"The cops...." Steve repeated, not even bothering to look at them because he knew that they didn't agree with him. As far as he was concerned, he didn't care what happened to Eddie and he didn't want Adira hanging around with someone like him. He wanted to keep her safe at all costs, and he wasn't entirely sure that Eddie wasn't the one that had killed Chrissy.
"What?" Adira asks her brother, her eyebrows were furrowed as they rested on the back of her brothers head, "you can't be serious? Didn't we literally just have this discussion with you?"
"I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you that he has been busted at some point," Steve says, finally turning around and leaning against the counter as he looked between all of them, "it means that he is in the system."
"The cops?" Dustin finally spits out, looking at the older boy with disbelief and annoyance, "Really Steve? That is your suggestion?" Dustin asks Steve, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. I mean, surely he didn't actually think that, that was a good idea.
Adira couldn't help but stare at her brother in disbelief. She knew that Steve didn't like Eddie, he never had. Last year when Steve was still in school, he complained about Eddie, along with many other people, all of the time.
"Yeah, I think they should be filled in on what we know, what is going on." Steve said as he shrugged his shoulders. If it meant that his sister would be safe, he couldn't care less what happened to Eddie Munson, whether he got locked away, proven innocent or sent to court for trial.
"You think that Eddie is guilty don't you?" Dustin asks Steve with a scoff as he rolls his eyes. Dustin turned to Adira so that she could back him up, he gave her a look and she quickly stopped picking at her skin and turned to her brother
"Stevie, c'mon, you're right, the cops would know where Reefer Rick lives. But as soon as we tell the cops that Eddie might be there, they are going to go and catch him. He's not guilty, I know that he's not... I saw her body, there is no way that a normal person, let alone Eddie Munson, would be able to do something like that, there is just no way," Adira tried to explain to her brother
"Oh yeah, because you just know so much about Eddie Munson right?" Steve asked the girl. As far as he was concerned, his sister hadn't been hanging out with Eddie, and he planned to keep it that way. She always ended up hanging out with the wrong guys and getting into trouble
"He is a good person Steve, he's actually really nice!" Adira snapped over at her brother, "he might seem a little rough... and mean and scary on the outside, but he's like a little cinnamon roll on the inside ya' know... real sweet."
"I am just going to pretend that those words did not just come out of your mouth right now. And how do you even know that Adira, you don't even know the kid," Steve argued with her, shrugging his shoulders as he shook his head, "look, I believe in the whole innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just, you know," he clapped his hands together, "i don't think that we can just rule it out."
Max just looked at him in disbelief as she crossed her arms and shook her head, "that is precisely what we are trying to do here steve."
"And maybe, we would have a little bit more luck. If you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie!" Dustin exclaims as he motions to the next person that was about to walk into the store. Dustin, along with Adira and Maxine, were pretty much getting fed up with Steve at the moment, it was clear that he didn't want to help Eddie in the slightest, and that was their number one priority at the moment.
"Oh well somebody has to attend to the customers," Steve exclaimed as he also motioned to the people that were arriving out side. They had happened to do this on the busiest day of the week and there was practically a new customer walking in only moments after the last one walked out, thankfully, most of them knew what they were after so they didn't need to much assistance
"especially if they are babes right?" Robin asks Steve with a grin, pointing out that Dustin was right and that was pretty much all Steve ever did
"hey not fair alright, Ok I attend to all the customers equally. Babes and non-babes alike. We have got a very big selection in here okay. It can be super overwhelming for people," Steve fired back at Robin as he motioned around the store to all of the rows and rows of tapes
Robin's eyes suddenly widen in realisation as she moves away from the counter and then walks over to the computer and begins to type something into the system. Adira furrowed her eye brows at the girls actions and walked up behind her first before she leaned over her shoulder, "What are you doing?" she asked in curiosity, her eyes skimming over the screen to see what was happening
"Maybe we don't need a last name," Robin replied, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as Adira leaned over her shoulder. She quickly typed in the name 'Rick' and then pressed enter, it took a few moments for anything to happen. Adira and Robin watched a bunch of people with the name, show up in a list on the screen, "twelve Ricks already have accounts here."
"Robin, you are a literal genius," Adira muttered with a wide grin as she looked at all of the names, trying to see if any of them seemed familiar, "why do you hang out with a big idiot like my brother?" she asked playfully
"That is a lot of Ricks," Max says with a small sigh as she also looked over at the screen, not seeing why they were getting so excited when there were so many options in front of them
"So lets narrow it down," Robin muttered out as she pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard. Dustin and Max were now also right behind Robin, watching the screen in interest as the short haired girl worked her magic, "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo." Robin reads the last two movies that the first Rick had rented out, "What are the chances that our drug dealer has a family?"
"Not likely," Max and Adira both replied. The two girls weren't new to the world of drugs. Maxine's practically grew up around drugs. Her mother had been doing drugs for as long as she could remember, but it hadn't been bad until recently. Not to mention Billy's father, who was always either drinking or doing drugs.
Billy wasn't a fan of the stuff, he just liked to stick to cigarettes, which seemed to leave a horrid smell in his room that would waft out from under his door and through the house. Adira on the other hand had been introduced to drugs through people in her friendship group. A lot of the people that she hung out with weren't exactly the best influence, she only ever took a few hits of weed every now and then but that was it.
Robin nodded her head and then went to the next Rick, "All right. Rick Conroy. Sixteen candles, Teen wolf, and Romancing the stone," Robin reads out, looking back at the girls to see if they thought that this could be the person they were looking for
"Good taste, but definitely not the guy that we are looking for," Adira said with a shake of her head, "I wouldn't mind re-watching Teen Wolf though, Michael J Fox looked fine as hell," Adira muttered out as Robin went to click on the next name.
"Keep it in your pants Adira," Steve told her and rolled his eyes at his sister
Robin shifted uncomfortably in her seat before clearing her throat softly and then clicking on the next name, "Okay. Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose, and Greese," Robin says, a grin building on her face as they all said 'nah' knowing that 'Rick Joiner' was definitely not the guy that they were looking for
"Rick Kimbrough. The Blue Lagoon and Splash," Robin says and they all chuckle softly, they were beginning to get more and more amused as they tried to picture Reefer Rick in their heads watching the movies that were coming up on the screen before them
"Yeah no," Adira says with a soft snort
"Nope," Dustin agrees
"No way," Steve chuckles
Robin clicks on the next one, "okay, Rick Lipton. Fast times at Ridgemont high. Cheech & Chong's next movie. Cheech & Chongs nice dreams. Cheech & Chongs up in smoke," Robin trails off and all of them know that they have their guy
"Jesus does this guy have a life?" Adira muttered out as she looked at the movies that he had rented out.
"Bingo," Dustin cheers
"Lipton?" Max asks Robin, wondering if they had any more information that they could get from the computer
"Spelled like the tea. 2121 Holland Road," Robin says and looks around at them all
"Wait, that is out by lovers lake," Adira speaks up, being quite familiar with the place
"Middle of nowhere," Dustin adds
"Its the perfect place to hide," Robin says what they were all thinking. This was it, they finally had a solid lead on where Eddie could be hiding. Adira got a giddy feeling in her stomach at the thought of finally being able to maybe see Eddie again.
She hoped that he was okay and that she was right about him not being guilty. She thought about him being out in one of the old cabins near the lake, at least he was with this reefer rick dude, maybe he had a bed to sleep in with some blankets, some food or maybe even some fresh clothes.