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** KEVIN **

I could hear Howie’s voice clear across the airport; angry and tinged with profanity and random bursts of Spanish. Ducking my head in an effort to keep from being recognized, I hustled towards the car rental counter. My suitcase rumbled along behind me as I weaved in and out of the crowds of travellers who were scurrying in every direction. I could see Howie now. He was standing in front of the car rental desk, waving his arms above his head and screaming in what could only be described as heavily accented, almost unrecognizable English.

A few hours ago, the fact that Howie and I would be landing in Nashville within minutes of each other had seemed like a blessing. At the moment, I was apt to perceive our coordinated arrival as an unmitigated disaster. Howie looked and sounded like a lunatic, and I was seriously having second thoughts about whether or not I wanted to be seen with him. Unfortunately, he was my only ride to Franklin and I, therefore, had no other choice but to approach him.

“Is everything okay?” I stepped up to the rental counter, ignoring the angry stares of the other people who were waiting in line. I looked back and forth between Howie and the middle-aged woman behind the counter.

“No.” The woman responded. She looked like she was only seconds away from calling security. “This man is refusing to understand that I don’t have a car for him.”

My stomach twisted. What did this woman mean that she didn’t have a car for us? I turned to Howie. “I thought you said that you called ahead and booked a car?”

“I did!” Howie flung his hands into the air and returned to waving them about. He leaned across the counter and brought his face as close as possible to the terrified looking employee. “My name is D-o-r-o-u-g-h and I called earlier from T-o-r-o-n-t-o.”

I placed my hand on Howie’s shoulder and gently pulled him away from the desk. “I’m pretty sure that she’s not retarded.”

“She must be retarded if she can’t see that I made a reservation!” Howie announced. He slammed his hands down on the desk and peered menacingly at the woman. “Where the fuck is my car?”

“Sir, I’ve already told you that you didn’t confirm the reservation.” The woman stood her ground. “If you fail to confirm the reservation, we release the vehicle to someone else.”

“Argh!” Howie let out a disgruntled cry of frustration and launched his hands back into the air. He started berating the woman in an angry mixture of English and Spanish. His Latin accent was so strong that even I had no idea what he was saying; he sounded like a hopped up version of Ricky Ricardo.

“Go sit!” I shoved Howie in the direction of the nearest bench. “Let me sort this out.”

Howie stumbled forward and gave me a heated stare before grabbing hold of his suitcase. “I made the fucking reservation. Stupid piece of shit rental company ...”

I waited until Howie had plopped himself down on the bench before I turned my attention to the woman behind the counter. I could still hear Howie muttering to himself as I forced a huge smile onto my face and dropped my voice into what I hoped was a seductive sounding southern drawl. “Are you sure that you don’t have a car for us?”

The woman’s face remained stony. “Yes, I’m sure. Your friend did not answer the automated confirmation call, so we’ve already released the vehicle to someone else.”

“I see.” My fake smile wavered. “Well, I’m sure that my friend MEANT to answer the call. He may have already been on the plane when the call came through. We’re kind of in the middle of an emergency.”

The woman continued to look unimpressed. “That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have a car for you.”

“Are you positive?” I was starting to panic. “We don’t care what kind of car it is. We’ll take anything. I’ll pay double, even triple the price. It doesn’t matter!”

“You’ll pay triple?” The woman raised her eyebrows. “And you don’t care what kind of car it is?”

“That’s right.” I nodded vigorously. “We’ll take whatever you’ve got.”

“We just had a vehicle come back within the last thirty minutes.” The woman sighed and began tapping at her keyboard. “It hasn’t been cleaned yet and it has less than a half a tank of gas.”

“That’s fine.” My face was still plastered into an artificial smile. “We’ll take it.”

The woman’s eyebrows rose even higher. “Nobody’s done an inspection on the vehicle yet. If there is any damage from the previous customer, you may be held financially responsible.”

“That’s fine.” I repeated. “I don’t care.”

“It’s a Volkswagen.” The woman slid a set of keys across the desk. “A 2013 Tiguan; silver.”

“Perfect.” I curled my fingers around the keys before she could change her mind. “I really appreciate this.”

The woman snorted and continued to tap at the keyboard. “Just so you know, I’m putting everything in his name.” She jerked her head at Howie who was still smouldering on the bench. “That way he’ll have to pay for damages in the event that anything happens to the vehicle.”

I smirked in approval as I scrawled Howie’s name across the paperwork. “That’s more than fine with me.”

Howie’s eyes widened in surprise as I approached the bench and dangled the keys in front of his face. “That bitch lied to me!” He roared.

“Let’s go.” My eyes darted nervously around the crowded airport. “We’ve already drawn more than enough attention to ourselves.”

Howie reluctantly stood up from the bench. He gave the rental car woman a final sneer for good measure as the two of us hurried towards the parking lot. “I made the fucking reservation.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” I shook my head and pressed the lock button on the key fob as we exited the airport. The lights on a silver SUV flashed in response and a loud beeping sound filled the mostly empty parking lot. “There better not be any traffic on I-65.”

