Nick held the phone gripped tightly in his hand, listening carefully to what Sergeant Cox had to say.
“We haven’t got much time Nick. The statistics on kidnappings are not good, usually if the person is not recovered within twenty-four hours the likelihood that the victim has been killed and the body dumped is your best bet. Couple that with the fact that you were shot and left for dead and Brian Littrell was killed well then, Howie Dorough’s chances of survival at this point are slim to none.”
Sergeant Cox spoke quickly stopping every so often to ask Nick if he understood what he was telling him to which Nick only answered with a slightly annoyed ‘Yes.’
“In most amnesia cases that involve homicides we work with the doctors as well as the patient to help them get their memory back. But, in your case that is not possible because your Mother has declared you off limits. She is more concerned about your image then your friend Howie’s life. Is that how you feel as well?”
“No Sir.”
“I don’t have time to work with the system on this Nick. I don’t have time to sit back and wait for you to get your fucking memory back.”
“Everybody is saying that we were doing drugs.” Nick cupped his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone as he spoke to make sure nobody passing by would hear him.
“I don’t buy that. Not for a minute, I think there is someone else involved. And I believe that someone else is the one who shot you, killed Brian as well as Gus Monroe and kidnapped Howie.”
“Well what do you want me to do?” Nick heard voices outside of his door, quickly dropping the hand which held the phone he dangled the receiver off of the side of the bed and lay back on the pillow closing his eyes until whoever was outside of the door passed by.
Then dragging the phone back up and over the side of the bed he pressed it again to his ear. “Sorry, there was someone outside of my room.”
“Here is what we are going to do Nick, I’m going to tell you what I think happened and you are going to tell me if any of that rings a bell. Do you understand.”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember shopping with Brian for shoes on Rodeo Drive?”
“Yeah I remember that I guess.”
“Do you remember going out after you got home from your shopping trip for something to eat.”
“Yeah,” Nick nodded his head smiling slightly at the faded image of him begging Brian to take him for beef jerky and Mountain Dew. “We went to some piece of shit gas station because I wanted something to eat and drink.”
“Do you remember what happened at the gas station?” Cox pursed his lips together tapping his pencil on his forehead with his free hand hoping for the dam in Nick Carter’s head to burst.
“No.”
“Do you remember Brian going inside to get your food?”
“Sometimes.”
“Nick, you were all alone in the car when Brian went inside. Do you remember someone getting in the car with you? Maybe someone that was pretending to ask for directions or spare change, maybe someone with a knife or a gun who wanted your car?” Cox knew he was going against the rules of interrogation of an amnesia witness. In court it would have been called leading the witness. But at this point he didn’t care. The Police Commissioner was pushing them to drop the carjacking angle, instead deciding to let Nick take the blame for everything that had happened based on some stupid idea that he and his friends were doing drugs.
Nick shook his head glancing up at the door as a nurse passed by. “I don’t know, maybe I remember that?”
“I don’t know, Nick is it?” Sergeant Cox was hoping that what he was saying would trigger some sort of a memory, no matter how faint, of this “someone else” he believed was involved.
“Look, I’ll remember whatever you want me to remember? If you say there was another guy I’ll remember another guy. If you say that this guy had red hair, green eyes and two heads I’ll remember him that way. I’m not going to fucking fry for this whole thing just because I’m the only one who is alive.”
“Look,” Cox continued not missing a beat. “It isn’t going to do anybody any good if you remember things that aren’t true. What I’m trying to do is plant the seed Nick, you are the one who is going to have to make it grow.” Nick nodded tapping the receiver lightly against the side of his face.
“Okay Sergeant Cox, so what if there was some other guy involved?”
“If I’m right and there is another guy involved we have to catch the bastard before he comes back to finish off what he started. It is obvious that you were not supposed to live Nick, not when you were left bleeding to death on that warehouse floor, and not now. With the way this story has been covered in the press this guy is well aware of who you are and that you are very much alive. Making Howie’s chances for getting out of this with his life almost zero, which is why we need to work fast.”
“So I’ll tell my Mom that I want the police back on the case. I’ll tell her that I want your guy’s on my door instead of those moron’s that are out there now, I’ll tell-“
“My officers and I were banned from talking with you Nick until further notice from the hospital and your legal counsel. You’re Mom can’t know that we have spoken Nick, and your lawyer can’t know that we have spoken. If you are going to protect yourself you are going to have to figure out how to do it on your own. And we just have to hope to hell in the meantime you come up with the information we are looking for.”
