"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter Thirty-One: Talks And Leads
(The Bathtub, Pt. 2)
***
Rowan looked up, seeing Joyce Byers and, surprisingly, Chief Hopper walk in. The woman stared in shock at seeing her eldest son in handcuffs, while Rowan gave Hopper a little wave, the chief obviously looking at her and her handcuffs and then at her aunt and her bare wrists in bemusement since usually, it was the other way round, before his face settled into his usual gruff expression.
But Rowan was frowning, because before that gruffness came back, behind his bewilderment of her and her aunt swapping positions of who was arrested and who was bailing, there had been a flicker of a look, like he knew or had something about them and was trying to figure it out. It made Rowan feel her own confusion and squirm uncomfortably in her seat, and look at her aunt who also shared her confusion, but her brows were drawn together in suspicion as she looked at Hopper, sidling closer to her niece.
Mrs. Byers, oblivious to all the looks, only seemed to be focused on knowing why her son was in handcuffs.
"Jonathan? Jesus, what... what happened?" the woman asked, looking now at the officer that Jonathan had accidentally assaulted.
"I'm fine," Jonathan mumbled, but his mom obviously wanted answers, as she demanded, "Why is he wearing handcuffs?"
"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why," the officer who'd arrested Jonathan informed Mrs. Byers. He then looked at Rowan's aunt and added, "And your niece is in handcuffs because a witness said she punched both the Harrington boy and the witness herself as well."
Aunt Aco's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Did they press charges?"
The officer was quiet, and her aunt yelled, "If they didn't, then take those goddamn cuffs off my niece! Same with Joyce's kid!"
The officer hesitated, and as he hesitated, Mrs. Byers demanded, "Take them off."
"I am afraid I can't do either of that," the officer said, which was the wrong thing to say to the two women.
"Take them off!" Mrs. Byers and Aunt Aco yelled, giving the officer looks of fire and brimstone.
"You heard them. Take 'em off," Chief Hopper said, and Rowan and Aunt Aco looked at the chief in surprise; Mrs. Byers, they got in the chief taking her side, but less so that he was taking Aco Graveswood's side. Hopper only gave them the same gruff look when he noticed the Graveswood women looking at him.
"Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see," the officer said.
Now Hopper was frowning as he went with the other officers, and Mrs. Byers and Aunt Aco was soon gaping as they came back with a familiar box and dumped it and the the monster-catching gear Rowan, Jonathan and Nancy had bought inside it on the desk. Robin and Chrissy in unison looked at Rowan, Jonathan and Nancy, obviously asking Rowan what the hell the cop was talking about and why the hell she and Nancy and Jonathan had that stuff with their eyes. Rowan only looked away, knowing she couldn't answer their questions.
