Chapter Sixteen: Cody Weston

"So tell us, Cody, what are you in school for?" Blair asked the handsome, blue-eyed man she and Jo had picked up nearly thirty minutes ago.

Cody Weston leaned back against the seats in the backseat, watching Blair divid up the beef jerky in her bag. She then passed out the portions amongst herself, Jo and Cody.

Blair then took a quick swig from her tiny bottle of Southern Comfort and then handed it to Cody, who graciously accepted it. Blair then laid back, her back against the car door and her bare feet in Jo's lap as Jo continued to drive, not even batting an eyelash.

Cody took a swig from the bottle before he responded. "Human nature," he answered. "I'm majoring in behavioral science."

Blair nodded, glancing at Jo for her approval. Jo only shrugged. So far, she thought Cody was OK but wasn't quite ready to start being buddy-buddy with him.

"And so whaddya wanna be when ya grow up?" Jo asked him curiously.

Cody gave Jo a coy, boyish grin. He then wiggled his eyebrows. "A waiter," he answered, making both Blair and Jo burst out laughing.

Blair grinned, happy to see Jo had finally seemed like she was lightening up and liking Cody.

I knew she'd eventually see things my way, she thought, smirking to herself.

Rollins walked up the path of the address given to him by Beverly Anne of Blair's residence. He rang the doorbell.

Rollins stared, shocked at Casey Clark's appearance. He was disheveled and drunk, wearing only boxers and a beat-up Hawaiian shirt, unbuttoned. In his hand, he held a beer can.

"Uh…are you Casey Clark, sir?" Rollins asked, grimacing at Casey as he looked him up and down.

Casey then belched. "Yeah, I am. Who wants to know? Who the hell are you?" He demanded, wiping his mouth with his shirtsleeve.

Rollins took out his badge. "I'm Ted Rollins, State Investigator for the State of New York. May I come inside?"

Casey blinked dazedly. "Uh…yeah…c'mon in." He then invited Rollins inside. Rollins' face almost turned up at the smell and sight of the house: It smelled of body odor and there were takeout food containers and fast food wrappers everywhere.

Nearby, the TV blared with a sports game on. "Sorry my place is a mess…usually my lady cleans up or the housekeeper does."

"By 'your lady', are you referring to Blair Warner, your girlfriend?" Rollins asked.

"Yeah…that'd be her. What? She and that friend of hers get into some stupid shit or something?"

He then chuckled to himself, taking a long swig of beer.

He looked up to see Rollins wasn't laughing or joking. "Wait…you're fucking serious, aren't you? What the fuck is going on here? See…I knew Jo was a fucking bad influence on her! What kind of shit did Blair and Jo get into?"

"Well…Mr. Clark, it seems like your girlfriend and her friend were witnesses to a murder."

Casey's mouth flew open. "Wait…what?!" He asked, shocked. "No fucking way!"

"Yes, sir. Some time late Friday night or early Saturday morning, a man was shot and witnesses say they saw your girlfriend and her friend leave. We're not saying they did anything but it appears they were there the night of the murder and we just want to talk to them."

Casey frowned, blowing out a breath of air. "Shit, man. This is all fucking mind-blowing to me," he said, plopping into an armchair. "I mean, I go to work, come back and find out Blair's not here. She leaves me some goddamn note then calls me to tell me she and Jo were out doing whatever shit woman these days fucking do and she'd be back tomorrow! She never told me shit about witnessing a fucking murder!"

Rollins quirked an eyebrow quizzically. "Wait…you mean to tell me your girlfriend never mentioned anything at all to you about witnessing a man get shot?"

"No! All she told me was that she and Jo were in the mountains and she'd be coming home tomorrow!"

"Did she sound distraught or worried at all?"

Casey snorted out a sarcastic laugh. "If you call her cussing me out, telling me, in her words, to 'fucking turn blue', then yeah, I'd say she was pretty fucking distraught!"

