CHAPTER THREE:
SMOOTH CRIMINAL(S)
(episode one: the pilot)

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"I CAN'T BELIEVE I agreed to this," sighed Haven as the boat travelled closer and closer to the motel. After seeing how busy the Coast Guard's office was and not being able to get the man's attention away from a woman complaining about her dog's diabetes, the pogues had decided to check the motel out themselves. Haven and Pope had both been against it but weren't given a choice as they were outvoted by John B, JJ and Kie (which, Haven had to admit, she didn't expect Kie to have gone along with.)

"Well, it's too late to back out now," Kie had just shrugged when Haven asked her about it. "Lighten up a bit, Have, we're all good."

The girl sighed before nodding, turning back to the motel with a scrunched up nose. It was hardly the nicest looking place, though she tried her hardest not to judge. JJ, on the other hand, didn't seem to care as he wretched in disgust. "And I thought the Chateau looked bad."

"This place is a shitshow," John B agreed, steering them closer to the jetty attached to the side of the place as more of an afterthought.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie wondered.

"You be the judge," Pope scoffed from beside Haven. Both had sat at the back of the boat, refusing to head inside the motel but not entirely opposed to being present at the scene.

"Doesn't look like the type of place someone with a grady white stays," John B pointed out what they were all thinking.

"Looks like the type of place someone with a grady white would get killed."

The boat began to slow down, sand dragging against the bottom before beaching against the grass beside the deck. "This is your captain speaking," JJ crowed, staring down at them like a soldier preparing to leave for war. "HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." 

"We good?" John B called out to the boy as he attached the anchor to one of the jetty planks.

"Yeah, we good." Now that he had the all clear, John B turned the motor off which allowed silence to encompass the group. He went to join JJ on land before Pope grabbed his wrist and turned him back to face him, Haven and Kie, the three having decided to keep lookout so as to not draw attention to themselves. 

"Don't let him do anything stupid," he implored, pointing over to JJ as the blonde rolled his eyes at him.

"Oh, we will."

"I'm not making any promises."

Pope just sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I know."

He came to sit beside Haven again, dropping down into the seat. However, where there was an inch of space between them last time, he didn't seem to think as he moved closer now, his thigh and shoulder pressed to hers as he moved to get comfortable. Knowing John B and JJ's attention span, they'd be stuck there for a while. Haven smiled at him before turning to watch the others. She caught sight of Kie holding back John B, a glint in her eyes that Haven recognised all too well.

"Be careful." When he just snickered, she said, "I mean it."

Hesitating to frown at her, he was eventually ushered away by JJ, who turned to smirk at Kie as they retreated. Like Haven, he and Pope had picked up on Kie's sudden focus on their friend, and it was safe to say that both JJ and Haven had found the amusement in it. Pope, on the other hand, sat there with a frown on his face that he was quick to hide when Haven glanced over at him. She sighed. He might've thought he could hide it well, but it was no secret that Pope Heyward felt a little more than friendly towards Kiara Carrera.

But she refused to let that bother her. They were friends. She had no reason to be upset about it. Instead, she put on a flirty smile that had Pope flushing like mad. "Oh, just be so careful, John B."

"Shut up, Have," Kie rolled her eyes, lightly smacking the girl's leg when she just simpered and made kissing sounds at her.
 
"Do you mean it, Kie?" she said breathlessly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do."

"Alright, alright, break it up," Pope intervened as Haven raised a challenging eyebrow that screamed 'this isn't over.' 

Several minute went by. Kie had taken up refuge at the opposite end of the boat, smirking at Haven as she sat ram-rod straight with Pope's arm on the back of her chair. He hadn't even noticed he'd done it, him resting his head back with his arms stretched out, the sun slowly beginning to set to a point that was cool rather than hot. 

Just friends, Haven, just friends.

"How about we play a game?" she suggested when the silence began to be a bit much.

"What are we, middle schoolers?" Kie scoffed but decided to appease her anyways. "Fine, how's twenty questions for you, boo?"

"Sounds great, bubs," she winked back at her.

"You two have a weird friendship," Pope muttered, eyes still closed.

"Are you playing or not?"

"Fine," he sighed, removing his arm from the back of Haven's chair and sitting up with a bored yawn. "I'll go first."

