"cause my heart belongs

SOON, IT WOULD START TO RAIN, but that didn't stop them. They camped over by a fence, with a camera in Pope's hands.

"Nice camera." JJ complimented. "Where'd you dig up that relic?"

"It's Red's," Pope replied.

"Why don't you just use your phone?" Asked JJ.

"First of all, I like these antique electronics," Pope told him, taking the Cameron off of his eyes. "Second of all, this is a telephoto."

"What does that mean?" Asked JJ, not knowing anything about cameras.

"It allows him to get a close and clear image, even from a far distance," Red replied. JJ nodded his head, not waiting to continue the conversation, scared he might hurt Red more than he had already done.

"Lord and Lady of the dorks." Kie teased, lightly elbowing Red.

"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass," Pope explained, really living up to his Lord of the Dorks name. "Where'd you get this thing anyway?"

"I got it for Christmas last year. My old one got stolen when we went to New York, so my dad bought me this one for Christmas." Red explained, patting the camera lightly as if it were her child, which it was.

"Look, there he is!" Pope grabbed the attention of his friends, who all looked at Ward, who seemed to be in a rush as he ran toward where Gavin agreed to meet him.

"Yo, get down!" JJ told them, ducking beneath the fence.

"And there's Gavin." Red pointed out, perking her head up to where the two men ran to. "Where are you going you son of a gun?"

"No, no, no, no! I'm losing him!" Pope told them, making the camera down and away from his face. "Where's he going?"

"Hold on." JJ muttered, slipping away from the group for a second before he whistled towards them "Hey, I found something. Come here!" The group suhed towards JJ. "You gotta go up top."

"That'll work." Pope breathed, following JJ and Kie as they climbed the ladder.

"Hurry! We don't wanna miss anything." Kie rushed, climbing over the fence behind JJ.

The four kneeled beside a wall, Pope pulled out Red's camera, putting it in Gavin and Ward's range.

"Are you rolling, Pope?" Asked JJ, watching him as he held the camera with both hands and put his brown eyes to the lens.

"Yeah, are you getting it?" Kie added.

"Yeah," Pope muttered, not taking his focus off of the camera. "Yeah, I see them." Red nodded lightly, squinting her eyes to see if she could se as well as the camera, but as expected, she couldn't. "Ward just handed Gavin something, I think It's a duffel bag."

"Probably money, right? Knowing Ward." Red scoffed. "This is a payoff."

"Gavin doesn't look happy about something. It looks like he's yelling at Ward."

"Why?" Kie questioned, agitated that she couldn't see anything.

"I don't know, but he sure looks mad." Pope shook his head. "Crap."

"What's going on?"

"I don't know it looks like they're fighting over something!"

"They're going at it," JJ added, watching closely.

"Ward must be short. He must not have held up his end." Red nodded her head, trying to get an understanding.

"Ward is kicking the life out of Gavin." Pope's eyes widened. "Holy crap, Ward's got a gun."

"I bet that's the murder weapon." Kie's voice was shaky, but you could tell she was trying to remain calm.

It was then that two loud gunshots could be heard from where the group kneeled. Red grabbed hold of JJ's wrist as she ducked down.

"No, no, no. That did not just happen." Kie cried. "What's going on."

"Please tell me you got that." Red was pleased, expecting him to say no.

"Enough to put this jerk away for life." Pope grid his teeth, Red let out a sigh of relief, wiping rain off of her forehead. "This is freaking crazy," Pope exclaimed, moving further up the wall, still rolling. "Oh no. Get down, get down!"

The group again ducked down as Ward leaned over the side of the building, looking for the gun.

"I think we should go right now. Pope, you have enough, right?" Asked JJ, getting nervous.

"Yeah," Pope replied with a small nod. "Hold on, he's coming out."

"He's looking for the gun," Red added.

"I think the gun just went down the drain!" Pope reported, still recording. "He's looking for it."

"Hold this." Kie handed something to Pope before standing up.

"Kie, what are you doing?" Red asked, in more of a pleasing tone than a question.

"What is wrong with you?" Kie stood up, yelling in the direction of Ward. "Murderer!"

