You know I always used to get yelled at when I was younger about how long I spent in the bathroom. It’s kind of ironic in a way; because out of the five of us, I’m pretty sure I always took the least amount of time to get ready. Lord knows Howie could spend hours in the bathroom doing God knows what!
When it came to the bathroom though, it was my sanctuary. The one place I could be without a bodyguard or the press or anyone else sticking a microphone in my face. I would just sit on the floor sometimes, my back against the bathtub; my legs folded Indian style and play my Gameboy or listen to music. On the bad days, I’d do nothing but just sit there in a trance. Willing the day to end and whoever was on the other side of the door to just go away. That never happened, they never just went away.
I think the longest anyone ever let me be alone in the bathroom was about an hour and twenty minutes. Yup, I think that was the record set back in 1997. I had a horrible day and blew up at them all, locking myself in the bathroom and turning on the shower just to drown out their horrible voices. It only took an hour for Brian to knock on the door and beg me to let him in or to come out so AJ could take a shit. Isn’t that sweet?
I waited for twenty more minutes before I opened the door that time. He came in, we talked and I felt better. Of course once I left the bathroom I was met with a long ass lecture from Kevin who once again made me head into the bathroom for another thirty or so minutes.
Looking down at my watch, which thankfully I decided to bring in here with me, I was gradually coming upon the thirty minute mark. The voices I heard out in the main room were barely there which meant poor AJ was just sitting there in awkward silence while he waited for Kevin. Thoughts about this policeman gone bad hurting my friend did cross my mind but I figure unless I heard some kind of commotion coming from the other side of that door everything should be okay.
About ten minutes after that thirty minute mark I heard a knock on the door. Not my door but the front door. “Thank God…” I said to myself, knowing it had to be Kevin. I placed my ear as close as I could to the wall just to make sure it was his voice I heard and let out a sigh of relief when it was.
“You almost done in there?” The policeman shouted shortly after that. Kevin must have been making him feel uncomfortable.
I didn’t answer; instead I put on the water in the shower. I have gotten much smarter about this hiding in the bathroom thing. I used to put on the water the instant I got in here, but now I wait until someone asks me if I’m done. That water can easily buy me another twenty or so minutes.
I decided to actually get into the shower while the water was running because why not? I was in here anyway and the warm water was beginning to steam the mirrors and make me sleepy.
After getting out of the shower for real, I decided to keep the water going for a little bit longer, just in case. I’m sure ‘Mr. Evil I’m going to break into your friend’s house and then knock you out Policeman’ was probably pissed off by now. The idea of a strip search crossed my mind and made me panic just as a knock was heard, this time on my door.
Before answering, I glanced at my watch. I had set a brand new record, by about 11 minutes. “Nick! You can come out, he’s gone.” Kevin yelled through the noise of the water running.
I waited for a few more minutes, just in case he was bluffing. Or maybe it was the policeman cleverly disguising his voice to sound like Kevin’s. I had to be sure, you never know. Stranger things have happened, like me being stabbed by a stuffed bear. That was pretty strange. “Nick, did you die in there? Its all clear so get the hell out here so we can talk about this!” Yup, that was Kevin.
I finally clicked open the door to see him and AJ both standing there right in front of it, waiting for me to emerge. I felt like the groundhog, what the hell is its name. Is it Gary or George, maybe Mare?
“What’s the groundhog’s name?”
They both looked at me like I was a crack head.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” AJ asked me ever so nicely.
“The groundhog, you know the one that tells us what the weather’s going to be?”
Kevin and AJ looked at each other with a ‘why do we care about saving this kid’s ass again?’ kind of look.
“Nick, we have a serious problem here so can we focus more on that and less on weather predicting rodents you think?” Kevin asked coolly as I walked out of the bathroom and made my way to the bed.
“Is a groundhog a rodent?” I’m sure that question didn’t help but sometimes that’s how my brain works. I really have to take it back and get a new one someday.
Kevin and AJ sat down on the chairs opposite of where I was sitting. “Nick…focus please.”
I nodded at Kevin, “So why did he leave?” I asked as I gently rubbed at my wet hair with a towel.
