"cause my heart belongs
to you. Ill risk it all for
you."
SOON, IT WOULD START TO RAIN, but that didn't stop them. They camped over by a fence, with a camera in Pope's hands.
"Nice camera." JJ complimented. "Where'd you dig up that relic?"
"It's Red's," Pope replied.
"Why don't you just use your phone?" Asked JJ.
"First of all, I like these antique electronics," Pope told him, taking the Cameron off of his eyes. "Second of all, this is a telephoto."
"What does that mean?" Asked JJ, not knowing anything about cameras.
"It allows him to get a close and clear image, even from a far distance," Red replied. JJ nodded his head, not waiting to continue the conversation, scared he might hurt Red more than he had already done.
"Lord and Lady of the dorks." Kie teased, lightly elbowing Red.
"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass," Pope explained, really living up to his Lord of the Dorks name. "Where'd you get this thing anyway?"
"I got it for Christmas last year. My old one got stolen when we went to New York, so my dad bought me this one for Christmas." Red explained, patting the camera lightly as if it were her child, which it was.
"Look, there he is!" Pope grabbed the attention of his friends, who all looked at Ward, who seemed to be in a rush as he ran toward where Gavin agreed to meet him.
"Yo, get down!" JJ told them, ducking beneath the fence.
"And there's Gavin." Red pointed out, perking her head up to where the two men ran to. "Where are you going you son of a gun?"
"No, no, no, no! I'm losing him!" Pope told them, making the camera down and away from his face. "Where's he going?"
"Hold on." JJ muttered, slipping away from the group for a second before he whistled towards them "Hey, I found something. Come here!" The group suhed towards JJ. "You gotta go up top."
"That'll work." Pope breathed, following JJ and Kie as they climbed the ladder.
"Hurry! We don't wanna miss anything." Kie rushed, climbing over the fence behind JJ.
The four kneeled beside a wall, Pope pulled out Red's camera, putting it in Gavin and Ward's range.
"Are you rolling, Pope?" Asked JJ, watching him as he held the camera with both hands and put his brown eyes to the lens.
"Yeah, are you getting it?" Kie added.
"Yeah," Pope muttered, not taking his focus off of the camera. "Yeah, I see them." Red nodded lightly, squinting her eyes to see if she could se as well as the camera, but as expected, she couldn't. "Ward just handed Gavin something, I think It's a duffel bag."
"Probably money, right? Knowing Ward." Red scoffed. "This is a payoff."
"Gavin doesn't look happy about something. It looks like he's yelling at Ward."
"Why?" Kie questioned, agitated that she couldn't see anything.
"I don't know, but he sure looks mad." Pope shook his head. "Crap."
"What's going on?"
"I don't know it looks like they're fighting over something!"
"They're going at it," JJ added, watching closely.
"Ward must be short. He must not have held up his end." Red nodded her head, trying to get an understanding.
"Ward is kicking the life out of Gavin." Pope's eyes widened. "Holy crap, Ward's got a gun."
"I bet that's the murder weapon." Kie's voice was shaky, but you could tell she was trying to remain calm.
It was then that two loud gunshots could be heard from where the group kneeled. Red grabbed hold of JJ's wrist as she ducked down.
"No, no, no. That did not just happen." Kie cried. "What's going on."
"Please tell me you got that." Red was pleased, expecting him to say no.
"Enough to put this jerk away for life." Pope grid his teeth, Red let out a sigh of relief, wiping rain off of her forehead. "This is freaking crazy," Pope exclaimed, moving further up the wall, still rolling. "Oh no. Get down, get down!"
The group again ducked down as Ward leaned over the side of the building, looking for the gun.
"I think we should go right now. Pope, you have enough, right?" Asked JJ, getting nervous.
"Yeah," Pope replied with a small nod. "Hold on, he's coming out."
"He's looking for the gun," Red added.
"I think the gun just went down the drain!" Pope reported, still recording. "He's looking for it."
"Hold this." Kie handed something to Pope before standing up.
"Kie, what are you doing?" Red asked, in more of a pleasing tone than a question.
"What is wrong with you?" Kie stood up, yelling in the direction of Ward. "Murderer!"
