Point of View: Narrator
Charles D. Lowell was a very busy lawyer. He had a lot of high-end customers with a lot of high-end-type cases. People who had McMansions and Trust Funds came to him with divorce, emancipation, and corrupt business deals. He'd done a couple of high-profile murder cases. He'd recently done one that had been a focal point on Fox news when a McMansion owning doofus went mad and drowned his wife and son in a swimming pool.
But even having worked with the rich and famous and murder case defendants before, nothing could've prepared him for the amount of response he got when he signed on for The State of California v. Nickolas Gene Carter.
He received boatloads of mail, from teenage girls thanking him, mostly, begging him to help Nick get off. The other small percentage was hate mail, sent primarily by teenage boys, who asked him how he could possibly defend someone like Nick Carter after it'd been proven so obviously that he'd murdered Krystal Armalleto. "The most talented singer ever," boasted one letter, "She was taken away before she was given a chance to shine! Jealous Bastard probably couldn't handle being a NOBODY next to her!"
Lowell, even after seeing all of that, though, was not prepared even slightly for what was going to happen next.
He'd been at the desk all day, pawing through the evidence they'd collected from Desi's hotel room, trying to figure out who killed their key witness.
"I have those phone records you requested," said Anna, his secretary. She dropped a sheath of papers onto his desk. "I highlighted any that looked like they pertained to your case, as you said. I did see one thing though..." she pulled the back most sheet out. "You said you wanted just Krystal Armalleto's calls highlighted, but here..." she pointed to a spot about midway down the last page. "He received two unanswered phone calls from Nick Carter the day after he died."
Lowell blinked in surprise. "What?" he took the sheet, "How do you know they're ---" but then he saw the listing. Carter, Nickolas G. - Franklin, TN.
"But Nick's in jail," he muttered.
"Right," Anna said.
"So who the fuck called this putz from Nick's house in - Tennessee?" he sounded surprised on the last word. "He has a house in Tennessee?"
"Duh, don't you read tabloids?" Anna asked.
Lowell shook his head.
"He got a house there quite awhile ago," she answered, "Tennessee is the new LA for musicians, apparently. They're all migrating there."
Lowell rubbed his chin. "Well, this is interesting indeed," he muttered.
It happened when he was walking out of his office towards his BMW later that night. He'd walked Anna to her vehicle first before heading to his own, still puzzling over those calls from Nick's house in Tennessee. As he walked, he was distracted by pulling his keys out of his pants pocket and carrying his briefcase and lap top bag. He was whistling.
He was thinking about going home to his wife and eating the meatloaf and mashed potatoes she was cooking for dinner that night.
Instead, just as he was inserting the key into his beamer, someone grabbed him by the arm and a rag that smelled of chemicals was clapped over his mouth. Lowell dropped his briefcase as his body went limp.
Kayla and Zoe were standing in the hallway in front of the same automated doors that Nick and Brian had stopped in front of eons ago. Kayla leaned against the wall. "I'm afraid," she confessed.
"I know," Zoe replied.
"He's going to make me talk about mumma," Kayla said.
Zoe leaned on her crutches and sighed. "You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to talk about, sweetheart," she said, "You can sit in there and talk about the weather for an hour, at least you're talking." Kayla sighed, frustrated. Zoe smiled ruefully. "Kayla, please? Give it a shot. If for no other reason besides I asked you to."
Kayla frowned. "Okay," she said heavily. "Let's go."
The two of them walked in through the doors and Zoe led the way to the left, Kayla slouching along behind her. When they reached the door, Kayla knocked hesitantly.
The door opened and Colonel Saunders stood before them.
"Sweet Jesus," Kayla whispered, "Nick wasn't kidding."
Dr. Haseltine smiled and extended his hand, "Good morning ladies," he said. He looked at Kayla, "You are Kayla Martin, I assume?"
Kayla nodded.
"Come in, come in..." He waved the two women into the office and gestured to the seats across the desk from his own. He smiled. Kayla looked around and her eyes instantly flitted to the goldfish Nick had stared at the entire time he was there.
"It's lovely to meet you Kayla," Dr. Haseltine offered with a smile. Kayla watched suspiciously as he collected a notebook and a pad of legal paper out of his desk drawer. He looked up at her and smiled, “I’m assuming Nick’s told you about his experience here?” he asked.
Kayla didn’t answer, she just shrugged.
Dr. Haseltine held out a green covered notebook. “Here you are, Kayla, this is going to be your journal. Now, Nick was in our intensive rehabilitation program so we required that he wrote in it at least once a day. I’m not going to be as hard on you. I don’t care how frequently you write in that journal – only that you do at least once between our sessions. Does that sound fair?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kayla answered meekly. She opened the cover of the notebook and saw the college rule running down the first page. It seemed ominous, as if it were laughing at her. Your private thoughts are gonna be on this page, it seemed to jeer her, Nothing will be sacred.
Dr. Haseltine smiled. “Now, tell me about yourself,” he requested.
Kayla looked at Zoe. All her life, as long as Zoe could remember, any time someone had asked Kayla a question, she looked to either Zara or Zoe and waited for one of them to answer for her. Zoe stared back at Kayla resolutely. “I’m not going to answer for you, don’t look at me,” Zoe replied her stare.
Kayla looked at Dr. Haseltine. She felt her throat closing up. Finally she squeaked, “I want to be a singer.”
“Oh?” Dr. Haseltine smiled, “Is that how we met Nick?”
“I was Nick’s rehabilitative driving instructor,” Zoe spoke up.
“Oh yes, yes, that’s right,” Dr. Haseltine said, nodding, “And you’re Kayla’s mother, I assume?”
Zoe was about to answer no when Kayla said, “My mom is dead.”
Dr. Haseltine looked at Kayla, “Oh?”
Kayla stared at him, “Yes.”
Well, so much for not talking about your mother, there Kay, thought Zoe.
Dr. Haseltine marked some stuff down on the legal pad. Kayla tried to peek. Dr. Haseltine laughed and handed her the pad. “So far I’ve seen a lot of similarities between you and Nick,” he remarked, amused, one eyebrow up. “You’re an awful lot alike.”
Kayla looked up at Dr. Haseltine. “I love him,” she said point-blank. “That’s why I need you to help me.”
Dr. Haseltine chewed on the end of his pen a moment, then said, “You want to get better because of your love of Nick?” he asked.
“I want Nick to be able to trust me and feel proud of me,” Kayla replied.
Dr. Haseltine shook his head, “No,” he said, “No. I can’t help you for that reason.”
“What?” Kayla blinked in surprise.
“Kayla, if I’m going to help you it needs to be that you are doing it for yourself… not for anyone else except you alone.”
Kayla looked at Zoe, then back at Dr. Haseltine. “But... But I’m not worth it,” she stammered honestly. “I’m not worth the time, the energy. I’m nobody. I’m just a nobody. Nick is – Nick is somebody. I love him and I know he would want this of me…” she swallowed.
Dr. Haseltine leaned forward against the desk. “Kayla, what do you love about yourself?” he asked, “Name me at least three things.”
Kayla stared at him. She shook her head. “I used to be able to answer this,” she said, “But I’ve realized since I was wrong about every one of the things I would have said.”
“And what were they?” he asked.
“I used to have integrity,” she said, eyes welling up, “I used to be loyal, and I used to feel like I was pretty. Maybe that sound’s snobby, but I don’t mean it to be, it was just confidence, I guess. I always thought my mom and Zoe were beautiful,” she whispered, “And I got some of my mom’s features…” she looked down at her lap.
“And now?”
“I’m an ugly whore who cheated on the most amazing man in the world.”
