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Deputy Shoupe leads JJ through the police station, back to where the holding cells are located. He sticks the key to the handcuffs into the hole and twists it, releasing the tight restrain they had on JJ's wrists.
"In there, tough guy," Shoupe nudges JJ's back and he steps into the cell.
Shoupe closes the cage door and locks it from the outside, leaving JJ alone in a concrete hell.
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"You're like a little rock in my shoe," Sheriff Peterkin states as she walks through the door to her office, where JJ sits. "I shake my foot, think I've got it out... then dang, there it is again."
"Maybe... watch where you're steppin'," JJ interlocks his fingers behind his head.
"That little rock in the back of my shoe makes me wanna crush it."
"Okay..."
"Unlawful discharge of a firearm. Trespass on protected habitat. Felony destruction of property," Peterkin reads off his crimes. "All in the last two weeks. You're on a roll, chief."
"If you think I'm gonna rat anybody out, you got the wrong idea."
"I know your little teen brain doesn't like to think ahead, but I want you to come with me to uncharted territory."
JJ looks at her with furrowed eyebrows, not sure where she's going with this.
"The future." Peterkin continues, "how you gonna feel, six months from now, sittin' in juvenile prison in Wadesboro? How do you think your pretty little girlfriend would feel? We both know DCS is after her, and I'm doin' my best to protect her, as well as John B."
JJ clenches his jaw and looks away from her. He knows he can't go to prison, he needs to protect Lio.
"You know these two?" She asks, placing two pieces of paper in front of him, displaying the square groupers.
JJ remains silent, staring at the man that took Lio.
"My question was, do you know these two?"
"They..." JJ chokes back his tears, "they broke into John B's house and kidnapped Lio. Then they chased us through the marsh. Other than that, I have no idea."
"Wait, did you say they kidnapped Lioana?"
"Yeah," JJ looks up at the sheriff with a confused facial expression. "He took her," JJ says, pointing to the bigger man.
