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Chapter Eighty-Four
Point of View: Narrator

AJ shoved the envelope into Brian's hand. "Here."

Brian looked at it. "A Geico insurance ad made out to... Alejandro McQueen? Dude, really?"

AJ rolled his eyes, "I get a lot of weird crap mail with shitty interpretations of my name, okay. No, that's not what I'm giving you." He reached over and flipped the envelope over in Brian's hand. The phone number and address for Sierra's friend, Orlando, was written in AJ's messy handwriting.

"Ohhh," Brian said, "You found him."

"Well, not him," said AJ, "But this guy, Orlando, is his cousin. His name is Desi Hernandez."

"Did Orlando know where to find him?" Brian asked hopefully.

AJ stared at Brian. "Wait, what?"

"When you called him, did he--"

"When I called him?" AJ asked, eyebrow raising. "Dude, you said to find out the info, you didn't say I had the assignment to call the guy."

Brian rolled his eyes, "Why else would you get the information?"

AJ held up his palms, "I dunno maybe so you could call it, since you know what you need to ask him?"

"AJ, how weird is it going to look if I'm like, 'oh hey this is Brian, you know, your friend Sierra's exboyfriend's band mate?'"

"Better than 'yo this is Sierra's ex'!" AJ whined. Brian stared at AJ. AJ sighed, "Fine." He snatched the envelope away from Brian. "This better fucking actually help Nick, though, 'cos this Desi shithead is already way more work than his damn ass is worth."

"Tell me about it," Brian muttered, "We're searching for the guy Nick's ex-girlfriend cheated on him with."

"Almost as pathetic as the ex-boyfriend calling the friend about his brother," AJ commented, "Almost."

Brian watched as AJ pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number on the back of the envelope. AJ took a deep breath while the phone rang in his ear and Brian waited. If he’d been sitting, he would’ve been on the edge of his seat.

Finally, a guy answered.

“’lo?”

AJ’s voice caught in his throat. “Hello,” he choked out finally, “Hey.”

“Who’s this?” the guy was groggy, obviously having been just woken up by the phone. His words kind of slurred.

“Uhh… Okay, my name’s AJ, I’m a friend of Sierra’s…” AJ said, mind racing. “Is this, uh, Orlando?”

“Yeah…” his voice sounded more awake now. “What’s going on? Is something the matter with Sierra?”

“No, no dude,” AJ said, “Sierra’s fine. She’s fine.” He paused. Why did he get that feeling in his stomach like if Orlando and Sierra were standing there, he would’ve stepped between them?

“Then what’s up?” Orlando asked, his voice sounding relieved.

AJ paused, “’Kay this is gonna sound fucky, but I swear I ain’t a freak.”

“Um. Okay.”

“I heard from a friend that your cousin is Desi Hernandez,” AJ said.

“Are you gay?” asked Orlando, “Is this like some weird Krystal fan looking to hook up with her ex-dancer?”

“Uh hell no,” AJ said, “I’m calling because I was wondering if you knew where Desi was. I’m friends with Krystal’s ex, Nick Carter, and I need to talk to Desi about some stuff about Krystal’s death.”

“Look,” Orlando said darkly, “I don’t know where Desi is, okay? He disappeared off the face of the earth. None of us know where he went. So if you find him, have him call his family.”

AJ paused, “Okay. Look. I’m sorry. But if Desi calls you guys can you have him call me? I can give you my number.”

“Desi wasn’t there,” Orlando said flatly.

“What?”

“When Krystal was killed – Desi wasn’t there.”

“I know but I –“

“Nick Carter was there. Don’t go trying to reel Desi into this. He’s devastated enough as it is.”

“But Nick didn’t ---“

“Thanks, good bye.” Orlando hung up.

AJ pulled his phone from his ear. “Dude, what a colossal asshole.”

Brian, who had easily overheard the whole conversation because of the volume level on AJ’s phone, scowled, “That was really rude,” he said, shaking his head. “But one good thing did come out of this.”

“What?” AJ asked.

“We know his last name and Orlando just confirmed he was her back up dancer, so we’ve at least found the right guy.”

AJ nodded, “I guess there’s a silver lining on every encounter with assholes.”



“Why did he call me?”

"I don't know why, Orlando," Sierra said, when her friend had called fuming shortly after AJ’s phone call with him. "AJ just came and asked me if I knew how to contact Desi and I knew you were his cousin so I figured maybe you would know."

"Well Desi's been MIA since that friend of his got arrested; he was living with him, you know," Orlando said, "So I don't know where he is now. That AJ guy seemed to think I was like 'covering up for him' or something, though" he added. "Its like they think if they come up with Desi they could peg this whole murder shit trial on him -- he wasn't there, there's no evidence for him to be there, only this pretty boy Nick."

"Nick's a legitimately good guy," Sierra snapped, "Don't cut Nick down, you don't even know him."

"Sorry," Orlando muttered, "It's just that Desi didn't kill her and I don't want people pegging him for it, either."

"I honestly don't think that's it. AJ said they think she killed herself."

Orlando sighed, "I told him I'd try to find Desi for him and have him call them, but I honestly haven't seen the guy anywhere."