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** AJ **

“According to the directions, we’re looking at roughly an hour and a half drive.” Howie twisted the paper around in his hands. “The address is in Lynchburg.” He continued. “That’s in Moore County, if you’re interested.”

“We’re not.” I snorted, eliciting a grunt of laughter from Brian in the backseat.

Howie ignored us and continued to stare at the map. “I think they’re sending us to the sticks.”

“You think?” Brian laughed. He had pulled out his phone and was reading from the screen. “Lynchburg, Tennessee has a population of roughly 6,000 people. It has one traffic light and is most famous for the production of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and for being the former home of Davy Crockett.”

“Good Lord.” Howie groaned. “What have we agreed to?”

“It gets better!” Brian grinned. “Moore County is a dry county. So, even though Jack Daniel’s is produced in Lynchburgh, it’s actually against the law to consume alcohol within the county itself.”

“You’re joking?” Howie’s eyes had widened exponentially within the last few seconds. “You’re saying that I’m going to be trapped in a house with the four of you for God knows how long, hiding from a sadist, and that it’s illegal for me to drown my sorrows?”

“Pretty much.” Brian continued to laugh. “Do you want us to drop you off on the side of the road?”

“I wonder what our new Guido bodyguard would do if I were to suddenly pull over and let you out?” I joined in Brian’s laughter and drew my eyes up to the rear-view mirror. As promised, Joey or Tony - I had no idea which one - was travelling behind us at a supposedly inconspicuous distance.

Howie shook his head and resisted the urge to laugh along with us. “This whole situation is a complete and utter mess!” He turned around so that he was facing Brian in the backseat. “Are you even allowed to have your phone turned on?”

Brian’s face took on a worried expression. “I just used Google. I’ve logged out of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I’ve turned off my location tracker and my GPS functions. I haven’t even checked my voicemail.”

“You have voicemail?” My eyes locked with Brian’s in the rear-view mirror. “Is it from Leighanne?”

“Who else would it be from?” Brian dropped his eyes to his phone. “Do you think that I should listen to it?”

“Why wouldn’t you want to listen to it?” Howie’s eyes narrowed as Brian refused to meet his gaze. He pulled his eyes up towards my face. “What are you two keeping from me?”

“Nothing.” Brian lied. “We can all listen to it.” His fingers moved quickly across the screen and, a few seconds later, Leighanne’s voice filled the car.

“Brian, I don’t know where you are or why your phone’s off, but I’m calling to say that I was in shock before. I – I didn’t know what to say to you. I really need – I need your help with Baylee. He’s really upset about Nick, and he won’t stop crying. I know that you’re probably still mad at me, but your son needs you. Call me back, please. I love you.”

I drummed my hands on the steering wheel, waiting for Brian to say something. Half of me wished that he had listened to the message in private, but the other half of me realized that sharing it with us had likely been somewhat cathartic for him. Brian was an analyzer; he picked things apart until there was nothing left. I knew that he had wanted me and Howie to hear the message so that he could ask us about Leighanne’s tone of voice and her choice of words.

My mind was already working on a response. Leighanne had sounded sincere to me, and she had definitely said all of the right things, but Brian knew her best. It was possible that there had been something in her voice, some little misstep that I had overlooked.

“Did she sound upset to you guys?” Brian was busy deleting the message from his phone, but he made sure to catch my eye in the mirror as he asked the question.

“She sounds like she misses you.” I delivered my pre-determined response before Howie even had a chance to open his mouth. “She didn’t sound like she was lying to me.”

Howie nodded in agreement. “She’s definitely worried about Baylee.”

Brian shook his head. “You guys didn’t answer my question. Did she sound upset?”

I exchanged a quick, sideways glace with Howie before I answered. “Sure she did. At least to me.”

Brian sat back in his seat and turned his face towards the window. He didn’t say anything for several minutes as he watched the scenery whiz by the windows. When he finally spoke it was a cryptic, one word response. “Okay.”

“What if we were to make one phone call?” Howie blurted out.

“What?” I once again gave Howie a sideways glance. He had interrupted my train of thought; I had been working on a comforting response for Brian. “What are you talking about?”

“You better explain yourself, D.” Brian had returned his attention to what was happening inside the car. He was also grinning stupidly, which I assumed was a good sign. “Or else I’m gonna start singing.”

“I really don’t think that it’s fair that we just disappear without telling our wives where we’re going.” Howie immediately launched into an explanation before Brian could begin his impromptu serenade of one of the more annoying selections from ‘In A World Like This’. “I was thinking that one of us could call home and explain that we’re all going to be unavailable for the next little while.”

“And then whoever we call could tell the others?” I finished Howie’s train of thought. “That way everyone wouldn’t be so worried.”

“Exactly!” Howie nodded vigorously. “We won’t tell whoever we call anything specific. We’ll leave out all of the bad parts about the creepy email, and we can still pretend that Nick is dead.”

“It could work.” I proceeded slowly. “But how do we decide who gets to call home?”

Howie shrugged. “We could draw straws or something.”

“That could get ugly.” Brian piped in. “Kevin would be super pissed if he lost. I’m telling you that right now.”

I cringed. Brian made a good point; Kevin would most likely try to take control of the situation and twist things around so that he would end up getting to talk to Kristin.

“We don’t have to tell Kevin and Nick.” I suggested. “One of us could just make the call right now.”

