Blood, Clues and iPods!

It was the 28th of February.  In a suburb of California, at #280 Camelot Drive, Brenda Jobs was playing Scrabble on her iPad in her bedroom.  She was still mourning the loss of her famous brother, Steve.  In her younger days, she had helped him design the first iPod.   Her cat, Sir Sugarbox, lounged on the vanity.  The alarm clock was glowing in the dark and stated that it was nearly midnight.  Most of the lights in houses on the street had been turned off.  She was just about to doze when she decided to make sure that the front and back doors were locked.  She groped her way through the hall.  Sir Sugarbox passed her, probably on his way to his food bowl.  She bolted each door and as she passed through the kitchen, the floor creaked behind her.  The hair on Brenda’s neck stood on end.  Suddenly, there was a knife at her throat and she flinched as blood spurted onto the floor.

            Petite Emma Dickson stood on the corner of Camelot Drive with her friends, Josh, Lila and Greg.  She had long curly brown hair and gleaming green eyes.  She was thinking of the news she had just received.  “Why would anyone want to murder Ms. Jobs?” She thought despairingly.  “What happened to Sir Sugarbox?”  Tall, blonde-haired Lila and her twin brother Josh were whispering to each other.  Suddenly, dark-skinned Greg stepped forward. 

“We have a surprise for you, Emma.  Follow me.”

            She smiled and followed the three of them down the street. A few houses away from #280, they stopped her and Josh ran inside Ms. Jobs home.  He came out a few minutes later, holding a bundle of fur.

“Sir Sugarbox!” Emma suppressed a scream, “Oh no, his leg. What happened?”

            “Well, the night Brenda died, the convict broke his left fore-leg in several places.  It was causing him so much pain that they decided it would be better to remove it.” Lila explained.

            “Is he mine?” Emma asked unbelievingly.

            “When Brenda’s family read her will, it stated that Sir Sugarbox should go live with you,” Josh explained, handing her the cream-colored cat.

            “Wow, but do they know who murdered her?”

            “Not yet, Emma, but we were thinking that they might need to hire detectives, so we asked and they said yes!  We are the official investigators.” Josh said excitedly.

            Emma gasped, “Us!?” The four of them had always loved solving mysteries, even when it was the case of the lost sock. 

            “Yep!  We can start today if you’d like!” Greg said, grinning.

            “Oh, okay,” Emma replied gleefully.

            The four of them skipped down the lane to Emma’s house.  She and her father had built a large tree fort in a towering oak in their backyard.  It had a table, four chairs, pillows and blankets inside.  That was where they (The Anonymity Assembly) met.  Emma climbed in first.

            “Where is our list?” She exclaimed, looking under every cushion while Sir Sugarbox lounged on the window sill.

            “I have it,” said Josh, holding up a crumpled piece of paper.

            “What did you do to it?” Greg asked suspiciously.

            “Washing machine… anyway-“

            “What does it say to do?” Emma inquired impatiently, staring at it.  This is what it read:

The Anonymity Assembly’s Guidelines:

1)   First try to find any eye-witnesses.

2) Then attempt to locate physical evidence.

3)  Next gather any scientific information.

4)  Use logic to make a list of suspects.

5)  Then use tests to figure out which suspect is the culprit.

6)  Turn in the culprit; give the evidence behind your reasoning.

Lila frowned, “There weren’t any witnesses in this case though.”

     “How would you know that?” Josh inquired, smirking.

      “Well… let’s think,” She said, mockingly, “Maybe because it was MIDNIGHT!”

      “What do you think, no one stays up?” Josh snapped.

      “No!  It’s just… oh, zip it,” Lila replied, hotly.

      “Guys, I think that both of you are somewhat right,” Emma calmly intervened, “There will be observers; but only a few.”  She sat down, but jumped right back up again.

      “I think I know who could be the witnesses!”

      “Who?  Mr. Samuels?” Greg asked incredulously.

      “Actually, yes.  Plus Mrs. Howard!”

      “Should we go find out?” Josh inquired.

      Lila nodded and all of them climbed down the ladder.  Emma jogged inside to grab a clipboard and to drop off Sir Sugarbox.  Once she returned, they set off to house #279, where Mrs. Howard lived.

            “Yes?” A tall skinny woman of about sixty-two years opened the door.

            “It’s Emmy,” Emma replied, using Mrs. Howard’s nickname for her.

            “Oh!  Hello, Dear!” Mrs. Howard sang, “Come on in!  Would you like some cookies?”

            Emma, Lila, Josh and Greg all grinned, followed her inside and helped themselves to a platter of assorted cookies.  Emma piped up,

            “Mrs. Howard?  We, uh, we were wondering if you saw any part of the murder of Ms. Jobs?”  She said the last part in a rush and had to repeat it slowly for Mrs. Howard.

            “Actually, I did,” Mrs. Howard replied, quite nervously.  “I was s-sleeping, when, er, I heard a… blood-curdling s-scream.  Yes, a blood-curdling scream.  Then I, um, j-jumped out of bed and ran to that there w-window.” 

At that remark she pointed to a large window in her living room.  Greg was taking notes during all of this.  Mrs. Howard continued,

“T-then I heard l-laughter.  You k-know, er, evil laughter.    And I s-saw a… short woman c-coming out of Ms. Jobs door.  S-she was holding a-“

Greg glanced at Emma out of the corner of his eye.  Emma ignored him and kept listening.

“-a b-bloody ax!”  Mrs. Howard finished.

“Did you notice any facial features on this woman?” Greg inquired.

“Uh, yes, I did.  She h-had a patch over her right eye!”

Josh laughed out loud, “She was like a Cyclops!”  The four children giggled.

“No, silly boy, she must have l-lost her eye.”

