Daydreams| Outer Banks ¹

{Chapter Sixteen} Outlaws

It turned out that the gold was nowhere to be found in the shipwreck. If it was there then the metal detector on the drone would have picked it up. The pogues left the ocean and one by one were dropped off home.

As expected, John B was the most pissed about not finding the gold. He didn't speak on the way home. He just sat, alone, on the edge of the boat with his hood up.

Indi understood why he was feeling that way. He'd channelled most of his feelings about their dad's disappearance into finding the gold. She believed he thought that once they found the gold he'd get closure by finishing what his old man had started.

"No bullshit. Do you think the gold is out there?" John B questioned as the two of them walked up to the chateau.

"I think to hope for anything is a crushing thing. So, no I don't believe it's out there. Some rich prick probably stole it a century ago," Indi responded, anticipating the angry reaction from her brother.

John B nodded his head in response, his grip around his backpack straps tightening. "So, you think dad wasted his entire life on this shit?"

Indi narrowed her eyes at him, detecting the defensiveness in his tone. "I didn't say that. I just hope you don't become obsessed with this like he did."

"He wasn't obsessed," John B scoffed whilst rolling his eyes.

"He wanted to sell the Twinkie for more money to fund his research. Don't you remember?"

"How could I forget?" He scoffed once again.

Neither of them could forget that detail considering that was their last encounter with their father. A very heated argument which ended in John B and Indi telling him he was the worst father and Big John telling them to never come back.

"Look, you're acting like a spoilt child who didn't get their own way. Just let it go," Indi insisted as they entered the chateau.

"I-" John B cut himself off when he saw a woman dressed in a pantsuit sitting on their couch.

"Hey kids," Cheryl greeted them with a stern expression on her face.

Indi threw her head up to the ceiling with frustration. With everything going on in the past couple of days she'd completely forgotten about their DCS case. "Son of a bitch," she muttered under her breath.

"You know, Cheryl, it's kind of a bad day for a check-in," John B told her as he set his bag down on the kitchen table.

Cheryl shrugged her shoulders in response. "Not here for a check-in. We're here to take you."

"Today? Really?" John B deadpanned as his hand dove into the box of Cheerios.

"It's just for a few weeks until you're hearing."

"No, no,no. Cheryl, we're not going into foster care. We're not going to be apart of your little system," Indi protested.

The sound of a radio changing channels came from further in the house. The Routledge siblings peered into the hall to find a rather large deputy coming closer to them.

There was no way they were getting out of this now.

"Indigo, this is Deputy Thomas. He works with juveniles for the Sheriff's department," Cheryl explained as John B stood up from the kitchen chair.

The siblings exchanged glances with each other, both judging the deputy.

"Look, I know Uncle T is down in Mississippi working at a casino. He hasn't been here in months," Cheryl continued.