It went on from there, the three asking whatever questions to fill the time. While she knew Kie well, the game served as a way for her to learn about Pope. She learnt his favourite subject in school was math (to which she called him a wrongen and declared the best subject was actually history) plus the fact he wanted to be a coroner. That explained his fascination with dead bodies, at least. Pope learnt that Haven suffered from dyscalculia (hence the aversion to math) and wanted to be a lawyer one day, having grown up watching her dad argue his way out of anything and wanting to be just like him. He learnt her dogs' names were Rosie and Pippa (God rest Pippa's soul) and that Haven was deathly afraid of cats. The two got so caught up in talking that they forgot Kie was there watching them.

"Okay, I'm feeling like a major third wheel right now," she smirked.
 
"Sorry," Haven muttered, her face bright red. "What's your next question, Kie?"

"Biggest pet peeve?" Both took a moment to contemplate it, allowing Kie to continue with her own answer. "For me, it's pretty easy; giving one percent to the environment."

"What's wrong with that?" Pope frowned.

"Oh, don't get her started, Pope."

"We only have one Earth, Pope," Kie chided him. "We should be giving it a hundred percent, bare minimum."

"Preach it, Kie."

"Right," Pope muttered unsurely. "But that's not fiscally sound."

"Neither is destroying the planet we have to live on."

"Uh, guys," Haven murmured, catching sight of the blue and white police vehicle pulling into the motel driveway and gulping nervously. When Pope and Kie continued to argue, she smacked Pope on the arm repeatedly until he turned to glare at her. "Cops! The cops are here!"

"Wait, what?" they frowned before following her gaze. "Oh shit."

"Can we call them?" Haven asked, reaching into the pocket of Pope's shirt where she'd stashed her phone. "Fuck, there's still no service."

"We have to go to them," Kie decided before slowly rising into a crouch and stepping off the boat. "Come on."

Pope sighed before grabbing Haven's hand, pulling her to her feet and ushering her after Kie. "If I lose my merit scholarship, I'm gonna kill someone."

They froze as the police came into view, quickly darting behind the fallen motel sign and watching with bated breath as the deputy and another officer chatted to what seemed to be the owner of the motel. They were too far away for them to hear properly, but lord knows what they were asking considering the shady state of the place. The three watched as Deputy Shoupe pointed up at the room where JJ and John B were currently breaking and entering.

"Well, fuck."

"Maybe they're not going up there," Pope murmured. "Maybe they're just looking for a room."

"Why would two working police officers want to book a hotel room here?" Haven scoffed.

"I don't know, maybe they want a vacation?"

"Guys, he's pointing," Kie sighed. "They're definitely going up there."

"Well, we have to do something," Haven insisted. As she spoke, the two officers began to make their way up the stairs. "And fast."

"And what do you suggest we do?" 

"Make a scene," she shrugged. "Streak, light something on fire, anything getting arrested worthy."

Kie and Pope shot her a deadpan stare, the former muttering under her breath, "Sometimes, I wonder why I'm friends with you."

"You love me, really."

"You are just like JJ," Pope sighed, to which she shot him an offended stare. "Come on, we've got to get there first."

With that, he was leading the way around the side of the building, the three still crouching in fear of the officers looking over the edge and seeing them. Fortunately, the window for the motel room in question faced the backyard, allowing them to stand freely beneath it. However, it was too high up for them to call out without getting heard, forcing them to think on their feet.

"Stand back," Pope suddenly said, reaching down for a discarded rock.

"What are you gonna do, shatter the damn glass?" Haven hissed but didn't have a chance to protest any more as he pegged it up at the window. "Oh my god."

Fortunately (or unfortunately, Haven really wasn't sure) it missed the window entirely, falling short and landing right back at their feet. Kie stared incredulously for a second before searching for another rock. "Jesus, Pope, didn't you ever play baseball?"

"Baseball?" he scoffed. "I was on the math team."

Haven groaned in disgust. "Seriously? Remind me why we're friends again?"

She moved to help Kie find another rock, deciding that if they were going to die, she might as well join in. It took a couple tries for their hits to get the boys' attention, but when John B finally came to look out the window with an annoyed scowl, they were quick to jump up and down hissing 'cops' until he understood what they were trying to convey. The curtain fell back into place, allowing the three to sprint back to the boat for dear life.

"Should we peel?" Kie asked, hopping behind the wheel anxiously.

Haven was inclined to agree, but Pope quickly shook his head. "We never leave a pogue behind."

"No, seriously, should we peel?"

When there was no sign of the boys, Pope sighed doubtfully. "Maybe."

"Just give them a minute," Haven eventually decided.

