Part 21:
Small
World
“What floor?” Mo asked,
pushing the number four button.
“I’m going to four, too,” Kevin
said, slumping into the corner of the elevator as the doors slid shut.
“Small world,” Mo mumbled
to himself, staring straight ahead.
Closing his eyes as the
elevator surged, Kevin felt like he was going to throw up from his wicked-ass
hangover that could’ve killed a horse.
After Kristen had left
their hotel room in a huff, he’d ended up drinking so much that, eventually, he
passed out in his own puke on the balcony of their room, covered in seagull
shit and surrounded by empty bottles of beer and chunks of bread that he had
been throwing at the birds.
Once he’d come to and
dragged his sorry ass to the shower, he realized that Kristen was right. He was a damn fool. A damn fool for thinking that his
self-destructive behavior would bring Brian back. Brian was gone, and he was going to have to
find a way to live with that, and maybe that way was going to make peace with
Nick?
As the elevator doors
opened on the fourth floor, both Mo and Kevin stepped out and headed to the
front desk, where a nurse sat twirling a strand of hair around her index finger
and giggling on the phone to a friend. Looking up at the two men standing in front of
her, she said a quick “hang on” into the receiver, setting the phone down on
the desk and looking up at the men with a smile. “Can I help you?”
Mo signaled that Kevin was
welcome to go first.
“I’m looking for my friend’s
room.”
“Who’s your friend?” she
said, pulling out the patient list from beneath a stack of folders.
“Nick Carter.”
***
“What time is it?” The security guard shuffled the deck of cards,
looking around Nick’s room for a clock.
“Almost 10:00 p.m.,” Nick
answered, pointing at the small, round clock above the door.
“Shit, man, someone was
supposed to come and take over for me at 10:00. I wonder where the hell he is?”
***
Mo stood back listening to
the exchange between Kevin and the nurse.
Son of a bitch, there
weren’t supposed to be any visitors at this time of night, so he hoped that the
nurse would do her job and get rid of the guy trying to get in after visiting
hours.
Hearing the ding of the
elevator, Mo checked his watch and glanced over at the guy in the security
guard uniform stepping off of the elevator.
“Hey, can I help you?” Mo stepped away from the front desk, walking
over to the guy.
“Yeah, I’m looking for
Nick Carter’s room. I’m supposed to
relieve the guard who is on duty right now.”
“Oh man, didn’t they call
you? I guess they scheduled two of us
tonight, and they only need one guard until morning.”
“Well shit, man, if you’ve
got the shift, then I’m outta here.” The guy slapped Mo on the back. “I got better things to do than guard some
punk-ass kid from a boyband.”
“I’m with you, buddy.” Mo chuckled, adjusting his hat. “But, you know, duty calls.”
Mo watched the guy get
back on the elevator, smiling as the doors slid shut. It had been pure genius of him to call the
hospital earlier in the day to find out what time the shift change for security
on Nick’s room would be taking place. The girl he had spoken to was more then happy
to accommodate him with the information, once he had explained that he was from
the security company and needed the info so he could schedule his guards for
the remainder of the shifts.
Everything seemed to be
falling nicely into place, he thought, as he turned and headed back to the
front desk, passing Kevin, who was on the way down the hall to Nick’s room.
***
Dan had an address, a
fucking address. He could hardly believe
his good luck at running into that waitress, who, in turn, had introduced him
to the woman who worked behind the counter of the bowling alley and went by the
name of Dawn.
“Hey, Dawn.” As they approached, the woman looked up from
the newspaper spread out on the shoe rental counter. “This guy is looking for that big fuck that
hung around with Monty.”
“Who?” Closing the paper, Dawn ignored the ringing
phone on the counter beside her.
“You know, that big
square-faced fuck who hung out with Monty. Didn’t you say that you saw him hanging around
with some Latino kid?” Dan’s waitress leaned
her hip into the counter as she spoke, not bothering to introduce Dan, who
hovered nearby.
“Oh you mean Mo? Yeah, me and Roger saw them driving around in
a BMW a few days ago.”
“You said the guy’s name
is Mo?” Elbowing his waitress out of the
way, Dan took over the questioning.
“Yeah, or at least that is
what Monty called him.”
“And he was driving a
BMW? What color of BMW?” Dan had been the first one to report that
Brian Littrell’s black BMW that he and Nick had been seen driving in the day
before the shootings was missing.
“It was black.”
“When was this? Have you seen them together since, Mo and the
Latino kid?” Dan’s heart was pounding
wildly in his chest as he scribbled down the info on his pad of paper.
“No, I haven’t seen them
together since that day we saw them in the car, but I have seen Mo in the
bowling alley since.”
“When was the last time
you saw this Mo?”
“Last night, he was in the
bar, watching the news and drinking a beer, like he has been practically every
night for the last week. He always sits
in the corner, drinks until the news is over, and then leaves.”
