𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 // 𝑱𝑱 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒌 \\

Chapter Thirty Four

"Look, he was right there and this is where the maniac killed his next victim. Right here!" Kiara pointed at the ground in the construction building of the surf shop. Shoupe was writing down on his notepad everything the pogues told him.

"Uh-huh, his next victim?" Shoupe asked, sounding a little unimpressed. "Yeah." Kiara nodded, breathing heavily. JJ kneeled on the ground beside Valerie. Valerie turned to him with a questioning look. "What are you doing, Jayj?" She whispered. "The blood is gone. There's nothing." JJ whispered back to his girlfriend.

"Right, so how long ago did you find the body?" Shoupe asked. "Forty-five minutes ago, Shoupe." Valerie answered. "Okay." Shoupe wrote that down, "So, Ward Cameron just popped one off and shot him."

"Yes." Kiara mumbled. "Execution style?" Shoupe asked immediately after. "And cleaned it all up in forty-five minutes?" He added.

"Yeah."

"Obviously."

"Look, we filmed the entire thing." Kiara said. Shoupe's head immediately snapped up, looking more interested. "You filmed it?"

"Yes, but we can't show it to you because I stepped on JJ's hand, and then he kicked Pope and then Pope dropped the camera, because it's a piece of shit, and it broke." Kiara rambled. "It was a telephoto and we needed to get a long distance image, and... and.. and I fell, and it broke, so the video is bascially unusable. But... but we were there, and we're wit-" Pope was cut off by Shoupe. "So the dog are your homework?"

JJ angrily pulled off his hat. "No, Shoupe. I know it sounds--" Kiara tried to speak up. "Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this. Alright, you drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing. Except-"

"No, it's not nothing." Valerie butted in. "Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree."

"We're not making this up, Shoupe!" JJ shouted. "It's not a random killing spree. Gavin was his pilot! Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day." Pope explained.

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin." Valerie continued. "And then he called him here and tried to pay him off. But it wasn't enough, and then- so he shot him!" JJ finished. Pope nodded. "With the murder weapon." JJ added. Shoupe was silent for a few seconds before responding with, "How do you know that?"

"P-Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and--"

"I heard their whole conversation." Pope interrupted Kiara. "You wiretapped him?" Shoupe asked, looking angrier. "Is that bad?" Kiara asked. "No, stop. Just stop." Shoupe held his finger out to the pogues. JJ glanced at the pogues. This was their one chance to clear John B's name, and they blew it.

"I've had enough." Shoupe started to walk away. "What? What're you talking about, Shoupe? You're just gonna look the other way again?" JJ shouted at him. Kiara started to follow Shoupe. "You ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe responded simply, walking down the stairs.

"Why would we make this up?" Kiara followed him. "Shoupe, why can't you believe us for once?" JJ yelled, grabbing Valerie's hand and following after Kiara. Pope followed behind Valerie. "Waste of my goddamn time." Shoupe mumbled angrily.

"Why would we lie?" Valerie yelled out to Shoupe. "Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, I know that. We know that!" Kiara rushed down the stairs, the pogues behind her, "Alright, there's nothing up there. False alarm. Let's all go home." Shoupe yelled to the other officers. "No, no, please don't go home!" Kiara yelled to them. "Why would we make this up?"