We reached the car and Howie and I simultaneously lifted our suitcases into the trunk. I tossed him the keys as he headed for the driver’s side. Normally, I would have insisted that I be the one to drive, but today I was too anxious to protest. Neither of us spoke again until we reached the interstate.

“I’m sorry about the scene.” Howie frowned. “That woman probably thought I was a hot mess.”

I snorted and drew a hand across my tired face. “It’s safe to assume that her opinion of you was not a positive one.”

“This whole thing is doing me in.” Howie paused as he made a lane change. “Did AJ tell you that I broke down in the middle of a Starbucks?”

It was my turn to frown. I had spoken to AJ for the second time a few hours earlier, and he had begrudgingly filled me in on Howie’s predicament. “I haven’t seen or heard any disastrous accounts of your breakdown, so it seems as though those two women are going to stay true to their word.”

“There’s so much to do, Kev.” Howie moaned and rapidly changed the topic. “There’s so much to sort out.”

I flipped my eyes away from the road and turned to look at Howie. He was staring straight ahead, both hands on the steering wheel. He didn’t look overly distraught, his eyes weren’t puffy, and his skin wasn’t pale. He looked like he always did, just a tad more anxious. That wasn’t a good sign.

“How are you doing?” I asked the question as casually as I could.

My mind drifted back to when Howie had lost his sister. When he had first received the news, he had behaved pretty much in the same way that he was behaving now; overly calm and focused only on the minute details of the impending funereal. I knew that everyone dealt with death in their own way, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about Howie. After his sister’s funereal, he had broken down to the point where everyone around him had been convinced that he needed to be hospitalized. I didn’t think that I would be able to handle it if that type of situation were to play out again.

“Do you think Lauren is going to show up and take care of everything?” Howie ignored my question. “I guess she will still need our help, even if she does come around.”

“Do you know if anyone has heard from her?” My stomach churned at the thought of Nick’s fiancé. I was almost one hundred per cent convinced that the same fate that had befallen Nick had already befallen Lauren. I was just too scared to admit it out loud. One dead friend was enough to deal with. I didn’t have the strength to cope with losing them both.

“No.” Howie shook his head. “But then again, I don’t really know much of anything at the moment.”

“We just need to get there.” I could feel myself becoming emotional and I blinked my eyes in rapid succession in order to hold back the tears. “I still think that this whole thing is a mistake.”

Howie took his eyes off of the road for less than fifteen seconds. That was all the time that he invariably needed to determine that I was on the verge of losing it. “AJ and Brian are going to meet us there. We’re going to get through this together.”

“I told them not to come.” I pointed out. “Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure that I initially told you not to come as well.”

Howie did a poor job of hiding his smirk. “Like I said, AJ and Brian will be waiting for us.”

I leaned my elbow against the base of the window and rested my head against the palm of my hand. “I know, Howie. I know that they’ll be waiting. Nobody ever listens to me.”

Twenty minutes later, Howie exited the interstate and joined the afternoon traffic that was flowing in and around downtown Franklin. He turned left at the first opportunity in the direction of Nick and Lauren’s house that was situated in an affluent suburb just outside of the Franklin city limits.

“Where are you going?” I asked the question even though I already knew the answer. “We’re not going straight to the police department?”

“Brian and AJ will automatically go to Nick’s house.” Howie affirmed. “We need to talk to each other before we talk to the police.”

I could feel the agitation creeping through my bloodstream. I should have insisted to be the one to drive. My plan had been to speak to the lead detective before meeting up with the others. What was the point in the four of coming together before then? All we were going to be able to do was speculate, and that was only going to make things worse.

“You know that’s not what I want to do” I muttered.

Howie rolled his eyes. “I know that it’s not what you want, but it’s what’s best.”

“Fine.” I slumped against the seat and watched as the scenery gradually became more familiar.

The houses increased in size as we drove further away from the downtown core, and the space between them grew exponentially. The houses in the neighbourhood weren’t ostentatious, but they were sprawling and well-maintained. The subdivision was surprisingly quiet; only one other car passed us as we drove along the winding road that led to Nick and Lauren’s street.

“See.” Howie nodded in the direction of Nick’s driveway as we turned onto the street. “I told you that they would come here.”

I followed Howie’s gaze and shook my head in surprise. I wasn’t exactly sure what I had been expecting to see, but I definitely hadn’t been prepared for everything to look so calm, so normal. There was no police tape, no cruisers parked out front, and no media. The only thing that looked out of place was Brian’s SUV which was parked behind Laruen’s glimmering, black Audi.

“Weren’t you expecting some more activity?” I looked to Howie for confirmation.

Howie shrugged. “Not really. I mean, the crime scene is downtown.”

“Right.” I conceded. AJ and Brian were standing in the driveway and they both glanced in our direction as Howie brought the car to a stop next to Brian’s vehicle. “I forgot about that.”

Howie put the car in park and turned to face me. “Are you ready?”

I closed my eyes briefly to compose myself. When I opened them again, everything looked exactly the same. Howie was still looking at my expectantly, AJ was still puffing away on a cigarette, and Brian was still staring off into space. Who was I kidding? There was nothing that I could do to prepare myself for everything that was about to happen - nothing.

“Sure, D.” I offered him a small smile as I reached for the door handle. “I’m ready.”