The drive back was quiet, and Prue was glad. She's only spent a couple hours with these young men, and they were giving her a headache. She was going to need all of her wits about her to face Andy, and in spite of all her plans to the contrary, she probably would. She didn't want to know what they were discussing so seriously among themselves.
AJ climbed out of the car reluctantly once Nick and Howie were out. "Thanks for your help," he told her quietly. "Thanks for taking care of Kevin."
She smiled at him. "Anytime," she said. He closed the door and followed his friends into the hotel.
"Prue." Andy's familiar voice carried through the driver's side window, and she sighed and rolled it down.
"Hi, Andy," she said softly.
"Was that... AJ McLean?" he asked.
"Yes."
He paused a moment. "Why don't you park and come in. There are some people who would like to talk to you, I'm sure."
Prue nodded. "I'll meet you in the lobby."
Walking back to the hotel, she wondered just exactly she was going to say. What was there to say? She couldn't tell Andy what had really happened, and yet, she had to have some explanation for having one of the most famous pop groups at her house. She took a deep breath and opened the door to the hotel.
Andy corralled her immediately. "How did you end up with the Backstreet Boys at your house?"
"I'm not entirely sure," she said as he lead her to the elevator. "Well, I mean, the rest of them showed up this morning, to pick up Kevin. He was there when I got home last night." She gave Andy a small smile. "I was called into work late."
He mirrored her smile with one of his own, but didn't answer.
The elevator door opened on a beehive of activity. Over everyone's heads she could see Nick, an expression of disbelief and disgust on his face. "Come on, Denise, I wouldn't do that! I told you, he vanished!"
"People do not just vanish. You, on the other hand, are famous for practical jokes." The woman's voice carried clearly over the crowd, who had apparently heard this argument already or were used to clashes between this woman and Nick. "Where are Kevin and Brian?"
Andy lead her over there, and Prue gave Nick a half smile. "They went to the hospital, last I heard," she said, and the woman turned furious and worried eyes on her. Nick gave a soft sigh of relief and backed up a step.
"Why?"
"To figure out why Kevin can't see," she said evenly.
"Kevin can't see." It was a statement of disbelief; she shot a glance at Nick that was half apology.
"No, he can't. According to my sisters, he just showed up on our front porch, and walked into the door. That's how they knew he was there at all." She glanced at Andy, who was watching them all impassively. "He spent the night on our couch, and then we called Howie to come and pick him up."
"Why did they sneak out?"
Prue shrugged, uncomfortable, then almost smiled as Nick vanished into a room off the hall way. At least he had escaped. Her escape would not be as easy. "We asked them not to bring everyone down on us."
"How did you get Howie's cell phone number?"
"We didn't, actually. Kevin called him last night. We just hit redial on our phone." Prue folded her arms and looked at Andy. "Who exactly is this?"
"This is Denise McLean, promotional manager for Backstreet Boys. She's also AJ's mother."
Prue nodded slowly. No wonder he'd wanted to go with Kevin and Brian, she thought, catching sight of the young man in question as he peeked out of one of the doors. She didn't think it was the one Nick had gone into. He vanished almost immediately.
"So, Kevin didn't slip off to meet you or your sister?"
Prue shook her head, giving the woman an odd look. Wouldn't he have told the others, if that was the case? she wondered. "No. We didn't even know who he was until we heard the news this morning."
"We can't get hold of Anne Richardson at all." A harried man's words to Andy's partner Detective Morris caught Prue's attention. "We tried Tim and Gerald's, they're his brothers, but they haven't seen her either. Tim said he'd fly out now, and if necessary, Gerald said he'd come out later. He was apologetic, but he's got a sick child."
Prue's heart stopped. "Sick how?"
The man turned to look at her in surprise, then disdain. "His oldest son has the flu," he said shortly, and turned his attention away before her sigh of relief. "Denise, can you pick Tim up at the airport? He should be arriving in about two hours or so."
"Yes, I can." She turned to look penetratingly at Prue. "Thanks for your help," she said coldly, and walked off.
