A Party Murder

The post man woke up and yawned and ate a hearty breakfast. He put on his postal suit and walked to his office. He grabbed his labeled bag and slung it behind his back. He then walked to his own post truck and started driving down a few blocks, every once and a while stopping to deliver a letter or item.

I woke up too early that morning. Early enough to see the postman stop that funky vehicle of his. I checked my watch. Whoa! 6:00am? I usually wake up at 9:30am! I greeted the postman with a polite "Good Morning." As soon as the postman left I clumsily picked the mail up out of my mail box. I slammed the letters on the kitchen table and spread them out. Advertisements! Taxes! A newspaper that’s headline was Party murder. How stupid can the headlines get? Boring letters from Aunt Linda! And of course more advertisements. I suddenly noticed a quaint little pink envelope peeking out from under a Burdines catalogue. I grabbed it in a very quick manner. I felt like a child grabbing a present at Christmas or Hanukkah time curious to know what was inside. Very peculiar! A change from all the typical stuff. From who? The return address was too difficult to read. I opened up the letter which read:

Dear Eliza,
I haven’t seen you in such a long time! I am having a party on the 10th of this September. Will you please come? I hope to see you there Eliza! Thank you!
Love,
Karen Maie

Great! A party hosted by my old friend Karen! How nice! My mind was set on going to this quaint party.


Time went so fast and before I knew it I was standing in front of Karen’s house waiting for the door to open. In my hand was a wrapped present which concealed an old album full of different pictures from my own album. I didn’t care about the pictures because I had taken doubles of all my pictures! Suddenly the door opened and there stood a pretty, neat, young lady standing at the front door. "Karen?" I questioned. "Eliza?" she questioned me. Then I saw the glint of gold in the young woman’s eye. "Karen! It is really you!" I exclaimed and I handed her the present and smiled as I remembered some of our friendship memories. When Karen and I got inside the house I was greeted by so many of my old friends. Karen and I talked and I talked to my many other college and high school friends. I had such a good time at the party! The clock struck 11 o’clock and many of the guests started to leave. As soon as the clock struck 12 o’ clock everyone was gone except me and Karen. Karen asked me if I would help her start picking up the trash and junk the guests had left. I said sure. Suddenly the lights went out and I was pushed sharply down to the ground by a rough hand. Then I heard a scream and I was punched and I was knocked unconscious. I couldn’t remember any more about the night. I was later woken up by a sharp smell. All these people were around me. At first my sight was blurred but then everything came out clear. Everyone started asking me questions but then a policemen shouted, "Leave her alone. Give her some air. She has just been in a party where her best friend has been murdered." As soon as I heard the word murdered I sharply stood up. I fell onto the nearest chair and I almost fainted. Dear Karen murdered? I started to try to stand back up and one of the policemen helped me up and into the next couch. I fell asleep for a while and I dreamed I was kneeling over a person who was zombie pale and who’s face was blurry. Suddenly the face came clear and the person was Karen. She started talking and said, " Help me! Come to my rescue! I can not believe it!" Then she started talking but no sound came out. "did it!" She suddenly exclaimed. I abruptly woke up and I found myself sweating to death. I took a deep breath and realized that I was still in Karen’s house and it was midnight. I closed my eyes and then opened them. I glanced at the floor and a sudden thought hit my mind. I now understood the dream. In my dream Karen was telling who the murderer was but I couldn’t hear the name and she was challenging me to find who the murderer was! I cocked my head and hugged my knees. For a few minutes I stood frozen and I thought about the decision about being the detective in this mystery. Yes, I would be! I proudly stood up and walked out the door. I climbed into my metallic navy blue car and started driving toward my house.


When I got home I looked at my watch and it said 2:08am. I laughed to myself as I imagined myself as a nocturnal animal such as a raccoon. Elizabeth Raccoon Park! A thought hit my mind. I rushed to the kitchen table and I found the old newspaper that’s headline was party murder.
The article read:

PARTY MURDER
Last night 13yearold Kelly was murdered. She was murdered after a party. "So What?" you say to yourself. Well, Kelly isn’t the first murdered after a party. Seven other people have been murdered after a party. The murderer is all the same person. The police have found out. All the murderer’s victims are found dead with a party cone on their head and a letter beside them. If you know anymore information about this killer please call 1-800-POL-ICE1
-Mandy Crustanino

Hmmm. Tomorrow I made up my mind to go to the police and ask them what the letter said in Karen’s murder. I then went to bed.


Ring! BrrrrRing!!!!! Gosh! I checked my alarm clock which said: 4:15. I hate early birds. I got up and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" I grumbled. "Tell the police to get off the party killer case!" demanded the rough voice. Suddenly I heard the steady beep beep of the phone dial. The caller had hung up on me! I don’t get scared easily so what was the point of that person calling me. I slumped into my chair. Okay! I closed my eyes and took all the clues and tried to fit them together like a puzzle but there were some empty gaps. Ahh! I snapped my fingers! That is it! I am a worry wart of a person so I never give out my phone number except to people who I know well. Even the phone book doesn’t have my phone num. Soooo how did the person who called me know my number. Obviously there is only one way. The caller was a friend of mine.

