wires, steve harrington

thirty-three.

"hey, guys, i might have a lead." max said after putting her phone down. everyone was then all ears, turning to look at her. "apparently, eddie gets his drugs from some guy named reefer rick, and sometimes eddie crashes there."

robin smiled. "that sounds promising. where does this reefer rick guy live?"

max frowned. "see, that's the thing; no one knows. he's more of a.. legend than someone that people actually know."

"well what about a last name?" dustin inquired.

"we don't have that either." she sighed.

robin, after thinking for a moment, sat down at the computer. "maybe we don't need a last name." she said, searching for anyone named rick with an account at family video. "twelve ricks already have an account here."

max eyed it. "that's a lot of ricks."

"so, let's narrow it down." robin smiled, scrolling through the recent movies that each of the ricks had rented. "rick alderman's latest rentals are annie and dumbo. what are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"not likely."

robin nodded. "alright, rick conroy. sixteen candles, teen wolf, and romancing the stone."

"no."

"okay, rick joiner. mask, footloose, and grease."

"nah."

"rick kimbrough. the blue lagoon and splash." robin laughed, shaking her head. "okay, rick lipton. fast times at ridgemont high, cheech & chong's next movie, cheech & chong's nice dreams, cheech & chong's up in smoke."

dustin chuckled. "bingo."

"lipton?" max asked, leaning in to read the address listed for him.

robin nodded. "spelled like the tea. 2121 holland road."

"that's out by lover's lake." dustin noted.

"middle of nowhere." max added.

robin smiled. "it's a perfect place to hide."

meadow held her hand out and steve wordlessly dropped his keys into it. while robin closed the family video, everyone else piled into steve's car and off to go find eddie. "who is in control of the music here, my goodness." meadow complained, turning off whatever had been playing and switching it over to a rock station.

dark had fallen by the time they made it to lipton, and supposedly to eddie. dustin rang the doorbell once, and paused for a moment before ringing it fifteen more times in a row.

steve sighed. "okay. well, that's settled. i guess he's not here."

dustin, however, wrapped on the door with his fist. "eddie! it's dustin! look, we just wanna talk, okay? no cops, i swear. we just wanna help."

meadow followed robin to the side of the house while dustin continued screaming, and eventually she followed max's gaze to a shed on the side of the house. "hey, guys?" she called, shining her flashlight on it.

robin opened the door hesitantly, and there was no sign of life. "hello? is anyone home?"

"what a dump." steve complained. he grabbed an oar from the wall, holding it in his hands like a weapon. after carefully approaching a boat that sat in the middle of the room, he made an attempt to stab at it.

"what are you doing?" dustin asked, watching as steve continued to jab at the tarp on top of the boat. "what are you doing?"

steve shrugged. "he might be in here." he explained, continuing to poke at it.