Run by emily_michele
“Why?!” Nick gasped. “How could you possibly think I’m a suspect?”
“We’ve found a piece of evidence potentially linking you to the crime scene.”
“What?”
“Open your mouth, Nick,” Detective Jones said, this time more forcefully. Nick simply stared at him wide-eyed. “What’s the matter, Carter? You got something to hide?” Kendall taunted.
“No!”
“Then, you should have no problem letting me swab your cheek for a DNA sample, right?”
Nick hoped Annie couldn’t see how shaken he was after the encounter he’d just had with Kendall Jones in the dining room, but he soon found that wasn’t going to be an issue. He found her on her hand and knees on the floor of the den staring down at a broken picture frame, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. A member of the forensics team was stooped down beside her snapping taking pictures of what had apparently become a new piece of evidence. There were a lot of broken picture frames strewn about, so he didn’t understand
the significance of this one until he got close enough to see the picture inside of it. It was black and white picture of Annie and her late husband, Andrew, on their wedding day. Not surprising, because the Donohues still had a few pictures from Annie’s first wedding on display. It was what had been done to the picture that was so shocking. The shattered frame was empty, and the picture had been ripped in half, Annie on one side, and Andrew on the other, then placed on top of the frame. “Anything else like this?” Detective Jones asked as he looked down at the broken woman leaning over the torn picture.
“My wedding album,” Annie croaked. “My wedding album is gone.”
“Are you sure, Annie?” Josh spoke up. Maybe mom put it up somewhere.”
“It’s always been right there.” Annie stood up on her knees and pointed to the coffee table. “Why would she move it?”
“Maybe because you’re getting remarried in three months?”
Annie looked up at Nick, then back at her brother. “You might be right. Maybe she did move it. We’ll keep looking. As she stood to her feet, Nick put his hand under her elbow to steady her, but she shrugged him away.
“Annie-” he pleaded.
“Not now, Nick.”
Their little exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Kendall Jones, who was now building his case against Nick Carter.
**************************
“Annie’s-- quiet,” Howie observed as he watched her retreat to the restroom of the Steak N’ Shake he, Nick, Annie, and Josh had stopped at on the way to the hotel they’d reserved rooms in for the night.
“Yeah,” Nick sighed. “That’s how she deals with this kind of thing. She just-- shuts down.” He took a sip of his water and slammed his glass back on the table. What a day this had turned out to be. Hard to believe that just eight hours ago, he’d been goofing off with a life preserver on his head for all the fans to see back in LA. Now here he was struggling to watch his fiance’s feeble attempts to eat a Steakburger and fries. She’d managed maybe two bites of her burger and one fry. He looked down at his own plate. It was nearly empty, just like Howie’s and Josh’s. Ordinarily, a day like today would have made it hard for him to eat, too, but having missed dinner, he’d been ravenous. Annie had excused herself to go to the restroom twice in the half hour they’d been there, and he worried that maybe she was getting sick, or worse, avoiding them. He remembered the tragedy the two of them had endured back in January, and Annie’s behavior felt all too familiar. Of course, he couldn’t share this particular concern with anyone because he and Annie had agreed not to share what had happened to them with anyone.
“What would you know about it?” Josh huffed from his corner in the opposite side of the booth.
“What?” Nick looked at his soon-to-be brother-in-law, confused.
“Did you practically carry her out of the hospital on the morning her husband died? Take the bottle of tequila out of her hand and make her sober up for his funeral?!” he snapped.
“No,” Nick answered quietly.
“Did you drive from Lexington to Nashville so that you could tell your baby sister that both of her parents were dead? And murdered, no less?” Josh’s nostrils flared in anger and his cheeks were flushed.
“No.”
“Then what could you possibly know about how she handles ‘this kind of thing’?” Josh retorted sarcastically. From his seat beside Josh, Howie wondered the same thing himself.
“Sorry.” Nick held his hands up in defense. “I haven’t seen her deal with something quite like this,” he admitted softly. “I’m sorry.” Josh clenched his jaw tightly and nodded in acknowledgement. The man had been holding it together so well throughout the evening, and he’d been so wrapped up in worrying about Annie, that Nick almost forgot Josh had lost his mom and dad that morning, too.
Back in the restroom, Annie splashed cold water on her face and tore a paper towel off the dispenser attached to the white painted brick wall to pat it dry. “Andrew?” she whispered as she stared at her own reflection, dotted by water spots on the mirror. “Are you here?” Of course, she heard no reply, but kept talking anyway. “Because for some reason, it’s like I’ve been able to feel you today. I guess it’s probably because losing them reminds me of losing you.” She felt a slight chill run over her as she moved to reach for the door handle and sighed. “I miss you,” she admitted quietly. “Today, I miss you.” She swung the door open and started walking towards their table, then froze dead in her tracks. It couldn’t be, could it? Granted, the face was a little thinner, and his posture wasn’t quite the same, but the blonde man walking out the door with a blue University of Kentucky hat pulled low across his forehead looked remarkably like her dead husband.
