𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 // 𝕁𝕁 𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕒𝕟𝕜

Chapter Six // Smoking Gun

6. Smoking Gun

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"She's a runner
Rebel, and a stunner
On her merry way saying baby, watcha gonna?
Looking down the barrel of a hot metal forty-five
Just another way to survive"

~ Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers

•••

Trigger Warnings: Violence, Brief Mentions of Physical Abuse

•••

"What are we doing here?" Valerie sighed as she came up behind JJ.

"I am trying to save my own ass." He informed her, making his way around the back of the mechanics shop. "I'm pretty sure you're just here to get in the way."

She snorted, watching him test the back door and grin when he found it had been left propped open.

"Why is this open?" She questioned.

"I got a guy here who owes me a favor." JJ explained with a wink. Pulling his bandana up over his face and his hat low over his eyes, he slipped through the door.

Valerie glanced up at the security camera noting it had been covered by a dirty mechanics rag.

For a moment, Valerie considered just waiting outside, but now that JJ knew she was trailing him, she figured she might as well watch the show.

She followed him through the door, stopping in her tracks when he thrust an arm out in front of her. Frowning, she turned a questioning look toward him. He simply pointed across the room at another security camera fastened in the corner.

"I think that one's on. I can't tell. Just keep your back to it and stay close to this wall, it doesn't pick up this side of the garage very well." He explained.

"Oh shit." Valerie hissed pulling her hood farther over her head, turning away from the camera. "How do you know that?"

"My dad worked here for years." JJ explained, slowly making his way along the far wall toward the camera, keeping his head bent low. "I spent a lot of time in this garage."

"Oh yeah.... I think I remember coming here once." She muttered thoughtfully, watching as JJ picked up a rag from the ground beneath the camera and flung it over the lens.

A hazy memory arose of she and JJ sitting out behind the garage on a hot summer day. They were probably nine years old and were sneakily passing a stolen smoke back and forth, nearly coughing up a lung with every breathe. She remembered her split lips aching each time she wrapped them around the cigarette. It had been a particularly bad morning at her house.

"I think he tried to cover it, this must have fallen off." JJ explained, gesturing up at the now covered camera.

"Why didn't he just unplug them?" Valerie asked annoyed.

"I think it alerts the security company when the signal is disrupted or something." JJ shrugged, "Hopefully, it didn't catch too much of us."

"Maybank, I've got enough problems as it is." Valerie huffed, "I don't need you implicating me in any crimes too."

"Well, no one made you follow me in here, Sweetheart." He mumbled, digging through a drawer along the back wall. "But since you're here, you might as well be useful. See that little machine on wheels? Go ahead and take that outside."