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** BRIAN **

By the time I finished having a shower, Detective Eaton had already arrived. He was sitting in the family room with Tony; the two of them were whispering urgently back and forth and gesturing wildly at a laptop that was open on the coffee table. I hesitated when I noticed that Nick and AJ had yet to return from their own respective showers. I was in the process of debating about whether or not to go back to the bedrooms and wait for them when Detective Eaton noticed me out of the corner of his eye.

His expression was unreadable as he motioned for me to join him and Tony on the couch. “Hello, Mr. Littrell.”

“Ya’ll c’n call me Briaaaaan.” I cringed inwardly at the sound of my own voice as I sat down on the edge of the loveseat. I hated that way that I sounded when I was anxious; comically southern with way too much emphasis on my vowels.

Detective Eaton smiled, seemingly oblivious to how ridiculous I sounded. “Very well, Brian. Where are the others?”

“AJ and Nick are having a shower.” I paused, taking note of the smirk on Tony’s face. “Separately.”

“Right.” Detective Eaton shot me a somewhat condescending expression, but he thankfully let my explanation slide. “Detective Bell is on his way into town as we speak. There must be something wrong with Joey’s cell phone. Reception is rather scattered in this particular area.”

I nodded. My thoughts immediately shifted to Kevin and Howie as I waited for the detective to continue. I hoped that my face wasn’t betraying me. I hoped that I was projecting at least some semblance of normalcy because on the inside I was throwing a hair-raising tantrum.

“Mr. Lit – Brian, have you ever heard of a website called bsbcrazies.net?” Detective Eaton turned the laptop in my direction as he asked the question.

I shook my head, allowing my eyes to wander across the screen. It looked like a pretty standard website; a group shot of the five of us had been manipulated to announce the title of the site and a series of forum titles were listed below the banner.

“It’s a fan-generated website.” Detective Eaton stated the obvious. “Some of the content is a bit intense.”

“What do you mean by ‘intense’?” I asked.

I dared a quick glance in the direction of the bedrooms. What the hell was taking AJ and Nick so long? I rubbed absently at the back of my neck and almost immediately forced myself to stop. I knew that rubbing my neck was my tell; my one true indication that I was uncomfortable.

“Some of the posts are rather graphic. People talk about the things that they would like to do to the five of you.” Detective Eaton was now starting to look uncomfortable as well. “Some people discuss the things that they would like to see the five of you do to each other.”

Despite my best efforts, I could feel my eyes widening. I knew that my face was flushed. “Like – like sexual things?”

“That’s part of it.” Detective Eaton admitted. “However, there are some posts that have violent undertones. It seems as though some of the users feel as though they’ve been slighted by one or more of you in the past. Some of the comments are rather unforgiving.”

I frowned, although I wasn’t shocked by the detective’s admission. It was no secret that some of our fans were often displeased with our behaviour. No matter what we did or how hard we tried, it always seemed like it was never enough as far as some people were concerned. We had learned to live with it over the years; to take everything in stride, to take the good along with the bad.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked the question as Nick walked into the room.

Nick dropped down next to me on the loveseat and leaned forward to take a look at the laptop. I could feel Detective Eaton watching us closely as Nick whispered for me to fill him in. I felt hot under the detective’s stare as I quickly brought Nick up to speed; acutely aware of the fact that he had purposefully chosen to sit close to me on the couch. I could only imagine some of the comments that had been posted on the site, and I certainly had no trouble figuring out the thoughts that were currently running through Detective Eaton’s mind as he matched our current closeness to the comments that he had likely already read.

Still, one look at Nick’s anxious face was all it took for me to be able to push my embarrassment aside. The detective could make all of the inaccurate assumptions that he wanted. Nick was my friend and I wasn’t about to isolate him for a second time because I was worried about what some random man in a suit was thinking. At that moment, I needed Nick more than I had ever needed anyone in my entire life; there was no shame in that.

“We’ve determined that Mr. Scott was a member of this online community.” Detective Eaton turned his attention to Nick. “He posted quite frequently; detailing every hurdle that he overcame in order to alter his appearance.”

I could feel Nick’s body tense. He said nothing as he simply stared at Detective Eaton in anticipation.

“We’re currently looking into all of the people that Mr. Scott had regular contact with on the site.” Detective Eaton forged ahead. “We now think that Mr. Scott may have been the intended target of the original attack. It’s possible that killing Mr. Scott was a rouse to get the five of you together.”

“You think that the person who is after us belongs to this website?” I gestured at the laptop in horror. “Are you saying that the person who is trying to kill us is a fan?”

“Not necessarily.” Detective Eaton shook his head. “The culprit may or may not be a fan, but it’s highly plausible that they may have used your fans’ comments, your fans’ knowledge of your behavioural patterns, in order to orchestrate their plan.”

