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//chapter sixty • name one, fuckbanks. just one.
THE ADDRESS WAS a fake. The Pogues had drove clear across town, only to arrive at a sleek, upscale hotel perched on a scenic dock, not the quiet residential house they'd expected. Andrew cut the engine, squinting out the windshield at the impressive dock. The clean lines and polished windows gleamed under the lights, the kind of place that attracted vacationers and business types, not violent strangers with a grudge.
"Are you sure tis is the right place?"
"...This is the boardwalk." Pope states.
"It was the address that was in the file." JJ closed it and set it down, leaning out the window. "But he probably just gave a fake address. That's what I woulda done."
"You guys really think he's here?" Andrew asked, looking around the hotel he'd been to maybe once.
JJ shoved a door open and climbed out over Pope. "I don't know. But I need some fresh air. Anyone? Fresh air? Might as well take a look around."
Andrew bit his teeth but kicked open his door and got out with him. He turned back, only to look at Spencer and Kie. "What'd he look like again?"
Spencer looked him dead in the face. "A burly version of you."
"Fuck you."
Kie hit Spencer in the arm and leaned between the seats. "He'll have a bandage on his arm."
"Helpful, thank you." Andrew said sourly, and then slammed the door shut.
"Have fun!" Pope yelled out the window.
"Oh, we will."
Andrew pushed him forward. "Come on." He knew JJ was only grumpy because this was in fact not a real house that he could rob. They walked up the stares, their footsteps echoing softly against the wooden planks of the dock. The faint scent of salt and ocean air filled the day, a deceptive glee made by the commotion around the dock. People surfing, sun bathing, a whole bunch of shit.
The boardwalk was decorated decorated for the Fourth of July with red, white, and blue streamers flipping in the breeze. The scent of fried food and cotton candy drifted over from the carnival set up nearby, where lights flashed from the Ferris wheel and roller coasters twisted against the evening sky.
People laughed and shouted as they made their way from one attraction to the next, a chaotic, carefree energy filling the air.
Andrew raised an eyebrow, glancing at the festive scene with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief. "Nothing like a carnival to throw us off the trail of a potential killer," he muttered, keeping his voice low.
JJ couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of it, watching a group of kids run past holding sparklers, their laughter trailing behind them.
They moved past vendors selling everything from corn dogs to sparklers. "So what do we do, if we do find this guy?" Andrew asked.