"Why are you worried about a child you don't know?" Andy asked.
Prue took a deep breath. "Because having a sick child is never fun," she said quietly. "Look, Andy, is there a reason I'm here?"
He turned his attention to her. "Do you know where Anne Richardson is?"
"Who is Anne Richardson?"
"Kevin Richardson's mother."
"Not exactly, no," she said.
He lifted an eyebrow. "Not exactly?"
"No, I don't know where she is." Which, technically, was the truth. "If her family doesn't know, how do you expect me to?"
Andy just looked at her. "And you don't know how he wound up at your house?"
"Well, other than stumbling up our walk and banging his head on the front door, no, I don't know that. I didn't even know they were here. It does explain the traffic last night, though." She flashed a smile at him. "Can I go now?"
"Where are you off to?"
"Work. In fact, I have to call in and tell them I'm going to be late."
Andy sighed. "I'll walk you down."
Driving home, Prue thought about all the excitement from that morning. At least, she thought, Kevin was safe from his mother.
Changing while blind was something Kevin never wanted to do again. He was fairly sure he was going to have to, however. He just hoped that next time, it would be into his own clothes and not Nick's way-too-big jeans. Still, even those thoughts were distant, as distant as the muffled chuckles from the two remaining sisters when he and Brian emerged from the bathroom. He walked numbly where he was told to go, moving clumsily up steps and through doors. He followed Brian's murmured directions with a lack of grace that was astonishing. Then Brian had him sit down, and he was left alone in silence.
It didn't last long, at least. Unfamiliar voices caused his hands to clench around the edge of the chair Brian had left him in. Someone touched his face and he jerked his head away in a fear he didn't know he still had. "Who is there." The tremor in his voice silenced the people around him.
"My name is Dr. McDonald. Your cousin said you are unable to see?" The man's voice was supposed to be calming; Kevin let it work a little.
"Brian's right. I can't see."
"When did that happen?" The voice came closer, a hand fell gently on his shoulder. "I'm going to take a look at your eyes, don't jerk away."
Kevin took a deep breath. "Last night. Probably about 11:00 or so, I'm not entirely sure of the time."
"Why didn't you come in then?"
The question stumped him. "I... It's hard to explain," he finally said. "I wound up on a street corner or a street somewhere. I'm not sure what happened."
The hand was back on his shoulder. "You're the one that disappeared. Do they know you're here?"
"The others should be back by now; if not, I'm sure Brian's called them." He just wanted to sleep.
"All right. Now, hold still, we have to see if we can find anything from this...." The voice drifted off, the hand left his shoulder, and there was only muffled sounds around him, as if everyone were speaking away from him. He wondered, without much horror at the thought, if he were going to go deaf as well. They left him alone; he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, wishing for a bed and about 48 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
"Kev, wake up." Someone was shaking his shoulder. He forced his eyes open, only to be shocked yet a third time at the blackness.
"What, I'm awake," he mumbled. To his surprise, he was laying down on something very hard, and he struggled to sit up.
"Who's clothes are those?"
The voice finally clicked, and he reached out a hand. "Tim?"
His brother laughed. "Yes. You're about swimming in them." His hand met Kevin's, and Kevin gripped it, almost like a lifeline.
"Oh. Nick's. Brian said they couldn't get into my room, they had to sneak out." His words were still slurred; he sounded like he'd been drinking.
"Most everything has been taken care of here. Ready to go home?"
"Did they find out what was wrong?" he asked softly.
"We couldn't find anything wrong at all," the doctor's voice said, and Kevin flinched violently and trembled for an instant.
"You mean, I'm not really blind?" he asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"More a case of your blindness not being naturally caused." There was a smile on the doctor's face; it came out in his voice.
"So you can't help him," Tim said.
"No, and I'm sorry. But we're preparing a list of specialists you may want to see; unfortunately, the list is short."
"Is Brian gone?" Kevin asked.
"Yes. Denise sent him back with Eric, I guess? He didn't look too happy about going," Tim said.
"Yes, I want to go home," he said.
"Good. Let's get going."