"Get down!" Pope covered Kie's mouth, pulling her down.
"Kiara, what are you doing?" Questioned JJ.
"I don't care if he hears me! He's a murderer!"
"Yeah, he's gonna murder us, Kie."
Red rapidly tapped on Pope's shoulder. "Guys, we need to go. He sees us."
The group hurried, climbing down the ladder. Pope first, Kie, Then Red.
"Ah, My hand!" JJ yelped, falling to the ground and knocking Pope down with him.
"No, no, no, no!" Pope crawled over to Red's now broken camera.
"Are you kidding me, you fumbled it?" JJ yelled.
"You kicked me in the face!"
"Kie stepped on my hand!" JJ defended.
"I was trying to hurry!"
"He's coming!" Pope told them, leaving the camera on the ground.
The group rushed towards the car, except Red ran after the camera, kneeling next to it.
"Red, come on!" Kie rushed her.
Red gleaned back quickly. "Just- give me a sec!"
"Red, come on!" Pope hurried, about to climb the fence. "Ward is coming!"
"I need to" Before Red could finish her thought, she was pulled away by her waist by JJ. "Let go of me! I need to get the–" She accidentally yelled too loud, and now both Red and JJ were in Ward's line of sight.
"Go, go, go!" JJ rushed Red up the fence before him, but she remained to wait for him until he climbed the fence after her, the four again running into the car.
The group panted, waiting for someone to say a word.
"Can someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?" JJ yelled, wanting to believe it was all some elaborate image. Pope groaned angrily. "Wait, what were they fighting over?"
"Uh... it was the gun. The one that Rafe used! He must have kept it." Pope explained.
"Of course! The murder weapon!"
Red dialed her dad's number instead of 911, as it was easier to call a contact she already had. "Pick up, pick up, pick up!"
"Who are you calling?" JJ questioned.
"Who else would I call?"
"The cops?" Pope guessed.
"What else do you want me to do?!"
"Why would you call the cops? That's Ward!"
"Shut up!" Red yelled, her dad finally picking up the phone. "Dad- I need help. Somebody's been shot at The Grand Street Construction site! Please hurry because he's dying... or he might be dead already- I don't know!"
"Red, Reding are you hurt? Are YOU injured?!" The Deputy asked over the phone.
"It doesn't matter! I'm fine just please hurry!" Red hung up the phone. "Alright we need to drive, we need to go like now!"
"Where do you want me to go?" Asked Kie, clearly stressed out.
"Just drive!" Pope yelled, Kie doing just that.
Soon, The group would arrive where Gavin was murdered, met by Shoupe.
"Dad!" Red yelled, getting her dad's attention. Shoupe ran up to Red, hugging her tightly and holding the back of her head. "Dad, you need to help!"
"Alright, Alright I'm going! Are you alone?"
Red shook her head. "No- No, I'm not alone. JJ, Pope, and Kie are here too. They saw it."
The pair rushed up the stairs as Kie began explaining what had happened. Shoupe didn't seem to believe a single word but wrote it down regardless.
Red anxiously bit her nails, still in disbelief at what had just happened.
"Look, It was right here that that maniac claimed his next victim, right there." Kie pointed to where Gavin had been shot. Red pacing around behind them.
"Uh-huh. His next victim?" Shoupe repeated, noticeably not believing.
JJ kneeled next to a table, his finger running across the floor.
"How long ago did you say this happened?"
"45 minutes ago, Shoupe," JJ replied.
"Okay. So Ward Cameron just popped one off... and shot him?"
"Yes." Kie cried quietly.
"Execution style... then cleaned it all up in 45 minutes."
"Well, the rain did most of the cleaning part, because Ward just darted off. He almost killed us!" Red cut in, pointing between her and the group.
"We filmed the entire thing," Pope told him.
Shoupe's blue eyes perked up, "You filmed it?"
"Yes, but we can't show it to you because- I stepped on JJ's hand and then he stepped on Pope, and then Pope dropped the camera and it broke," Kie explained in a rushed tone.
