-2-

The morning after the storm  Stella woke up to no service, or electricity. And while she'd love to go back to sleep  , the boys decided it would be a good idea to go surfing last night. So, considering Kiara didn't know about it,  she had to go check if they were still alive.

" Rach, Im off to the Château" Stella calls out to her Aunt, "Have fun today." 

"Oh I will, stay safe!" She replies as Stella grabs her bike. The château wasn't far from hers, but having to avoid all the debris on the floor made her journey slightly longer then she wanted.

"Hello?"  She yells, banging on the door.  "Hey are you guys alive?!" " John B finally answers, looking like he just woke up.

"Hello."

"No, I have polio bro. I can't walk" JJ mumbles from the sofa.

"Well you're alive, you idiots." She shoves him to sit down, " Guessing you haven't seen outside then." 

"Oh man" John B yawns, walking out  towards the fallen tree. "That's not good."

"Agatha did some work, huh?" JJ nods,  finally getting up.

"Yeah, she did."

"Whatcha thinking?" JJ asks John B, who was clearing the debris from his boat.

"Im thinkin' that storm surge pushed all the crabs out on the marsh maze. All those drum are gonna chase the crab."

"Wasn't the DCS today?"  Stella points out, joining the boys outside.

"Nah, they're not gettin' on a ferry. Come on guys, think about it. It's God telling us to fish."

Stella shrugs "All right let's go."

The boys quickly changed as Stella headed towards the boat. First stop, Pope's place.

"Well look who we have here." JJ whoops as they pull up to his dock.

"We have a safety meeting. Attendance mandatory" John B mimics a static sound.

"I can't. My pop's got me on lockdown. "

"You're dad's a pussy. Over. "

"Oh I heard that you little bastard."

"Hey Heyward. We need your son" Stella smiles sweetly. 

"Yeah, and island rules. Day after a hurricane's a free day" JJ holds his hands up.

"Who the hell made that up?" Heyward questions. 

"Uh...Pentagon, I think. We have security clearance. I have a card." JJ makes up. 

"You think i'm stupid?"

"I-i I'll do it tomorrow. I promise. Tomorrow" Pope turns to his dad, while the rest of them wait.

"You think- No- No. Hell no. You doin' it right now."

"Get in the boat" John B whispers. 

"Jump, come on" Stella gestures.

"Boy if you get in that boat-" Pope jumped into the boat, earning a cheer from the other pogues but a dirty look from his father.

"Yeah, how does that feel?" JJ cheers.

"Bring your ass back up here" Heyward calls out.

"Love you Pops" Stella yells back. "We will bring him back in one piece. I promise!"

As Jj and John B were congratulation Pope as if he won some notorious award, they made their way to their second stop. Kiara's place. 

"Oh top of the morning to ya" JJ welcomes Kiara.

"Good Morning boys, and Stella"

Stella nods at her. "Whatcha got? You got some juice boxes?"

"Yeah you know, just some yogurts and carrot stick too"

"How about my kind of juice boxes?" JJ asks as he holds his hand out for her to get on the boat. 

"Yeah."

They drive peacefully through the marsh, drinking and chatting until JJ decides to be be JJ.

"Lemme show you a party trick. Hey Pope. Can you go a little faster please?" JJ stands at the front of the boat. "Oh god. Here we go. I'm moving."

"It doesn't work, we've tried this like 6,000 times." John B sighs.

"I got this. it's gonna work!" JJ insists, trying to get the beer in his mouth.

"You're getting beer in my hair!"

"JJ, get down!" Stella laughs as the boat barges into something sending JJ flying off the front.

"Jesus, Pope" They all groan at the impact, before Kie leans over the edge of the boat.

"You okay JJ?"

"I think my heels touched the back of my head" He groans. "What did you do , Pope?"

"Sandbar, the channel changed."

"No shit" JJ swims back over to the boat, "Hey, I saved the beer though."

"Congrats JJ"  Stella shakes her head when she spots something under the water, "Uhh guys... I think there's a boat down there."

"No way."

"Shut up. What?"

The others make their way over to her, looking down to try spot it.

"No, no guys she's serious. There's a boat down there" Pope appears next to me. "It's a boat."

"Holy shit, you're right. Let's go" Kie starts taking her clothes off.

"There better not be a dead body down there" Stella says watching them jump in.

"You coming Stel ?" Pope asks. "Uh, no I'll stay up here, keep watch"

It wasn't long before they returned back to the surface. "Did you guys see that?" JJ laughs. "That's a Grady-white. A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy."

"You're kidding"

"No, That's a primo rig."

