[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
** HOWIE **

“What do you think they’re talking about?” I stole another quick glance at Nick and Brian who were still sitting shoulder to shoulder on the small garden wall that lined the driveway.

“God only knows.” AJ mumbled. He tossed his cell phone onto the coffee table and fidgeted anxiously on the couch. “Should we go outside and wait with them for the detectives to show up?”

“They look like they’re having a serious conversation ...” I trailed off as I took in the borderline painful look on AJ’s face. “We can go outside if you want to though.”

“It doesn’t really matter.” AJ shrugged. The expression on his face was hard to read. “They won’t tell us what they were talking about anyway. Frick and Frack are back, remember?”

“Are you okay?”

“No.” AJ admitted. “I’m not okay, Howie.”

I hesitated, hoping that he would continue on his own. I didn’t really know how to respond to his statement. I had been expecting him to lie, for him to tell me that everything was fine.

“What if someone really is trying to kill Nick?” AJ thankfully made the decision to continue talking without any prompting. “What are we going to do then?”

“We don’t know for certain that someone is trying to kill him.” I stalled for time. “We should wait to talk to the police before we jump to any conclusions.”

“Come off it, Howie!” AJ spat. “You and Kevin just stared into the face of a guy who Nick admitted has been stalking him. A guy who purposefully went out of his way to make himself look just like Nick is lying dead on a metal table with a bullet in his heart. Are you really going to sit there and tell me that we don’t know for sure if someone is out to get Nick?”

AJ’s words sucked the last ounce of happiness at Nick’s return out of my system. He was right; Nick had definitely been the intended target of Saturday night’s attack. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” I conceded. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to say to you right now.”

“I don’t actually need you to say anything.” AJ sighed. “I’m just talking for the sake of talking.”

“The detectives are here.” Kevin strode into the room, interrupting our conversation as he made his announcement and eliciting an exaggerated eye roll from AJ.

“Were you watching with bated breath from the other room?” AJ grumbled.

“I saw their car pull up as I was coming down the hallway.” Kevin snapped. “What’s up your ass?”

“Nothing.” AJ retrieved his phone from the coffee table and jammed it into his pocket as he stood up. “Let’s go see what they have to say.”

Kevin shook his head in my direction as the two of us followed AJ out the front door. “Any idea as to why he’s so prickly?”

My eyes drifted to Nick and Brian who were still huddled together on the wall waiting for the police to join them on the driveway. “He’s worried about Nick.”

Kevin followed my gaze. Recognition dawned on his face as he watched Nick playfully shove Brian towards the flowerbed. “Right.”

“Good afternoon, gentleman.” Detective Bell’s voice boomed towards us as he and Detective Eaton exited their unmarked car. His eyes settled on Nick. “I assume that you must be Mr. Carter. Mr. Richardson let us know that you had returned safe and sound. He also filled us in on your whereabouts for the past several days. It’s nice to know that you and your fiancée are both alive and well.”

Nick nodded. He extended his hand to greet the detective, but he made no move to stand up. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“What else did Kevin say to you?” AJ asked. He sat down next to Brian on the low, brick wall and squinted up at the detectives. “Did he tell you that we think someone is trying to kill Nick?”

Kevin inhaled sharply at AJ’s words. The two of us had joined the group, but we had remained standing; filling in the circle on the other side of Detective Bell and Detective Eaton. I dared a quick glance at Nick who was obviously trying his best not to look concerned. Brian, on the other hand, looked positively sick at the possibility of Nick being in danger, and he was making no attempt to disguise his feelings.

“We’ve been able to make a positive ID on your doppelganger.” Detective Bell continued to address his comments towards Nick. “His name is Dan Scott. He’s thirty-five years old and a long-time resident of Nashville, Tennessee. His wife reported him missing on Sunday afternoon, but our department never saw the report. We had no reason to make the connection until we realized that it wasn’t your body under the sheet.”

“He had a wife?” The words drifted out of my mouth and hung heavy in the air. “Any kids?”