"Get down!" Pope covered Kie's mouth, pulling her down.

"Kiara, what are you doing?" Questioned JJ.

"I don't care if he hears me! He's a murderer!"

"Yeah, he's gonna murder us, Kie."

Red rapidly tapped on Pope's shoulder. "Guys, we need to go. He sees us."

The group hurried, climbing down the ladder. Pope first, Kie, Then Red.

"Ah, My hand!" JJ yelped, falling to the ground and knocking Pope down with him.

"No, no, no, no!" Pope crawled over to Red's now broken camera.

"Are you kidding me, you fumbled it?" JJ yelled.

"You kicked me in the face!"

"Kie stepped on my hand!" JJ defended.

"I was trying to hurry!"

"He's coming!" Pope told them, leaving the camera on the ground.

The group rushed towards the car, except Red ran after the camera, kneeling next to it.

"Red, come on!" Kie rushed her.

Red gleaned back quickly. "Just- give me a sec!"

"Red, come on!" Pope hurried, about to climb the fence. "Ward is coming!"

"I need to" Before Red could finish her thought, she was pulled away by her waist by JJ. "Let go of me! I need to get the–" She accidentally yelled too loud, and now both Red and JJ were in Ward's line of sight.

"Go, go, go!" JJ rushed Red up the fence before him, but she remained to wait for him until he climbed the fence after her, the four again running into the car.

The group panted, waiting for someone to say a word.

"Can someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?" JJ yelled, wanting to believe it was all some elaborate image. Pope groaned angrily. "Wait, what were they fighting over?"

"Uh... it was the gun. The one that Rafe used! He must have kept it." Pope explained.

"Of course! The murder weapon!"

Red dialed her dad's number instead of 911, as it was easier to call a contact she already had. "Pick up, pick up, pick up!"

"Who are you calling?" JJ questioned.

"Who else would I call?"

"The cops?" Pope guessed.

"What else do you want me to do?!"

"Why would you call the cops? That's Ward!"

"Shut up!" Red yelled, her dad finally picking up the phone. "Dad- I need help. Somebody's been shot at The Grand Street Construction site! Please hurry because he's dying... or he might be dead already- I don't know!"

"Red, Reding are you hurt? Are YOU injured?!" The Deputy asked over the phone.

"It doesn't matter! I'm fine just please hurry!" Red hung up the phone. "Alright we need to drive, we need to go like now!"

"Where do you want me to go?" Asked Kie, clearly stressed out.

"Just drive!" Pope yelled, Kie doing just that.

Soon, The group would arrive where Gavin was murdered, met by Shoupe.

"Dad!" Red yelled, getting her dad's attention. Shoupe ran up to Red, hugging her tightly and holding the back of her head. "Dad, you need to help!"

"Alright, Alright I'm going! Are you alone?"

Red shook her head. "No- No, I'm not alone. JJ, Pope, and Kie are here too. They saw it."

The pair rushed up the stairs as Kie began explaining what had happened. Shoupe didn't seem to believe a single word but wrote it down regardless.

Red anxiously bit her nails, still in disbelief at what had just happened.

"Look, It was right here that that maniac claimed his next victim, right there." Kie pointed to where Gavin had been shot. Red pacing around behind them.

"Uh-huh. His next victim?" Shoupe repeated, noticeably not believing.

JJ kneeled next to a table, his finger running across the floor.

"How long ago did you say this happened?"

"45 minutes ago, Shoupe," JJ replied.

"Okay. So Ward Cameron just popped one off... and shot him?"

"Yes." Kie cried quietly.

"Execution style... then cleaned it all up in 45 minutes."

"Well, the rain did most of the cleaning part, because Ward just darted off. He almost killed us!" Red cut in, pointing between her and the group.

"We filmed the entire thing," Pope told him.

Shoupe's blue eyes perked up, "You filmed it?"

"Yes, but we can't show it to you because- I stepped on JJ's hand and then he stepped on Pope, and then Pope dropped the camera and it broke," Kie explained in a rushed tone.

