CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:
ASHES TO ASHES
(episode one: the gold)

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"WAIT, HOLD ON. WHY does she get to tickle?" JJ pouted as Kie and Pope leant over Kie's phone to dial Gavin's number.

It was night time, and so far, Haven and Brec had spent a painful three hours stuck in JJ's van with the pogues. Unfortunately for Haven, Brec had fallen asleep not long after they planted Pope's phone in Gavin's car, her head resting on Haven's shoulder. She wouldn't have minded had it not been for the way that Pope's face dropped before he quickly schooled his expression into one of cool indifference. And of course, following that was a chain reaction. JJ made an awkward comment about hanging out with your ex (a comment that was very much unappreciated) and Arden's glare turned scathing on the side of Haven's head. For the rest of the stake out, she had to fight the urge to wake Brec out of pure spite. Maybe then, the time would've gone by quicker.

Back to the present. Pope rolled his eyes at JJ like the answer to his question was obvious. "She's the best," he shrugged, to which Arden muttered a 'smooth' through muffled laughter.

Kie shot the girl a look before asking, "Should I do an accent?"

"Oh, definitely disguise your voice."

"Disguise my voice how?" she questioned, her voice rising in pitch as she put on one of the worst British accents Haven had ever heard. "How would you like me to talk? Like this?"

"Not like that," Haven and JJ winced in unison. Then, to top it off, they turned to each other at the same time, Haven sighing to herself as JJ hurriedly smirked and exclaimed, "Jinx! You owe me weed!"

The conversation was momentarily paused as everyone looked at him in disbelief. "What?" he huffed to himself, frowning as Arden sighed and patted him on the shoulder like he was a confused puppy.

"You know that's not the saying, right?" Haven snickered behind her hand.

"Well, duh," he scoffed, though judging by the way his face burned with embarrassment, Haven would claim otherwise. "That was just my take on it. Cool, right?"

"Look, can we get back to the tickling, please?" Pope said, gaze locked firmly with Kie's as he stubbornly ignored JJ and Arden's childish grins. Haven rolled her eyes and smacked JJ on the arm, still trying not to move her shoulder as Brec snored softly in her sleep. "Batman's the way to go here."

"Batman," Kie repeated, her voice deep like a growl.

Pope smiled proudly. "Spot on. Let's do this."

Deciding it was time, Haven nudged Brec but quickly raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion as the dazed girl's eyes fluttered open. She pointed to the front with her other hand, the car silent with anticipation; for Kie had just pressed the dial button and switched on the speaker, and now they had to wait for Gavin to pick up. The phone rang once, twice, and then a clicking sound was heard as the call was accepted.

"Hello?"

"Hello," Kie said in her Batman impression. Brec's eyebrows shot up on her forehead, Haven face-palming. It sounded good in theory but it wasn't something that would get them the answers they needed. Kie's voice lowered into a whisper as she turned to the group. "Guys, I can't."

"Just talk," Pope hissed as Gavin asked who he was speaking to.

Kie cleared her throat and said with as much confidence as she could muster, "Is Gavin there?" Much better.

"This is Gavin. Who's this?" the man replied, suspicious. "Hello?"

"I know what happened on the tarmac."

There was a long pause as Gavin comprehended what she'd just said. After a moment, he chuckled uneasily, voice breathy with rising panic. "Um, who is this?"

"It was Rafe Cameron," Kie exclaimed, on a warpath. "But you already knew that, and you lied about it."

"Okay, who is this?"

"And we're going to prove it. You're guilty—"

"You're gonna tell me who this is right now," he snapped.

Haven's hand found Brec's as Kie's voice just rose with pain. "You could've saved her, Gavin, and you didn't. And you're not getting away with this."

"Listen to me!" he was screaming now. Kie just rolled her eyes, finger hovering over the end  button. She had nothing else to say. They'd gotten what they needed. "Who is—"

She hung up. There were no signs of movement in Gavin's house, but Haven knew he must've been scared shitless. Someone knew the dirty little secret he'd been keeping for months. That wasn't what Ward had promised him. It was only a matter of time before he decided it wasn't worth losing his own freedom for. He'd squeal, and the pogues and Haven would be ready when he did.

"How was that?" Kie asked as she pocketed her phone with a smile. No traces of her previous anger in sight.

"That was..." Haven trailed off, unsure the right word to use. Kie was terrifying when she wanted to be, and for a second, Haven wanted to high-five her, to joke about Gavin's fear for old time's sake. She didn't, but judging by the way Kie's eyes lingered, Haven had a feeling she'd noticed.

"You are terrifying when you want to be, Kie," Arden breathed out, JJ and Pope muttering their murmurs of agreement that Brec nodded along to. She was wide-eyed, looking at Kie like she'd never seen her before.

