Chapter 38
Bianca tried calling Nick next, but he was not home, and she only
got his voicemail when she tried his cell.
She left him a message, saying for him to call her back on her cell
phone, gave him the number, and hung up, not wanting to break the news to him
in a voicemail message.
She tried Brian next, but he was not home either, and the cell
phone number she had written down for him didn’t work.
“Does Brian have a new cell phone number or something, AJ?” she asked.
“This one doesn’t work.”
“Ohh… I don’t know, maybe.
I don’t think I have it if he does though.”
“Oh… I wonder who would.
You think Nick or Howie would?”
“Yeah, probably. I’m sure
Nick has it,” answered AJ. “I can go over to his house if you want
and see if I can find it written down somewhere.”
“You’re just going to barge into his house?”
“It’s not like he’s going to notice,” AJ laughed. “He probably has it on speed dial or
something anyway. I’ll just see if I can
find it and write it down for you.”
“Well… okay…” Bianca said
reluctantly. She watched as the Gold
Mist floated out of the room and disappeared.
She could hear AJ no longer. She
bit her lip, feeling very alone and vulnerable without him. He had been killed, Krystle had been killed
(probably – though it was not yet certain), Howie had almost been killed, and
she had been run off the road. Would the
murderer come back to finish her off?
She shivered at the thought and hoped AJ would return soon.
***
AJ arrived at Nick’s house feeling relieved. He was glad for the opportunity to get out of
that hospital and have a chance to think about things alone. He was very worried, though he had been
trying to hide that from Bianca. He had
been murdered wearing her sweatshirt, and then she had been rammed off the
road, which seemed to add up to the conclusion that whoever killed him had
meant to kill her. Then Krystle and
Howie had been attacked. Where did that
fit into the scheme of things? Was
someone just going to try killing of all of the Backstreet Boys and their
girlfriends or wives? He didn’t know,
but he was afraid of the very same thing Bianca was – that the attacker would
want to finish the job he started and kill her.
With an uneasy sigh, AJ passed through the front door of Nick’s
house, in search of Brian’s new cell number.
He tried the kitchen first, solidifying his hands to check the speed
dial list on the phone. No such
luck. He went to Nick’s office and tried
the phone there. Again, nothing. He wondered if Nick had an address book in
one of his desk drawers. He stared at
the desk, debating over whether or not it would be wrong to go looking through
Nick’s drawers. What kind of stuff would
he have in there?
Hesitantly, he opened the top drawer and looked inside. There was an address book in there,
alright. It was opened to the P’s, and
one entry stood out. Bianca Parker. Her address, home number, cell phone number,
and email address were listed under her name.
And all of it was circled in red pen.
But that was not all. Lying
on top of the address book, covering the part below Bianca’s information, was
an envelope, a stamp already on it, something already stuffed inside. And tucked under the address book, its corner
sticking it out, was something that made AJ feel sick to his stomach – even
though he couldn’t get sick anymore.
It was a sheet of yellow happy face stickers.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Nick hadn’t had a steady girlfriend in years, not since Willa Ford broke
his heart. He had been bitter to Bianca
when she had started dating AJ over a year ago and had never warmed up to
her. He had never seemed fond of Krystle
either – though no one really was, except Howie. He had said publicly that things were
different in the group now that Kevin and Brian were married. Some might say he was jealous of the guys’
women for drawing their attention away from him and the group.
On the night of AJ’s murder, he was alone in his hotel room. He could have left with no one knowing and
made up a perfect alibi. No one would
know whether or not it was true.
His favorite color was green, just like the rental car that had
run Bianca off the road.
It was quite obvious now – Nick was the killer.
***
Bianca was relieved when AJ’s Gold Light appeared in the waiting
room again about twenty minutes later.
“Did you get the number?” she asked.
“What?” AJ had almost forgotten just
why he had gone to Nick’s house in the first place. “Oh, no.
But Bean, I found out something.”
“What?”
Her tone was innocent; his was grave. “Bean, it’s Nick. Nick’s the killer.”
“What?!”
And AJ explained everything – the letter lying on top of the
address book that was opened to her name, the yellow happy face stickers, the
green car, the girlfriend issue, everything.
When he was finished, she was completely silent.
“Oh God,” she said
finally. “It all makes sense, doesn’t
it? How could I have thought it was
KEVIN?!”
“Maybe that’s why he rented the green car in the first place, to
frame Kevin or something. Or maybe it’s
just that he likes green. I have no
idea, Bean, but there’s something seriously wrong with him.”
Again, AJ got that sick feeling.
How could Nick Carter, one of his best friends, his brother, someone he
known for ten years, someone he had been through thick and thin with, do
this? Chase Bianca, attack Krystle and
Howie, and… kill him? AJ would have
never in a million years thought of Nick being a murderer.
Bianca’s cell phone rang then, startling them both. When she reached into her purse to retrieve
it, Bianca’s hands shook so badly she could hardly undo the snap holding the
purse closed. She fumbled around and
finally pulled the cell phone out, pulling up the antennae and answering it.
“Hello?” Her voice was
shaky and light.
“Bianca?”
Bianca’s eyes widened in terror.
She recognized the voice immediately.
It was Nick!
“It’s him!” she cried frantically
to AJ in her mind. “It’s Nick! What do I say?”
“Tell him about Howie.
Don’t let him know you know anything.
Just act normal.”
This was a difficult thing to do, but Bianca tried her best. “Nick?” she asked.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“Um… well… um…” Bianca
shook her head quickly and tried to get a hold of herself. “It’s Howie,” she said. “H-he was attacked at his house this morning
with a knife! I’m calling from the
hospital.”
“Oh my God!” Nick cried with realistic-sounding shock.
The kid’s a good actor, Bianca thought darkly.
“Which hospital?” Nick asked.
Bianca told him, and he promised to be there as soon as he
could. As soon as they hung up, Bianca
began to shake again.
“He’s coming!” her mind screamed to AJ. “He’s coming here! Oh my God, how am I supposed to talk to
him? How am I even supposed to look at
him, knowing he’s done this?!”
“I don’t know, Bean… just try to act natural.”
Bianca nodded. That’s what
Nick was doing to her – acting natural, acting like nothing was wrong, acting
like he hadn’t broken into Howie’s home that morning and stabbed him and
Krystle. She had to do the same.
It was a mind game they both were playing. A dangerous mind game. If she lost, she could end up dead.
Then again, she might end up dead anyway.
***