RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

SIXTY FIVE

SHOUPE

"Look it was right here and this is where that maniac claimed his next victim." Kie pointed to the construction site that they stood in.

River was in disbelief. Gavin's body was gone, there was no blood, no stains, no sign of him. She looked up to Silas, wondering what his thoughts were right now, but he looked just as confused as she did.

"His next victim?" Shoupe questioned, almost sarcastically. "Right, how long ago did you say it happened?"

"Forty five minutes ago, Shoupe." JJ answered from his crouched position on the floor.

"Okay." Shoupe nodded, taking down some notes.

"Can I just say," River stepped forward. "your response time is shit."

Shoupe looked taken back by the girls words. They were a small department that did their best to get everywhere in time, but sometimes it wasn't quick enough. Silas' eyes widened and he quickly covered the girls mouth with his hand, pulling her back into his chest to muffle her talking.

"So, Ward Cameron just popped one off and shot him." Shoupe decided to ignore what River was saying, she was clearly upset. "Execution style? Then cleaned it all up in forty five minutes?"

"Obviously." Pope nodded as if it was obvious.

"We filmed the entire thing." Kie spoke up.

"You filmed it?" Shoupe's head snapped up towards Kie, if they caught it on camera, then maybe it would be more believable.

River groaned and pulled away from Silas, although he didn't let her get too far since he wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders. JJ watched the pair closely, they were good for one another and that was something he would just have to accept.

"Yes, but we can't show it to you because River was having a panic attack, I stepped on JJ's hand, and then he kicked Pope and then Pope dropped the camera and it broke." Kie explained.

River scoffed, she knew that Kie would find some way not to take the blame. Pope gave River a sympathetic look, silently telling her that it wasn't her fault in the slightest.

"This is a telephoto and we needed to get a long distance imagine and-and I fell and it broke so the video is basically unusable." Pope explained, taking the blame onto himself rather than allowing River to feel guilty. "But we were there and we're witnes-"

"So the dog ate your homework?" Shoupe questioned, his brows raising.

"Look it sounds like shit, like we're talking out of our fucking asses. We get that Victor, but why the fuck would we report a murder if there wasn't one?" Silas snapped angrily.

He was fed up of the way that Shoupe was treating this like some sort of practical joke. Gavin was murdered in cold blood, he needed to understand that.

"Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this. You dragged me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing." Shoupe motioned towards the supposed crime scene. "Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's on a random killing spree."

"We're not making this up." Shouted JJ, he was furious. His hands were shaking, which was something that didn't go unnoticed by River.

The blonde gently tapped Silas' bicep before walking over to JJ. She linked her hand with his and wrapped her other hand around his bicep. She almost instantly felt him relax at her touch.

"It's not a random killing spree, Gavin was his pilot." Pope announced as Silas came to stand beside him. "Okay he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day."

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward, because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." Kie scrunched her face up as she spoke.

"And then he called him here and tried to pay him off but it wasn't enough so he shot him." JJ paused. "With the murder weapon."

"How do you know that?" Shoupe questioned, it almost seemed as if what they had said sparked something within him to believe them.

Before River could tell everyone to keep their mouths shut about bugging Gavin's car, Kie spoke up and said,

"Pope and Silas did this thing with Popes phone, they like put it in his car and-"

"I heard their whole conversation." Pope nodded in confirmation.

River his her face in JJ's chest, making him furrow his brows, but instead of pulling away or saying something, he placed his hand on the back of her head and gently placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"You wiretapped him?" Shoupe questioned angrily.

"No." Silas quickly cut in. "No, because why would we do that?" He nervously laughed.

"Stop. Just stop." Shoupe raised his hand to silence the group. "I've had enough."

"What are you talking about Shoupe, are you gonna look the other way again?" JJ shouted, making River jump slightly.

Instinctively, she began to fiddle with the friendship bracelets on his wrist, ones that she was surprised to find out that he still wore. Although the fact that he did made a small smile form on her face.

"You ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe shouted as he walked away.

"Why the fuck would I report Ward as a murderer when he's my uncle, when the person who I'm living with is his father?" River questioned. "Don't you think if I was wrong, Reggie would kick me out?"

"Alright there's nothing up there, false alarm. Let's all go gone." Shoupe announced to the rest of his squad as they left the construction site.

"No please don't go home, why would we make this up?" Kie questioned desperately. "Can you just do your job for like twenty minutes."

"I know you're upset and you think your friend was innocent, but you weren't there. The only actual witness who are above ground say the exact opposite, alright?" Shoupe informed the group. "And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now."

"Except now one of them dead." River mumbled with a glare, making JJ pull her closer to him.

"I saw your little art project on Ward's wall. Do not do that again." Shoupe shouted towards Kie. "Gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us." He paused. "Go home."