“So that’s it, then you are just going to leave me to twist in the fucking wind with a madman on the loose?” Nick fought his urges to throw the phone across the room, instead hoping for some sort of comforting words from the man on the other end of the receiver.
“Yup.” Sergeant Cox said flatly.
“Yup?” Nick repeated in an exasperated tone.
“I’ll do everything I can on my end Nick.”
“And what the fuck am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
“Get your memory back and try and stay alive.”
* * *
Howie struggled for air but was finding it more and more difficult to keep his mind clear and focus on breathing when all he wanted to do was to just fall into a deep sleep. The second piece of duct tape that Mo had stripped off and placed on his mouth was too tight, some of it covering the lower half of his nostrils. He knew that was probably the whole point, a slow miserable death as opposed to a bullet to the brain or the duct tape wound tightly around his whole God damned head so that he would just black out from lack of oxygen and die.
Strange visions began to fill his brain and
at one point he swore that the dead man’s body beneath him twitched. Making him wonder how long his own body would twitch after he suffocated to death in the closet. Two hours, four hours, maybe a week? Was there a record for how long a body twitched after you were dead?
And then suddenly he found himself thinking about his life and wondering if he would be in the situation he was in now if he were just plain old Howard Dorough? Instead of Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough?
His Grandmother used to say, “You can’t stop a speeding fate train.” Everybody thought she was clever for the play on words. Howie just thought that she was just tongue tied and meant to say 'freight' instead of 'fate'. But now he wasn’t so sure. Was your fate your fate no matter what or did the life you lead dictate your fate?
Would he have still known Brian, A.J., Kevin and Nick if he hadn’t bumped into A.J. all of those years ago at various local Florida auditions. Would they all have been college buddies, or worked together at a restaurant, or been lawyers employed at the same firm? Were their lives destined to be intertwined...........instead of being in a chauffeur driven Towncar looking for Nick that fateful evening would Howie have been sputtering along that deserted road in a Honda Accord trying to help his friend.
Was all of this destined to be his fate?
If it was then there was nothing he could do to stop it. So closing his eyes he decided to just give in and let fate take him where it may.
* * *
Kevin sat on the balcony of his hotel room drinking beer and watching the haze burn off over the city. He had decided not to go looking for Howie today with the Dorough family, instead opting to just sit in his hotel room, get drunk, and throw bread at the seagulls that circled overhead.
He knew that Kristin was disgusted with is behavior and he didn’t really care. She begged him to deal with the overwhelming feelings he was having. Pissing her off even more when he chose to laugh at her use of the phrase “overwhelming feelings”, mocking the words until she threw an empty beer bottle at him in disgust missing his head by mere inches.
“Getting drunk isn’t going to bring your cousin back.” She shouted at him.
“I’m not drinking to bring my cousin back.” He slurred watching the long neck bottle spin around on the floor, surprised that it had not broken when it hit the wall.
“Then why are you drinking Kevin?”
“ To get drunk.” He annunciated each word like she was a small child who couldn’t understand the simplest of words which made her scream at the top of her lungs and shake her fists at him.
“You need some professional help Kevin.”
“No, what I need is another beer Kristin.”
“You’re a fool Kevin. A damn fool.” Was the last thing she said before storming out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind her.
* * *
Nick lay there with the phone in his hand long after he had hung up with Sergeant Cox going over the scenario laid out before him by the man, and trying to make it work with the memories he had in his head.
He kept getting to the part where Brian went inside of the gas station,
“Okay, I am going in there alone and I am going to get you Mountain Dew and beef jerky. If they don’t have Mountain Dew and beef jerky than I am getting you Coke and Twinkies. If they don’t have Coke and Twinkies then I am getting you freaking Root Beer and a ham sandwich. Whatever I bring out of there you will drink it and eat it and you will shut the hell up and like it do you understand?”
“You betcha buddy. I read you loud and clear."
And then his mind coasted off track blacking out everything up to the moment he woke up screaming Brian’s name in the hospital.
“Hey.” He shouted leaning over to drop the phone receiver back in its’ cradle. “I said HEY.” He shouted again a little louder until the door to his room opened and one of the security guards poked his head inside.
“Yeah?” The guy looked annoyed at the mere site of Nick.
“Can you come in here for a second?” Nick motioned the guard in the room with one of his sweetest smiles.
“What for?”
“Just come in I’m bored and I want somebody to talk to.”
“I’m the only guard on duty right now and I can’t leave the door.”
“Aw c’mon. Just for a minute.” Nick watched the guy look up and down the hallway before he pushed the door open a little further.
“Okay but just for a minute.”