“Because I told him I’d take you down to the station when our meeting was over.” He answered.
“So, what’s the plan then?” I was hoping that by now Kevin would have some kind of plan worked out. I mean besides delivering me to the bad guys personally, but when he looked over at me and shrugged, I knew I was screwed.
“Maybe you should just go home. I bet you could get a flight out this afternoon.” AJ said going for the yellow book inside the dresser.
“Wouldn’t that make things worse? I mean if I leave then they’ll really get suspicious and besides, that would leave the two of you vulnerable.”
“Not if we all leave.” AJ answered.
“No one is leaving. Nick’s right, if he goes now it’ll make them suspicious plus whether they are for real or not, they are cops and I told them I’d be bringing you down to the station.”
“Well at least that means he can’t kill me out in the woods.”
“I don’t think he’s going to kill anybody Nick, my guess is he’s hoping you’ll go in and identify the wrong person so he and his partner can cover their tracks.”
“Maybe that’s what I should do then.” I mean it made perfect sense to give them what they want so this way they’ll leave us all the hell alone.
“So you can get an innocent person in trouble?” Oh right, I didn’t think about that.
“What should I do?” I looked at my two big brothers with pleading eyes. I was in a giant mess that I didn’t much feel like getting out of at the moment. Why does that always happen to me?
“You go in there and you look at whatever he wants you to look at. You say you don’t remember anything and you leave.” Kevin said that so matter of factly I almost felt dumb for asking in the first place.
“But what if it’s more complicated than that?” I was now fully dressed and once again messing with my hair. I always had at least three pieces of hair that never did what I wanted them to do at any given time.
“It won’t be.”
“Kevin, you’re talking to Carter, of course it’s going to be more complicated than that.” AJ said in the middle of a burp. He was drinking a Dr. Pepper, MY Dr. Pepper.
“It won’t be, because I’m going to be in the room with him.” He then turned to me and said it again as confirmation that he wasn’t lying. “I’m going to be in the room with you.”
“Kevin, they aren’t going to let you in the room with me. It’s not like I’m twelve or anything.”
“We could always say you’re retarded. I’m sure they wouldn’t find that too hard to believe Mr. Groundhog boy!” Okay this is where you need to remind me that AJ was nice and tried saving my ass twice already.
“True…but I think I can be persuasive when I want to be.”
“Yeah you certainly can…” I agreed. The man scared me on a daily basis and that’s when he was in a good mood. Wait a minute, what the hell did he mean by true?
“Don’t worry, I’ll have your back kiddo and most importantly I won’t let you do or say anything stupid.” He pat my back and squeezed my shoulder. “I should also tell you I have called in reinforcements.”
“You have?”
He moved to my spot on the bed. “Yup, I invited Howie and Brian.”
Is it wrong of me to be sad that they were coming? I love them but with just AJ and me, it felt like something special, now it’ll feel all Backstreet-ish. “You bored with just the two of us?”
“What is wrong with you guys? AJ asked me the same thing. No, I was always going to have them out, just thought I’d ask them a little earlier that’s all. Brian’s not sure if he can make it, but Howie will be here in a day or so.”
“Did you tell him what was going on?”
“You mean how you managed to turn my house into the set of a new Hardy Boys mystery? No, I left that out for now.” He laughed under is breath. The fact that he was still laughing made me feel a little better about this police visit thing. If he was nervous then I’d be nervous.
“When are we supposed to go?” I was at the point where I just wanted to get it over and done with already. Just the waiting was killing me.
“Well, I told him our meeting would be about two hours long, so we still have a bit of time to kill.”
“Naked Jello juggling anyone?” We both turned to AJ and shook our heads.
“You know AJ; it would have made more sense if there was at least one girl in the room when you said that, right?” I asked him, trying my best to smirk even though I wasn’t really in the mood to smile.
“I can get the honeys while you guys get the tub ready.”
“AJ, shut up. My days of naked Jello juggling are over. I am married.”
“Call Kris up, I’ll naked Jello juggle with her.” AJ winked at Kevin who in turn gave AJ the finger. I’m so glad they are having such a great time right now. Let’s forget the fact that Nickolas is in hot shit.