Now Josh was horrified, “Okay, that’s plain creepy!”

Lila stood up and thanked Mrs. Howard for the cookies and information.  They all left and made their way back to Emma’s fort silently.  They climbed up the ladder and sat down.

Emma spoke first, “Raise your hand if you trust her.”  She, Lila and Josh all lifted up their hands.  Greg didn’t lift his.  Lila raised her eyebrows,

“You don’t trust her?”

“Of course not!  Couldn’t you tell, with all that stuttering, that she was making it up on the spot!?”

“Greg!  It was a traumatic experience!” Emma said, surprised.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that!” Greg replied.

“Well,” Josh implied, “You’re out-voted anyway!”

Greg muttered something that sound suspiciously like “Foolish.” The four then said goodbye and started off for their homes.

            Early the next morning, they all met again in Emma’s fort. 

            “Okay, let’s go down to Mr. Samuels’ house,” Lila stated.

            Mr. Samuels was a firefighter who usually worked from five pm to eleven fifteen and lived in house #282.  Emma thought that he might have witnessed some part of the crime on his way home. 

            Once they reached his house, they rang the doorbell.  They didn’t need to though because Mr. Samuels was already opening the door, saying,

            “I knew you would be stopping by!”

            They entered his home and sat down.  Mr. Samuels smiled,

            “Yes, I witnessed the crime.  You see, it was about eleven thirty.  I was driving home from work and I saw a man enter Ms. Jobs house, a tall man with a surprisingly small briefcase.  I thought that was pretty peculiar, so I watched from the bathroom window.  A few minutes later I saw the man come out of the house with a bloody dagger. He wiped the blood on his finger and wrote something on the door (Probably a code) and ran off.”

            “Did you see any of his features?” Greg asked, enthusiastically.

            “In fact, I did.  He was clean-cut and had blue eyes.  He was also wearing a suit.”

            “Hmm, Okay,” Emma said, “Thanks!”  The kids got up and as they were walking out the door, Mr. Samuels shouted,

            “Anytime!”

            “We should go check out that code!” Josh whispered.

            The four walked over to Ms. Jobs home, now surrounded by police officers.  Emma explained that they were the official detectives and must be allowed to investigate.  The officers relented and Emma inspected the door which stated:

HU BU!  LBH’IR WHFG ERPVRIRQ N CNEXVAT GVPXRG! HALF AND OPPOSITE WILL REVEAL THE MESSAGE.

      Josh copied this down and they all entered the house.  It looked fine until they entered the carpeted hallway that led to the kitchen.  The normally beige carpet was stained red.  Josh noted this on his clipboard.

“Thank you for allowing us to inspect the place,” Greg said to the head officer who was tall, shaven and possessed blue eyes.

“My pleasure!”  The officer said in a falsely cheery voice. 

            The following day, Lila visited the doctors who had studied Ms. Jobs’ body.  They said that from their research, they reckoned that she was killed with a knife.  When Lila reported back to the other three who were waiting in the fort, Emma said that a knife would be sensible.

“Mr. Samuels did say that it was a surprisingly small briefcase.” She then frowned, “We never took a vote.”

            Greg raised his hand, “I believe him.”  Sadly, he stood alone.  So it was surmised that Mrs. Howard’s testimony was truthful. 

            “We have to make a list of suspects now.  Don’t worry, Greg, we won’t put Mr. Samuels on it.”

            They all sat thinking for many hours.  Their finished list read this:

Suspects:

¨     Mrs. Smithy the gardener? (always wears sun bonnet over face)

¨     Miss Jeanie the housekeeper? (does wear a patch over an eye)

¨    The head officer? (highly doubt it)

Greg sighed heartlessly, “We need to crack that code.”

“True… Half and opposite… What’s that supposed to mean?” Josh said, puzzled.

Emma giggled, “It’s so simple!  You guys must be over thinking it!  We are obviously supposed to cut the alphabet in half like this:”

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M

N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z

“Then opposite must mean that A is N and N is A, because they are opposite each other,” Lila finished.

“Exactly!” Emma exclaimed, “So the message is: UH OH!  YOU’VE JUST RECEIVED A PARKING TICKET!”

“So it’s the… officer?” Josh was completely floored.

“I told you Mrs. Howard was scared!  Mr. Samuels told the truth after all!” Greg  cried triumphantly.

Lila nodded, “The officer was tall and he did have blue eyes.”  She smiled and dialed Mr. Samuels’ number.  A few minutes later, she hung up,

“We’d better meet the police and fire department at Brenda’s house.  They should be here any moment.”

At Ms. Jobs’ home, the “head officer” was already in handcuffs.  He scowled at them as he was led away to be put to trial. 

            A few weeks later the four were once again lounging in Emma’s tree fort.  Turns out that the officer’s name was Renaldo.  He was hired to murder Ms. Jobs by his boss, the owner of HTC.  “Steve died before we had a chance to kill him,” Renaldo had finally told the judge.  “Brenda was his closest relative.”  When the judge had asked why he left a clue, he’d replied that he hadn’t expected kids to crack it.  “I left it to tease anyone who wanted to investigate.  I disguised myself as a police officer to watch their pathetic efforts.”

            Josh laughed at these memories.  It was much more fun to be the accuser than the accused.

            Emma stood up, “Thank you for helping, guys.  Without your help, I never would have solved this puzzle.”

            “Believe me, I enjoyed every minute of it!” Greg smiled.

            “It’s not like it was a burden!” Lila said.

            The Anonymity Assembly high-fived.  Emma fetched Sir Sugarbox and the game Clue.  Renaldo was in prison and they had won their case.  When they grew up and had curious children of their own, they always remembered the true mystery that they solved in seventh grade.

Written by Abigail Lauren Dortch, 11/15/11