“There’s no way that they would ever find out.” Howie enthused. “I mean, they’ll eventually find out when this is all over, but by then it won’t even matter. They might even thank us for being so proactive.”

Brian let out a choking noise to disguise his amusement. “Howie, you know that’s not true.”

Howie’s face fell. “I was just thinking out loud.”

“How about this …” Brian paused as if to collect his thoughts. “… What if I call either Rochelle or Leigh?”

“That would work.” Howie conceded. “That way Kevin and Nick can’t argue that one of us got to call home.”

Brian nodded. “Let’s face it, if any of us were to talk to our wife right now we would cave and give everything away. It will be easier for me to keep the secret. I won’t feel as guilty.”

“What about you?” I asked. “You don’t want Leighanne to be involved in this? Howie or I could always call her.”

Brian shook his head and began rummaging around in one of the front pockets of his jeans. “I would rather call Leigh or Rochelle.”

Howie raised his eyebrows in my direction before addressing Brian. “Who are you going to call?”

“You guys can flip for it.” Brian pulled a quarter out of his pocket and rolled it between his fingers. “Who wants to call it?”

“Go for it, D.” I encouraged; one eye on the road and one eye glued to Brian in the backseat. “Let’s get this done.”

“Okay.” Howie took a deep breath and waited until Brian tossed the quarter in the air. “Heads!” He proclaimed seconds before the coin reconnected with Brian’s palm.

Brian grinned, making a big show of pressing the quarter onto the top of his other hand. “Tails.” He announced, giving Howie a sympathetic look. “Looks like I’m calling Ro.”

“Damn!” Howie snapped his fingers and returned to facing forward. “I don’t know why I always pick heads.”

“Put her on speaker.” I tried not to sound overly excited, but it was practically impossible for me to contain my enthusiasm. Just the thought of being able to hear my wife’s voice was enough to cause a massive smile to overtake my face. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Of course, I’m going to put her on speaker.” He scrolled through his contact list with a well-practiced flick of his thumb and seconds later a steady ring was echoing through the car.

“Brian?” Rochelle’s voice came through the speakers sounding more worried than anything. “Is everything okay?”

“Hey.” Brian greeted. “Everything’s fine.”

I curled my fingers around the steering wheel, the veins in my arms bulging with the effort. I was literally biting my tongue to keep from speaking; I wanted to talk to Ro more than anything else in the world.

“I’ve been trying to call AJ.” Rochelle continued. “It keeps going straight to voicemail. Is his phone off? Where is he? Is he with you?”

“No.” Brian lied. “He’s not with me right now.”

“Oh God!” Rochelle’s voice cracked. “Has something happened to him? Is that why you’re calling?”

“Elle, everything is fine. I promise.” Brian was speaking softly now, his southern accent becoming even more pronounced as he tried his best to sound reassuring. “I just – I have something that I need to talk to you about.”

I kept my eyes firmly on the road. I didn’t want to look at Brian’s face for fear that his expression would cause me break down. He had called Ro ‘Elle’. That was their special thing; anyone else who tried to use that nickname immediately had their ass reamed. To this day, I still didn’t know why Ro felt that the epithet was okay when it came from Brian.

“What is it?” Ro inquired, her voice softening to match Brian’s tone. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay, better now that the others are here.” Brian admitted. “I actually need you to do me a favour.”

“Sure.” Rochelle declared. “Anything.”

“The fells and I are going to be unavailable for the next couple of days. We’re not going to have access to our phones or to the Internet.” Brian rushed to get the words out, obviously fighting with his desire to tell Rochelle all of the horrible details. “I need you to call Leigh, Kristin, and Leighanne for me. I need you to tell them not to worry if they can’t get a hold of us.”

There was a long pause. When Rochelle spoke again, there was a definite tremor in her voice. “Where are you going? Are you in trouble? Does this have something to do with Nick’s murder?”

My fingers were turning white from gripping the steering wheel with so much intensity. Rochelle sounded so sad, so worried, and so alone. My stomach clenched and I fought the urge to reach around and rip the phone out of Brian’s hands.

“I can’t answer any of that right now.” Brian stared sadly at the display. “I just need you to trust me when I say that we’re okay. AJ is fine, Elle. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

“I believe you, Bri.” Rochelle sniffed. “I’ll call the girls.”

“Thanks.” Brian whispered. “I have to go.”

“Okay.” Rochelle hesitated. “Do you have any idea how long it will be before you’ll have access to your phones again?”

“I’m not sure at this point.” Brian sighed. “AJ will call you as soon as he can.”

Rochelle let out an unsteady breath. “I got it. Goodbye, Brian”

I waited until Brian had turned his phone off completely before banging my hands against the steering wheel and letting out a wounded cry of frustration. “This is so fucking stupid!”

Howie reached out and squeezed my shoulder in reassurance. “At least she knows that you’re okay.”

“I know.” I tried to force myself to think positive thoughts. “It was just so hard hearing her voice and not being able to tell her that I was safe. She sounded so worried.”

“She’ll be less worried now.” Howie continued to reassure me; his heavy hand steady on my shoulder. “It was good that Brian called.”

“This is our secret.” Brian’s voice drifted out from the backseat. He sounded rattled. “Nobody else needs to know.”

I nodded my agreement; Howie’s hand slipping from my shoulder. “No worries, Bri. It’s our secret.”