"Back so soon?" came the questioning purr.

"Yeah. We're going to find those three punks. Come on, let's start looking." With that, I backed up and drove down the street, before realizing that KARR had relinquished control. "Hey, thanks for letting me drive."

"Yes, but at the first sign of trouble I will put it on autocruise mode." At this I laughed and patted the dash.

"You know, you don't have to worry about me so much." I meant it to be light-hearted, but when KARR didn't respond several minutes later, I sighed, feeling guilty. "KARR?"

The response he gave was clipped and tart, with a tinge of hurt. "What?"

I was going to ask if he picked up any traces of the three teenagers, but I decided I had better make amends first. "I'm sorry... I meant it as a joke."

There was silence for another moment. "Did it ever occur to you that I worry not because I have to, but because I want to?" Guilt washed over me. I felt awful, not only because I had joked about something obviously so serious for him, but also because he cared about me so much that he didn't want me to drive, lest something happen after the accident earlier.

"I-I'm sorry KARR, I didn't think of it like that." I whispered, slowing down slightly.

"It's okay, I forgive you." Silently I thanked the heavens that he was so forgiving.

"Alright, have you picked up an-"

"They are on the right, approximately four-point-nine yards in front of us. All three are there." He interrupted.

"Alright, take control." I said, unbuckling my seatbelt after he had assumed autocruise mode. He slowed by them, and I hollered at them, "Stop!" They stopped, and KARR stopped as well, and I leaped out, jogging over to them. I faced them, and I raked my gaze over them. They shifted nervously from foot to foot, fidgeting. "First things first, what are your names?" I asked.

"My name is Aiden." The first one, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes said.

The second one stepped forward a little. "Kyle." He had brown hair with dyed blonde tops, and his eyes were a grayish-blue.

The third one, with black hair and blue eyes, flashed me a peace sign and said, "I'm Oliver." Slowly I nodded.

"Alright, my name is Quinn, in case you haven't figured that out already. This is KARR," I motioned to the gleaming black Pontiac Trans Am, "Now, since I believe in fairness, I want to hear your side of the story, starting with how you first got mixed up with Eric." For drama and emphasis I paused. "Before we get started, I want you all to know that KARR also has a lie detector built in, so you can't lie."

"That's so awesome! I love your car!" Aiden exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear, and for a moment I could picture him as a younger child on Christmas Day. Then he coughed, looking embarrassed. Kyle elbowed him. "Um, I mean, that's cool." He muttered in a much more subdued tone.

"We first met Eric when we were hanging out at a park. He promised us that he'd take care of us, we'd be living the good life, stuff like that. We really thought he meant it," Kyle said, a tone of disappointment in his voice. "But it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we realized that he was wrong, and that we were wrong for trusting him."

Oliver butted in. "When he started terrorizing the nice people here in this town, especially Brenda, we realized that he was evil. He went out of his way to be mean to people, pulling nasty stunts and all that. We tried to leave, but he said that if we did, he'd find us and..." He looked at the ground, shuffling his feet. Aiden put a arm around his shoulders, and hugged him quickly, before facing me and saying something that sent chills down my spine.

"He promised that if we left, he'd kill Oliver."

"It was when you came along we found something we thought we had lost: hope." Kyle declared, and when I raised a eyebrow he continued on quickly, "We didn't want you to get hurt, of course, but we thought that since you had the guts to stand up to him, maybe we could finally be rid of him, and end the reign of terror that he started."

"Wait." I said, holding up a hand. "He said that he would kill Oliver? Why would he single out Oliver?"

"Because Oliver is his brother's enemy." Kyle sat down on a large rock and buried his head in his hands. "A long time ago, Eric's brother, James, got in a fight with Oliver over some unpaid debts. It wasn't clear who owed the debts, and for what. They got in a fight, and Oliver won, even though they were both badly battered."

"And ever since then, Eric has been out to get me." Oliver muttered.

Something wasn't adding up. "But what happened to James?"

Aiden spoke this time, letting out a gusty sigh. "He was either murdered or committed suicide. We found his body down by the river. But the reason why was because he was both soaking wet, and had just been shot."

"Why do you think it could have been suicide?" I asked.

"He was very depressed." Aiden answered curtly. "But as soon as we found him, someone started shooting at us. With weird bullets too, they had a ringing, high pitch."

My breath caught in my throat. Only one person that I knew of used bullets like that. I swung to face KARR. "KARR, do you have a recording of that shooting the other night?"

"Yes, I do. Would you like me to play it?" He replied.

"Of course. Do you think," I addressed Aiden, Kyle and Oliver, "Could you identify it if you listened to a recording?"

"Most certainly." Oliver said, and the other two nodded. KARR played it, and the shots rang out, crystal clear. The three boys all flinched.

"That's it." Aiden murmured, Oliver echoing agreement.

"No doubt about it. Those are the same bullets." Kyle said.

"Anthony." I spat out. "He's the one who killed James and my parents. He tried to kill me as well, the other night."

We all looked at each other with somber faces, and suddenly I wasn't so intent on turning these kids in to the police.