Detective Bell turned to face me, his eyes dim. “Three.”

“Was he the intended target?” I rephrased AJ’s question in the hopes that I could force Detective Bell to answer it. “Or do you think that the killer mistook him for Nick?”

“We also have the results of the toxicology report.” Detective Eaton interjected. “In addition to alcohol, Mr. Scott had a startling amount of flunitrazepam in his system. That finding, alone, leads us to believe that the attack was premeditated.”

“What about cocaine?” Kevin asked the question point blank. “You told us before that you found cocaine and marijuana on the body.”

Detective Eaton shook his head. “The report came back negative for both. Those substances were likely planted on the body at the crime scene.”

“You still haven’t answered the most important question.” I pointed out. “Was Dan the intended target?”

“No.” Detective Bell delivered the news with unwavering certainty. “We don’t believe that Mr. Scott was the intended target. As far as the police are concerned, this is a case of mistaken identity. Mr. Scott had significantly altered his appearance and he was carrying misleading identification. We’re certain that whoever killed Mr. Scott thought that they were killing Mr. Carter.”

“So where does that leave Nick?” AJ’s voice was simmering with anger. “Does this mean that you agree that someone is still trying to kill him?”

Detective Eaton ignored AJ and turned to Nick. “Mr. Carter, we believe that you will be in immediate danger once the media gets wind of the fact that you’re still alive.”

The colour left Nick’s face faster than I could blink. He stared back at Detective Easton with wide, scared eyes; his fingers curling around the edge of the brick wall on either side of his legs.

“And what are you going to do about it?” I demanded. My own anger was rising to the surface as I stared into Nick’s terrified face. “How are you going to make sure that Nick’s safe?”

“Unfortunately, there’s more to this story, Mr. Dorough.” Detective Eaton exchanged a cursory glance with his partner before reaching into his jacket and withdrawing an 8’’x11’’ envelope. “This was emailed to my attention this afternoon.”

Kevin extended his hand and accepted the envelope on my behalf. He gave Detective Eaton a determined look before reaching inside and withdrawing a single sheet of paper. I looked down at the email printout in Kevin’s hands and immediately wrapped my fingers around his arm for support. My stomach flipped as I looked down at our faces; our five individual headshots from our most recent photo shoot with Tyler Shields were aligned neatly in a row. There was a big red ‘X’ across Nick’s face and a single line of text: ‘I pray for this heart to be unbroken / But without you all I’m going to be is incomplete - - - - And Then There Were Four’.

“Can you trace the sender?” Kevin crammed the picture back into the envelope and thrust it at Detective Eaton. “What does this mean?”

“What’s in the envelope?” AJ directed his question at Kevin. “Let me see.”

Detective Eaton stepped forward to hand the envelope to AJ, but Kevin reached out to stop him. “He doesn’t need to see it.”

“What do you mean that I don’t need to see it?” AJ demanded. He turned his angry eyes on me. “Howie got to see it.”

“It might actually be better if you don’t look at it.” I mumbled as my eyes drifted from AJ to Brian to Nick and back again. The three of them were crammed together in a united front, their faces projecting nearly identical images of hurt and contempt.

“We can decide that for ourselves.” Brian snapped. He held out his hand to Detective Eaton in defiance. “We’re not little kids. We don’t need the two of you to protect us from the big bad wolf.”

“Fine.” Kevin relinquished his hold on Detective Eaton’s arm and stepped back into position beside me. “Go ahead and look at it.”

Detective Eaton raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing as he placed the envelope into Brian’s outstretched hand. Brian literally snatched the envelope away from the detective, sliding the single piece of paper into his hands as Nick and AJ hovered over him in anticipation. I kept my eyes trained on their faces as Brian flipped the paper over. I watched as their mouths fell open and their bodies tensed. I stared as three sets of eyes, two blue and one brown, flew upwards in horror.

“What the fuck is this?” AJ’s voice was dangerously low. “What the fuck are you trying to say by showing us this?”

