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Chapter Eighty-Seven
Point of View: Brian


I was determined to find this guy if it killed me. I didn't know why but the obsession to find him just wouldn't stop nagging at my heart. I was certain he was the key to everything to untangle Nick from the accusations flying around him.

And it was the obsession that had me parking my car at the LA County Corrections Center on a Thursday during visiting hours, armed with a pack of cigarettes and fifty dollars to deposit into a particular prisoner's account.

When I told the receptionist who I was there to see, she looked surprised. Clearly Leon wasn't a popular guy. "Um, sure," she said.

Within a few minutes, I was sitting at a table in what looked like a giant cafeteria, opposite a guy who I'd never met, but could already tell was an evil man. I'm blessed with sixth sense, or an intuition, whatever, and am a pretty good judge of character. Leon's eyes bared all. I had no problem imagining this guy attempting to rape Kayla. In fact, I was willing to bet Kayla wasn't the first, nor would she be the last.

"Who are you?" He asked, picking up the cigarettes I'd thrown on the table. I'd brought them because that's just what folks did in the movies. Apparently he approved because he took them, pocketed them, and never asked what they were for.

"I'm looking for your roommate," I said, "Desi Hernandez. Do you know where I could find him?"

Leon snorted, "If you haven't noticed yet, I'm in jail. Its not easy keeping up your correspondences from behind bars, you know?"

I nodded. "Well, if you were to venture a guess?"

"A morgue."

The oxygen caught in my throat. Something about the way he said it told me he knew something... Something important... Something that would lead one to say such a thing.

"Why a morgue?" I asked.

"Cos he's a wanted man," Leon answered. "I got guys looking for him." Leon eyed me. "You're a BackDoor Boy," he said suddenly, employing the nickname I most hated for our band. "This is about Nick fucking Carter," he guessed, "isn't it?"

Honesty is the best policy. "Yes," I answered. "We just need him to testify that Krystal Armaletto was suicudal."

Leon laughed, "The day Desi will stand up for Nick Carter is the day Desi will sprout wings and soar the skies. After what Nick Carter did to her... I don't blame Dez a bit." Leon looked intently at Brian. "Dez won't help Nick for the same reason that I'm going to kill Nick when I next see his ass." Leon smirked, "Which, if you're resorting to Dez to try to prove she killed herself, evidently won't be too long. It sounds like Nick is screwed and jail-bound... As a fucker like him should be."

I blinked in surprise.

"What?" Leon sneered, "Think he's a little golden boy? That he's all bubbles and lollipops and innocence? You don't know shit about him."

I shook my head, "You don't know shit about him," I said, standing up, "This was clearly a mistake."

It happened before I - or anyone else in the room could comprehend it. Leon was up and out of his seat and had my neck in his hand, my head to the table, his face inches from my own, his teeth bared, mouth smelling unclean and of smoke. His eyes were livid.

"Do you know what we do to women beaters here?" Leon hissed into my face.

I struggled to stand up, but Leon's grip was vice-like on my neck. His thumb was crushing my Adam's apple. I was choking.

Leon leaned closer, his mouth against my ear, "We beat the fuck out of them like they did their women and kill the bastards," he whispered, "And if I find out he ever laid a hand on Kayla like he did Krystal, I'll fucking rip his dick off myself."

"What're you talking about?" I croaked.

A cop was suddenly yanking Leon, who started laughing psychotically, off of me. Leon didn't even struggle. "Think about that one, fucker," Leon yelled as the cop dragged him away.

My hand went to my throat, and I closed my eyes.

It was gonna be bruised, I just knew it.

What was he talking about? I wondered, though. I thought of the tabloids that had surfaced years ago when Paris Hilton had claimed Nick beat her, and Nick's horrified reaction to the accusations. Leon's a dumb shit, I thought, He knows nothing.

What if he's right? asked a nagging voice in my head. About the morgue... and about Nick?

I shook my head.

No way. Desi Hernandez was out there somewhere, and there's no way in hell that Nick could ever...

But I stumbled out of the LA County Corrections Center, dazed and confused, and almost half wondering what he was talking about.