𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿.

twenty eight.

   I stand in silence, my hands pressed over my ears as Kiara argues with Shoupe. We come to talk to the cops and of course it looks like we're crazy because Ward beat us to the body.

   "Stop just stop. I've had enough," Shoupe walks away.

   "What're you talking about?!"

   "Are you just gonna look the other way?!"

   I follow my friends down the stairs as they fuss at him.

   "Why would we lie?!"

   "There's nothing up there, false alarm! Let's all go home."

   "No, please don't go home! Why would we make this up?! Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes?!"

   "Hey!" Shoupe turns, "I know you're upset. And I know you think your friend is innocent-"

   "He is-"

   "But you weren't there. The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite, alright?"

   "Cat is a witness! She's right here!"

   Shoupe sighs, "I've had enough."

   I frown, "Shoupe really? You know I was there, you saw the blood on me that night."

   He shakes his head, "You're just making things a lot harder for both of us."

   "At least look for him! Someone died tonight!"

   "I knew this would happen! You're the one who had to drop the camera!"

   "It was your fault!"

   "Oh it was my fault? Why do you always take his side?!"

   "Guys!" I shout, pressing a finger to my temple, "Stop fighting just- please stop fighting."

   "Hey-" Pope interrupts, "we're not out of this yet. We can still go get the gun."

* * *

   "This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed out into the gully. So if it got flushed out from this drain it would've been pushed out to like-"

   "Somewhere in this trash," I scrunch my nose at the plastic waste.

   "Correct."

   Kie sighs, "oh my god people who use plastic should be shot."

   JJ of course has to poke fun, "personally, I love plastic. Use it everyday. Love the stuff."

   "Well hopefully you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean."

   Pope nods, "I thought you'd say something like that, so...trash bags."

   Kiara tries to hide her grin, "did you just proactively protect the environment?"

   Pope shrugs, "maybe."

   I look between the two, they're definitely something.

   "You want me to leave you two alone or what's going on?"

   Pope chucks the trash bags at JJ, "pick up the trash."

   Fifteen minutes later we've cleaned everything up and still no murder weapon. Just our luck.

   "If it's not in the trash then it's gotta still be in the storm drain."

   "It's in- it's in the drain."

   "Dammit."

   "Of course it is."

   "Good thing I brought the crow."