“Nick relax, everything will be okay buddy.” It’s like they can read my mind…how odd.
“I hope you’re right.” I let out a sigh and ran my hands through my hair.
“Have I ever been wrong?” Oh Lord I’m really in trouble now. Kevin asking me that question was like your girlfriend asking you if her jeans made her look fat.
“Not when it counts?” I asked.
“Right.” He winked at me and tousled my hair. “Jesus Nick, you’re sopping wet, go blow dry your hair!” He took his wet hands and used my shirt to dry them off. Did he think my hair was going to dry by osmosis or something? Did he hear a blow dryer when I was in the bathroom? I think not.
I started for the bathroom, blow dryer in hand when I stopped abruptly, “Do we have time to go back to the house?”
“No, we’re taking a break today. I’m having a security system installed this afternoon.
“Wow, now that was fast.”
“Well, let’s say I don’t want another incident like yesterday. Why on earth would you want to go back there?”
“Because I still haven’t gotten a chance to explore the basement or the rest of the attic. Maybe there’s something there that would help us figure out what they want.”
“Nick…” He trailed off and I instantly felt AJ’s eyes on me. I knew if I looked up he would have mouthed the words ‘You owe me $10.’ So I didn’t bother looking up. “Maybe its best if you forget about your little investigation for now. I mean at least let’s wait and see what the cops have to say, okay?” Well at least that wasn’t a flat out no.
I nodded at him and we ended up just putting on the television and ordering in some room service.
During the ride over to the police station my stomach was in knots. I tried my best to stay calm, the guys had me almost forget about it completely but when the time came to do the deed, I was a nervous wreck. What if they caught me in a lie? What if they brought me into the station but then lured me outside and into an awaiting van? So many questions plagued my mind I almost wanted to scream when Kevin finally parked his car and said we had arrived.
AJ stayed at the hotel at Kevin’s suggestion. He knew there was no way they would allow the both of them in with me so why bother coming in the first place? Besides, he was given a task. One that insured I would be winning that bet after all. He put AJ in charge of looking up as much information as he could on Belle via the internet.
I knew Kevin was as intrigued as I was; only difference is he’s a little bit better at hiding it behind a mask of formality. He acted as if what AJ was doing was a business deal, where I got all ‘Scooby Doo’ excited to the point that he had to tell me to and I quote, ‘calm down big fella.’ Yes, sometimes Kevin does bare a striking resemblance to Andy Griffith.
He placed a hand on my shoulder as we walked in, “Nick, everything will be okay. You have got to calm down. If they see you this nervous they will definitely think that you’re hiding something.” He was right, but it didn’t help to calm me down. It just made me even more anxious.
We were greeted by another police officer. He led us into a room and offered us some drinks while we waited. He seemed perfectly nice, not ready to take me out in the back and shoot me in the head, which was a plus. In front of me, there were two huge books. They looked like photo albums. Seeing those, made me calm down, it meant that Kevin was right, they did want me to ID someone.
He nodded at me just as our friendly neighborhood policeman walked into the room. “Nice to see you all groomed Mr. Carter.” Officer Daniels said with a smirk as he sat across the table from me. I didn’t like this guy and let’s forget a minute that it’s because he blindsided me at Kevin’s house. Even if I didn’t know him, he had this weird aura about him.
“What can we do for you?” Kevin asked. He was my official spokesman on this visit.
“I want Nick to look through some of these mug shots just to see if any of these people may look familiar.”
“But I didn’t see anyone, I told you that.”
“Nick, the mind can be an incredible thing. Sometimes you think you don’t see anything and then suddenly a picture can spark your memory.” He leaned in closer to me so that Kevin couldn’t hear, “Sometimes an object can do the same.” He looked at me intently and it sent chills down my spine.
That’s when he moved the second mug shot album slightly to reveal Belle’s book lying underneath it. “Now, I’m hoping this will jog your memory!” He whispered to me, quickly covering the book and sitting back down.
I felt my heartbeat quicken as I just turned my gaze from him to all the random faces staring up at me from the book, unsure of what I was supposed to do next.
