jj's pov

"yeah but like come on clifford is scary as hell," i pressed, arguing with pope.

"where is the logic man? its godzilla we're talking about," pope responded. "like come on have you ever seen a picture of godzilla." pope reached his phone out to show me a picture but i slapped his hand away.

"yes i have seen a picture of godzilla," i retorted. "listen all i'm saying is-"

"no no no, you need to listen to me," pope's voice overlapped with mine.

"would you guys please shut up," kiara snapped and pope and i both clamped our mouths shut, putting our heads down.

"we've already got nervous nelly in the back here we don't need you two fighting over who would win a fight between fucking clifford the big red dog and godzilla," ki grumbled.

the nervous nelly she was referring to was hannah who was practically shaking next to me as i grabbed her hand and held it tight in my lap. the two of us were sitting in the back of the van while pope sat in the front with kiara who was driving.

"i-i'm fine," hannah stammered, trying to convince us that she wasn't as worried as kiara described her to be.

we soon pulled into a spot that was close to the sheriff's station but hid the car from anyone who could pass by. kiara put the vehicle in park before turning around and placing a hand on hannah's knee.

"honey," she began, "no you're not."

"i-"

"but it's your first pogue style mission," kiara laughed softly, "you have the right to be anxious about it."

hannah took a deep breath in, nodding towards ki before squeezing my hand tighter and resting her head on my shoulder.

"okay so quick rundown, everyone ready?" pope asked the group.

"ready," we all responded.

"i will stay as lookout, flashing the head lights of the car once signaling for you to come out, or twice if your in trouble in which hannah would need to distract the cops. " pope started. i watched the girl beside me gulp at his words and i just squeezed her hand tighter. "if that happens-"

"which it won't," i interrupted.

"if that happens," he repeated himself, "then jj you have to hide in the office until it is safe for you to escape while hannah puts up as good a distraction as she can."

"and if i can't?" hannah's voice croaked out, barely audible.

"well if you can't then you'll get arr-"

"pope," i warned, clamping a hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"anyways, you and hannah will be able to see the signals through the window of the office you're going into, make sure you go in the right one. there should only be one night guard in there right now which kiara will go distract while you sneak in the back. once you get in find whatever shit you can but don't take too long and for the love of god please be as quiet as you can," pope said, exasperated.

"quiet as a mouse," i smirked.

"don't be a fool," pope warned, smacking my temple.

"okay okay. ready?" i asked, looking over to hannah.

"mhm" she squeaked out, probably afraid that her voice would have failed her if she tried to speak.

i nodded my head towards my two friends in the front who both gave me a salute and i pulled hannah's hand as we climbed out of the van.

once we crept around to the back of the building and to the window we were going to climb through i turned hannah around to face me.

"hey," i whispered and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. "its going to be okay," i assured her once we broke apart. she sighed and gave me a small smile before i began to open the window.

pope and i had gone to scope out which windows were open in this place just the other night, so it was no surprise to me that the glass easily slid up for us.

i carefully slid in through the small space and grabbed both of hannah's hands as she maneuvered herself in after me.

"holy shit," i heard her whisper behind me as we began to look around the office. it was the same one i had been in just last summer when i had taken the blame for pope sinking topper's boat.

therefore, the space was oddly familiar to me but i'm sure it had freaked out the girl standing beside me since she had probably never seen the inside of a police station in her life.

i went over and locked the door before turning to the brunette who was staring at me with wide eyes in anticipation.

"okay so uh where do we start?" she whispered, her voice faltering slightly.

"you take that filing cabinet," i said pointing to my left, "and i'll take this one."

i squatted down in front of the drawers and slowly pulled one open, shifting through loads upon loads of manilla folders with all sorts of titles on them. after what felt like centuries hannah softly gasped behind me.

"r-rudtlege," she stuttered, "you said his last name was rutledge right?"

i nodded my head, remembering that i had given her that information before we left as i knew we would be sifted through folders presumably with last names.

"and here's c-cameron right next to his," she mumbled as i quickly went over to her side and she plucked one of the folders out carefully grasping it in her hands.

"i-," she just looked at it before looking up to my eyes, "here."

i reluctantly took it from her hand and went over to the desk, she turned on her hand held flashlight beside me as i began to pull out papers.

i mumbled the words printed on the sheets as i scanned my eyes over them, reading the same boring information over and over again. once i got to the last page in the folder my breath hitched as i read over the bolded words at the top. case closed: john b. rutledge presumed dead. no further investigation necessary.

i felt a hand on my shoulder as i read over the bolded words for the third time. the sudden touch made me flinch and stand up immediately. i began to pace the room watching hannah look over the papers that i had left on the table. she quickly shoved them back into their folder and brought it back to the cabinet.

it was smart of her, to put everything back where it should be. i didn't know how she was in the right head space to think of doing that right now though. all i could think of was the bolded words i had read on the page.

they stopped looking for him. there's no hope, there's no hope, there's no hope.

"jj"

"hannah," i harshly whispered, cutting her off before she could try to talk to me.

"jj please," she began again, in a stressed whisper.

"they're dead," i cut. i knew sarah's paper's would mimic the same words that john b's had, and i didn't even have to look at them to come to that conclusion. "they really couldn't give a shit about them."

"jj you need to be-"

quiet. i knew she was going to say quiet but frankly my mind couldn't process the meaning of silence right now because nothing was making sense. why would they just close the case?

i crouched down, pulling at my hair as i looked down at the ground, i felt the girl's presence as she hovered above me.

"hannah they're dead," i breathed out, too loud for my own good.

all in the same moment, as if someone had just pressed a button, lights started to flicker from outside the window. not one flicker, not two, but just continuous flickering. before i could even process the lights i heard the front door of the building open.

"who's in there," a man's voice shouted from a distance.

i stood up immediately from my huddled position and stared at hannah who had completely paled and was looking at me with fear in her eyes.

"fuck," i whispered as i quickly placed my hands on her shoulders, "you need to go out there and-"

"jj i can't" she said, her chest beginning to heave.

"hannah listen-," i began.

"no jj i-"

"hannah-"

"jj the reason i moved here was because i got arrested back home," she blurted, "i can't go out there."