He then rose up from his armchair and began pacing up and down the room. "See, I knew something was fishy when I went into the bedroom drawer and noticed my goddamn gun was missing! I bought that gun so Blair would've at least had some kind of damn protection when I'm not here but she never even touched that shit let alone even looked at it!"

"Now, Mr. Clark…tell me this…you said your girlfriend told you she and her friend were in the mountains…did you already know they were going?"

"No, not at all. When I left here that morning, Blair fixed me coffee and she looked pretty normal and shit to me. She never said anything to me about a trip. When I got back, the house was a mess with shit piled everywhere, a note and some trash food she left for me in the microwave. She took stuff like she was going away for months; not for a vacation. Not to mention, my gun is gone."

Rollins bit his lip, pondering. He didn't want to jump to conclusions but everything he had heard so far had alarm bells ringing in his head.

What if…Rollins thought.

"Wouldn't have surprised me if they killed him purposely. He probably propositioned them and got way more than he bargained for," Casey replied, chuckling darkly.

Casey then shook his head. "I can't believe this shit. I can't believe it." He sighed deeply as he buried his head in his hands. This shit had better not be traced back to me. I have a license on that damn gun! I need a damn drink to calm my nerves! He thought. He then looked up at Rollins. "You want a beer?" He offered. "I need a damn beer."

"So…do any of y'all have any kids?" Cody asked Blair and Jo curiously.

Both women shook their heads.

"How come?" Cody asked.

"Well…first off, I'm not married yet," Blair informed him. "Casey…he's my…well…ex-boyfriend, I guess…anyway, he said he's not ready for kids or marriage. He's still too much of a child himself. He prides himself on being infantile."

"Yeah…he's got a lot to be proud of," Jo remarked dryly, rolling her eyes.

Blair giggled, playfully nudging Jo's arm. Jo then giggled as well.

"Jo and Casey don't get along," Blair informed Cody.

"That's puttin' it mildly there," Jo replied.

"Yeah…she thinks he's a a pig," Blair piped up.

"He's a real piece of work, though. I wish ya could meet him," Jo said to Cody.

"Did you ever think about getting married and…I dunno…settling down?" Cody questioned Blair.

Blair only shrugged. "I had actually hoped he would propose but now I'm actually glad we didn't wind up getting married. I don't believe he was ever actually serious about wanting to marry me anyway. But I'm over it now. I realize now that I'm Blair fucking Warner and I deserve way better." Blair then gave a confident, sexy smirk, flipping her hair.

Jo couldn't help but smile at Blair's statement. She then felt her heart skip a beat. Yeah, Blair, ya do.

"Well, if you don't mind me saying so, it sounds like this man is a complete asshole," Cody remarked. His blunt remark caused both Jo and Blair to burst out laughing.

After the two woman had stopped laughing, Blair turned to face Cody, giggling. "Nah, it's OK," she said. "You're right; he is an asshole. Most of the time, I just let it slide." She then took a quick swig of Southern Comfort, passing the bottle to Jo.

Cody then began looking down the road, almost immediately spotting a car in the distance. Oh, shit! He panicked internally.

He then leaned towards Jo's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Better slow down, Miss Jo," he informed her. "That there's a cop."

Jo followed Cody's gaze and saw a highway patrol car coming right the road towards them. She only nodded and quietly veered off the road towards a path with trees and shrubs to block them from being seen.

She then glided along as the cop car passed them on the other side without even seeing them. Blair, Jo and Cody all let out deep sighs of relief it felt like they had all been holding in for ages.

Jo then continued on down the road as if nothing had happened. The three were safe and had not been spotted by the cop.

"Maybe you got a few too many parking tickets?" Cody wisecracked, trying to break the ice.

Jo only gave him a stern glance from her rearview mirror. She quickly gulped down the last of the Southern Comfort and tucked the empty bottle under her seat. "We're gonna take ya on to Oklahoma City," she told him gruffly. "Then ya'd best be on ya way."

"Wise guy," she then muttered under her breath.