CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE:
NO BODY, NO CRIME
(episode two: the heist)

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

VICTOR SHOUPE WAS LIKE a child playing dress-up in clothes that weren't fit for him. He was no Susan Peterkin, and he certainly wasn’t any decent Sheriff. He had big shoes to fill, and siding with the murderer time and time again did nothing to help his case. Haven felt foolish for even considering it for a second. She was right when she told Kie off. The police wouldn’t do anything for them. They were playing a losing game.

“Look, it was right here,” Kie insisted as Shoupe and the pogues surveyed the place Gavin had lost his life. The body was nowhere to be seen, meaning Ward had returned when they ran back to JJ’s van and hid any evidence. Haven wondered if things would’ve been different had Kie not given them up. If Ward didn’t know they were watching, they could’ve called Shoupe and caught him in the act. “This is where that maniac claimed his next victim!”

“His next victim?” Shoupe echoed Kie’s words with a tone of sheer disbelief. The site looked untouched; no body, no blood. They had nothing to prove what they’d seen, just an unreliable story. Haven sighed and hung her head in her hands. She knew what was coming, but the pogues kept on going.

“Yes.”

“Right. And how long ago did you say it happened?” Say. Not ‘how long ago did it happen.’ To Shoupe, this was nothing but a waste of time.

“Like forty-five minutes ago, Shoupe,” JJ sighed. He’d previously been kneeling on the floor looking for signs of blood, but nothing was there. The rain had long since washed it away.

“Okay,” he muttered, half-heartedly jotting the time down on his notepad. Haven had a feeling he wouldn’t have done it had Arden and Kie not been staring him down like vultures. “So, what? Ward Cameron just popped one off and shot him?”

“That’s what we said, isn’t it?” Arden scoffed, but with a warning glance from the older man, she forced herself to stay quiet and turn away. Like Haven, she could see what was coming, and boy did it infuriate her.

“Execution style? And then cleaned it up in forty-five minutes?”

“Obviously,” Pope snapped, jaw clenching as Shoupe just sighed and wrote something else down.

Kie gestured to the camera in Pope’s hand, clinging desperately to the hope that she hadn’t made a big mistake. “We filmed the entire thing,” she said, a fact that was quick to catch Shoupe’s attention.

“You filmed it?” he asked, listening closely now.

“Yes, but we can’t show it to you because Arden was too slow getting down the ladder, Brec was just in the way of everything, then I stepped on JJ’s hand and he kicked Pope in the face, so Pope dropped the camera and it broke because it’s a piece of shit—”

Haven’s neck snapped up, eyes narrowed, but with a squeeze of Brec’s hand on her arm, she stayed quiet. Brec had nothing to do with the reason the camera broke. Kie’s emotions were running high, and as she had the habit of doing, she put the blame on everyone else. The fact was, if she hadn’t shouted ‘MURDERER!’ like an absolute lunatic, Ward wouldn’t have been so quick to cover his tracks. It started with her, and Haven couldn’t wait to tell her.

But for now, they had an increasingly pissed-off Shoupe to contend with.

“This is a telephoto,” Pope rambled on after Kie, knowing how their story was unfolding. They were the kids who cried wolf, the pogues sticking their nose in business that was way over their heads. Shoupe was dangling on a wire of distrust, and one wrong word would push him over completely. “We needed to get a long-distance image, and … and— I fell, and it broke, so the video is basically unusable, but—” 

In simpler words, they’d destroyed their own evidence.

“But… but we were there, and we’re wit—”

“So the dog ate your homework?” Shoupe cut him off with a shake of his head. 

“No, Shoupe,” Kie snapped in frustration. “I know how it sounds—”

“Look, I don’t know what you kids expect me to do with this. You drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing.”

“No, it’s not nothing—”

“Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron’s out on a random killing spree.”

“They’re not crazy,” Arden exclaimed, hands clenched into vengeful fists. “We want you to do your damn job, Shoupe, that’s why we called you out. If you’d gotten here sooner—”

“Miss Kim, I suggest you choose your next words carefully,” Shoupe cut her off with a warning glare. “I understand you’re in a difficult situation, but this is not helping your case.”

