Chapter Twenty-Five

The five of us all hide behind a fence as it pours down with rain by a surf shop in a street where Gavin was meeting my Dad. I brush my wet hair out of my face as I looked at the camera that Pope was using to try and get evidence. It wasn't a phone, no, it was a big camera.

"Nice camera." JJ mocks. "Where'd you dig up that relic? Why don't you just use your phone?"

Pope turned to JJ. "Well, first of all, I like my antique electronics. Second of all, this is a telephoto. It allows me to get close enough from far away."

"Lord of the dorks." Kie teased.

"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass," Pope informed us. "There he is." We looked over and saw that Dad was running up the street with a big bag.

"Shit," JJ muttered. "Yo, get down." We all ducked behind the fence.

"And there's Gavin," Pope spoke over the thunder. They head into a building under construction. "Where are you going, you son of a bitch? No, no, no. I'm losing him. Shit. Where's he going?"

"Hold on," JJ told us and left us for a moment. JJ whistles and I looked over at him. "Yo! Hey. I found something. Come here."

I left the fence and walked over to him in the alleyway. I looked up the long ladder and JJ allowed me to go first. I climbed up the ladder on a roof.

I had parked down the very end so that there was enough room for the rest of them. JJ squats down next to me, Pope was in the middle and Kie was by the ladder as we looked further into the construction site.

Dad and Gavin were on the top floor and we had a perfect view. Pope points his camera towards them.

"You rolling, Pope?" JJ questioned.

"Are you getting it?" Kie asked soon after.

"Yeah. Yeah, I see them." Pope told us. I can just see them through a frame of an unfinished wall. "Ward just handed Gavin something. I think it's a duffel bag."

"Guys, I think this is the payoff," JJ told us.

"Gavin doesn't look happy about something," Pope informs. "It looks like he's yelling at Ward."

"Why?" I questioned.

"I don't know," Pope answered. "But he sure does look mad." A few seconds later, Pope speaks again. "Shit!"

"What's going on?" Kie asked as we watched Dad grab onto Gavin.

"I—I don't know," Pope answered and I wiped some water out of my eyes. I hated being drenched on. "They're fighting over something."

"They're really going at it." JJ pointed out and I held my breath. JJ noticed this and grabbed my hand. "Baby, breath."

I let out a breath. "I know," I whispered.

They kept throwing punching at each other. "Ward's kicking the shit out of Gavin."

"Why are they fighting?" JJ questioned again.

"I don't know." Pope had snapped. "I'm trying to see. Holy shit, Ward's got a gun."

"I bet that's the murder weapon." Kie had quickly said and I suddenly felt uncomfortable watching my father points a gun at Gavin.

"JJ..." I had whimpered and he quickly whispers sweet things to me. I looked at him, biting my lower lip and nodded my head. He was holding one of my hands and had an arm wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me close to him. He kissed the top of my head.

Suddenly, a gunshot went off and I watched Gavin collapsed to the ground. I let out a cry and JJ quickly put a hand over my mouth.

"Shh, shh," JJ quickly told me and tears sprung to my eyes. The others all gasped and we all hide behind the wall.

"No, no, no, no that did not just happen." Kie freaked out.

"Oh, my God." I placed my hands on my head, trying to comprehend what happened. "My Dad... My Dad..." I was completely speechless as to what the fuck just happened.

"Pope, tell me you just got that," JJ told him as Pope continued to film.

"Enough to put this asshole away for life." Pope grinned. Another gunshot went off and I flinched, burying myself into JJ. I couldn't watch it. "This is freaking crazy,"

I finally pulled myself away from JJ and looked out. Gavin was officially dead and I let out another small gasp, holding a hand over my mouth.

"Oh, no." Pope quickly said. "Get down, get down." We all hide against the wall and I pressed myself against it, trying not to get seen by my Dad. "Holy shit."

"I think we should go right now," JJ told us and I nodded my head, agreeing. "Pope, you have enough, right?"

"Yeah," Pope replied. "Hold on. He's coming out. There he goes. I think he's looking for the gun." I looked over the edge and saw that Dad was running down the street. The gun reaches a drain, Dad was quickly trying to reach it. But it fell down before he could even grab it. "I think the gun just went down the drain. He's looking for it. Hey, he's looking for the gun."

"Hold this." Kie had quickly said. Kie stands.

"What are you doing, Kie?" JJ questioned her.

