"Hey! Steve!" Dustin exclaimed, a little out of breath as him and Max walked through the doors of Family Video.
"This is crazy, isn't it," Steve said, pointing at the news coverage of the trailer park.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asked the three workers.
"Someone was murdered," Steve continued.
"How many phones do you have?" Dustin repeated, enunciating each syllable.
"Uh, two," Kim answered. "Why?"
"Technically three, if you count Kieth's in the back," Robin added.
"Yeah, three works," Max nodded.
"What are you d–?" Steve started to ask.
Without explanation Dustin slide over to counter to join Steve, Kim, and Robin on the other side, Max following behind him.
The three older teens protested as they knocked over stacks of movies on their way to the computer and a phone.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kim questioned.
"Setting up base of operations here," Dustin answered unhelpfully.
"Base of operations?" Robin asked.
"Get off the computer," Steve said.
"I need it!"
"Need it for what?"
"Eddie's friends' phone numbers," Dustin replied, still not fully explaining himself.
"Oh, Eddie," Steve scoffed. "Your new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?"
"I never said that," Dustin responded.
Robin groaned from over by the mess Max and Dustin had made when they jumped over the counter. "Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you guys can play around in here like toddlers, but it's Saturday. It's our busiest day."
"Alright, Robin, I empathize, but this cannot wait until Monday," Dustin said.
"What, just calling all of Eddie's friends is an emergency?" Robin scoffed.
"Correct!" Dustin yelled.
"Do you want me to strangle him or do either of you want to?" Steve whispered to Robin and Kimmy.
"We can take turns," Robin replied.
"I call going first," Kim added, helping Robin clean up. "Max, since my brother is being so incredibly helpful, would you be so kind as to tell us what the hell is going on?"
Max took a deep breath before starting to explain everything from seeing Chrissy go into Eddie's trailer the previous night, to the lights flickering, right up to seeing Chrissy's mangled body through the open door.
As Max talked, Kim felt like she was going to be sick. She knew Eddie pretty well actually. Not only because he was one of Dustin's weird D and D friends, but also because they had things in common. Kim couldn't even focus on Max's words as she started to talk about her suspicions about Eddie being the killer.
It was late September and Kim sat in her room studying. It was that point in the year where you had learned enough material to have a test. The only problem was, every class was giving a test within the same two days. It was like teachers planned this shit or something just to make kids' lives miserable.
A knock at her door made her roll her eyes. "Dustin, I told you to leave me alone! I'm not playing your stupid dice game with you and your stupid friends!"
"Ouch," a voice that definitely wasn't Dustin's replied.
Kim spun around to face the door. "Oh, uh, sorry," she mumbled.
The boy leaning against her door frame smirked. His dark curly hair and leather jacket made him look kinda like a rock star, not some basement dweller who played D and D with her little brother. "Don't worry about it. I've been called worse, sweetheart."
"So..." Kim said awkwardly. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but could you maybe leave? I have, like, three big tests tomorrow."
"Sorry, I just had to figure out who in the Henderson house was cool enough to listen to Talking Heads on vinyl," he gestured to her record player that was currently blasting Psycho Killer. "Dustin was right; he does have a cool older sister."
Kim felt herself blush involuntarily. "Sorry, I can turn it down if it's distracting you guys from your very intense campaign," she teased.
"No, don't worry about it," he smiled back at her. "You might have to show me your whole record collection sometime. I've always wanted to start collecting, but I don't exactly have the money for it."
"Let's just say I didn't exactly pay for all of these," Kim smirked.
"Oh, wow," the boy put a dramatic hand to his chest. "I don't really feel comfortable with that. I might have to report you or something."
Kim scoffed and rolled her big brown eyes. "Yeah, like you've never done anything bad in your life –"
"Eddie," he supplied. "And what's your name, Klepto?"
"Kim," she answered, rolling her eyes at the nic name.
"Huh," he smirked. "Klepto Kim has a good ring to it. Kinda has a superhero feel to it, but whatever."
"Eddie!" Dustin yelled from down stairs. "Stop flirting with my sister and get your ass back down here! She has a boyfriend!"
"A boyfriend?" Eddie raised an eyebrow at Kim. "And who's the lucky guy?"
"Steve Harrington," she replied. She didn't know why, but she felt a little embarrassed. Knowing Steve, he probably hadn't been the nicest to the boy standing in front of her.
"Oh, not what I would have expected. King Steve, huh?"
"He's not like that anymore," she rolled her eyes. "I know he used to be an ass hole, but he changed." Even saying it, Kim knew it sounded disgustingly naive and cheesy.
Eddie scoffed, finally starting to walk away. "Sure he has, Queen Klepto."
"Kim!" Steve snapped his fingers in front of her face, bringing her back to the present. "Kimmy!"
"Yeah, sorry. I spaced out. I slept like shit last night so I'm just tired," Kim muttered. It wasn't entirely a lie, at least not the part about her not sleeping well the night before.
Steve nodded, sensing that something was up but not wanting to push her about it. "Okay. Well, uh, we're gonna try calling Eddie's friends to see if they know where he would be. You're gonna help us, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Kim nodded. "Sorry."
•••••
After about an hour of pointless phone calls and dead ends, Max finally said, "Hey, guys, I might have a lead."
All in sync the other four turned to look at her. "Seriously?" Dustin asked.
Max nodded before she started to explain. "Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."
"That sounds promising," Robin nodded. "Where does this Reefer Rick guy live?"
"See, that's the thing," Max sighed. "No one knows. He's more of a legend than someone that people actually know."
"What about a last name?" Kim asked, sitting on the counter top.
"I don't know that either," Max replied.
"Bet the cops know the last name," Steve suggested. "I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system."
"The cops?" Dustin scoffed. "Really, Steve? That's your suggestion?"
"Yeah that would go so well," Kim rolled her eyes. "Hey, Officer Callahan, I know you hate our guts but, like, can we have some information on a drug dealer? We're just curious, no other reason."
Steve sighed, knowing she was right. "I just think they should probably be filled in on what we know."
"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin asked.
"Woah, woah, woah," Steve held his hands up in surrender. "I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just, you know, I don't think we can rule it out."
"That's precisely what we're trying to do here, Steve," Max snapped.
"And maybe it would help if you stopped spending so much time with customers and spent more time trying to find Eddie," Dustin added.
"Okay, sorry for actually doing my job," Steve scoffed. "There's, like, a huge selection in here and it can be kind of overwhelming for people."
"Yeah, it can be." You could practically see the light bulb above Robin's head as she rushed over to the bulky computer.
"What are you doing?" Max asked, sharing a confused look with Kim.
"Maybe we don't need a last name," Robin replied, typing rapidly. "Twelve Ricks have accounts here."
"That's a lot of Ricks," Kim muttered, scanning the list of names.
"So, let's narrow it down," Robin hit a few more buttons. "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"
"Not likely," Max shook her head.
Robin went to the next name. "Rick Conroy: Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, Romancing the Stone."
"No," the group chorused.
Robin continued to read off Rick's and their movie selections until she got to Rick Lipton. "Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams, Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke."
"Bingo," Kim smirked.
"Lipton?" Max asked.
"Spelled like the tea," Robin confirmed. "2121 Holland Road."
"That's out by Lovers Lake," Dustin realized.
"Middle of nowhere," Kim nodded.
"It's a perfect place to hide," Robin agreed.
The group rushed out of Family Video, Kim flipped the sign on the door to "closed" before hopping into her usual shotgun seat in Steve's car.