“It’s not only Mr. Carter who is in danger.” Detective Eaton gently removed the image from Brian’s now shaking hands and returned it to the envelope before placing the whole package back inside of his jacket. “You all are.”

“So far, we haven’t been able to determine who sent the image.” Detective Bell answered Kevin’s earlier question. “Whoever set up the email account is technologically sophisticated. The sender has bounced the signal through six different countries. Our tech team has never seen anything like it.”

“Well I guess you better think about getting a new tech team then.” I knew that the comment was rude and I regretted it the moment that it left my mouth, but I was angry, and scared, and beyond the point of being able to think clearly.

“So what’s going to happen to us?” Nick whispered. “Are we just supposed to sit around and wait for some psycho to hunt us down?”

Detective Bell grimaced. “We’re going to protect the five of you as best as we can, but we’re going to require your full cooperation.”

“What does that mean exactly?” I raised my wary eyes to the detective. I didn’t like his expression, and I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to like what he had to say either.

“Right now, nobody aside from the five of you and the members of the Franklin Police Department know that Mr. Carter is alive.” Detective Bell proceeded slowly. “We’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.”

“So, you want us to lie to everyone?” Kevin clarified. “You want us to keep on telling our loved ones that Nick is dead?”

“It will be easy.” Detective Bell sighed. “Because we’re also going to ask that none of you contact anyone outside of the police until further notice.”

“You can’t be serious!” AJ looked stunned. “You’re telling me that I can’t call my wife? You’re saying that I’m not allowed to talk to my kid?”

“This is serious.” Detective Eaton asserted. “The only chance that the five of you have is to disappear. Once whoever is responsible for Mr. Scott’s death realizes that they’ve made a mistake, it will be game over for all of you. If you return home, or if you let anyone know where you are, we won’t be able to protect you or your loved ones.”

“But our wives already know that we’re here.” I pointed out the obvious. “Besides, if someone is really trying to hurt all five of us, won’t they assume that Kevin, Brian, AJ, and I would have already come to Franklin to mourn Nick?”

“They will.” Detective Eaton confirmed. “They’ll also be expecting all of you to go your separate ways and to return home to your families. If the un-sub wanted to go after all of you at once they would have done it while you were on tour. It would have been the perfect opportunity.”

“So, what is it that you think that the un-sub wants?” I mused. “To kill us one by one?”

“We think that we’re dealing with a sadist.” Detective Bell supplied. “If that’s the case, then you’re correct, Mr. Dorough. We do believe that the un-sub is looking to kill you one at a time.”

“They want to see us suffer.” Kevin deduced. “They want to see how the rest of us will react each time that one of us is killed.”

Detective Bell nodded. “As public figures, your pain would be highly visible. The fact that you now cater to a very devoted, yet not significantly expanding, fan base unfortunately makes the five of you ideal targets. Your daily security is low, but your deaths would garner a host of media attention.”

My ring tone suddenly sliced through the air, interrupting the severity of Detective Bell’s explanation. The noise was overly loud, despite the fact that my phone was wedged into the pocket of my jeans. Detective Bell’s words played heavily on my mind as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the display. Leigh’s smiling face greeted me in the same loving way that it always did whenever she called.

“I’m not allowed to answer this, am I?” I forced myself to look away from the display, bringing my eyes up to Detective Bell’s hardened face.

“We can’t force you to do anything, Mr. Dorough.” Detective Bell replied. “We can only advise you about what we think is best.”

The phone was still ringing in my hand, Leigh’s pretty face lighting up my palm. After one more ring, the phone fell silent and the missed call notification replaced my wife’s image on the display. Kevin’s hand was heavy on my shoulder as my phone immediately began to ring again. If I didn’t do it now, I would never be able to do it. Before I could change my mind, I hit the button to dismiss the call; effectively hanging up on my wife for the first time in my married life. I turned the power off before Leigh’s face was completely gone from the screen, watching numbly as her smile faded to black.