“Why won’t you just listen?” she shouted, her frustrations echoed by the pogues. Haven and Brec looked on in the background, knowing there was no use. “I was there on the tarmac. Surely my word is good enough evidence—”

“Look, Arden, you and I both know that’s not true,” Shoupe huffed, to which the pogues went quiet and Arden furrowed her brows in confusion. Arden had been at the tarmac. Yes, she’d been dragged off pretty quickly by Liam arriving, but she’d seen enough to provide a decent witness statement. Why would Shoupe discredit that unless… “Your mother has already confirmed you were at home that day—”

“What?” Arden gasped, eyes wide. “Shoupe, no, she’s lying! I haven’t been home in ages—”

“Arden, enough.” The revelation that Eun-Cha Lee had gotten involved was enough to stun her daughter into silence. Her fire died in the rain, leaving her to cling to JJ’s arm in a mix of horror, anger and sheer disappointment. For a second, Haven considered reaching out, knowing the feelings all too well, but Brec’s hand grounded her in place. It was a stupid thought, really. “Now, as I was saying.”

“Shoupe, this is not a random killing spree,” Pope insisted, his broken camera looking pathetically sad clutched in his hands. “Gavin was his pilot, okay? He was paying him hush money because he was there on the tarmac that day.”

“Yeah, Gavin was blackmailing Ward,” Kie added on. “Because he had the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin.”

“And then he called him here and tried to pay him off but it wasn’t enough so he shot him, alright? With the murder weapon!” JJ exclaimed. Haven watched with bated breath as Shoupe’s brows furrowed. Any distrustful words had died on his tongue, but she couldn’t decipher if this was him finally listening to them, or him just waiting to deliver another killing blow of disappointment.

“How do you know that?” he asked after an instant of tense silence.

Kie turned to Pope, struggling to find the right words that wouldn’t land them in trouble, too. Haven wasn’t sure what the laws were around bugging a man’s car, but it didn’t exactly look good to admit in front of their new Sheriff, regardless of how useless he was at doing his job. “Well, Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and—”

“Yeah! I heard their whole conversation,” Pope said.

Shoupe’s eyes widened. “You wire-tapped him?”

“Is that bad?” Kie frowned.

“What do you think?” Haven scoffed, shaking her head. 

Before Kie could turn on her in anger, Shoupe’s hands raised in a silencing motion. Whatever hope they had that he might’ve finally been paying attention was long done. 

“Stop, just stop,” he snapped. “I’ve had enough.”

“What are you talking about, Shoupe? Are you just gonna look the other way again?” JJ scoffed, hurrying after him as he began to descend down the stairs.

Arden was quick to follow too, Kie right beside her. “Shoupe, we just told you we wire-tapped him. It doesn’t matter if it’s not right or whatever, we still heard it.”

“Have you ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?” Shoupe shouted, face going red.

“Why would we make this up?” Kie cried.

“Why can’t you just believe us for once?”

“Shoupe, seriously, what is wrong with you—”

“You okay?” Brec murmured to Haven. She was yet to follow after them, a hollow stone settling in her chest. Haven thought of John B and Sarah waiting in the Bahamas, putting their faith in them, and felt the strong urge of tears behind her eyes. She quickly blinked them away under Brec’s waiting stare, nodding despite it being an obvious lie.

“I’m fine,” she said, then gestured towards the stairs where Pope was following after the others, his head hung low. “Let’s just go.”

“This was a waste of my goddamn time,” they heard Shoupe shouting as he pushed the door open and stepped outside to where several emergency officers were waiting on stand-bye.

“Why would we lie?” Kie shouted, voice thickening with the first signs of tears. Haven felt nothing as she watched the girl desperately cutting off Shoupe’s path to his car, her face wild and heartbroken. “Shoupe, I know this sounds crazy. I know that!”

But Shoupe just stepped around her, focused on clearing away the skeptical police officers and paramedics bringing out equipment that was meant to save Gavin’s life. “Alright, there’s nothing up there,” he told them despite the pogues’ shouts. “It’s just a false alarm. Let’s go home.”

“No, no, please,” Kie sobbed but it was no use. Their cars were already dispersing, the drivers evidently displeased and tired. “Why would we make this up?”

“Kie, maybe we should just let it go,” Arden suggested, reaching for the girl’s arm. She would try another day, but tonight was clearly not the time to plead their case. Shoupe was already angry enough. Haven would even go as far as to say he was one step away from herding them into the back of a police van. “Kie, come on—”

“Shoupe, can you just do your job for, like, twenty minutes!?”

“Hey!” Shoupe snapped, wheeling around to glare at her. It was one thing for Arden to say that, but Haven knew he wouldn’t keep taking the insult.

No matter how true it is, she thought with a glower.

“I know you’re upset. And I know you think your friend was innocent.”