"Yeah, it was my telephoto from last Christmas. And we needed to get long distance image and... and..." Red ranted. "But... Pope fell and it broke so the footage is useless."

"But- we were there. We're the witn-"

"So the dog ate your homework?" Shoupe reference, still in utter disbelief because he couldn't even trust his daughter.

"No, Shoupe, I know how it sounds-"

"Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this." Shoupe sighed, making Red frustrated. "You dragged me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing. Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree."

"We're not making this up, Shoupe!"

"It's not a random killing spree!" Pope cut in. "Gavin was his pilot. Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day."

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin!" Kie told him.

"And then he called him here and tried to pay him off, but it wasn't enough, and then so he shot him!"

"Exactly." Pope agreed with JJ's correct statement.

"With the murder weapon."

Pope looked between the teens seriously. "How do you know that?"

"Well, My friend Max gave us the information from the flight history of where Ward flew from, then Pope did this thing with his phone and put it in his car... he connected it to my AirPods."

"I heard their whole conversation!"

"You wiretapped him?" Shoupe questioned.

"Is that bad?" Kie whined.

"Stop- stop, just stop." Shoupe pointed at the teens. "I've had enough."

"What are you talking about, Shoupe are you just gonna walk the other way again?" Asked JJ and Shoupe began walking away from them.

"You ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?" Shoupe asked, continuing to walk down.

The teens continued shouting at Shoupe, following him down the stairs.

"Alright, there's nothing up there, false alarm let's all go home," Shoupe announced to the other cops.

"Can you just do your job for like 20 minutes?" Kie begged, Shoupe, turned to face her.

"Hey, I know. I know you're upset. And I know you think your friend was innocent."

"He is, Dad!" Red shouted.

"But you weren't there. The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite, alright? And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now."

"Well then ask Bennie Thornton then, Shoupe!" JJ yelled. "She was there on the tarmac too."

"I know Bennie was there, alright? But she's not allowed to testify." Shoupe explained. Red looked at Shoupe confused, thinking Bennie just didn't want to. Shoupe looked at Kie. "I saw your little art project on Ward's wall. Do not do that again."

"Oh come on!"

"Alright?" Shoupe yelled. "You're gonna make things a lot harder for both of us." Shoupe opened the car door. "Get in the car, Red."

Red shook her head stubbornly, swallowing hard. "I'm not going anywhere."

Shoupe scoffed, "Oh yeah, you wanna play this game again?"

"Yeah actually." Red cried. "Because the last time I checked you didn't go looking for me, and in my books that makes you a horrible father. So no, I won't go with a dad who doesn't have the guts to beg for me to go with him instead of letting me not."

"Yeah, and where the hell are you gonna stay?"

"Not with you," Red replied, her arms crossed across her chest. The Deputy sighed in defeat, getting back in the car and driving away.

"I told you this would happen," JJ complained as the group began walking away beside an ambulance. "Like, you are the one who had to drop the camera."

Both Red and Pope faced down, not wanting to be a part of nor hear Kie and JJ's argument as if wouldn't get them anywhere.

"It was your fault!" Kie defended, extending her arm out towards Pope, who continued walking beside Red.

"Oh, that was my fault?"

"Yeah, it was your fault!"

"Why do you always take his side? Why do you never take mine?" JJ asked, Pope and Red turned around to face the pair.

"Shut up!" Kie snapped, paying attention to Red's silence and Pope's frustration.

"Hey, Hey! We're not out of this yet." Pope turned back to where he was walking. "We can still go get the gun."

Pope looked over to the drain, approaching it slowly as his three friends watched in confusion. Pope stood by the drain for a second before Red approached him.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that, Pope?" She asked, glaring at the drain below them. "Unless you plan on getting Pennywise to go down there and get it for us."

Pope snapped his fingers. "We can just figure out where it is. Do some digging, and bam, we'll find it and put Ward away for life."

"Easier said than done," Red muttered, not sure how Pope planned on going through with his elaborate plan. "But, It's not impossible. I think we can do it, right?" Red turned around facing JJ and Kie, who shrugged. "So we can just do some homework, figure out where the drains lead, and meet back up tomorrow."

