Ricky

At the house

         “You guys ready to go?” the driver asked, glancing over at Ricky and Drake. They both nodded, but Ricky’s mind was elsewhere, replaying the calm execution he’d just witnessed.
         “Viper, we’re heading back to my house, right?” Drake asked, breaking the silence. Ricky still wasn’t paying attention, but that didn’t affect Drake at all.
         “Yeah, Drake. We’re gonna go back and see our good friend Bobby there. I just hope he gives me a reason to eliminate him,” Viper admitted, making Drake grin. Ricky’s in-head movie suddenly finished, so he twitched quickly, pulling himself back to reality. He leaned back in his seat, running a hand through his hair.
         “Hey, Viper. Is that the first time you’ve shot down a gun barrel? Or have you learned to do that?” Ricky asked, remembering the little explosion in the bar. When Drake heard that, he slipped back over to lean between Viper and Ricky again.
         “You shot down the barrel? Is that what the explosion was that I heard?” Drake questioned, a note of excitement in his voice. That’s when Ricky realized that Drake hadn’t seen anything.
         “Yes, I shot down the barrel. That was the first time I’d actually done it, but I’ve been trying. Oh, and yes, that was the explosion you heard, Drake. He had a bullet in the chamber, but I never saw it come out. I wonder where it went,” Viper told them, sounding like he was just thinking out loud, so neither of the other teens responded to him. Because of that, the truck was quiet as Viper was going to turn onto Drake’s street. As they turned, the flashing red and blue lights cut into their sight. When Ricky’s eyes adjusted, he could tell where the police cars were.
         “Viper, isn’t that….,” Ricky’s voice trailed off, but Viper had caught the unfinished question and the truck leaped forward with extra speed. Ricky hoped that the police cars in Drake’s driveway didn’t mean what his mind was supplying. When they were nearing the house, it finally registered to Drake where the flashing lights were.
         “Oh, God, that’s my house! Something’s wrong,” Drake added, stating the obvious. Viper swerved into the same spot he’d parked before. For a moment, the three of them just looked at the crime scene tape around the yard, the numerous cops standing around, talking in small groups or walking around the yard, running errands. Ricky was the one who spotted Rob in the drive, talking to a couple men in suits. That shot his hope that something had happened to Rob. After everyone in the truck saw that Drake’s house was a crime scene, Ricky opened his door and slid out, releasing Drake from the back seat. Drake hurried out and quickly walked around the front of the truck, meeting up with Viper on the other side. Drake took a deep breath, then he strolled up to the crime scene tape, visibly nervous, glancing at the yard that he grew up in.
         “Drake. Want me to get somebody’s attention for you?” Ricky asked gently, putting his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. Drake nodded silently. Ricky knew that Drake was too nervous to talk.
         “Officer! Sir, can you come here?” Ricky asked, being very respectful, gesturing for the nearest officer to come and talk to the teens. Viper had hesitated, but now, he was standing behind Drake and Ricky as the police officer made his way to the three. The man was tall and he looked somewhat scary to nervous teenagers.
         “What can I help you with?” the officer asked, glancing between the three. It seemed to Ricky that the man had been busy, based on the tiredness of his voice and eyes. Ricky glanced at his best friend, saw that Drake was still voiceless, and answered the man’s question.
         “What’s going on? Drake lives here. Can you please tell us what happened?” Ricky asked, with a note of urgency in his voice. The officer glanced at Drake, then turned and called for a ‘Detective Early’. One of the two men talking to Rob turned and Rob’s eyes followed the detective’s eyes. His eyes met with Ricky’s and Ricky could see the hatred flaring, even from the distance, but something was different. There was satisfaction in those eyes, meaning to Ricky that something was definitely wrong and that something was Rob’s doing. Suddenly, Ricky’s eye contact with Rob was broken as Detective Early passed through Ricky’s sight line. Now Ricky watched as the detective strolled over to the three teens.
         “Detective, this young man lives here. I thought you might want to talk to him,” the officer explained, gesturing at Drake. The detective glanced at Ricky’s best friend with streetwise brown eyes that seemed to be taking in everything he saw.
         “Can you please tell me what happened? I know my stepdad’s okay. I see him. Where’s my mom?” Drake questioned, speaking quickly and he was obviously nervous, but that was understandable. The detective took a deep breath before he spoke.
         “I’m very sorry, but your mother’s been murdered. Your step dad witnessed it and he scared the killer away. Rob knows the killer, so we’ll be arresting him shortly,” Detective Early informed the teens. At that, Ricky turned to Drake, who slowly collapsed into his best friend. Ricky put his arms around Drake as the information processed. Drake’s eyes closed and tears rolled down his cheeks freely.
         “Who was it? I mean, it’s gotta take an evil person to kill a lady for no reason,” Ricky explained, but the detective shook his head simply. Drake had perked up when he heard Ricky’s question, but once he saw Detective Early’s response, Drake collapsed back into his best friend’s shoulder.
         “Did Rob give you a name?” Viper asked from behind Ricky and Drake, redirecting the detective’s attention.
         “Yes, he did, but I can’t give you that information. I’m sure that you already knew that. You look like you’ve been arrested before,” Detective Early admitted. Viper laughed at that, then shook his head before he glanced over and caught Rob’s eye. Viper slipped over to the drive, staying on his side of the crime scene tape. He looked back at the two teens he was helping and the detective who had just told Drake that the only family Drake liked was dead. When Killer’s brother was satisfied that it was safe, he turned back to Rob and motioned for the ex-soldier to come closer. The detectives had finished talking to Rob, so he strolled over to Viper, where a police car in the drive somewhat blocked the two from prying eyes in the yard.
         “What are you doing with them?” Rob asked suspiciously.
