Molly Wescott ~Rafe Cameron~

Chapter 39

As we drove to the construction site Ward ordered Gavin to meet him at it began to rain. We parked the car and stood behind a fence at the site and watched as Pope pulled out an old looking camera. "Where'd you dig that relic out of?" JJ teased him. "Why don't you just use your phone?" Rain battered down on my hair and I think I look more like a wet-rat than myself right now.

"Well first of all I like my antique electronics, and second this is a telephoto." He explained. "It allows me to get a close up image from far away."

"Lord of the dorks." Kie said jokingly and I shrugged.

"I think it's kind of awesome." As much as I hate to admit it those cameras can produce some pretty good images.

"Thank you." Pope said, and fist bumped me. "For definitive proof of witness pay off we're going to need quality glass.

"There he is!" JJ hissed, and pointed towards Ward who ran through the rain with a duffel bag in hand. We all crouched down behind the fence as he jogged by, oblivious to us being there. The two of them went into one of the buildings under construction by Cameron development.

"No no! We're losing him!" Pope stated as they moved out of sight.

"Yo guys!" We turned to see JJ signaling us over to see a metal ladder leading to the roof of one of the buildings. We all climbed up it and crouched down behind the ledge of the roof to see we're right across from where Ward and Gavin are. Pope adjusted his camera and I squinted through the rain trying to see them but it's almost impossible between the rain and wind.

"You see anything?" I asked Pope and he nodded.

"Ward just handed him a duffel bag." A few seconds went by and Pope spoke again. "Gavin doesn't look happy about something. It looks like he's yelling at Ward."

"He probably wants more money." I explained to them how this works. "Pay offs are always like this." JJ and Kie shot met a sideways look and I shrugged. "Pay offs are commonplace in Kooklandia."

"It's not like they're struggling with money and can't pay him more." JJ remarked and I shook my head no.

"If you withdraw too much from the bank it triggers alarms. That's why a lot of these things are done in installments." I know this first hand from when I tried to pay off Barry for JJ's mental breakdown that day.

"Shit." Pope stated, and through the faint vision I have it looks like they're wrestling each other. "They're fighting!" a few seconds went by again and Pope looked taken back. "Ward's kicking the shit out of Gavin!" I felt my stomach twist at the thought. Watching him curb stomp Barry over money was sickening, this is over his son's future I would not want to be Gavin right now. "Holy shit! Ward's got a gun!"

"I bet that's the murder weapon." JJ stated. All of the sudden we heard the sound of gunshots making all of us gasp in shock as Gavin's body fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh my g-" JJ's hand clamped over my mouth before I could even finish my sentence and he pulled me down with them as we laid on the ground completely out of Ward's sight. Tears formed in my eyes at the sight. Ward was always a second father to me, and now I just watched him murder someone right in front of me. "Tell me you got that." JJ whispered to Pope.

"Enough to put this asshole away for life." Pope replied, and scooted up a bit to get more footage.

"I think we should go right now." JJ insisted and I nodded in agreement.

"Hold on, he's coming out." Pope said, still filming him and my head is spinning. "I think he's looking for the gun! The gun went down the drain! He's looking for it." All of the sudden Kie stood up.

"What are you doing?!" JJ hissed. Ward's on the pavement below us by the sewer trying to reach for the gun.

"What is wrong with you?!" She screamed. "MURDERER!"

"Get down!" JU scolded her and pulled her down angrily.

"Are you fucking stupid?!" I scolded her. "Do you want him to shoot us next you idiot?!"

"I don't care if he hears me he's a murderer!" She snapped.

"Yeah and he's gonna murder us next!" JJ hissed.

"Guys he sees us we gotta get the hell out of here!" Pope stated and we all rushed to the ladder. I went down it first, practically jumping off halfway then Pope went down.

"Pope go go go!" JJ yelled.

"I'm going!" He was halfway down and JJ and Kie started coming down when suddenly Kie stepped on JJ's hand making him lose balance and fall on Pope who fell off and took me out at the bottom with them. I felt my back collide hard with the ground and let out a grunt of pain. I also heard the sound of the camera slamming into the ground.

"So sorry!" Kie apologized, but anger rushed through me at her stupidity.

"No no no no." Pope mumbled, picking up the remnants of the camera.

"You fumbled it?!" JJ asked him and I shot JJ a glare.

"You kicked me in the face!"

"She stepped on my hand."

"I was trying to hurry." Kie defended herself.

"Go he's coming!" Pope ushered us and we ran through the fence and back to the car. We all got back into the car and caught our breath.

"Can someone fill me in on what the frick just happened?!" JJ asked, and I stared at the floor of the car trying to process what I just witnessed. As the adrenaline began to wear off I started to feel the crushing pain in my back and ribs from taking the brunt of the JJ and Pope crash on the ladder. I tried to tune out the sound of Kie rushing and panicking while she called the cops and JJ and Pope tried to talk her out of it.

"We can't just sit here! We're sitting ducks right now!" Pope yelled.

"What do you want me to do?!"

"Just drive!" Kie hit the gas and floored it away from the construction site.

"Guys I can't be here." I told them as the panic set in. Kie called the cops who are going to want to talk to her about what happened and Ward and my dad have Shoupe in their back pockets. Not to mention the fact that Rafe still trusts me. If I lose that then we're completely screwed.

"What?!"

"Look I can't be there when Shoupe and the other's get there."

"But-"

"She's right." Pope backed me much to everyone's surprise. "Our best bet at getting any information out of them is if they trust her." Kie stayed quiet but drove me back to my house.

———————-

Please vote.