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Chapter One Hundred-Fifteen
Point of View: Narrator



At four o'clock in the morning, while Zoe was stroking Nick's cheek and Nick was fast asleep... when the world was dark and only the smallest stream of cars was crowding the Los Angeles freeway... the search lights at the LA County Corrections Facility had turned on and were scanning the grounds...



"Let's try this again," Brian said, putting the Cherokee into park. He looked at his cell phone, half expecting there to be another crisis, then looked at Desi. "Hopefully nobody's getting shot this time."

They climbed out of the car and Brian muted his cell phone and shoved it into his pockets. They approached the forbidding looking building and Brian held the door open for Desi, who returned the favor when they'd crossed the vestibule. "Thanks," Brian said as they walked into the lobby.

Given the ornateness of the lobby, Brian had a feeling Nick was gonna be paying out the freaking ass for this lawyer. He better get him out, thought Brian.

Desi glanced at Brian. "Fancy."

"Uh huh," Brian mumbled.

They moved across the lobby and Brian told the receptionist they were there. Within ten minutes, Desi and Brian had lowered themselves into the two chairs that faced the lawyer's desk, which had a desktop marquee that said "The Desk of Charles D. Lowell".

"Good morning, good morning," Lowell said, standing up and shaking each of their hands in turn. Desi looked nervous, Brian nodded. "So," said Lowell, rubbing his hands together, "Let's talk. What's your evidence?" He looked at Desi.

Desi reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He placed it on the desk in front of Lowell, who stared at it.

"There's a five minute voice mail on that phone," he said, "From Krystal the night she died. She was in the car after Nick had been to her house, and..." he paused. "You can hear the crash."

Lowell looked up at Desi. "And she says she's going to kill herself?"

"Several times."

Lowell nodded.

Brian was staring at the phone, too.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated.

All three of them jumped.

Desi reached across the desk and picked up the phone and looked at the ID number. He stared at it, then opened the flip and closed it again. He looked at Brian and Lowell, "My cousin," he said, "I'll call him later." He laughed nervously.

Lowell held out his hand. "Just to be safe, I'm going to record the voice mail from your phone so that we don't lose it." Desi nodded and handed Lowell the phone. "I'll be right back," he said, and he got up and left the room, carrying Desi's phone like it was a precious gemstone.

Desi looked at Brian. "So that was Orlando?" Brian asked.

Desi looked surprised. "You know my cousin?"

"My wife knows his ex's friend's nephew or... some convoluted thing like that, I don't know. I don't remember the connection."

Desi nodded. "Yeah, Orlando." He looked away.

Brian noticed Lowell had one of those optical illusion silver-bouncer-ball-desk-toy things on the side of his desk. He reached for it and started it in motion, watching as the little balls bounced off each other.

"Leon escaped."

Brian looked at Desi. The balls clicked.

"Say what?"

Desi thumbed at the desk where the phone had been. "That was Leon."

"How do you know? You didn't even listen to it."

"I know," Desi said.

Brian felt dizzy.

Lowell came back in the room before Brian found words to say. Though it had been quite some time, Brian had just stared at Desi wordlessly, and Desi had stared back, also silent. Lowell handed Desi his cellphone. "Here ya go buddy, we got the taping." He held up a CD and winked at Brian. "From the sounds of it, there's no way in Hell they'll be able to pin this on Nick, not with evidence like this."

Brian nodded absently.

Lowell beamed, and slid the CD into a manila envelope, which he sealed and promptly put into his desk drawer after scribbling a note onto the front of it.

Desi was still staring at Brian.

"I... I need to go," Brian suddenly muttered, standing up. "Thanks, Mr. Lowell, for your help." He turned and walked out the door without any further words, and Lowell looked at Desi, confused.

"I better go see what's up," Desi said lamely, and stood up. He awkwardly saluted Mr. Lowell and bolted after Brian.



Leslie was up long before AJ was, and was in the kitchen making bacon and eggs when AJ finally wandered down the stairs at half-past eleven, his face groggy and eyes swollen from lack of sleep. He pushed himself up onto the counter of his kitchen and doubled over, holding his own ankles with his hands and breathing.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, AJ," Leslie said.

"Uh huh," he mumbled. It's the fucking least I could do for Nick at this point, he thought.

Leslie plated the food and shoved one of the plates towards AJ, dropping it on the counter next to him. She leaned against the stove, holding her own plate, and started eating.

AJ glanced at the food and grabbed a piece of bacon with his fingers, neglecting the fork, and stuck it in his mouth, not bothering to sit up.

"Did your spine turn to jello?" Leslie half-joked.

"I think so," AJ said.

Lesie munched her bacon a moment, then said, "You know... I know there's a lot of stuff going on right now with like Nick and stuff, but you seem really..." she paused, thinking of the word. "I dunno, despondent. Not you-like."

AJ sighed, "Yeah."

"What's the matter, Bone?" Leslie asked.

Leslie reminded AJ of Nick. It was odd, like talking to Nick if he was transgendered. He stared at Leslie a moment, then he said, "There's this girl I like..."

Leslie rolled her eyes, "Please. You always like women. That's not your problem here."

AJ shook his head, "No. It's different."

"How?"

AJ rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay so usually when I meet women it's like yeah it's another woman. If she's hot, I hit on her, if she's not I kind of just roll with the flow, you know? And I always go for the girls with dark hair and dark eyes and all that, right?"

Leslie nodded. "Amazon woman, yes, I remember."

"Sarah wasn't an Amazon woman..."

"She was almost as tall as fucking Nick," Leslie argued, "She was amazon woman. Stop arguing with me, finish your story."

AJ rolled his eyes, but continued, "So it's really odd that I'd fall for a girl with lighter hair... But... I don't know. I saw her and the instant I saw her I wanted her. No, not wanted her, I needed her. Not sexually, don't look at me like that --" Leslie had given AJ a scowl and wrinkled her nose up -- "I mean on an emotional level. I felt an instant... I don't know... a connection, like there was some kind of... unseen... thing... that binds us. Like a rope."

"And you didn't ask her out? You fucking idiot," Leslie scoffed.

AJ shook his head.

"You did ask her out? Why the hell would she say no? What is she, stupid?" Leslie raised her eyebrows.

"She's... taken," AJ said slowly.

"Taken?" Leslie asked.

"Like seeing somebody already," he explained.

"So screw them, win her heart;" Leslie said, grinning, "You only get one shot to make this lifetime work, you know?"

AJ stared at his hands. "I can't."

"Why?" Leslie demanded, "Do you know how RARE that feeling is? Like seriously, it's rare."

"Trust me, I know," AJ whispered. He was picking his fingers, gnawing his lip.

Leslie stared at him, confused. "What, then? What keeps holding you back? Are you scared?" she asked.

"Scared? No," AJ answered.

Leslie had completely abandoned trying to finish eating, too enticed by the gossip she was drawing out of AJ. "Well what is it then?" she asked, "Is she not Backstreet Fan Approved material?"

"She's Nick's girlfriend."

"Oh," she said. Leslie picked up her fork, which she'd laid down on her plate, and quickly took a mouthful of eggs. She chewed, staring at AJ, who closed his eyes and leaned back down, holding his ankles again.