Finding Ford

chapter eighteen

"I've got this place that I've filled with empty space." -Imagine Dragons, Hopeless Opus

LUKE, WHO IS ANGRY AND RUDE AS USUAL, GREETS US by hastily hanging up his phone and turning to snap, "What are you two idiots doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Jas counters, stepping forward with a wicked glare. "Weren't you in jail?"

"I was,” Luke growls, putting venom into his voice. I step back, feeling slightly unsteady from the anger being repelled off the two of them. Luke can be scary, and so can Jas, but together they make for a pretty terrifying scene. "But they finally realized they didn't have enough evidence to lock me up."

"Of course they didn't," Jas scoffs. "The police here are idiots."

Luke looks genuinely shocked that they agree on something. "Exactly!"

"Besides," Jas nonchalantly adds, "It's not like you would have the guts to even hurt a fly. They were stupid to lock you up from the start."

"Excuse me?" Luke seethes.

"It's the truth," Jas shrugs. "Besides, take it as a compliment. I said I believe you when you say you didn't kill Ford."

Suddenly, Luke's face changes. It drops its anger, taking on a worn out and tired appearance. Luke runs one hand down his face, sighing. "I... I really didn't. You have to be the first person to say that."

"Don't get soft on me, Johnson," Jas says, but her voice has suddenly dropped her venom too. I take this as a safe time for me to slowly approach, stepping up beside Jas and examining Luke. He still looks the same; dirty blonde hair, stormy blue eyes. But now there are bags underneath those stormy blue eyes, his dirty blonde hair is uncombed, stubble is pricking out of his sharp chin and his normally confident and proud posture is slumped.

"What are you doing here, Luke?" I ask softly.

Luke's blue eyes turn hard again, masking emotion. "I could ask you two the same."

I look to Jas, worrying my bottom lip. The truth is, both of us just don't have a good excuse. I open my mouth, then close it again, trying to find something to say. Jas speaks up before I can say something stupid, though. "Listen, Lukey. I'll strike you a deal. I'll pretend I never saw you here, you pretend you never saw us here, and we'll move on with our lives and never speak of this again. Sound good?"

Luke studies Jas for a moment. "Fine. You have thirty seconds to get out."

Jas scoffs. "You have thirty seconds to get out."

"Let's go, Jas," I say, grabbing her by the forearm and dragging her to the school entrance. Jas protests, but eventually I'm able to drag her out of the doors, huffing out a large puff of air. Jas isn't happy about it, but with one last glare at the doors, she follows me away from the building.

"He's hiding something," she declares.

"You said it yourself," I say, sticking my hands in my jacket pockets. "Luke couldn't hurt anyone. Even Ford admitted it. He's all talk-"

"But no do, I know," Jas says. "But Ava, think about it. Maybe Luke didn't hurt anyone."

I look over at Jas. In the moonlight, her brown eyes sparkle. "What do you mean?"

"We've been so convinced that this is a one-man thing," Jas explains. "What if Luke never did any of the hurting, but he was part of this, all along? More than one person could be in on this, Ava. Besides the fact that Luke has no balls, he fits every thing we're looking for. Smart, good with technology, hates Ford. He practically broke Victoria and Ford up, for Christ's sake! He obviously wants bad things to happen to the kid."