"Yeah, by the way, where are you going to go? You kinda just bailed on your dad." Kie questioned, approaching the two followed by JJ. "You didn't have to do that, by the way. That's the second time you put your relationship with your dad in jeopardy because of us."

"I didn't do it for us." Red crossed her arms, sighing deeply. "I did it for me. Plus, He couldn't believe his daughter. That's pathetic."

"Yeah, but still, where are you staying?" Asked Pope, bringing up the topic that Red brushed off again.

Red shrugged, not making it a big deal. "I don't know. I'll probably just... hang around."

"Hang around?" Kie scoffed. "You may be a pogue now, but you're not a hobo. You can stay with me, I mean, it will only be for a day, right? And my parents already like you so..."

"Yeah, that sounds alright." Red hugged Kie, thankful that she had a friend like her.

"But what about... y'know when you're not with Kie?" Asked JJ. Red pulled away from her hug with Kie. "I mean- Unless you're staying there until John B is proven innocent."

"Well, I guess I'll cross the bridge when I get there." Red offered a half-smile to the boy, which he returned. "Worst case scenario, I go home."

"My parents won't mind having you around, but maybe not for months." Kie smiled, genuinely honest. "But a few days won't hurt anybody."

"Thank you, Kie." Red smiled, hugging Kie again.

"Always lookin' out." Kie winked, checking the time on her phone. "But If you're staying, we need to go."

Red nodded in understanding, getting in the car alongside JJ and Pope. Pope dropped Kie and Red off at Kie's house and drove off with JJ.

The time was 11:53, and Kie quietly snuck Red up the stairs, eventually going to bed after lending her an outfit for the morning, as they were close in size.

That morning, Red woke up early although going to bed at an hour that wasn't exactly decent. Kie had already been awake, getting change before she threw a black tank top, a beige cardigan, and shorts at Red, telling her to put it on, so she did.

"Morning, Daddy." Kie greeted her father while walking into the kitchen, grabbing two apples for her and Red. "You remember Red."

"Morning, pumpkin." Mr. Carrera kissed Kie's head softly. "Hi there, Red! You girls hungry?"

"Oh- no. We were just about to head to the beach." Kie made up, throwing the apple at Red, which she caught surprisingly. "But thank you."

"It was nice seeing you, Mike." Red smiled brightly, wishing him goodbye before meeting where the two girls had agreed to meet Pope and JJ the night before.

"This is the north drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully." JJ explained, the group approaching a drain with grey water. "So if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like-"

"Somewhere in this trash." Pope finished, nodding at JJ.

Kie sighed, "Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot."

"Okay, personally. I love plastic." JJ voiced, purposely trying to get under Kie's skin. "Use it every day. Love this stuff."

"Okay well, hopefully, you recycle it and don't just let it flush out into the ocean." Kie retorted.

"I thought you'd say something like that, so-" Pope started, holding up trash bags. "Trash bags."

"Did you just... proactively protect the environment." Kie smiled, seemingly impressed by Pope.

Pope looked at her with a smile. "Maybe."

Red snickered quietly. "It is true love."

Kie nudged Red in the side, to which she just laughed, proud of her joke.

"You want us to leave you two alone or what's going on?" JJ began before Pope threw the trash bags at him.

"Just pick up the trash," Pope told him. Kie wore a proud look on her face. Red watched as they picked up trash aimlessly staring at the water until Pope noticed. "Are you gonna help? Or are you too pretty?"

Red tilted her head playfully. "I'm too pretty."

"Are you gonna help?" Asked Kie.

"Nuh-uh. That's grey water." Red pointed at the water.

"What the hell is grey water?" Asked JJ, rolling his eyes at the girl subtly.

"It's basically... piss and shit so I'm just telling you," Red told them, crossing her arms. "You guys are splashing around in gallons of kook pee."

The group smiled at her, secretly finding it funny, but eventually, Red did get in and help.

"Well, that was fun." JJ voiced sarcastically, wiping sweat off of his forehead as he set his bag over the small wall in front of him.

"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain." Pope theorized, placing his hands on his hips.

"It's in it's in the drain," JJ told him, now 100%