Chapter 20

 

Kevin walked slowly into the hotel lobby, his feet dragging tiredly.   He felt dead on his feet.   Brian, Nick, and Howie walked along behind him, followed by a few of their bodyguards. 

 

“Excuse me, Mr. Richardson?”

 

Kevin looked up to see that a police officer had come up to him.

 

“I’m Chief Robinson of the Los Angeles Police Department.  Can I ask you a few questions?” the officer continued.

 

“Please, not tonight,” Kevin said softly, looking at the officer with pleading green eyes.

 

“But, Mr. Richardson, sir, we need-“

 

“You heard him,” Nelson, Kevin’s bodyguard, said sharply.  “Not tonight.”

 

Chief Robinson opened his mouth to protest, but, glancing at the four men’s tired and upset faces, closed it again and nodded. 

 

“Thank you,” Nelson said coolly.

 

As they started towards the elevator, they were interrupted again by the hotel manager.

 

“Excuse me, gentlemen.  I’m sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might like to have these,” he said.   Kevin saw that he was holding a large suitcase and a backpack.  AJ’s things.

 

“Thank you,” Kevin said appreciatively, taking the luggage from the man’s arms.  Then they took the elevator upstairs to their floor.

 

Even before the group made it down the hall to where their rooms were, Kevin knew immediately which room was AJ’s, for their was a trio of grim-faced police officers standing outside it, and a yellow police tape was spread across the door, signaling that the room had become a crime scene.   The sight of it made Kevin’s stomach turn.

 

The policemen looked at the men in sympathy, as they passed by.   Kevin refused to look any of them in the eye.  He kept his head down and walked swiftly on past them to his own room. 

 

He mumbled a quick “goodnight” to his bandmates and bodyguards and ducked into his room, immediately setting AJ’s bags on the floor and sinking down onto his bed.   He felt like he could cry at any moment, yet he seemed to have no tears left.   That was what being emotionally drained actually felt like.   It was an odd sensation.

 

Kevin turned off the light, lay down on the bed without even changing his clothes, and closed his eyes.  He was exhausted, but sleep would not come to him.   And so, after about an hour, he got back up and turned the light back on.   His sight immediately rested on AJ’s suitcase and backpack, sitting forlornly in the middle of the room, right where Kevin had set them.

 

Sighing, he got up and sat down on the floor in front of them.   He picked up AJ’s backpack first and pulled it into his lap.  He slowly unzipped one of the pouches and opened it up.  Inside, he saw AJ’s portable CD player, CD case, and a few magazines.   He took out the CD case and opened it up.   Flipping through all of AJ’s favorite CD’s, a lump rose in his throat.   AJ’s taste in music varied so much.   He had everything in there, from Boyz II Men, to Limp Bizkit, to…  

 

Limp Bizkit?

 

I thought Brian wanted to borrow that CD, Kevin thought, as he looked at Limp Bizkit’s latest album.   In fact, I’m sure Brian went to borrow that CD.   He could still remember the conversation from earlier that night in his suite…

 

 

“Hey, AJ, do you have your Limp Bizkit CD with you?” Brian asked.

 

“Yeah,” AJ replied absently, his attention focused on the game. 

 

“Well, could I borrow it?”

 

“Sure.  It’s in my bag in my room,” AJ said, still staring at the TV screen.


”Okay.  Can you give me your room key then?”

 

“Just a minute.”  AJ paused the game and dug into his pocket for his room key.  He tossed it to Brian and started playing again. 

 

 

That’s funny, Kevin thought.  I wonder why he didn’t take it after all.   Kevin remembered that Brian had never come back that night.  Instead, he had gone to his room to go to bed early, according to the note he had left.   And that meant he probably still had AJ’s key with him.   One of the three copies of the key that he knew existed.   AJ had the second, and Kevin had given the third, which he had gotten from the hotel receptionist, to one of the police officers when they had first arrived.  

 

That brought Kevin back to the question of how this had happened.   If there were only three keys, and he knew who had them, how could the attacker get into AJ’s room?   Since the locks were not keyholes, but slots to slide cards in, there was no way someone could pick the lock.   And even if there were more keys, Kevin was sure the hotel staff had them somewhere, in a secure place that no attacker would be able to get to.   So how did he get in?

 

Perplexed, Kevin closed AJ’s CD case and put it back into his backpack, zipping it back up and shoving it back aside.   He stood up and headed back to his bed, ready to try to fall asleep again.   But before he could get there, something else caught his eye.   It was his cell phone, lying right on the floor where he had dropped it after Leighanne had called.

 

Leighanne!  Oh no, I forgot to call her! Kevin suddenly realized.  She has to be frantic!

 

He picked up the phone, but, having been turned on the whole time, it was dead.   He turned it off and plugged it up to be charged, then picked up the line in his room and dialed out to Atlanta. 

 

As the phone rang, Kevin sheepishly realized it was past midnight for him, which meant it would be after three in the morning in Georgia.   But at that moment, Leighanne picked up the phone, and it was too late.

 

“Hello?” she asked, sounding surprisingly alert.

 

“Leigh?  It’s Kevin.”

 

“Kevin!  Oh, God, how is he?  What happened?  Is he gonna be okay?!”  Leighanne fired questions at Kevin faster than he could process them.

 

“He was stabbed,” Kevin answered gravely.  “And I don’t know if he’ll make it or not.   He’s in surgery now.”

 

“Oh my God,” Leighanne gasped.   Then she fell silent.  

 

“You still there, Leigh?” Kevin asked after a long pause.

 

“Yeah,” she replied shakily.  Then, her voice thick with tears, she spoke again.

 

“Kevin, I think I know who did this.”

 

***

 

 

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