I awoke to the sound of birds chirping. Birds chirping and Kevin snoring. I had forgotten that Kevin was in my bed with me. I even put my arm around him at one point picturing in my mind, a beautiful brunette I must have acquired during the night. His hairy legs made me quickly realize how wrong I was. I rolled over then and spent the remainder of the night sleeping in a little corner of my bed. Hoping to God that Kevin didn't make the same mistake that I almost did.
At least I slept though. I awoke actually refreshed. I sat up and stretched making the bed shake a little. Kevin grumbled something and then pulled the covers over his head. I decided to get up and make my way downstairs.
Howie was up and sitting in my living room, watching CNN and drinking a cup of coffee. He used to be the last one of us to get up, well besides me, but now, he seemed to be an early riser. He smiled at me, "Hey Nicky. How did you sleep?"
"Great!" I answered, hopping on the couch next to him. For some reason, I was in a very good mood. Could be because I actually had at least 6 hours of sleep. Whatever the reason, it was a rarity these days, so I enjoyed it.
"So, Did Kevin sleep with you?"
"Yes"
"On the floor?"
"No! On my bed with ME!" Howie laughed. We used to have to share beds very early on in our career and he had spent many a night with the oldest Backstreet Boy. "You hungry?" He asked, standing up and walking towards my kitchen.
"A little I said following him in, "Why? Are you going to cook for me or something?" I asked half joking but when he took out the eggs I laughed. "D, you are going to cook for me?"
"No, actually I am going to cook for ME, but since you are hungry I'll make you some too" I nodded. I picked up the paper that Howie was reading to see Trish on the front cover. She was in her orange jumper handcuffed and being escorted by two policemen.
Serial Muderer/Kidnapper Brought In for Questioning
"Questioning?" I asked. Howie looked up from his cracked eggs frowning, "Oh yeah, I should have told you not to look at that. Sorry"
"Howie, you can't prevent me from seeing her all the time"
"I know, but when I can, I would like to"
"What are they questioning her about now?"
"I don't know. I didn't read the article. You shouldn't either" I held the paper in my hands wondering if maybe I should just skim the article but then, I thought better of it and placed it face down on the table.
"Hey AJ and Brian are coming into town tonight" Howie said hoping to change the subject from Trish.
"Really? Awesome! I thought they had forgotten about me"
"You aren't the easiest guy in the world to forget you know" I rolled my eyes at him while he continued to scramble his eggs.
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Trish woke up in a very good mood as well. She felt refreshed and actually hummed a song while she brushed her hair. Was it a Backstreet Boys song? She couldn't even remember. She looked in her small and murky mirror sitting right above her toilet. She was looking pretty ragged these days. Her hair greasy and tangled. Also a bit longer than she liked. She took a seat on her cot continuing to brush her hair. She was getting used to being caged. Like an animal. At least her victims had more room. Never looked or felt like a prison for them. But that was okay. She could live with that, she could deal with the horrid meals and the occasional beatings. She could deal with it now because she knew her brother was alive.
She was hurt beyond belief at the thought that her baby brother could have died in a fire. Being killed by her Nick. When she heard Nick testify on the stand what he had done to her brother she cried out in shock. How could he do something like that? To his family? We loved that boy and he repays us by killing Joe? Made no sense. Her life stopped making sense at that point. She just wanted to die. Maybe soon she would actually get her wish. Death didn't scare her much. She was used to seeing it as it slowly crept into the eyes of her brother's victims. As they drew their last breath she would always ask what it looked like on the other side. They never answered her. Not once.
Late at night in the comfort of her small cell, she would lie in bed, hands crossed on her stomach, perfectly still. Wondering if this is what eternity would look like from someone else's eyes. Her cot was coffin sized. What an ironic joke played on the people who occupied this place. She allowed her thoughts to stray back to Joe.
Alive. He was alive.
She knew that if he actually did survive that fire he would get a message to her in some way. It had been a long time though, and she found herself losing faith.