"Yeah, it was my telephoto from last Christmas. And we needed to get long distance image and... and..." Red ranted. "But... Pope fell and it broke so the footage is useless."
"But- we were there. We're the witn-"
"So the dog ate your homework?" Shoupe reference, still in utter disbelief because he couldn't even trust his daughter.
"No, Shoupe, I know how it sounds-"
"Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this." Shoupe sighed, making Red frustrated. "You dragged me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing. Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree."
"We're not making this up, Shoupe!"
"It's not a random killing spree!" Pope cut in. "Gavin was his pilot. Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day."
"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin!" Kie told him.
"And then he called him here and tried to pay him off, but it wasn't enough, and then so he shot him!"
"Exactly." Pope agreed with JJ's correct statement.
"With the murder weapon."
Pope looked between the teens seriously. "How do you know that?"
"Well, My friend Max gave us the information from the flight history of where Ward flew from, then Pope did this thing with his phone and put it in his car... he connected it to my AirPods."
"I heard their whole conversation!"
"You wiretapped him?" Shoupe questioned.
"Is that bad?" Kie whined.
"Stop- stop, just stop." Shoupe pointed at the teens. "I've had enough."
"What are you talking about, Shoupe are you just gonna walk the other way again?" Asked JJ and Shoupe began walking away from them.
"You ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe asked, continuing to walk down.
The teens continued shouting at Shoupe, following him down the stairs.
"Alright, there's nothing up there, false alarm let's all go home," Shoupe announced to the other cops.
"Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes?" Kie begged, Shoupe, turned to face her.
"Hey, I know. I know you're upset. And I know you think your friend was innocent."
"He is, Dad!" Red shouted.
"But you weren't there. The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite, alright? And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now."
"Well then ask Bennie Thornton then, Shoupe!" JJ yelled. "She was there on the tarmac too."
"I know Bennie was there, alright? But she's not allowed to testify." Shoupe explained. Red looked at Shoupe confused, thinking Bennie just didn't want to. Shoupe looked at Kie. "I saw your little art project on Ward's wall. Do not do that again."
"Oh come on!"
"Alright?" Shoupe yelled. "You're gonna make things a lot harder for both of us." Shoupe opened the car door. "Get in the car, Red."
Red shook her head stubbornly, swallowing hard. "I'm not going anywhere."
Shoupe scoffed, "Oh yeah, you wanna play this game again?"
"Yeah actually." Red cried. "Because the last time I checked you didn't go looking for me, and in my books that makes you a horrible father. So no, I won't go with a dad who doesn't have the guts to beg for me to go with him instead of letting me not."
"Yeah, and where the hell are you gonna stay?"
"Not with you," Red replied, her arms crossed across her chest. The Deputy sighed in defeat, getting back in the car and driving away.
"I told you this would happen," JJ complained as the group began walking away beside an ambulance. "Like, you are the one who had to drop the camera."
Both Red and Pope faced down, not wanting to be a part of nor hear Kie and JJ's argument as if wouldn't get them anywhere.
"It was your fault!" Kie defended, extending her arm out towards Pope, who continued walking beside Red.
"Oh, that was my fault?"
"Yeah, it was your fault!"
"Why do you always take his side? Why do you never take mine?" JJ asked, Pope and Red turned around to face the pair.
"Shut up!" Kie snapped, paying attention to Red's silence and Pope's frustration.
"Hey, Hey! We're not out of this yet." Pope turned back to where he was walking. "We can still go get the gun."
Pope looked over to the drain, approaching it slowly as his three friends watched in confusion. Pope stood by the drain for a second before Red approached him.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that, Pope?" She asked, glaring at the drain below them. "Unless you plan on getting Pennywise to go down there and get it for us."
Pope snapped his fingers. "We can just figure out where it is. Do some digging, and bam, we'll find it and put Ward away for life."
"Easier said than done," Red muttered, not sure how Pope planned on going through with his elaborate plan. "But, It's not impossible. I think we can do it, right?" Red turned around facing JJ and Kie, who shrugged. "So we can just do some homework, figure out where the drains lead, and meet back up tomorrow."