"So what next?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat with new-found eagerness.

Pope just glanced at her before saying, "Well, we tickled the wire, so phase two is complete. Now we wait and listen."

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. JJ had annoyed Haven into a game of tic-tac-toe while they waited, but Arden knocked their hands down as the door to Gavin's house slammed shut and the headlights of his car tore through the darkness like beacons of brightness to fight off the shadows.

"He's on the move," she hissed, oblivious to the way that Haven's glare lingered on the side of her head.

"Stay down," Pope added, the group ducking down low to avoid Gavin seeing them as he drove past. Haven and Brec held each other tight as the light danced across the ceiling before fading into darkness again. They didn't move until they were sure Gavin was nowhere in sight of them.

"He didn't see us, right?" Brec asked as she inched back up into her chair.

JJ shook his head. "There's no way he did."

"Then let's get out of here," Haven said. "Before we lose him."

With Pope urging her to 'hurry up' and everyone staring her down impatiently, Kie hurriedly reached for the keys and the engine spluttered to life. The van was off to a slow start, the tires clearly unused to so much movement, a fact that clearly unimpressed Arden, who glowered at a sheepish JJ.

"You're going to have a lot to fix in this junker, you know that, don't you?"

He nodded quickly. "I'll get right to it."

"Yeah, you better."

"Guys, be quiet," Pope snapped as he adjusted Kie's airpods in his ears again. Fortunately, this time Arden made no weird comments about it, too focused on catching up with Gavin. "He's calling someone."

"Calling someone?" JJ frowned, and Haven had to wonder if he was high.

Pope narrowed his eyes at him. "That's what I just said." But he went quiet as a faint murmur was heard in the earphones. "It's Ward. He's talking to Ward."

Haven felt sick just at the mention of his name. She'd done her best to avoid him and Rafe ever since that day in the police tent. She'd only seen Rafe once, and it was at a distance when she came to give her mother and JJ lunch at the Country Club. He smiled at her but made no move to approach. He just knew the sight of his face would be enough to destroy any progress she had made. It was safe to say Haven never went back to the club, something that had pissed her mother off at first but stopped phasing her after a talk with Liam.

For the truth was, Melinda Maybank was in the dark about a lot of things; her boyfriend's connection to Arden Kim (that was something even Haven didn't understand, even after Liam tried to explain the basics involving Arden's father and some old babysitter) the treasure hunt, the events of the tarmac, her brother's involvement with Darren Murphy's death. It turned out that in true Luke Maybank fashion, the man had landed himself in prison during Haven's time away in Brazil. That was the only thing that stopped her from turning him in, from telling her mother. For once, Melinda seemed genuinely happy. She had Liam, her brother was out of the picture, her nephew wasn't as awful as she had thought. Haven didn't want to ruin that, so she settled for watching Luke suffer in other ways.

But that wasn't important right now. What mattered was bringing Ward down for good, feeling Sarah's arms around her again, getting to witness John B's laugh in person. She inhaled sharply, in and out, and let everything go.

"Kie, you gotta get closer," Pope was saying with a frustrated frown. "I can't hear."

"Okay," she sighed, and pushed harder on the van's accelerator. It wasn't much of a difference, they'd seemed to hit the vehicle's maximum speed already, but Pope sighed in relief so it must've worked.

"He's talking about negotiating something," he told them. "Renegotiating..."

So whatever deal Gavin had with Ward wasn't good enough, wasn't worth his own prison sentence. Interesting...

Suddenly, Pope's eyes went wide with shock and something akin to hope, like an idea had formed. "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin."

"Jesus christ," Brec murmured, biting down on one of her nails anxiously. It was a reaction Haven had already seen in her when she first told Brec about the blood on Rafe Cameron's hands; sickening disbelief, horror. She'd barely said two words to Rafe in her entire life, but just the thought of growing up anywhere near him disgusted her. Now was no different. Rafe Cameron had murdered their Sheriff in cold blood and pinned it on someone like her, a pogue, someone he could use. It was cruel but everything she expected from someone who bathed in money.

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage."

"No wonder Ward hired him," Haven scoffed. Gavin was just like Ward in the worst kind of way; willing to do whatever it took to clear his name.

The voices filtering through Kie's airpods were so loud, they could pretty much hear everything that was being said. Gavin's frustration seemingly got the better of him, for his car began to slow down until he came to a stop by the side-walk, wanting to chew out Ward without needing to focus on his surroundings.

"Shit, he's pulling over," Kie panicked. "Do I pull behind him? What do I do?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Arden hissed in protest. "He'll see us!"

"Well, I don't know what I'm meant to do, Arden!"

