𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞- 𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧

15.

    Rafe Cameron was a mess. Most teenagers were, but Rafe... he was a whole different kind of mess. He was dangerous in the process, ticking like a time bomb until someone set him off. One wrong move and Rafe would go off on anything around him. He never knew how to be a good person. You would get so close to be let down in the end. He knew this, of course. Everyone would tell him what an asshole he is. His own sister didn't like him.

I never bothered to treat him right either. I treated him like an asshole, but I never fed into his ego or his mess. I threw words here and there, but it was never aimed to make him blow up. They were words we told each other to remind one another of our hatred for each other.

He was rough, physically and mentally. His mental state was never quite perfect to begin with. I couldn't point out why. I heard Rose whispering about it to Ward the day of Midsummers. She treated him like a ticking time bomb and she would purposely feed into it. I always thought that was why Rafe was so shitty and careful, until I found out he murdered someone and hid the body of two others.

Yet he was beautiful through the darkness of his mind. I would catch him shirtless lounging around his house when hanging out with Sarah. I would catch myself staring longer then I wanted when he went swimming in the backyard with Topper. I admired how he would complain about Wheezie but helped her after with the best of his ability because of how impatient he was.

It would be rational for him to act out the way he did. He didn't mean to hurt me, that's why he let me go. He could kill me in an instant. I didn't want to admit it to his face, but compared to him, I was tiny and weak. I did gymnastics when I was younger, earning some muscle on my body, but it was nothing compared to Rafe. I was still furious and upset with his sudden outburst. It could've went different if he reciprocated.

I didn't understand his change of mind. I didn't know where it came from, but it motivated me more to figure this out on my own and leave Rafe wondering what ever happened to my deep concern with Dustin's suspicious demeanor. I would set him up and frame him to get my way, proving both Rafe and I innocent.

I didn't owe him anything after what he did earlier, but after all he did help me hide a body. I wasn't going to let him speak to me as if he didn't ruin my whole mood and confidence. Rafe really did kill Sheriff Peterkin and he admitted it. I hated Rafe, but I didn't find him capable of killing the Sheriff. He drew a line at murder... or so I thought.

Listening to the radio, I learned about John B's imprisonment. He was going to be on the death penalty if founded guilty. So far, his side wasn't looking good. This could be Rafe right now if they proved him guilty instead. It could be me if they found out what I've done. And that motivated me even more to put a stop to it all.

I parked my car a few houses down from Dustin's. I prayed it was the right house, vaguely recalling our science project we worked on junior year. He let me come over to his place to finish it because my mom didn't want a mess in the kitchen.

Once I was here, I wasn't sure how to go about this. With the Pogues, I bursted into John B's run down house. But this was different. I didn't have the gun to help me because it was still with Rafe. I didn't have the notes either because I didn't take them back or stay long after our whole fight.

This could go right or wrong. He could see my visit strange especially since Trevor and I weren't close. Paying him a visit might make him think otherwise and go straight to Shoupe to question me again. I wished Rafe was here so he could come with me because I was too scared to step out of my car.

I sucked in a deep breath, then found myself standing on his porch. My hand hit the door, signaling my arrival. The door opened slowly, Dustin's face twisting in confusion.

"Hi. I'm Atallia." I introduced.

"You're the girl from the party." Dustin recognized.

"Yeah. I didn't know Trevor before that night, but I knew you guys were friends." I recalled his cheering, egging on his friend to do cocaine.

"Yeah, we were..." he trailed off. "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. And um... Trevor's case was really unfortunate and mysterious. I kind of wanted to figure it out, because I think everyone could agree that he deserves justice." I lied through my teeth. He deserved the opposite.

"So you're trying to solve the case?" He questioned, his voice unsure.

"I guess you could say that." I shrugged.

"The cops are already handling it." He scratched the back of his head, not interested in my story.

"Don't you wanna know who did it?" I pushed on, waiting for him to give up.

"Of course I do. He was my best friend, but I'm trying to move on. Some people may think it's better moving on after knowing, but why would someone want to kill him? For fun? That doesn't make sense. Unless it was a Pogue, then I don't know. I'm trusting the cops with this." Trevor carried on, explaining his train of thought.

He didn't care is basically what he said. If he knew it was me, he would call me out or say he knew who did it. Fuck.

"You don't have any idea? Who could've left with him during the party?" I slipped in some questions, trying to make my lie look real.

"Listen, I don't know. I wasn't with him the whole night. We have separate lives and different friends. I don't know who could've done it. I'm sure he had some enemies cause he could be a bitch sometimes, but I didn't think he would have enemies who would take it so far to murder him." He was getting angry with my questions. "Please, leave me alone. I don't want to hold onto this forever. The cops will figure it out."

With that, the door was slammed in my face. Great. Now I'm back to square one again. Unless he was trying to scare me into thinking the cops would catch me. If that was the case, he was good at hiding it.

Another idea popped into my head, basically having me speeding down the road back to my house. I could ask my mom for the party guest list then see if anyone could've gone to the party. Multiple families with their teenage kids would have been at my moms business party who could've attended Michael's party.

I was too impatient for her to come home so I could ask, so I went through her drawers until I found her printed list. Scratching off names, I went through each family. It was harder knowing half these parents had teens who were off to college after high school. There were barely any teens there besides Topper, Kelce, Dustin, Rafe, and I. There was one named Sofie, but she was quite the opposite of a raging party. There were also so many people at Michael's house that I couldn't possibly catch them all.

I groaned, shoving the invitation back into the drawer and slamming it shut. Of course this wasn't going to be easy. I checked Trevor's social media, along with the many photos he took with people. There were so many people I'd have to question. And the only way I could do that was to attend another party.