𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

9: "𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚈/𝚗 𝚁𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎!"

Finding themselves back at the Chateau on their porch, Pope and Kie had soon joined the three as them and the Routledge siblings all listened to JJ explain what happened back at Lana Grubbs.

"And then we were right outside like this. And all we hear is just, "Bam! Bam! Bam!" Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside. Alright? And I'm just looking at him and keeping Y/n safe, like-" JJ continues to ramble before stopping himself. "Wait, first off, look at this shit."

Walking over to Pope and Kie, he bends down, ruffling his blonde hair, the small white specks of paint falling out.

"That's dandruff, disgusting." Kie comments.

"Look at all that. Alright?" JJ continues, standing straight up again. "That's paint. At that point, I was just, like... I'm waiting for death."

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope questions, getting a nod from JJ. "Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like? Anything we can bring to a police report?"

"Burly." JJ replies, blurting out.

"Burly?" Pope repeats in question.

"That's not very helpful." Kie states.

"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage." JJ informs. "I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers. I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers... they're square groupers."

"They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?" Pope asks. "Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

JJ nods. "Yeah, man."

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." Kie informs.

"Okay, what does this square grouper look like? Specifically?" Pope questions. "Because apparently you don't know what to look for!"

"Dude! I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time, man. I was under duress, okay? But I can tell you..." JJ takes a deep breath after his little outburst. "I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming... that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man. It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

"Okay, why would they want the compass?" Kie asks.

"That thing's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope states before looking up at the siblings. "No offense, guys. I know it's in your family-"

"The office." John B interrupts him.

"What?" Pope asks.

"Our dad. Our dad's office." Y/n replies, realizing what her brother was saying.

"He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." John B continues as they him and Y/n walk into the house, the others following. "We used to laugh at him all the time about it, like he was actually gonna find it."

"But now that he's gone, we've just kinda... We just left it as he kept it." Y/n finishes once they stop in front of a door.

"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie responds, nodding as to reassure the siblings.

JJ and Pope share a little look at her words. She notices, giving them a look to silently tell them not to say anything about the sensitive topic to the siblings. John B and Y/n, however, don't notice this as John B unlocks the door to their father's office, walking in.

"I've slept over here like six hundred times, and I've never seen this door opened." Pope states.

"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." John B informs as he places a pin board in front of them.