“He is!”

“But you weren’t there.” 

“Arden was,” Kie said.

Shoupe just shook his head stubbornly. “The only actual credible witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite, alright? And both of them have a hell of a lot more reliability than any of you right now.”

“Shoupe—”

“I saw your little art project on Ward’s wall,” he snapped at Kie.

“Oh, come on,” she rolled her eyes, not a shred of guilt evident for whatever she'd done. Haven presumed it had something to do with the word ‘murder’ and some spray paint, and the thought was ludicrous to her. Kie might’ve believed she was doing the right thing, but her supposed activism was making them look like fools. Just another problem Kie had caused. 

“Do not do that again, alright?” Shoupe warned. “Or you’re gonna make things a lot harder for the both of us.”

Haven turned away as he opened the door to his vehicle and got inside. She couldn’t watch him drive away. But everywhere she looked, she saw flashes of red and blue light pooling across wet asphalt, the colours of so-called hope retreating into darkness, Ward Cameron their puppeteer. The siren on top of Shoupe’s car sounded once, a shrill echo that remained even when his car was long gone and the pogues were left alone to head back to JJ’s van.
 
“I told you this would happen,” JJ snapped at Kie from where he’d approached Haven’s side. He swung his arm around her shoulder, squeezing once before letting go as Arden appeared on his other side with a sour pout on her face. “Like, you’re the one that dropped the camera, Pope—”

“It was your fault,” Kie scowled, rounding on him instead.

“Oh, that was my fault?”

“Yes, it was your fault.”

“Are you kidding, Kiara?” Haven intervened, ignoring the sound of Brec’s sigh as she inched in front of JJ. “This whole problem starts and ends with you. Your activism bullshit has given us a bad name. If you just kept your fucking mouth shut, we might’ve had a chance—”

“Why are you talking like you’re one of us?” Arden snapped, turning over to Kie’s side. She wasn’t happy with the girl, but she refused to let her anger out on her when she had plenty of unsolved problems with Haven to focus on instead. “News flash, Haven, you’re not—”

“Stay out of this,” Haven hissed at her. “Your petty bullshit can wait. Kie played fucking saviour, as usual, and is the reason Gavin’s not going to get justice. And if Pope didn’t break the camera…”

“Thank you,” JJ huffed, backing her up.
“You’re blaming Pope too?” Arden scoffed, teeth bared like a rabid dog looking for a fight. Beside them, Kie and JJ’s voices rose higher, throwing insults at each other. They were right back at square one; when in doubt, when the disappointment grew to be too much, turn on your friends instead. “I think you’re just jealous he’s moved on with Kie. You’re looking for reasons to be pissed even though you brought it on yourself.”

“Guys—”

“Why do you always take his side, Kiara?” JJ was shouting. “Why do you never take mine?”

“Guys, please—”

“Oh, shut up, JJ,” Kie rolled her eyes.

“Hey!” Pope screamed. Reluctantly, Haven tore her glare away from Arden to look at him. He and Brec were standing beside each other, both with grim looks of displeasure on their faces. Neither of them addressed Arden’s insults, or the pure disappointment in JJ’s voice, or any of the fracturing lines tearing the pogues and Haven apart. One more word and the whole picture might’ve shattered. Instead, they teamed up under unlikely odds, and guided the rocky group closer to home. “We’re not out of this yet.”

“What are you on about?” Arden frowned. No traces of anger remained, just pure exhaustion. Haven had no doubts that if she’d said something else to the girl, Arden’s fire would reignite again. But for now, she retreated to lick her wounds.
 
“Think about it,” Brec urged, eyes drifting down to the storm drain they’d subconsciously approached. “The night didn’t go to plan for Ward. There’s a piece of the puzzle he forgot.”

“And that is?” Kie sighed.

“The gun,” she declared with a hint of pride in her voice. She and Pope exchanged a triumphant smile as the group exchanged wary but determined glances. “We can still find it, and then Shoupe will have to listen to us. He’ll have no choice.”

John B and Sarah, we haven’t failed you just yet.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

THE REST OF THE night was far from smooth. Pope and Brec had managed to glue glass back together, but already fragments were falling away. First, they were forced to sit in a dingy van together on the way home, which was bad enough in itself. But then the vehicle just had to break down, leaving them stuck in the rain with no cars around to jumpstart them and no tools in the back for JJ to even attempt to try and fix the broken fuse. The pogues, Haven and Brec were forced to sit and watch as he and Arden had a particularly heated blow-out where she went at him again for buying a dodgy van, and he retorted back with just as much frustration. In the end, the group simply decided to hike the rest of the way back to their houses. They’d already hit rock bottom. What was a little rain and cold if it meant they got to be away from each other?

