Chapter Forty-Nine: Labyrinth

The two of them stopped by Dustin's, where Max relayed the whole thing to him, and then they decided to go to Family Video.

Lucas wasn't home, Nancy wasn't home, and Mike was out of town. That mean Steve and Robin were their go-to.

They all rode their bikes down, passing by people enjoying their spring break. Annie was so ready to enjoy hers, but of course this had to interrupt. The Upside Down couldn't leave them alone. Not even for a whole year.

Once they arrived at family video, they all hopped off their bikes and leaned them against the front of the building.

Entering, Dustin said, "Hey, Steve."

"You see this? The hell are doing out here with that going on?" Steve asked, gesturing at the television and looking at his sister. "You shouldn't be out riding your bikes right now."

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin asked, completely ignoring Steve's words.

"Someone was murdered."

"How many phones do you have?" Dustin pushed.

Steve looked at Robin. "Uh, two, why?"

"Technically three if you count Kieth's," Robin added, gesturing toward the office in the back.

The kids all looked at each other, Max nodding. "Yeah, three works," she said.

The older two looked confused and then pissed once Dustin pushed his backpack over the counter and slid over to the other side.

"Dude, I bet there was a much easier way to do that," Annie said, looking back and forth between her distraught brother and Robin.

He ignored her, getting himself set up on the computer behind the desk. "What are you doing, dude?" Steve asked.

"Setting up base of operations here," he said.

"Base of operations?"

Max and Annie came around to the back of the counter, choosing the safer entry. They got up next to Dustin and looked as he started looking things up. Steve tried his best to get Dustin away, but the kid refused to move.

To be fair, Steve and Robin would understand the importance of the mission if it got explained to them. But they were on a time crunch, Annie figured they'd get filled in along the way.

"Oh Eddie," Steve sighed when Dustin explained what he was doing. "You're new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?"

"Eddie, yes. And I never said that," Dustin countered.

Robin, back over restocking tapes jumped in. "Seriously, guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around in here like toddlers, but it's Saturday. It's our busiest day."

"All right Robin, I empathize, but this cannot wait until Monday," Dustin said.

"Calling Eddie's friends is an emergency?"

"Correct!"

Annie sighed, finally deciding to jump in. "Maybe if we just, I don't know, explain what we're doing- like the whole picture- they'd understand," she said. Steve and Robin were mumbling to each other, but she didn't really care.

"What, what is so important?" Robin asked, turning to face the group again.

Annie looked over to Max, who was slightly hesitant at first. "It's okay, they need to know," she whispered, taking hold of the redhead's hand.

Max nodded, glad for the comfort her girlfriend was a pro at giving. She turned back to the waiting teens and dove into the story, telling them about seeing Chrissy with Eddie, the lights freaking out, Eddie running from his trailer in terror, and the glimpse she caught of Chrissy this morning. How wrong it all felt.

"And the only person who knows for sure what happened is Eddie. So, we're trying to find him," Max finished.

Steve's eyebrows were nearly to his hairline. "You want to track down the guy who probably killed Chrissy Cunningham? And you think it's a good idea?" he asked.

"He didn't do it!" Dustin's exasperated voice joined in.

Annie nodded. "We think it'll give us the answer we need on whether this is an Upside Down issue or just a crazy guy issue."

The other two sighed, then turned to each other and conversed quietly. When they finished, Robin nodded. "Fine, we'll help. What do we do?"

They got their set up going strong. A whiteboard had all of Eddie's friends listed. Dustin looked up and found numbers for each of them, and with the three phones, everyone else took over calling.

Except for Steve, who was still dealing with the Saturday crowd. Annie watched him give a cute girl a Dr. Zhivago VHS, trying his best to shoot his shot. As it usually goes, he crashed and burned when she mentioned she had a boyfriend.

"Hey guys," Max said, causing everyone to turn to her. "I might have a lead."

"Seriously?" Dustin asked, excitement all over his face.

Max nodded. "Apparently Eddie gets his drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there."

"Sounds promising," Robin said. "Where does Reefer Rick live?"

"See, that's the thing. No one knows. He's more of a... a legend than some guy you actually know," she said.

"Well, what about a last name?" Dustin asked.

Max shook her head. "I don't know that either." Annie felt herself deflate at this. Their only lead was 'Rick.'

"Bet the cops know the last name."

Everyone turned to look at Steve. "What?" Max asked.

"Cops." He finally turned to look at the others. "I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he's been busted at some point. Means he's in the system."

Annie didn't think that was a terrible thought process, but Dustin seemed to with how he said, "The cops? Really, Steve? That's your suggestion?"

"I mean, I just think they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on," Steve said. He still believed Eddie did it. Which was fair, Annie will give him that. But at the very least she wanted to give Eddie the chance to tell his side.

What he had seen that made him run away.

"You think Eddie's guilty, don't you?" Dustin asked, crossing his arms and starting to get a bit emotional, Annie picked up.

Steve shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I believe in innocent until proven guilty! All that constitutional shit. I just, you know, don't think that we can rule it out."

Annie sighed. "That's not helpful, Steve," she mumbled as Dustin started getting mad.

"That's precisely what we're trying to do here, Steve," Max added.

"And maybe we'd have a little bit more luck if you spent less time trying to find a girlfriend and more time trying to find Eddie!" Dustin practically yelled.

"Somebody has to attend to the customers," Steve defended.

"Especially if they're babes, right?" Robin said, adding a wink on at the end.

The bell rang as Steve started to talk. "Hey, not fair, okay? I attend to all customers equally, babes and non-babes alike. We've got a very big selection in here. It can be super overwhelming for these people."

"Yeah, it can be." Something in the way Robin spoke told Annie she had a thought, which was proven right when Robin moved to the computer.

"What are you doing?" Max asked.

"Maybe we don't need a last name," Robin said. Everyone started to gather around behind her. Even Steve came around the counter to look.

The group was silent as Robin typed 'Rick' into the bar at the top, then several names appeared on the screen.

"Twelve Ricks have accounts here!"

"That's a lot of Ricks," Max commented, Annie nodding in agreement.

"So, let's narrow it down." Robin clicked the first name. "Rick Alderman's latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?"

"Probably none," Annie answered.

Robin went clicking away on the next name. "Rick Conroy. Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, and Romancing the Stone."

Everyone agreed quickly that was not the one they were looking for.

So, to the next. "Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose..."

"Good man."

"...and Grease."

"Nah."

"Rick Kimbrough. The Blue Lagoon and Splash." The group laughed and agreed that probably also wasn't the guy.

"Rick Lipton. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cheech and Chong's Next Movie. Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams. Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke."

The group was alive with laughter and hope. "Bingo!" Dustin said. They had found their Reefer Rick, meaning they were steps closer to finding their witness.

"Lipton?"

"Spelled like the tea. 2121 Holland Road."

"That's out by Lover's Lake."

"Middle of nowhere."

"It's a perfect place to hide."