pacify people for a little while.”

A horrifying thought suddenly entered my mind. “Has the media been giving you a hard time?”

“I haven’t been out of the house.” Kristin admitted. “Although, Leigh did mention that a local reporter approached her at the grocery store yesterday afternoon. She brushed them off; took it in stride, just like she always does.”

A slow smile spread across my face. Howie’s wife was a pro when it came to the media. If Leigh didn’t want to talk, you had absolutely no chance at getting anything out of her. “I’ll see if Howie knows anything about that.”

“The boys are getting antsy.” Kristin’s voice all of a sudden sounded very small and very far away. “I should go.”

The smile immediately left my face. “I miss you guys.”

“We miss you too.” Kristin affirmed. “Stay safe.”

I stared longingly at my phone for almost a full minute after hanging up. I didn’t think that I had ever missed my wife more than I did at that very moment. It was the steady thumping of music and the unmistakeable sound of Brian and AJ’s voices mixing together that eventually gave me the strength to swing my feet to the floor. Despite the familiarity of the sound, I was almost afraid to go downstairs and find out what the two of them were doing.