"Yeah, by the way, where are you going to go? You kinda just bailed on your dad." Kie questioned, approaching the two followed by JJ. "You didn't have to do that, by the way. That's the second time you put your relationship with your dad in jeopardy because of us."
"I didn't do it for us." Red crossed her arms, sighing deeply. "I did it for me. Plus, He couldn't believe his daughter. That's pathetic."
"Yeah, but still, where are you staying?" Asked Pope, bringing up the topic that Red brushed off again.
Red shrugged, not making it a big deal. "I don't know. I'll probably just... hang around."
"Hang around?" Kie scoffed. "You may be a pogue now, but you're not a hobo. You can stay with me, I mean, it will only be for a day, right? And my parents already like you so..."
"Yeah, that sounds alright." Red hugged Kie, thankful that she had a friend like her.
"But what about... y'know when you're not with Kie?" Asked JJ. Red pulled away from her hug with Kie. "I mean- Unless you're staying there until John B is proven innocent."
"Well, I guess I'll cross the bridge when I get there." Red offered a half-smile to the boy, which he returned. "Worst case scenario, I go home."
"My parents won't mind having you around, but maybe not for months." Kie smiled, genuinely honest. "But a few days won't hurt anybody."
"Thank you, Kie." Red smiled, hugging Kie again.
"Always lookin' out." Kie winked, checking the time on her phone. "But If you're staying, we need to go."
Red nodded in understanding, getting in the car alongside JJ and Pope. Pope dropped Kie and Red off at Kie's house and drove off with JJ.
The time was 11:53, and Kie quietly snuck Red up the stairs, eventually going to bed after lending her an outfit for the morning, as they were close in size.
That morning, Red woke up early although going to bed at an hour that wasn't exactly decent. Kie had already been awake, getting change before she threw a black tank top, a beige cardigan, and shorts at Red, telling her to put it on, so she did.
"Morning, Daddy." Kie greeted her father while walking into the kitchen, grabbing two apples for her and Red. "You remember Red."
"Morning, pumpkin." Mr. Carrera kissed Kie's head softly. "Hi there, Red! You girls hungry?"
"Oh- no. We were just about to head to the beach." Kie made up, throwing the apple at Red, which she caught surprisingly. "But thank you."
"It was nice seeing you, Mike." Red smiled brightly, wishing him goodbye before meeting where the two girls had agreed to meet Pope and JJ the night before.
"This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully." JJ explained, the group approaching a drain with grey water. "So if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like-"
"Somewhere in this trash." Pope finished, nodding at JJ.
Kie sighed, "Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot."
"Okay, personally. I love plastic." JJ voiced, purposely trying to get under Kie's skin. "Use it every day. Love this stuff."
"Okay well, hopefully, you recycle it and don't just let it flush out into the ocean." Kie retorted.
"I thought you'd say something like that, so-" Pope started, holding up trash bags. "Trash bags."
"Did you just... proactively protect the environment." Kie smiled, seemingly impressed by Pope.
Pope looked at her with a smile. "Maybe."
Red snickered quietly. "It is true love."
Kie nudged Red in the side, to which she just laughed, proud of her joke.
"You want us to leave you two alone or what's going on?" JJ began before Pope threw the trash bags at him.
"Just pick up the trash," Pope told him. Kie wore a proud look on her face. Red watched as they picked up trash aimlessly staring at the water until Pope noticed. "Are you gonna help? Or are you too pretty?"
Red tilted her head playfully. "I'm too pretty."
"Are you gonna help?" Asked Kie.
"Nuh-uh. That's grey water." Red pointed at the water.
"What the hell is grey water?" Asked JJ, rolling his eyes at the girl subtly.
"It's basically... piss and shit so I'm just telling you," Red told them, crossing her arms. "You guys are splashing around in gallons of kook pee."
The group smiled at her, secretly finding it funny, but eventually, Red did get in and help.
"Well, that was fun." JJ voiced sarcastically, wiping sweat off of his forehead as he set his bag over the small wall in front of him.
"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain." Pope theorized, placing his hands on his hips.
"It's in it's in the drain," JJ told him, now 100% sure since the trash was now all put-away, and none of it contained a gun.
"Damn it," Pope muttered, clenching his jaw.
