Hurricane - JJ | Outer Banks

Chapter Three

We watched as the police recovered a body from the marsh. A woman ran over to the stretcher as she cried and I frowned as I looked away. "Who's that?" John B asked.

"It's Scooter Grubbs." The blonde girl stirring beside him said. "Check out this pic I got." She added as she showed us all a picture of the dead body.

"What kind of boat did he have?" JJ questioned.

"Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady White." The girl said. "Everyone's our looking for it."

"You don't think...?" I asked as I looked at John B.

***

Back at the chateau, we sat around in silence before Pope entered the porch. "Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything." He told us. "We don't know anything. We have to have complete amnesia."

"Actually, Pope's right for once." JJ said as he stood up. "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny. Deny. Deny."

"Guys, we can't keep that money." Kie frowned.

"Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara." The blonde sighed.

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, that's bad karma."

"Bad karma to be implicated in a a felony, too." Pope added. "We gotta go dark.l

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree." JJ said.

"I don't agree." John B spoke up.

"What? Why?"

"Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about, alright? The same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the porthole. Shit, one time I saw the dude begging for change in the save a lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than forty bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady White? Just saying."

Pope then stood up before walking outside and I took a deep breath before running after him. "Where are you going?" I asked him as I followed him to the dock.

"I'm fishing." He told me as the other's approached us.

"Just think about it, Pope." John B told him. "How does a marina rat get a Grady White?"

"Prostitution." Pope sighed.

"Square groupers, bro. Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? JJ?" John B asked.

"They were straight smuggling." JJ said.

"Smuggling." John B repeated. "And I guarantee there's serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"For the record," Pope began. "If that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband on the inside of it, it probably belongs to someone else. They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." JJ smiled as he held up the stack of money. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Just act normal."

"Right and how exactly do we do that?" Pope asked. Me and Kiara looked at each other as we smiled before speaking at the same time.

"Kegger?"

***

We made our way to the boneyard with a keg and we immediately started to drink. More and more people started to show up and eventually it grew dark. I found myself talking to several tourists as we sat on the beach. "So you live here?" A girl with long brown hair asked me. I nodded.