"Yeah. That's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge." John B agrees.

"Maybe it hit the jetty or something."

"You surfed the surge? Did you know this Stella?" Kie looks at me.

"Unfortunately, yes. Couldn't stop 'em."

"Wait. Wait. Do we know whose boat that is?" Pope changes the topic.

"No, but we are about to find out"

"Dude, it's too deep."

"Oh for the weak and feeble, JJ"

"Well, Im not resuscitating you. Im just making that clear up front."

"Same here" Stella adds, as John B pulls out the anchor.

"John B" Kiera looks at him concerned. Holding the anchor, JJ pushes him back into the water. He was down there at lot longer than the first time, and they all wait at the edge of the boat with anticipation.

"Should we go get him?" Pope asks just as he returns, coughing.

"Took your time" Stella scowls.

"Ah jeez"

"Any dead bodies?"

"No. No. I found this motel key."

" A key."

"Yes. A key, Pope." John B climbs into the boat.

"So shall we go?" JJ suggests. Everyone hums in agreement except Stella. 

"I gotta get back guys, you're gonna have to go without me" She tells them.

"What! No you'll miss out." JJ protests.

"Sorry dude, keep me in the loop though."

Pope starts up the boat, heading back to the port to drop her off before they go check out the motel. Stella had promised Sarah she'd meet her today, so as much as she wanted to check out the motel with the others she headed to the Camerons.

"Uh, last time I saw him, he was prepping the Druthers with Sarah and I think Stella was there. Speaking of Stella." Ward notices her walking up to the house, and motions for her to follow him.  She looks confused, but follows nevertheless.

"Sarah!" He  then yells out as they head into  the house, "You seen the princess?" he asks Rose. 

"She's out back."

"Oh Stella, this is Scooter's wife, she can't find him, have you seen him by any chances?"

"Uh no I haven't seen anyone today apart from my Aunt" She lies slightly. "Sorry"

"What's your sister doing?" Ward asks Wheezie.

"Saving Mice." 

Stella starts laughing, as Sarah runs around with a stick in her hand chasing after the birds. Typical Sarah behaviour.

"Im sorry" Ward tells the lady. "Sarah!"

"Im busy!"

"What are you doing?"

"The burrows filled with water from the surge. The birds are having a field day." She runs.

"The bird have to eat too, Sarah."

"No, it's a mouse genocide out here. No!" She yells at the birds.

"It's the cycle of life is what it is, sweetheart. Now come on."

"I can't be a part of it. First they came for the mice"

"Well I have a actual human being..."

"Oh, my god... Im so sorry" She shakes the lady's hand.

"This is Lana Grubb, she's scooter's wife and obviously you know Stella" He motions to the girl. Lana, that's her name, Stella realises.

"Oh Stella, Hey" She hugs her.

"Now you two were storm prepping with him, right?" Ward asks the both of them.

"Yeah. He helped me latch the cabin on the Druthers last night."

"Did he go out after that?"

"No are you crazy there was a hurricane."

"Well did he say where he was going? Get a phone call or mention anything" Lana asked. Stella tired to remember something for her sake, but she was stumped.

"He didn't say anything to me, do you remember anything Stel ?"

"Nah, I really can't, is he okay?"

"He's absolutely okay." Ward insists, taking Lana back to the house.

"Okay." Stella smiles, before turning to Sarah, "Need some help?"She gestures to the birds. 

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

"Hey guys, how was the motel?" Stella walks into the Château seeing there panicked faces. "Um did it not go well?"

"Uh no motel, was interesting. Gotta a stack of cash" John B coughs.

"Yeah and I gotta a souvenir" JJ pulls out a gun. 

"Oh my god, What the fuck JJ?!"

"Okay. So um... we didn't see anything. We don't know anything" Pope runs in panting. " We need to have total and complete amnesia"

"Wait what have you guys done?"

"Actually, Pope's right for once. See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny."

"Deny what?" Stella looks around confused.

"They found Scooters body" John B tells her. 

"Oh" Her hand covers her mouth.

"Guys we can't keep that money" Kie states.

"Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara"

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs. Otherwise, it's bad karma."

"Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too. We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree."

"I don't agree." states John B. "Think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just saying. "

"No John B's right. It's weird, not to mention Lana went to Ward for help to find him." Stella ingroms them

"Wait that's where you ran off too, the Cameron's?" JJ asks looking annyoed.

"Not the point right now JJ , but yes."

"Okay. Right so all we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. There has to be something in there. Until then, we just lay law. Act normal"

"Right. And how exactly do we do that?"

"Kegger?" Kie suggests.