         “Hanging out. So what’d you manage to do here?” Viper countered, but before Rob answered, Ricky realized that Viper was gone.
         “Viper! What’re you doing over there?” Ricky called. Viper glanced back over to Drake and Ricky. The detective had left them.
         “Nothing, man,” Viper answered, but he turned back to Rob, “Bobby, I think my boss might want to know what’s going on.” At that, Rob nodded and Viper slipped back over, where Ricky was still trying to console Drake and it seemed that it was working. At least, the tears weren’t streaming down as fast anymore. Ricky had learned two things about trying to make someone feel better: just give them a shoulder to cry on and don’t tell them that it’s okay. If it was okay, they wouldn’t need the shoulder to cry on.
         “Did Rob tell you what happened?” Ricky asked once he realized that Viper had been talking to Drake’s step dad. Viper shook his head sadly before he answered.
         “No. He might’ve, but I came back here,” Killer’s brother responded. Just then, Detective Early came back over to the three, looking somewhat hopeful. Ricky noticed that and straightened up slightly, hoping for the best.
         “Okay, I’ve got some good news. The man that Rob saw shoot your mom has been arrested. Hopefully, he’ll make it easy and confess, but it doesn’t normally go that way,” the detective admitted. Ricky nodded and Drake stood on his own, no longer leaning on his best friend. Drake wiped the tears out of his eyes, which were still black and blue from Deuce’s boys’ beating the night before.
         “Well, now that you arrested him, could you tell us who it is?” Drake questioned. When the detective opened his mouth to answer, Ricky’s cell phone began ringing. Detective Early, Drake, and Viper all looked at him, so Ricky stepped away and looked at his phone. He didn’t know the number, but he answered it anyway.
         “Hello?” he answered cautiously. On the other end was one of the people that Ricky had spent his morning with.
         "Little brother, something’s wrong. I passed out in the car and then when I woke up, you were gone,” Blayze explained, talking fast and obviously nervous. Ricky spoke up, stopping his brother.
         “Blayze, relax. What is wrong, bro?” Ricky questioned, fighting to keep his voice steady. Blayze’s nerves were getting to him. On the other end, Ricky heard his brother take a deep breath.
         “Okay. Deuce told me you went to find Drake, so I took off in the Mustang. I made it about two miles down the road, but then I got pulled over. They arrested me for murder, little brother, and I think they said it was Drake’s mom! Ricky, I’m freaking out here. What’s going on out there, kid?” Blayze asked. He was probably trying to switch subjects to calm himself down, but Ricky was stuck on this subject. Rob had told the detectives that Blayze was the one who killed Ms. Wright. That’s when Ricky remembered that Rob said that killing Blayze would do the world a favor.
         “Well, we got Drake and left for a while. We were hanging out, the three of us. Then we came back to Drake’s and the cops tell us that his mom’s been murdered,” Ricky explained, skipping over the gun fight at the arcade.
         “So why would they arrest me for it? I wasn’t anywhere near Drake’s house,” Blayze added. As Ricky thought all this over and had to decide how to break the truth to his older brother that Rob was framing Blayze, Drake slid over to his best friend.
         “Is that Blayze? What’s going on?” Drake asked. At that, Ricky told his brother to hold on and put his hand over the phone’s mouthpiece, then answered Drake.
         “Rob is framing my brother for this,” Ricky explained, gesturing at the yellow tape and the flashing lights. Drake’s mouth fell open and he appeared speechless, so Ricky went back to talking on the phone.
         “Blayze, we’re gonna figure something out, okay? We won’t let you go to jail. I promise,” Ricky told his brother, glancing at Drake, who nodded.
         “All right, kid. I gotta go, though,” Blayze answered. Ricky said bye to his brother and hung up.
         “You’ve gotta be kidding me, Ricky. Blayze’s in jail?” Drake asked, unbelieving. Ricky didn’t blame him. They both knew Blayze and knew that his temper was practically nonexistent. He wasn’t at all violent.
         “Yep. Rob told the cops that Blayze killed your mom, so they arrested him. We’ve gotta let the cops know that Rob is using them,” Ricky told Drake. Viper stepped in, reminding the other two that he was still there.
         “Detectives almost always have a tape recorder on them. If they don’t believe us, we can borrow one of the recorders and get Rob to admit what he’s doing. That way, we can use it in court or something.” Viper added. At that, Ricky turned toward the detective, who was busy talking to a police officer and another detective.
         “Detective Early!” Ricky called. The man glanced over his shoulder at the three teens, then finished his conversation before he strolled back to see what Ricky had to say. As he reached them, he sighed and his eyes showed all of the heavy loads his profession had planted on his shoulders.
         “What can I help you with now?” he asked gently, glancing between the three teens.
         “The guy you arrested is my brother. He wasn’t anywhere near here when this happened. Rob has been trying to get Blayze in trouble since they met, so he told you that Blayze did it. I know somebody who was in the same general area as my brother. There’s no way my brother came out here, killed Ms. Wright and got back to the car without Deuce noticing,” Ricky explained, not mentioning that Rob had met Blayze only hours ago, if more than one hour. Ricky had lost track of time over this morning. Detective Early glanced over at Rob, standing in the drive.
         “Sorry, kids. I’d like to believe you, but we’d need solid proof. If you can get that, maybe we can do something about this,” the detective added, turning to go, but Viper stopped him.
         “If you let me borrow your tape recorder, sir, I can get a confession for you. That’d be considered solid proof, wouldn’t it?” he asked, somewhat sarcastic.
         “Yes. I believe it would be. Now, how are you planning on getting this confession?” Detective Early asked, reaching for the tape recorder in his inside jacket pocket. Viper simply grinned, then as he took the recorder, he clicked his tongue before sliding over to the driveway.