LATER THAT day, the trio headed back to John B's Château. Like usual, Kiara and Pope were waiting for them on the porch. Aurora hadn't spoken a word since she left Lana's house- she didn't want to.
JJ, however, was compressing a panic attack by frantically explaining exactly what happened,
"And then, we were right outside like this." JJ quickly explained, "And all we hear is just, bam! bam! bam! Knocking paint of the walls from the inside! And I'm just looking at them like- wait." He bent over and ruffled his hair, as little bits of hardened paint fell out, "Look at this!"
Kiara grimaced, "That's dandruff, disgusting."
"Look at all that. That's paint." JJ replied, "At that point, I was like, I'm waiting for death."
"Okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us?" Pope questioned, rubbing his head with his hands in stress, "Did you get a good description of them?"
"Anything we can file to the police for a criminal report?" Kiara added.
"Burly." JJ shook his head, exhaling smoke from his vape.
"Burly?" Pope questioned in disbelief, "That's not helpful."
"No, well, like the type of guy at my dad's garage." JJ explained, "I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers. I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers, they're square groupers."
"They're square groupers, like narco square groupers?" Pope questioned, "Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"
JJ exhaled smoke, "Yeah, man."
"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." Kiara tutted.
Pope continued, "What does this square grouper look like? Because apparently you don't know what to look for!"
"Dude!" JJ raised his voice, "I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time. I was under duress, okay?"
Kiara raised her eyebrows, before turning to the silent girl opposite her, "Are you alright, Rory?"
The blonde girl gave an unconvincing smile, before giving the girl a wave of her hand as if to say 'don't worry about me'. When in reality, everybody noticed her absence in conversation- but they decided to stay quiet.
Aurora realised she had zoned out for the whole of JJ's breakdown, she couldn't take her mind off of the screaming and smashing. She rested her cigarette in-between her two fingers and exhaled a cloud of smoke,
"It's..." Aurora took a breath to try and get her words out- she hated her stutter. She paused, "It's a heavy vibe right n-now, okay? I don't... like it."
Pope placed an arm around the girl's shoulder on the couch, but continued to look at JJ, "Why would they want the compass? It's a piece of shit- no offence, John B, I know it's a family thing-"
John interrupted, "The office. My dad-my dad's office. He always kept his office locked for some reason because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant Research." They all followed John B to the locked office and he unlocked it with his key, "I've always kept it locked since, you know, incase..."
"Yeah, incase he comes back." Kiara encouraged, as she gave a look to the rest of a group to agree in order to give John B some hope.
John B searched the office, then picked up an picture, "Here, look. This is the original owner, right here. Robert Q Routledge, 1880-1920."
"Look, there's his compass." Kiara pointed to the compass in the photo.
"Actually, uh, he was shot after he brought it." John B replied, "Then the compass was shipped back to Henry, then he died in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam- he was killed by a banana truck, in country. Then the compass was passed down to my dad."
