"The fans did what!"
Kevin cringed as his cousin yelled. "The fans must have seen Erin and thought she was one of our girlfriends. They just about went ballistic The police said they were pounding on the side of the bus and everything. They just went wild. The police said they knocked on the bus door after they had chased the fans away, but the door was locked and no one answered."
"I can't believe this," Brian's voice raised in tone and pitch. "I can't believe she would be so stupid!"
"I'm sure Erin didn't know what could have happened." Nick tried to calm Brian down. "She's never had to deal with fans before."
"I thought she would have clued in. She's seen all the security we have!" Brian growled. He started to stalk off toward the bus. Nick ran to catch up with him.
"Man, calm down before you do something dumb!" Nick grabbed Brian's arm. "Look, if you go in that bus and bite her head off she is never going to trust you. At least not for a very long time. Stay out here a while and cool off, before you go in there. The girl is probably scared half to death. I'm sure she's never had a bunch of people attack her all at once."
"I'm not so sure" Brian muttered under his breath.
"What?"
Brian sighed, "I've been observing a lot of things about Erin lately. I think she was involved with gangs before her mother died."
Nick raised his eyebrows, "Why?"
"Remember the first night you met her? I blew up at her because she had been messing around in my office."
"Yeah, she thought you had been trying to hide some papers from her."
"Those papers she found said that she didn't have to tell me about her previous life. She got really angry because she thought that I had hidden them from her so I could force her to tell me about herself. Why get so angry if you don't have anything to hide? It started me thinking. I'm pretty sure Erin is from New York City because Erin's social worker is from there and that's were Erin's plane come from there. Secondly, look at how thin she is. I thought she was anorexic the first time I saw her, but she eats plenty. I don't think she was well fed when she was with her mom. Thirdly, her mom was on drugs, which suggest that Erin was pretty much on her own. Fourthly, Erin seems unaccustomed to the "luxury" we have on the tour bus. She thinks hot showers are a pleasure like no other."
"Brian, I don't see where you're going," Nick broke in, "All this suggests that Erin was very poor and didn't have anyone to take care of her. But you think this proves she was in a gang?"
"Oh there's more," Brian replied, "But think about it. What, usually, do poor kids with no role model living in a big city turn to?" He continued, "Fifthly, Erin slipped the other day and said she had used guns. One of the police hanging around the venue the other day had a gun in a shoulder holster. Erin noticed it right away, chuckled and said she used to be able to hide a gun better than that. Sixthly, Erin hates the police. She stays as far away from them as she possibly can. Lastly, and I think most importantly, Erin has a scar on her left shoulder. I got a pretty good look at it yesterday and I'm positive it's from a gunshot wound. If you put it all together it adds up that Erin was in a gang."
Nick nodded slowly, "It does add up, but you can't confront her about it. You don't have any solid proof and even if you did she would just deny it."
"You're right," Brian acknowledged, " I'm not going to confront her. I never was going to. It has just been on my mind lately. I wonder what else she is hiding from me. If she hasn't told me this, what else is there?"
"I think you're just going to have to wait until she trusts you and spills her gut."
"It's going to be a while until she trusts me."
"You're right," Nick said, "But until then I guess we'll just have to hang on and rely on our observations to find our just what exactly she's hiding."
"We?" Brian asked.
"Don't think you can deep me away from this, Brian, because you can't. I am just as mystified by Erin as you are."
"I guess we're in it together then." Brian chuckled when he saw the look on Nick's face. "I don't think Erin knows what she's in for."