"Faith" She said out loud. That was a word that should have defined her. Her family died for their faith. Now she would too.
All faith was lost until the police came with questions. That changed everything. A boy had been killed they said. He was strangled and left on a beach. Trish seemed disinterested at first, her ears perking up at the mention of the location of the beach. When she found out this kid was killed less than a mile from Nick's house she figured maybe it was a sign from Joe. Back from the dead. They had asked her then, tons of questions about her brother and what he looked for when deciding on a victim. She found herself smiling through most of the interrogation. He was alive and THEY knew it.
She played dumb. They grew angry, but that is what she was hoping would happen. Angry people say too much. It worked, because in the middle of one of the officer's tirades, he blurted out a Bible verse. One that was scribbled on the kid's chest. He has been raised from the dead and goes ahead of you to Galilee, where you will see him. That was Joe. There was no doubt in her mind. He was alive and coming to save her. But first he would come for Nick.
She smiled again as she continued to brush her hair and hum a song..
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After breakfast Howie and I wandered into the living room once again to watch some television. Loud footsteps from up above signaled, Kevin's waking. That and the usual morning groaning. He was so whiny in the morning. It was kind of funny. I had the reputation for being a whiner, but Kevin was the whining king. Backstreet Boys secret revealed. Kevin came grumbling down the stairs and managed a hello in the middle of a yawn. We both returned the greeting and just kept up chatting. The doorbell ringing made all three of us jump. Then Kevin, who happened to be closest to the door, decided to go over and open it.
I could tell it was bad news just by the way Kevin's body language shifted from sleepy to wide awake. I took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. He led two police officers into the house and they took a seat right across from Howie and I.
"Hi, what's up?" Was the only greeting I could think of. It sounded corny but I didn't want to sound as anxious as I felt.
"Mr. Carter, I wanted you to know that we are posting two undercover police officers outside your house. They will be out of the way but better to be safe"
"Why does he need to be safe?" Kevin asked in a maternal way.
"Well, with all of the events going on with your assailant, we just don't want anything to happen that's all"
"That seems a bit extreme" I countered.
"Yeah, what's the real deal?" Howie asked.
"I'm afraid that's all I can tell you for now. There's no real danger, we just want to make sure that's all" The three of us just kind of looked at each other with questioning glances. There was MORE to the story. There's always more to the story.
"It's has something to do with Trish in the paper doesn't it?" I asked no one in particular.
"Trish was in the paper again?" Kevin asked searching the room or the paper.
"Yes, she was brought in for questioning"
"For what?"
"We don't know" Howie interrupted. "I didn't read the article and I wouldn't let him read it either" Kevin just nodded.
"It's no big deal, really. If it is, We would give you more information" The officer assured me. I shrugged.
After they left, The three of us sat around the house just silently wondering what was going on. I wondered what they thought it was, I knew. I knew it had to do with Joe. It always did. He was dead though. He had to be.
"I'm going to take my dogs out for a walk" I said standing up and stretching. Of course they followed my lead. I rolled my eyes. But I let them follow. We weren't allowed to really go too far and just like the police said, there were two guys sitting in a car right at the end of my driveway. It should have made me feel safe but it didn't.
We walked around the perimeter of my house talking about the old times and how we used to like to try to ditch security. We had made a little game of it. Let's see who could lose their bodyguard the fastest. Brian seemed to win all the time. Not me though.
I shuddered. Joe would never let me out of his site.
Pancake, my newest dog, started for the flowers planted right under my living room window. She tugged me so hard I fell into the flower patch. Kevin and Howie laughed. I sat there shaking the dirt off of myself when I saw it.
A small piece of paper, partly exposed from the dirt. I thought it was trash so I pulled it out of the ground and stuck it in my pocket. I didn't even look at it. How could I not look at it? I then stood up and walked around to the back of the house. We talked and laughed the whole way. Trying to forget about the undercover policemen sitting and keeping watch in my driveway. They were playing cards in the front seat. At least that was what they were doing the last time they were seen alive...