Glancing around the
bowling alley, Dan could feel beads of perspiration forming on his upper lip at
the excitement of what he was about to uncover. “Has anybody ever seen where Mo goes when he
leaves this place?”
Dawn shrugged, as the
phone began to ring again. “When I was
driving home from my shift the other night, I passed him walking. I'm pretty sure he turned onto Demont Street,
but that’s all I know.”
Leaning across the counter,
Dan grabbed Dawn’s face into his hands, planting a big fat kiss square on the
woman’s mouth before turning and exiting the bowling alley with a big, shit-eatin’
grin on his face.
***
Standing outside of Nick’s
room, Kevin watched through the small window in the door as Nick tossed cards
back and forth with a guy in a security guard uniform who sat on a chair beside
him.
Smiling at the stumped
look on Nick’s face as the guy slapped down his cards on the food tray with a
chuckle, Kevin knew that card games of any kind had never been Nick Carter’s
forte. Hell, Kevin had even beaten him
at Go Fish when they played, so he could only imagine how badly Nick was
getting whomped right now at whatever game he and the guard were playing.
Kevin watched Nick flip
his bangs out of his eyes, trying to concentrate on the new hand of cards he
had been dealt. And he realized how
desperately he wanted to open the door to Nick’s room and walk inside with a
warm, brotherly smile on his face, cracking lame jokes to lighten the mood as
he enveloped Nick in a big bear hug, telling him everything was going to be
okay.
But he found he couldn’t
do it.
Pushing at his temple,
images of Brian pounded in his brain like a jackhammer on concrete, making him
wince. Images of a childhood spent in
one another’s company, intertwining with images of their adult years together,
becoming the men they had always wanted to be.
He realized that no matter
how much he wanted to, he just wasn’t ready yet to take that step and to reach
out to Nick.
And he didn’t know if he
ever would be.
So, turning with a sigh,
he walked to the elevator, pushing the down button and stepping inside, just as
Mo was in the process of convincing the night nurse to go downstairs and get
herself a bite to eat.
***
“Oh c’mon, you know you
must be hungry.”
“But I’m the only nurse on
duty right now. We’re so short-handed
that they staggered our shifts out so that I have to be here an hour all by
myself.”
Mo nodded; this was
information he already knew from his phone call to the hospital earlier in the
day, when he asked about the security guard shifts on Nick’s room.
“Listen, I’m here. If any of your patients need help, I can page
you.” Mo leaned on the counter, smiling
at the girl, who batted her eyelashes at him before looking down.
“Well… I have checked on
all my patients, and everybody is doing just fine. And I am kind of hungry.”
“See, there you go.” Mo patted the back of her hand.
“If I do go and get
something to eat, do you want anything?” Her voice was soft and flirty as she giggled
lightly into her hand.
“You bet.” Mo winked. “You just get me some of what you’re having,
and we can eat out here together when you get back.”
Nodding, the nurse stood
up, glancing to her right and left before coming out from behind the counter
and heading for the elevator.
***
“Shit, it’s 10:15, and I
gotta get my ass home before the wife has to go to work.” The
security guard in Nick’s
room gathered up the cards and stuffed them back into the box. “She works a shitty graveyard shift at a
factory, and she gets pissed off if I don’t get home to put the kids to bed so
that she can have a break before she leaves.” Standing up, the guard tossed the cards to the
counter. “I’m gonna go and see if the
next guard is here yet, so you sit tight.”
Nick smiled at the guard
as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
***
“Hey buddy.” The guard spotted Mo at the end of the hallway.
“Are you my replacement?”
“You betcha.” Mo smiled, walking up and extending his hand. “Sorry I’m late, man; it’s been a crazy day.” The two men shook hands.
“Well, as long as you’re
here now. Listen, I’m gonna go and say
goodbye to the kid.”
Mo nodded, as the guard
turned and walked back into Nick’s room.
“Hey Nick, my replacement’s
here, so I gotta go. But I’ll be back
tomorrow around noon.”
Nick nodded, smiling at
the guard. “Thanks for keeping me
company and all. I really appreciate. Hey wait!” Nick called out, as the guard
turned to leave. “Don’t I get a hug or
something? I mean, I feel like we’ve
known each other forever, what with you being the only person I haven’t banned
from my room today.”
The guard laughed, pushing
back his cap and scratching his head as he glanced around the room. “Well… I guess I can give you a hug?” he said,
walking back to Nick’s bed.
Leaning down, the guard
pulled Nick into an awkward bear hug, slapping him on the back as Nick slapped
the guard on the hip, before they both pulled back, Nick tucking his hands
beneath the bed sheet with a smile.
“Okay, well, thanks for
hanging out with me, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nick gave the guy his best grin, as the guard
turned and walked from the room, tossing a wave over his shoulder as the door
closed behind him.
Nick waited a beat before
pulling his arm from beneath the sheet, raising his hand and twisting the shiny,
silver gun that he had swiped from the guard’s hip around in the air, feeling
confident in the knowledge that part two of his plan was now complete.
***