They turned back just in time to watch John B and JJ crawl through the window, balancing on either side of the roof as they waited for the officers inside to leave. Haven didn't understand why they didn't just jump and run, and frankly, Pope didn't get it either. He was raising his arms in the air, waving them back and forth at them and mouthing 'what are you guys doing?' but neither boy paid attention as they craned their heads to peer through cracks in the blinds.

"They're asking to get arrested," Haven sighed. "They want a shared prison cell."

In time with her words, JJ dropped something out of his pocket and a loud metallic clatter rang through the air. Both boys flinched and edged even further away from the window, Pope pushing Haven down and turning to face Kie just in time for the deputy to look out the window. Kie caught sight of him and started chatting about the weather, prompting a frown onto Haven's face.

"What are you doing?" she asked, going to look behind them.

"No, wait," Pope hissed, circling an arm around her shoulders. 

"Shoupe's looking," Kie added.

"Oh, fuck."

However, just when it seemed like they were about to be caught, Shoupe shut the blinds again. Pope and Kie both sighed in unison, the former releasing Haven from his arms as the two officers left the room and the motel altogether. This allowed John B and JJ to hop down from the roof, running back over to them so they could get the hell out of there.

"Well, that was fun," JJ grinned as they sped away. "Could've warned us sooner, though."

"We would have, except Pope was on the math team," Kie rolled her eyes.

Pope sighed, clenching his eyes shut as JJ cackled at him. "You were on the math team?"

"Not important right now," he interrupted. "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene. So did you guys find anything?"

JJ sat up, brows furrowing as if deep in thought. "Did we find anything?" As he 'ummed' and 'aahed' about it, he reached into his pockets and pulled out two things that were enough to give Haven a heart attack. "No, I don't think so."

"What the fuck, Maybank?" she screeched, dodging behind Pope at the sight of a stack of cash in one hand and a fucking gun in the other. "Put that away before you shoot yourself."

"Jeez, just chill out, Haven."

"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope exclaimed with just as much anger as her. Haven was glad to know she wasn't the only one angry; John B just sat there like JJ's behaviour was normal.

"It's better than the cops having it."

"How am I related to you?" Haven sighed. "Like, genuinely. How?"

"Oh, I'm going to lose my merit scholarship," Pope grumbled, though he was soon interrupted by JJ's attempts at soothing him.

"Hey, hey, shhh." As he hushed the boy, he raised the gun to his face and tapped him on the lips, Pope scoffing and shoving him away. "At least you have us, right?"

"I'm living the nightmare."

"It's not so bad."

"Nope, I agree," Haven cut her cousin off with a pointed stare. She couldn't believe his idiocy. "Please drop me off at the nearest jetty before JJ accidentally shoots me."

It was all too much. For a day that started out as 'work, work, work' Haven had no clue how she ended up breaking into a motel that turned out to be a crime scene and stowing away with stolen money and a handgun. That wasn't like her, but it was a lot like her cousin. And don't get her wrong, she loved Kie, and she liked Pope and John B, but she'd had more than enough of JJ to last her the day and then some.

And so, as they got back to the mainland, she had every intention of heading back home. Though she quickly got side-tracked by the sight of a sobbing Lana Grubbs and a dead body surrounded by nosey onlookers.

"Who's that?" John B frowned as they wandered up to a pogue girl Haven didn't recognise.

The blonde smiled at them before turning back to stare at the scene with fascination. "It's Scooter Grubbs. He was out during the storm. Check out this pic I got. Dead body."

Lighting up her phone screen was a picture of dead Scooter, the sight making Haven feel sick to her stomach. She backed up into Pope as he leaned in closer for a better look, staring at the girl in disbelief. 

"Don't you think that's a bit disrespectful?" she scoffed. When the girl just frowned at her, she gestured over to a wailing Lana. "That's his wife over there. You think she'd be happy to know some random girl was photographing her husband's corpse?"

The girl just shrugged, causing Haven to roll her eyes and turn away. Whoever this pogue was, Haven didn't like her.

"Do you know what kind of boat he had?" JJ asked, breaking the awkward silence that had enveloped the group at Haven's words.

"Somehow, that dirtbag copped a brand new grady white. Everyone's out looking for it."

Now, that caught Haven's attention. Sharing a worried glance with the others, they were quick to say goodbye to the girl and make their way back to John B's. Home could wait until later. For now, a mystery was unravelling right before their eyes, and despite knowing she should get out while she could, Haven didn't want to miss a second of it.