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CHAPTER 16
"Seriously Pope, you are driving me insane." Suzy groaned and leaned her head back.
"Okay, so that guy was from the scholarship committee." He gave them the envelope. "Take a look at this."
"Read it out loud." JJ looked at them. "I can't read cursive." Juls took the paper from him. "Dear Mr. Heyward, I am reaching out because I have material evidence that can exonerate John B. Routledge. It is of vital importance that you come meet with me in person at my offices at 27 King Street, Charleston at eight o'clock p.m. sharp tonight. Please come alone. Regards, C. Limbrey."
Kiara crossed her arms. "It's like an eight-hour drive."
"We'd have to leave right now."
"Material evidence, what does that even mean?"
"It means he can clear John B."
Pope searched something up on the computer.
"I'm not sure, but i think whoever this Limbrey person is, they might be related to the captain of the Royal Merchant."
. . .
"Guys, I've read this thing like a thousand times. It makes no sense. I mean the Limbreys own like half of Charleston. What do the kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?"
"Why you specifically? That's the other creepy thing. You know?" JJ looked at Pope who was driving. "'Please come alone.' That's hella sus."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"I think it's because-" Something made a hissing noise which cut him off. "Oh come on!"
"Pull over!"
"That's a lot of smoke, even for your dad's truck."
"Pope! I got sensitive lungs man!" He pulled over and got out of the car.
"It's gonna fucking blow up, I swear." Suzy and Juls followed him out.
"I haven't seen this before. You knocked the entire hubcap off!" JJ clapped. "Whoo! You might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope."
"Plan B? we could, public transportation." Juls counted using her fingers. "We could hitchhike. We could rent bikes."
"My dad's gonna kill me."
"Yeah he might. He might." He dialed the nearest mechanic and got it towed.
"Look, I can put a rush on it, but it's gonna cost you a little extra."
JJ walked over to Juls while Pope talked to the mechanic. "Dude's in heaven right now. 'Gotta know the calibration point, before you do anything with the intake valve. JJ, you do the-' hey." He tapped on Juls' hand. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She glanced at Pope.
"He would do anything for us. That's a Pogue if I've ever seen one. Bone deep." She smiled sadly, worried about her life and studies back home.
"Come here." JJ opened his arms for her and hugged her.
"Three-seventy? Are you serious?" Pope, Suzy and Kiara looked at the receipt on the table.
"Well, yeah man." He looked at Kie. "Kie, are you sure your parents are okay with letting you pay for this? Cause-"
"No. Hell no, but I'm already a day late and they can only kill me once, right?"
. . .
Pope knocked on the door three times. "Do you think that was too much?"
"It echoed the entire house, that's for sure."
"Maybe nobody's home?" Pope reached over to knock three more times but the door opened before he was able to.
The man that came out smiled and pointed at him. "You must be Pope." He glanced at the others. "Uh, are you Mr. Limbrey?"
"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday."
"I'm sorry but my car broke down on the way up here."
"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville."
"He gets it JJ." Suzy patted his back.
"Yeah, she was real upset when you didn't show up."
"We would've called, but there's no number on the invitation. We got here as fast as we could."
"She also expected you to come alone."
"I mean, these are my friends. They helped find the Royal Merchant too." Pope stuttered.
"The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside."
"Well, we're kind of a package deal man-"
Suzy cut JJ off. "We'll be outside. Thanks." She nodded and motioned for Pope to follow the man. "Keep the car open." He whispered to her.
They all sat in the car. "Look, if Limbrey's legit, then Ward gets arrested, and maybe Sarah gets the gold."
Juls squinted out the car window. "Does that look voluntary?" They saw the man from earlier push Pope to follow a lady. "That would be a negative."
"Come on."
"Hold on." Suzy stopped Kiara. "They're going into the alley."
"Go around back?"
"Yeah. We'll meet them on the other side."
"Hey be chill." JJ drove around. "Where did they go?"
"What if they went underground? Remember Suzy? In C.H.U.D, when they took people down into the sewers, it would turn the humans into humanoids because of the radiation, and then all of a sudden-"
"JJ that was 8 years ago."
"Right sorry, did you see him?"
"No."
"I think we should go in there."
"Yeah let's go." They all ran out of the car.
JJ ran to the man and tackled him to the ground, kicking the tazer to Juls. "Come on!"
"Pope let's go!" He looked at the man one more time and punched him. "Pope let's go! Just leave him!" They climbed over the wall and ran back in the car. "That was crazy as shit! Let's get the hell out of here, now."
"I think he's following us!" Suzy turned around, seeing another car.
"Get out of the road! Jesus Christ!" Pope yelled at 2 people who ran in front of them.
"That was evasive driving technique right there y'all!"
"Where are we going?!"
"JJ!" He took a huge swerve into an alley. "You said he fixed it!" The wheel popped again. "Okay, what now Mario?!"
"Number one rule. Never trust mechanics!" They got their stuff out of the trunk and ran deeper into the alley.
"Guys I think he has a gun!"
"Shit!"
"I don't know where to go!" They got out of the cramped area and ran into a bike.
They paused for a few seconds, realizing who they bumped into.
"Get in!" John B motioned to the seats connected behind the bike.