So Pope and Kie went one way, Arden another, leaving JJ to drag his feet after Haven and Brec. Though for once, luck was on their side, and they were only a five minute walk from Haven’s house.

“Home sweet home,” the blonde boy cried as light shone out onto Haven’s driveway. She was sure he would’ve fallen to his knees and kissed the floor had she not yanked on his arm impatiently. She couldn’t wait to get inside where it was warm and she could sleep this whole nightmare away. “Haven, have I ever told you how much I love your house?”

“Just a couple times,” she noted drily. 

Fortunately, the front door was unlocked, meaning she didn’t have to search her pockets for keys or wait for her mother or Liam to hear her knocking. Instead, she just kicked off her shoes, gesturing for JJ and Brec to do the same as she pushed open the door and let herself in. Melinda and Liam looked up from the couch with raised brows, Pippa rushing over to bark at their feet excitedly.

“Haven, don’t track mud in the house!” Melinda scolded as she hurried to gather some towels from the bathroom. “I just cleaned the floors yesterday!”

“Sorry, mum,” Haven sighed, gratefully accepting a towel for herself and moving aside so JJ and Brec could do the same. “The car broke down so we had to walk the rest of the way.”

“You should’ve called. I would’ve picked you up,” Liam said, watching them cautiously over a pair of reading glasses. “Did you two still need a ride home?”

It took JJ and Brec a second to realise he was speaking to them. They exchanged an awkward glance before JJ just shook his head and sat down in the armchair under the window, deciding it was best to sleep off Arden’s anger instead of trying to tame the beast. Brec hesitated, looking towards Haven for an answer, but Haven quickly averted her eyes to the floor. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Brec to stay, but in all honesty, she didn’t exactly mind her going either.

“That would be great, Mr Powers, if you don’t mind?” Brec sighed after a moment.

“Of course not,” he said, already rising to his feet. “I’ll just get my keys and we can go.”
Haven walked Brec out onto the porch to wait. The hole in the roof from Hurricane Agatha was long done, leaving tiny drips that the girls just avoided as they sat down at the bench where Haven’s mother kept their outdoor shoes and a bowl for Pippa to eat from when outside.

“I’m sorry you had to see all that tonight,” Haven sighed into the uncomfortable silence. She couldn’t stand it, longed to reach out and kiss away the stress lines appearing on Brec’s brow. As if she could hear her thoughts, Brec inched closer, smiling as Haven mustered up all her confidence and pulled her into a hug. “Let me make it up to you with a date tomorrow.”

“I have a feeling we’ll be busy with the pogues tomorrow,” Brec chuckled, arms circling Haven’s waist. 

“You’re still okay with helping us? They weren’t exactly nice to you,” Haven noted with a frown.

“No, but wherever you go, I’ll go too,” she shrugged. Haven’s heart swelled and deflated like a popped balloon. Fondness warred with an emotion so sour Haven thought she’d be sick. She frowned and dropped her arms away, allowing Brec to sit up, still smiling obliviously. “Besides, JJ’s cool. I like him.”

“Everyone does,” a voice piped up from the doorway. Haven’s head snapped around in fright, though it wasn’t long before she rolled her eyes at the sight of her cousin leaning up against the screen door. “Oh, don’t stop your lovey-dovey bullshit on my account.”

“What do you want?” Haven said, Brec letting out a giggle of amusement as she watched them.

“Can’t I just want to spend time with my cousin?” JJ huffed and pouted. At Haven’s deadpan stare, he sobered and said, “Liam’s ready to go. Asked me to get Brec. I think he feels a little uncomfy interrupting you lovebirds.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Maybank,” Liam scoffed as he marched up behind him. 

With one last kiss goodbye for Haven and a fist-bump that JJ insisted on, Brec rushed after Liam towards his car, the two soon disappearing into the rain. Haven sighed in relief once they were gone, turning to rest her head on JJ’s shoulder as he took Brec’s spot on the bench.

“It’s been a long day, huh?” he muttered, eyes closing with exhaustion.

“Yeah,” Haven nodded, thinking back to flashes of red and blue, Ward Cameron’s hand holding a gun like it was an extension of his arm rather than a deadly weapon. So much for moving on. “A really long day.”

It always was though, wasn't it?