It was a lose-lose situation, one they should've accounted for. Gavin was in no state to drive, and if they pulled up behind him, they risked him noticing the suspicious white van that had followed him all around the block and was now waiting behind him for no reason. He'd surely let Ward know, the dots would be connected and everything would go back to how it was before.

"Just go around the block," Pope let out a sigh, knowing they had no other choice.

"Okay, okay," Kie nodded, though she didn't sound certain the further they drove and the more Gavin's car became nothing but a dot in the distance. "Guys, we're gonna lose him..."

"Shit!" he exclaimed just as they drove around a corner and completely out of range. "I can't hear anything now. I'm losing the signal."

"Should we turn back?" Brec asked.

Arden narrowed her eyes, voice thick with sarcasm. "No shit, sherlock. How else are we supposed to hear him?"

"I was just saying! God, what is your problem with me?"

Haven's hands flew to her temples, tensions running too high. Pope was panicking because he couldn't hear Gavin, and they could've been missing everything they needed. Kie was shouting as she drove aimlessly, looking for directions that JJ was trying to give but could barely be heard over a frustrated Arden and Brec, the latter growing tired of Arden's attitude. Haven felt trapped in the middle of it all, no end in sight, and regret settled in her stomach like a rock. This was why she had left them in the first place. She was tired of the constant pressure, the teeth to her throat, feeling the high just to be hit with twice as many lows.

You're doing this for John B and Sarah, she reminded herself. Just forget everyone else.

It was not even a second later that yet another road-block popped up, this time a literal one. JJ practically screamed for Arden and Brec to shut up as he gestured to the orange 'road closed' sign and the truck that was blocking the road ahead, leaving them no way forward.

"Just pull in here and back up," he exclaimed, pointing to an empty driveway to their right.

"Okay, I'm just gonna back up," Kie repeated frantically, reaching for the hand break just as some sort of bulldozer pulled out onto the road behind them. She had to slam on the breaks to prevent herself from hitting them, her hands smacking against the wheel in pure anger. They were trapped with no way forward and no way back. "Are you kidding me!?"

"That's it," JJ snapped, crawling over Arden's lap to open the door and stick his head out. "Hey, we were about to back up! Did you seriously have to do that right now?"

The workers barely even spared him a glance, just continuing to inch out across the road and seal them in. Pope huffed before throwing open his own door. He would run back to Gavin's car if he had to. They couldn't just be stopped like this.

"Pope, what are you doing?" Haven shouted as she rushed to unbuckle her belt.

"We've gotta know where they're meeting," he shrugged, already half-way up the road.

"We're going after him, right?" JJ asked the girls.

"Obviously," Arden said. In another poor attempt to get under Brec's skin, she turned to her and Haven with a sickly sweet smile. "Why don't you two stay and watch the car?"

Haven scowled and pushed her way out of the vehicle with Brec right behind her. "Why don't you?"

"Just stop fighting for five seconds, please!" JJ scowled, slamming the door shut and taking off with Kie down the side-walk. "We gotta go!"

Haven sighed before jogging after him. Ironically, she and Arden fell into stride beside each other as they passed the bulldozer and workers, one of the men glaring at them with his nose in the air.

"You can't leave that car there," he screamed with a reddening face. "Move it now!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have blocked us in then, dumbass," Arden shouted back, sticking her finger up at him in an action that Haven mirrored. "We've got places to be so move the piece of shit yourself!"

"Would you two stop terrorising people?" Kie snapped as she circled back to them, JJ and Brec already out of sight. She apologised to the glowering man before ushering them in front of her, leaving them no choice but to run. "Honestly, you'd think you two were back to being friends again."

Haven immediately rolled her eyes, Arden scoffing, "Don't be stupid, Kie."

Their wild-goose-chase following Pope lead them into a random person's backyard. He hopped the fence and bolted through the bushes followed by Brec dragging a puffed-out JJ along with her and the other girls bringing up the rear. Haven felt her face flush with embarrassment as a group of kook teens gaped at them from the pool. The last thing she wanted from that night was her classmates seeing her run like a headless chicken, but it looked like she didn't have a choice.

"Sean?" JJ gasped as he recognised the boy glowering at them. "Oh, so this is where you live, you kook."

"JJ, stop taunting people," Haven snapped, finally catching up to him and Brec. "Pope can't be too far ahead. Let's go."

She was right. They rounded the side of the house and found Pope crouched down behind a rosebush, one of Kie's airpods gone while he held the other up to his ear with shaking hands. He turned to them with wide eyes, and Haven couldn't tell if he was excited or terrified.

"What did you hear?" she asked through breathless pants. "Pope, what is it?"

"He's meeting Ward right now," he exclaimed. "We've gotta go."

"Now?" Arden repeated with a sigh, her face red and sweaty.

"Yes, now!"

And they were running again. Great.