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❝ no trouble this time ❞
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𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝

"Look, it was right here, and this is where that maniac claimed his next victim. Right there" Kiara rants.

"Uh huh. His next victim?" Sheriff Shoupe nods.

"Yeah" Kiara says.

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

"Forty five minutes ago, Shoupe" JJ answers, standing up from his crouched position where he was inspecting the floor.

"Okay" Shoupe sighs "And so, Ward Cameron, just popped one off and shot him"

"Yes" Kiara answers.

"Execution style?" Shoupe queries "And then cleaned it all up in 45 minutes?"

"Yeah" Kiara nods.

"Obviously" Pope adds.

"Sylvie, are you really telling me that your daddy was here?" Shoupe asks me and I freeze up, words refusing to leave my lips.

"Tell him, Vie" Kiara nudges me forward and fear crawls up my spine.

"I-I can't-" I stutter out and JJ pulls me into his arms, holding my head to his chest.

"I got you, angel" He assures me lowly.

"We filmed the entire thing" Kiara speaks up.

"You filmed it?" Shoupe asks in surprise.

"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, and because it's a piece of shit, it broke" Kiara explains to the Sheriff.

"This is a telephoto, and we needed to get a long distance image, and- and I fell, and it broke, so the video is basically unusable. But- but we were there, and we're wit-" Pope's rant is cut short.

"So the dog ate your homework?" Shoupe scoffs.

"No, Shoupe. I know it sounds-" Kiara is then cut off too.

"Look, 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" Shoupe rants in annoyance.

"No, it's not nothing" Kiara argues.

"Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree" Shoupe continues.

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

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

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin" Kiara declares.

"He called him here and tried to pay him off. But it wasn't enough, and then so he shot him" JJ continues.

"Exactly" Pope nods.

"With the murder weapon!" JJ adds.

"How do you know that?" Shoupe asks.

"Well, Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and-" Kiara gets cut off for the second time.

"I heard their whole conversation" Pope states.

"You wiretapped him?" Shoupe asks in disbelief.

"Are we in trouble?" I ask worriedly.

"Stop. Just stop" Shoupe snaps "I've had enough"

"What are you talking about? Are you just gonna look the other way again?!" JJ yells as Shoupe walks away.

"You ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe retorts.

"Why would we make this up?" Kiara shrieks, following the man.

"Why can't you believe us for once?!" JJ barks.

"Waste of my goddamn time" Shoupe scoffs.

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

"All right, there's nothing up there. False alarm. Let's all go home" Shoupe tells his officers.

"No, no, please don't go home. No. Why would we make this up? Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes?" Kiara shouts.

"Hey!" Shoupe snaps "I- I know, I know you're upset. And I know you think your friend was innocent"

"He is!" Kiara retorts.

"But you weren't there" Shoupe declares.

"Sylvie was there!" Kiara argues, turning to me with a wildly desperate expression "Just tell him the truth. Tell him how your brother killed Peterkin!"

My heart slams against my chest and I shake my head, stumbling back into JJ's arms.

"Lay off her, Kie" JJ warns the girl.

"She's only lying because she's scared of them!" Kiara screams and my gut twists.

"Enough!" Shoupe demands "The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite. All right? And all 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" He adds "Do not do that again. All right?

"Oh, come on" Kiara groans.

"It's gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us" He says and opens his car door.

"Go home" He tells us before getting into his car.

"Someone died tonight!" Kiara cries out.

"Get on home to your parents now" Shoupe orders.

The police cars all start heading off and we walk towards Kiara's car in a tense silence.

"I told you this would happen" JJ scoffs before looking at Pope "Like, you're the one that had to drop the camera"

"It was your fault!" Kiara snaps at JJ.

"Oh, that was my fault?!" JJ retorts, spinning to face the girl.

"Yeah, it was your fault!" She shouts.

"Guys, enough" I plead in exhaustion.

"Why do you always take his side? Why do you never take mine?!" JJ yells at her.

"Shut up!" Kiara groans.

"Hey! Hey! We're not out of this yet" Pope declares, gaining their attention "We can still go get the gun"

✯¸.•'*¨'*•༻❁༺•*'¨*'•.¸✯

I enter the front door of my house and I'm met with a dark figure looming over the bottom of the staircase, causing my heart to drop in fear. The light is switched on and reveals the figure to be my brother with a tired look on his face.

"Where have you been?" He asks me "School finished hours ago, Sylvie"

"I was with Topper" I swiftly lie.

"Since when did you hang around with Topper Thornton?" Rafe questions with a confused expression.

"A while ago, I guess" I shrug and he looks at me sceptically.

"You're drenched" He points out.

"It's raining" I explain simply.

"Go put on some dry clothes and get warmed up before you end up ill" My brother sighs, nodding up the stairs and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.

I don't need to be told twice before listening to what he's told me to do, but I only reach the third step before my arm is grabbed and I'm spun around to face Rafe.

"If you're going to stay out late again then text me first, okay?" He tells me sternly.

"Okay" I nod in agreement.

"Good. I was worried that you had gotten yourself into trouble" He admits.

"No trouble this time. I promise" I assure him and he nods.

"Go to bed, runt. It's late" He tells me softly, gently squeezing my arm.

"G'night, Rafe" I mumble, heading up the stairs.