Audacious//JJ Maybank (Outerbanks)

Chapter 44

'What are you doing?' Pope asks her. 'Are you crazy?' JJ argues. 'I don't care if he hears me. He's a murderer.' She argues looking at the three of us and I roll my eyes. 'Yeah, and he's gonna murder us if he sees us, Kie.' I whisper yell at her while Pope takes up his camera and shines it down on the street. 'Guys, he sees us.' Pope informs us and my eyes widen in fear. 'No.' I gasp. 'Are you serious?' JJ asks him. 'Come on. We gotta go. He's coming.' Pope panics urging us towards the ladder. 'Come on. Go! Pope, hurry.' JJ rushes him down the ladder. 'I'm going! I'm going!' Pope replies as he steps down the ladder than JJ goes after him. 'Ah! My hand.' JJ yells as I step on his hand accidentally and he lets go of the bar as he falls bringing Pope with him to the ground. 'JJ! Pope!' I yell as I rush down the ladder and sprint over to JJ. I kneel down beside him as he groans in pain. 'Oh my god, JJ. I'm so sorry, I didn't know your hand was there.' I say as I grab his hand and examine it for any injuries and JJ chuckles lightly. 'I'm okay, baby.' He says as he places his hand on my cheek. A blush appears on my face as he strokes his hand through my hair.

'You kicked me in the face! The camera is destroyed now!' Pope yells at JJ as we stand up. 'Jackie stepped on my hand.' JJ argues. 'He's coming.' I say as I look at the silhouette behind us down the alleyway. 'Let's go.' JJ says grabbing my hand and pulls me down the street towards the car. We quickly hop in the car and try to catch our breaths. 'Could someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?' JJ yells as Pope groans angrily. 'Holy crap. I can't believe it. Wait, wait. What were they fighting over?' JJ asks as he begins to panic. 'Uh..it was...it was a gun, the one Rafe used. He must have kept it.' Pope answers. 'Of course! Of course! The murder weapon.' JJ shouts and I sigh as I place my hand on his and he glances at me as I give it a reassuring squeeze. 'Pick up! Pick up!' Kie panics as she puts her phone in speaker. 'Who are you calling?' I ask her. 'Who do you think?' She snaps at me. 'The cops?' I question raising my eyebrows. 'Who else am I supposed to call?' She argues looking at us. 'Why would you call the police?' JJ yells at her. 'Shut up!' She snaps at all of us as we bicker at her. 'Hello? Hi, somebody's been shot at the...at the Grand Street construction site! You guys need to hurry because he's dying. I don't know if he's already dead or not! You need to hurry!' She speaks into the phone as she begins to cry. 'We gotta go. We're sitting ducks.' JJ says and I nod in agreement. 'We can't stay here.' Pope states. 'What do you want me to do?' Kie asks as she hangs up the phone. 'Just drive.' Pope says and she immediately starts the car and drives around the corner. We sit in the car and waited until the police came.

'Look, it was right here, and this is where that maniac claimed his next victim.' Kie explains to Sheriff Shoupe as we stand in the construction site where Ward and Gavin were. 'Uh-huh. His next victim?' Shoupe says not believing a word Kie says as I glance at JJ kneeling down to touch something on the floor. 'How long ago did you say it happened?' Shoupe asks us and I sigh. 'Forty five minutes ago, Shoupe.' JJ answers standing back up. 'Okay. And so, Ward Cameron just popped one off and shot him.' He says as he writes in his notepad. 'Yes.' Kie whispers. Execution style? And then cleaned it all up in 45 minutes?' He asks and I roll my eyes. 'Yeah.' Kie shrugs. 'Obviously. We filmed the entire thing.' I speak up and Shoupe glances at me. 'You filmed it?' He asks and I nod. 'Yes, but we can't show it to you because I stepped on JJ's hand, and then he kicked Pope,and Pope dropped the camera, and it broke.' I say glancing at JJ as he nervously fixes his cap on his head. 'This is a telephoto, and we needed to get a long distance image, and..and I fell, and it broke, so the video is basically unusable.' He frowns and I sigh. 'But..but we were there, and we're wit—' Pope stutters but Shoupe cuts him off. 'So the dog ate your homework?' Shoupe jokes and I scoff. 'No, Shoupe. I know it sounds—' Kie tries to explain but he cuts her off. 'Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this. You drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing.' Shoupe tells us. 'No, it's not.' Kie tries to speak but Shoupe continues talking. 'Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree.' Shoupe argues. 'We're not making this up!' JJ yells at him. 'It's not a random killing spree! Gavin was his pilot!  Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was in the tarmac that day.' Pope explains to Shoupe. 'Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin.' Kie informs him. 'He called him here and tried to pay him off. But it wasn't enough, and then so he shot him.' With the murder weapon.' JJ argues.