"Of course it is," Kie added, knowing their luck.
"Good thing I brought the crow." JJ dug into his bag that lie beside him.
"So... are we gonna do rock paper scissors?" Kie questioned, wondering who would be the lucky teen to go into the drain. "Or alphabetically?"
"Nah. On three, Pope. One, two, three." The two boys pulled the gate in front of them, leaving an opening for the sewer. "In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood and then... has to come out of your pecker. SO uh... that would be a hard pass for me."
"Yeah, that's gonna be a no from me." Pope agreed, sounding slightly grossed out by the idea.
"No, I get it. I get it, you guys are scared." Kie teased.
"No, no I'm not scared."
After many 'I'm not scared' from Pope and JJ, Red made her way over to the drain. "I'll do it."
Kie scoffed playfully, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Red gave her a sure smile, getting half in the drain. "I mean... It's not like I'm gonna die. What's a little pain?"
Kie shrugged, "Alright. I'm not gonna fight you for it." She began walking away from Pope and JJ. "I'm gonna go pick up more trash, people are so nasty."
"Y'know just... be careful," JJ warned her as she was sliding further into the drain.
Red nodded, climbing fully into the small drain, barely able to fit.
"Just uh... holler if you need anything, okay?" JJ shouted, his voice echoing from inside the drain. "We'll uh... we'll holler back."
"Very helpful, thank you." Red voiced back, now deeper into the dark hole, examining the walls.
A few seconds passed, and Red crawled slowly farther in before Pope's voice could be heard from the outside.
"Red, did you find anything yet?"
"Yeah, Red, do you see the gun?"
"The only thing I've seen is a few rat carcasses," Red said seriously, continuing to crawl.
"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin," Pope told her, his voice becoming harder and harder to hear.
Red squeezed her way out of the hole, entering a bigger area, but it just seemed grosser. She looked up at the ladder, resting beside it while looking up.
Red began searching through the drains, finding multiple items of trash, but no trace of a gun.
"Guys, I think I found something." Red hollered, approaching something that looked big ad stood out in the filthy water.
"Is it the gun?!" Asked JJ from the other side.
Red screamed as she picked up what looked like another animal carcass and dropped it back in the water. "Ew, there's so many dead things in here!"
"Is it- is it a human?!" Asked JJ gullibly. Red could practically hear Pope's eye-roll.
Red continued screaming, the griminess of the situation was finally getting to her head. "Guys! There's something dead! There's something dead and I don't know what it is!"
"Is it a person?!" Pope hollered back, now finally taking JJ's question seriously.
"Red, don't touch it, that's how you get the worms!" JJ yelled. "What is it? Is it Gavin?! Is it the gun!?"
"God I wish Bennie was here to do this! You guys owe me for the rest of your lives!" Red shouted, almost in tears because of the situation.
Red faintly heard gurgling water, she whipped her head around to see the water moving and gurgling causing the sound.
"Oh God no!" Red mumbled, realizing the water had been filling up high and higher as seconds went by. "Guys! Guys, the waters rising!"
"Red, get out of there now!" Pope yelled. The urgency lacing his voice made Red nervous beyond measure, but she didn't know where to go.
The water just kept flowing faster and faster, causing Red to climb up the ladder further. "I don't have time! Guys! Crap!! Oh no!"
Red could hear JJ and Pope screaming out her name, but it was mostly blocked out by the water filling up. Soon, Red couldn't hear any of them.
She quickly climbed the ladder further, now screaming and banging on the drain lid, gasping for breath.
"Please! JJ! Guys, help I'm over here!" Red shouted, hoping they'd hear her from wherever they were.
"Red!"
"Red!"
Red heard the three teen voices racing toward where she was.
"Guys! I'm over here!" Red slipped her fingers through the holes in the drain. Pope, Kie, and JJ soon crowded around the drain, hearing Reds cry for help as they tried to pull it up.
Red was neck-deep in the water, screaming for the teens to hurry as she yelled their names. The three pulled and pulled, but no use came from it.
"JJ, please! Please!" Red pleaded as if he was about to just walk away and leave her in the drain, but Red's mind couldn't process it, it was all pure adrenaline.
