JJ's biggest flaw was his recklessness, and his bad ideas. Honestly, that didn't seem that bad to Bexley.
Rafe's biggest flaw? Jealousy. Pure, uncontrolled jealousy.
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"I think the coast is clear," Pope said. The boy barely lifted his head above the bush they hid behind. Earlier, there were three cop cars circling the area. Now, there was only one, walking away from them.
"Shoupe's right there." Kiara didn't care about the other regular officers. She was focused on the Sheriff in front of them.
"They're going closer to the house," Pope tried to tell her. "We should make a run for it." He shook his head. "Dammit, I told you we shouldn't have done this. It was way too risky."
They both ducked back down, kneeling behind the bush. If they were caught, they'd be taken to jail for sure. Vandalism was bad, this kind was worse.
"I'm not just gonna let them live in peace," Kiara snapped. "After all they did? After all they caused? They killed Peterkins. They killed Sarah. They killed John B. Bexley's probably dead too-"
"Stop," Pope whispered quickly. "I told you to stop saying that."
Kiara had it in her head that the real reason Rafe Cameron fled to Hawaii wasn't because he wanted to be alone with Bexley-but because Bexley was already dead. She hadn't told JJ this theory, only Pope.
"He's only posting photos of her to prove she's alive," Kiara told him. "He probably took them all on the same day."
"Now is not the time-"
She whispered, "You saw how he acted in that boat shed. He looked like he wanted to kill her." All three pogues remembered the events in the boat shed very well. It was practically burned into their memories as trauma. They thought Bexley would die that day, they were sure they'd turn on the news after finally getting home to see that she was killed also. But that never happened. Instead, a few days later, they saw a photo of her in the newspaper.
A photo of her at Susan's funeral, with Rafe's arm around her. Like nothing even happened.
"He drugged her," Pope said. "She forgot everything. He has no reason to hurt her."
"Since when did rich kooks need a reason to hurt people? Before he drugged her, I told her Rafe killed her mom, and she just believed me," Kiara said. "I didn't even have to convince her, she just knew I was telling the truth. What kind of fucked up shit did he do for her to just believe me like that?"
"Probably some shit like Midsommers." Pope shook his head. God, that was an awful night that ended with two people in the hospital. "I don't want to talk about this. Let's just get out of here."
Kiara opened her mouth to say soemthing else, but fell speechless off a moment. Her eyes drifted back to the house. They stayed there. She watched as another person exited the house to speak to the sheriff. "Oh my god..." Her heart beat faster. "...thats Rafe."