"What is wrong with you?" Kie had shouted. "Murder!" JJ quickly cups a hand over her mouth and pulled her down.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed at her.

"Kiara. Are you crazy?" Pope repeats.

"What are you doing?" JJ quickly asked her.

"I don't care if he hears me." Kie had spoken. "He's a murderer!"

"Yeah, and he's gonna murder us, Kie." JJ had snapped.

"Guys, he sees us." Pope panicked.

"Huh?" I panicked. "What? He does? Are you serious?"

"Come on. We gotta go." Pope quickly said.

"We gotta get the hell out of here." JJ had rushed out and I made my way towards the ladder. I was the first to climb down. I had slipped on the ladder, completely falling on the ground the rest of the way down. "Shit, Storm!"

I cringed as my ass hurts. "I'm fine!" I waved it off, stumbling to get up. "Oh, my jeans!" I tried to wipe the mud off my jeans. I let out a yelp as JJ and Pope both fall behind me, Kie standing at the top with wide eyes. "Guys!"

"Sorry." Kie whimpered. "So sorry." Kie climbed down the ladder and I quickly helped JJ.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, are you?" JJ looked at me, scanning my face with his eyes. I nodded.

I looked over the camera that had smashed onto the ground. "Ohh... But that camera might not be."

"No, no, no, no." Pope groaned at the broken camera.

"You're kidding me. You fumbled it?" JJ questioned.

Pope turned to JJ. "You kicked me in the face!"

"She stepped on my hand." JJ points at Kie.

"I was trying to hurry," Kie panicked.

"Okay, can we not play the blame game?" I asked them seriously. "We're not five here, all right? Let's fucking go."

They all nodded and complied as we rushed off to Kie's SUV. JJ and I piled into the back, Kie and Pope in the front.

"Could someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?" JJ asked, leaning back in his seat.

Pope groaned loudly over the thunder.

"Oh, my God." I muttered, my hands trembling.

"Holy crap, I can't believe it. Wait, wait. What were they fighting over?" JJ questioned.

"Uh... It was a gun." Pope stumbled over his words. "The one Rafe used. He must have kept it."

"Of course!" JJ exclaimed. "Of course! The murder weapon!"

"Can we please not say that word?" I begged, looking at JJ.

"What? What? Murder?" JJ glared at me harshly and my face screws up, tears threatening to fall.

"Yes that word!" I had exclaimed. "I'm sick and tired of hearing it!"

"Is this hard for you to comprehend, Stormy?" JJ continued to snap at me. "Because news flash, Stormy Cameron, half of your family are murderers."

"Stop it!" I cried out, putting my hands over my ears. "They're not my family! It's not my fault they're psychopaths!"

"JJ, shut up." Pope had snapped at him. "Stop yelling at Stormy like this is her fault. You know it's not her fault."

"Pick up! Pick up!" Kie had yelled over our fighting. She was calling the police.

"Who are you calling?" JJ quickly asked.

"Who do you think?" Kie snapped.

"The cops?!" Pope exclaimed.

Kie turned to him. "Who else am I suppose to call?"

"Why would you call the police?" JJ snapped. "That's Ward! It's Ward!"

"Shut up!" Kie had snapped at us once the cops had picked up. "Hello? Hi, somebody's been shot. At the... At the Grand Street construction site! You guys need to hurry because he's dying. I don't know if he's already dead or not! You guys need to hurry please!"

"Guys, we've gotta get out. We're sitting ducks." JJ had quickly told the others.

"We can't stay here." I blurted out and JJ nods at me.

"What do you want me to do?" Kie had hung up on the cops, turning to us.

"Just drive!" Pope exclaimed. Kie drives forward.

Tears begin to fall slowly down my cheeks. I pulled my knees close to me, burying my head into my knees. I let out a few sobs.

I felt a hand placed on my shoulder. "Get away from me." I told JJ. I didn't need to look up to know that it was JJ. I shuffled closer to the door.

I can't believe that just happened.

✫✫✫

"Look, it was right here, and this is where that maniac claimed his next victim." Kie, Pope, JJ, and I stand inside the construction site with Shoupe taking down our notes. It has stopped raining. "Right there."

"Uh-huh." Shoupe nodded. "His next victim?"

I don't understand how, but Gavin was gone. He wasn't here where we saw him die. But, I'm guessing that Dad had moved him.

