bitchin'

Chapter 51

"Dustin!" Lucas' voice echoes from his walkie, "it's Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin!"

"Lucas? Where the hell have you been?" the boy answers in Steve's car.

"Just listen," he exclaims, "Are you looking for Eddie?"

"We found him, no thanks to you," he points out.

"You found him?" Lucas whispers through the walkie.

"A boathouse on Coal Mill Road," he informs him, "don't worry. He's safe."

"You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?"

Lindsay's eyes perk up from staring down at her shoes.

"That's bullshit," Dustin argues, "Eddie tried to save Chrissy."

"Then why do all the cops say he did it?" he asks. Max sits up and takes the walkie from the front.

"Lucas, you're so behind, it's ridiculous, okay?" she exclaims into the walkie, "Just meet us at the school. We'll explain later."

"I... I can't. I think some real bad shit's about to go down," he explains. Lindsay sits up and takes the walkie from her girlfriend.

"What are you talking about? What bad shit?" she asks Lucas. He doesn't answer, "Lucas? Lucas?"

While Steve, Dustin, Lindsay, and Max continue on their way to Hawkins High, Lucas jumps out of Dustin's house.

"What the hell were you doing?" Jason asks.

"I was... I was looking for clues," Lucas answers.

"Clues?"

"What, freshman think he's Sherlock Holmes or something?" Joel sneers. Patrick and Daniel, two other basketball players, high-five the once leader of the Hit List.

"Yo, let's go," Jason tells them. Daniel and Patrick begin to walk back to his car.

"I found one," Lucas blurts out, making the others turn.

"What?"

"A clue. I know where Eddie is hiding."

***

"Dustin, do you copy?"

"Yeah, I copy," he answers.

"So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959," Robin explains, "Her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."

"Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I really can't talk right now," he says as their group walks down the dark hallways of Hawkin's High, having used Ms. Kelley's keys to break into the locked high school.

"What are you doing?"

"Breaking and entering school to retrieve confidential and extremely personal files."

"Can you repeat that?" she asks in shock.

"Just get ass your over here, stat," he sighs, "we'll explain everything."

He turns off the walkie as the four approach Ms. Kelley's office. Max unlocks the door and they enter. Lindsay follows her straight to the filing cabinets.

"It's like a mini-Watergate or something," Dustin comments, "Hawkinsgate."

Lindsay holds a flashlight above the cabinet so Max can see the names on the files.

"Didn't those guys get caught?" Steve asks.

"Holy shit," Lindsay comments.

"You found it?" her brother asks.