I squeezed my eyes closed. I could feel Nick’s hand on my arm; his fingers were curling around the muscles and pressing sharply into my skin. The idea that an innocent man had been killed because he was obsessed with Nick was eating away at my conscience. I could only imagine what Nick was going through. Logically, I knew that it wasn’t our fault, but I still couldn’t help feeling responsible. If Dan had never heard of the Backstreet Boys, he would still be alive. His wife would still have her husband and his kids would still have their father.

“They used him for the media attention.” Nick put the pieces together slowly. “They knew that everyone would mistake him for me. They planted my identification on the body so that nobody would even bother to check to see if I was still alive. That’s why you guys didn’t flag my licence plate, that’s why you didn’t freeze my bank account and my credit cards …”

“You’re right.” Detective Eaton was speaking just as slowly as Nick. “Mr. Carter, for all intents and purposes, we thought that you were dead. Perhaps we were too quick to allow the media to confirm our suspicious, but we really thought that it was you lying on the ground in Pinkerton Park. Even if we had figured out Mr. Scott’s identity sooner, the person behind this still would have generated the media attention that they were hoping for. By killing Mr. Scott, our un-sub has successfully pushed the five of you back into the mainstream media spotlight. Good or bad, everyone is now talking about the Backstreet Boys.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” My eyes struggled to readjust to the brightness in the room as I forced them open. “You saw the photo that was left on the door. The un-sub, or whatever you just referred to this person as, knows where we’re staying.”

“We’re going to increase your security.” Detective Eaton continued to speak slowly. “We’re working around the clock to try and locate this individual. The website has provided us with some good leads, and the other members of my team are in the process of narrowing them down as we speak. Unfortunately, the only thing that we can tell you to do at the moment is to sit tight.”

“Sit tight and wait to die?” AJ angrily interjected himself into the conversation. He walked purposefully into the room and perched himself on the arm of the couch next to me.

“That’s not what we’re suggesting, Mr. McLean.” Detective Eaton struggled to keep his expression neutral. “If you don’t trust us, we’re not going to be able to help you.”

“In order for us to be able to trust you, we need to know everything.” I fixed my eyes on Detective Eaton’s face and stared at him hard. “What are you not telling us?”

Detective Eaton maintained my stare with well-practiced confidence. “The un-sub has done their research. It’s like they know how the five of you are going to react before you respond. They knew that Mr. Carter’s death would be the one to garner the most media attention. They know how the five of you interact; they know how you pair off, and they know who each of you will fight the hardest to protect. They know which of you are the leaders and which of you are the followers.”

I swallowed loudly, but I kept a hold of the detective’s gaze. Detective Eaton had clearly known this information for a few days. It was why he and Detective Bell had determined the driving arrangements when we had been leaving Nick’s house. It was why the house rules stated that groups of two were best. It was why he had looked so concerned when he had seen the clear division between the five of us earlier in the morning.

“We think that this person is working as part of a team.” Detective Eaton hesitated. “We’re fairly confident that the un-sub is a woman.”

“A woman?” I repeated. “Why do you think that?”

“The behaviour patterns that we’ve seen to date are more characteristic of women than men.” Detective Eaton explained. “Female sadists tend to be overly concerned with embarrassment and revenge. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the un-sub is trying to punish you. She not only wants to hurt you, she wants to scare you. She wants to make sure that your fear is made public; she wants the world to watch you suffer.”

“How is she going to …” I stopped mid-question as Detective Eaton’s cell phone began to vibrate on the table.

“Excuse me.” Detective Eaton’s mouth dropped into a frown as he looked at the display. He snatched his phone off of the table and started speaking before he had even fully accepted the call. “Joey, what the hell is going on? Tony and I have been trying to call you for almost two hours.”

My stomach muscles clenched and unclenched in rapid succession as I watched Detective Eaton’s face shift from annoyance to worry in less than thirty seconds. I could hear Joey’s muffled voice drifting through the speaker, but I couldn’t decipher what he was saying. Nick’s hand was still on my arm and his grip was intensifying with every nod of Detective Eaton’s head.

“I know that the reception is bad.” Detective Eaton pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a loud sigh. “Are you positive? You’ve talked to everyone in the diner and the hardware store?”

“What’s happening?” AJ’s voice caught in his throat as he attempted to address the detective. His grabbed onto my other arm and began to apply pressure in much the same way as Nick. “You’re talking about Howie and Kevin aren’t you?”

Detective Eaton removed his hand from his nose and motioned for AJ to be quiet. He exchanged a few more clipped statements with Joey before confirming that he would tell Detective Bell that he needed to turn around and return to the house. When he finally disconnected the call, his expression betrayed his anxiety.

“He’s lost Howie and Kevin, hasn’t he?” My voice was thick with tears, my accent too strong.

“They’re missing.” Detective Eaton didn’t beat around the bush. “At this point, we have no choice but to assume that they’ve been taken.”