I run a hand through my wet hair. "Look, Shoupe, I wouldn't be backing up these claims against my own father if it wasn't true." I had told him seriously.

Shoupe nods slightly. "Right... How long ago did you say it happened?"

"45 minutes ago, Shoupe," JJ told him.

"And so, Ward Cameron just popped one-off and shot him." Shoupe summed up.

"Yes," I responded, nodding.

"Execution style?" Shoupe raised an eyebrow. "And then cleaned it all up in 45 minutes?"

"Yeah," Kie said.

"Obviously," Pope nods his head.

"We filmed the entire thing." Kie had quickly said.

Shoupe looked at us. "You filmed it?"

"Yes, but we can't show it to you because I stepped on JJ's hand, and then he kicked Pope, and then Pope dropped the camera because it's a piece of shit and it broke," Kie explained.

"This is a telephoto, and we needed to get a long-distance image, and... And... I fell and it broke." Pope continued. "So the video is basically unusable. But, but, we were there, and we witness—"

"So, the dog ate your homework?" Shoupe sasses.

"No, Shoupe. I know how it sounds—"

"Look," Shoupe cuts off Kie. "I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this. You drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing. Expect for—"

"No, it's nothing!" Kie interrupted.

"Expect for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on some random killing spree." Shoupe had finished.

"We're not making this up!" JJ exclaimed.

"We're telling the truth!" My voice had cracked.

"It's not a random killing spree!" Pope yelled. "Gavin was his pilot! Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day."

"Gavin was blackmailing Dad because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." I continued to explain.

"And then he called him here and tried to pay him off but it wasn't enough, and then he shot him." JJ had finished.

"Exactly," Pope nods his head.

"With the murder weapon!"

Shoupe blinks. "How do you know that?"

Kie waves a hand at Pope. "Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and—"

"I heard their whole conversation." Pope cuts off Kie.

"You wiretapped him?" Shoupe questioned.

"Is that bad?" Kie asked.

"Stop. Just stop." Shoupe told us. "I've had enough."

"What are you talking about? Are you just gonna look the other way?" JJ exclaimed as Shoupe began to leave.

"You ever heard the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe responded, going down the stairs and I raced after him.

"Why would we make this up?!" I exclaimed. "Why would I throw my own family under the bus if it wasn't true!"

"Why can't you just believe us for once?" JJ also exclaimed as we followed Shoupe to the street.

"Waste of my Goddamn time." Shoupe had snapped.

"Why would we lie?" Kie speaks. "Shoupe, I know it sounds crazy! I know that!"

"All right, there's nothing up there." Shoupe had told everybody on the streets who had come. "False alarm. Let's all go home."

"No!" I cried out. "Not false alarm! My Dad really did kill Gavin! You gotta believe us! You gotta believe me!"

"No, no. Please, don't go home." Kie had begged the officers. "No. Why would we make this up? Can you do your job just for like 20 minutes?"

"Hey." Shoupe had turned to us. "I... I know..."

"Just listen." I had begged. "It makes sense!"

"I know you're upset." Shoupe continued. "And I know you think your friend was innocent."

"He is!" Kie cried out.

"But you weren't there." Shoupe had snapped. "The only actually witness who are above the ground say the exact opposite. All right? And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now. I saw your little art project on Ward's wall. Do not do that again."

"Oh, come on." Kie groaned.

"All right?" Shoupe had cut off Kie. "Gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us." Shoupe gestures towards the others cops as he opened up his door. "Go home." My face fell.

"At least... At least look for him!" Kie had whimpered. "Someone died tonight!"

"Get on home to your parents now." Shoupe had told us and I shook my head.

"I don't want to go home to a place where it's full of lying, manipulate, murders." I clenched my jaw.

JJ had pulled on my arm, pulling us away from the scene. "I told you this would happen." JJ had said. He looked at Pope. "Like, you're the one that had to drop the camera."

"It was your fault!" Kie had defended Pope. The two continued to argue, causing me a great headache.

I looked over at the drain that the gun was in and an idea had come to mind. "Guys! Hey!" I had turned sharply to JJ and Kie. "Hey! We're not out of this yet. We can still go get the gun."

We all eyed the drain.

We're getting that gun.

A/N

This is one of my favourite chapters, and including the next one. I love JJ and Stormy so much. What's their ship name? I haven't asked that yet...

Maybe like Jormy or something lmao.