"We're gonna get you out of there, I promise!" Pope assured, watching as JJ pulled out a pocket knife, but when the knife broke, leaving Red still in the drain, The teens continued pulling on the top until water flowed from the top, now Red couldn't breathe being under the water.
Finally, Red's blonde head popped out gasping for breath from underneath the water as the teens pulled it off.
Red lay on her stomach, coughing and gasping for air as the other teens panted.
"Are you okay?" Asked JJ, placing his hand on Red's shoulder as Kie hugged her side as she continued to cough.
"Red, you okay?" Asked Pope, making sure she was okay. Red nodded slowly, still trying to catch her breath.
Red reached into her back pocket, pulling out a familiar gun used by Ward the night before. "Oh- by the way."
The group began laughing, shocked that Red had gotten a hold of the gun even as she was about to die.
JJ gently took the gun from Red's hands, wiping it off with his bandanna handkerchief. "Oh, my god. We're gonna get this guy!"
Red slowly stood up, allowing Pope to help her. "Good job."
"You did it, Red. You did it." JJ exclaimed, pulling the girl into a hug which Red uncomfortably returned. Red didn't know how to feel, one side of her was comforted by the hug, and the other was scared that she would be left again. But she hugged back anyway until the other two teens joined in.
"Let's get this to Shoupe." JJ nodded, his voice slightly muffled as he pulled away from the group hug.
Later that day, the group would crowd up Shoupe's office, this time with evidence. Shoupe was surprised to see Red, but smirked in victory when he did, thinking she would come home and he would be proved right, but his smile immediately dropped when he saw Red's serious face and JJ, Pope, and Kie come in behind her.
Red set the gun in front of the man, removing JJ's handkerchief and handing it back to the boy as Shoupe sat in confusion.
Shoupe sighed, looking at the four. "So y'all are telling me that this is the firearm Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with?"
"That's exactly what we're telling you, Shoupe." Pope nodded, sounding very serious. "And the exact firearm that Ward just used to kill Gavin."
"I-" Shoupe took a breath, still not in 100% belief. "And where's that corpse again?"
"Didn't you look?" Kie asked a good question, gaining her friend's and Shoupe's attention.
"I checked the hospital, I went by his house, and he was out," Shoupe reported as if crossing off a checklist in his mind of what he did.
"Yeah, of course, he was out! He's dead!" Red raised her voice, stating the obvious to her father, who gave her a side-eye.
"Just because he's not in his damn home, does not mean he was a victim of a homicide," Shoupe told them firmly.
"Well, what about in say a month when he's still not home? I bet you're still not going to have a suspect, and even if you do, It's probably wrong anyway since now you have a reputation for falsely accusing innocent victims." Red sat back in her chair, frustrated.
Kie looked at Red, feeling sorry for her. "Are you at least gonna send it in for ballistics? Or are you just gonna sit on your ass?"
"He'll sit there and wax that damn mustache," JJ shouted, getting angry. Shoupe stood up. "I mean is that even real?"
"I'll wax this-"
"JJ shut up!" Pope hushed, having to get in between the two as Red lay her head in her hands.
"That's not fair!" Kie complained, Shoupe now leaving the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt his feelings?"
"Shut up!" Red shouted, standing up and approaching her father.
Shoupe opened the door, facing the teens. "Get out. I've got work to do."
"Are you kidding me?" JJ groaned, removing his hat as a sign of stress.
"Y'all are smelling up my damn office."
Kie stood up, stopping in front of Shoupe, on the verge of tears. "Did Ward bribe you? This doesn't make any sense."
"You ain't gonna do anything," JJ muttered, wrapping his arm around Red before storming out of the room.
"Out!" Shoupe yelled after them. Red shook JJ's arm off of her shoulder, getting closer to Kie instead.
Red wanted nothing more than to stay beside JJ, but she was too afraid of getting hurt again. So she pushed him away, as she did with everybody.
redddddddd :((
I honestly feel bad for
her cause she's scared
everyone she loves will
leave her and that's why
she hated when JJ said he
loved her last part 😭
thanks for reading tho :)