'How do you know that?' Shoupe asks and I sigh in frustration as I rub my temples. 'Pope did this thing with his phone.' Kie points out. 'He, like put it in his car...' she continues. 'I heard their whole conversation.' Pope declares and Shoupe's eyes widen in shock. 'You wiretapped him?' Shoupe questions. 'Is that bad?' Kie asks and JJs eyes widen in shock. 'Stop. Just stop.' Shoupe tells us. 'I've had enough.' He sighs. 'What are you talking about? Are you seriously gonna look the other way again? Why would we make this up?' I yell as Shoupe begins to leave and I follow after him. 'Why can't you believe us for once?' I yell at him and he continues to ignore me. 'I know it sounds crazy. I know that!' Kie explains as we all head outside. 'All right, there's nothing up there. False alarm. Let's all go home.' Shoupes tells everyone. 'No, no, please don't go home.' Kie pleads. 'Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes?' I yell at Shoupe. 'Hey. I...I know..' he turns around to face the four of us. 'I know you're upset.' He says and I scoff. 'And I know you think John b was innocent.' He states and I clench my fist in anger. 'My brother is innocent!' I yell at Shoupe. 'But you weren't there!' He declares. 'The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite. All right? And both of them have a hell lot more credibility than any of you right now.' He states pointing at us. 'I saw your little art project on Ward's wall.' He shrugs looking at Kie and I glance at her furrowing my eyebrows. 'Do not do that again.' He warns her and she scoffs. 'Oh, come on.' Kie shrugs. 'Go home!' Shoupe tells everyone as he hops in his car and drives away.

'Someone died tonight!' Kie says as Pope turns around. 'I told you this would happen.' JJ states as we walk away from the construction site. 'Like, you're the one that had to drop the camera.' JJ argues at Pope. 'It was your fault!' Kie tells JJ and my eyes widen. 'Oh, that was my fault?' JJ yells looking at Kie. 'Yeah, it was your fault!' She argues. 'Why do you always take his side? Why do you never take mine?' JJ questions yelling at Kie. 'Actually it's all your fault, Jackie!' Kie yells at me as she points her finger towards me and JJ's eyes widen. 'You're the one that stepped on his hand and made him fall.' She points out, I roll my eyes and turn around about to walk away. 'You actually didn't help that much. You could've talked to Shoupe.' Kie argues and I scoff turning around to face her. 'I did try to talk to him.' I defend myself as I walk closer to her, JJ and Pope both look at us with unreadable expressions. 'And do you really think he would listen to me? The sister of his best friend murder.' I say sternly. 'It would've made things ten times worse if I said anything and I don't need Greta and Vivian to know about this.' I argue at her and she rolls her eyes. 'Your new family, huh? How's it like living the Kook life now, Jackie?' She snaps at me and I slap her across the face as the boys gasp. 'They welcomed me into their homes. They've shown me nothing but love and affection. You guys say you're my family but look at you three, you abandoned me. You all promised Johnny we'd stay together but you broke your promises to him. You fucking left me to cope by myself. So don't you dare..don't you dare try turn this all on me because I've done nothing wrong.' I yell at her trying to control my tears. 'And if I recall, you're the one that shouted at Ward and grabbed his attention, if it wasn't for your little outburst we wouldn't have been put under pressure to get down and the boys wouldn't have fell. So don't even try to point this all on me, Kie because I'll bite back.' I warn her and she sighs taking a deepbreath. All of a sudden I felt a pair of hands wrap around me and I take a deepbreath as I realise it was JJ. His touch seemed to calm me down immediately. 'Guys!' Pope yells at us grabbing our attention, JJ quickly pulls away from me and we stand there in awkwardness staring at each other. 'We're not out of this yet. We can still get the gun.' Pope declares as he looks down at the drain.

To Be Continued...