CHAPTER 2
The next morning I went to the police station and a short skinny police man greeted me. I told him I was a witness in the Karen Maie case. "Oh so you are the one. The one rumored to be ‘it’," he said. "What do you mean it?" I questioned. Is this hide and seek or something? "Don’t be a wise guy! You know, the murderer," he said. Oh… before I was the witness and now they think I’m the killer. Are they out of it or something? I was unconscious during the murder. How in the world is a unconscious person supposed to get up and kill a person? I was getting frustrated. Really frustrated! "All I came here to do was to look at Karen’s letter and you’re about to arrest me!" I shouted. "God," he mumbled angrily. Now you know I can be a pain if I want to be. Stubborn is more like it. The policeman walked into one of those like top secret rooms. He walked to the first drawer and pulled out a drawer and started thumbing through it mumbling Karen Maie. "here!" he exclaimed. He handed me a photo copy of the letter. The letter read:

It’s a party I can kill if I want to. Kill if I want to.
The police are so easy to trick. Do I have give obvious clues for them to know? Here are three steps.

1. Look at the victims
2. Put it together
3. SOLVE IT!

Party murderer

At least the murderer had a sense of humor. I was awoken by my thoughts when the policeman said, "hey get out of here. Unless you want to be charged for murder." Oh so they still think it is me. I really have to solve this case now. I have limited time too. When I got home the telephone started ringing. I picked it up. "Hello?" I said. "Hi Bethy!" exclaimed the voice. Oh Mike Glitford, one of my good friends had called. "Hi Mike. What’s up?" I asked. "Nothing." He said. "Why’d you call then?" I asked. "Got to go." He said abruptly. Mike was one of those people who would call you and say who is this(?) as soon as you picked up the phone. I was bored so I decided to go grocery shopping.


I was looking at the grape tomatoes when I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned around. "Hi Eliza! Remember me? Amelia Merane! I’m Karen’s cousin. I met you at Karen’s 24th birthday. I feel so bad for you. I came down here because of Karen’s funeral. Come with me to it!" She said. She spoke with a funny French accent. Then she disappeared into the crowd. I picked up the grape tomatoes and started driving home. When I got home I saw that I had one voice mail on my cell. I played it and I heard cackling and a scream. "Get off the police you slimy girl," the same rough voice said. I sat down on the couch. At every shadow and noise I shivered. I felt as if someone was watching me. And someone probably was watching because how else would he/she know about the police station visit. This was getting freaky! I went to Macy’s to buy some clothes and came back with a nice brown suit and a small purse ready to be a sleuth. I added a few more things like a magnifying glass and some zip lock bags and of course a 100-page notebook. I slipped out the door wondering what to do next. I got into my car and started driving to fill up the gasoline in my car. That was when I saw my follower in a green car following my every move.


CHAPTER 3

I was sure it was a man but with a hat on shadowing the person’s face no one could be absolutely sure. I drove into the nearest gas station and I quickly opened the car door. My heart pounding with every step as I ran into the drug store. I stopped and bent over clutching my knees trying to catch my breath. "What’s the matter?" asked the guy at the counter. "A… person.. is… chasing…me," I panted. "Get in here," he said and shoved me into a room with all these cans and boxes stacked against the wall. He closed the door. I sat down cross legged on the cold floor. I heard muffled voices talking constantly. They soon stopped. I was pretty sure I was safe now. I twisted the knob of the door. The door wouldn’t budge. I jiggled the knob a few more times. "Get me out of here," I screamed. Then it all came to me. I had fallen into a trap. The guy at the counter had maliciously locked me in. I paced the room thinking what to do next when I heard a click. I tried to open the door now. It worked! I got out and the guy at the counter was a different man. Not the one that locked me in. "Who are you?" I asked. It came out harsher than I meant it to come out. "Oh, I’m 2 o’clock replacement on Sundays. If I may ask why were you in the box room?" he said. "Long story", I said and laughed. "Who was the guy that just left?" I inquired. "Don’t know and I really don’t care. Good bye and get out of here unless you want to buy something because I don’t think my boss would like it if I told him you were in the storage room", he said. So I ran out and by then the green car was gone. I got some gasoline and filled up my car. Then I climbed back into my car. I drove to the first place I thought of the scene of the crime. I walked into Karen’s house with my mind stuffed with thoughts. Not noticing where I was going I got punched in the stomach by yellow tape that said: WARNING WARNING WARNING. You sort of get the point. Police investigating!!! I did not want to get into anymore trouble! When I was younger I used to get detention and the teachers used to call me a trouble maker but jail is not my thing! Ring!!! Ring!!! The ringing was coming from my cell phone. "Hello, who is this?" I said. "Hi what’s up? It’s me Lauren Ammick." The caller said. My good friend that I had met in college, Lauren Ammick. As much as I wanted to talk to her I couldn’t waste time. So I said, "I’m so sorry Laura but I can’t talk right now. I’m busy. Ok? Bye" I said and hung up and locked my cellphone. Next I thought about going to the newspaper headquarters asking about where they got the information. When I got to the information desk I saw this woman who was chewing gum constantly. I knew that from her looks she was the writer of article Party Murder. From the look on the woman’s intelligent face I knew I was going to get some good information. "Hello?" I said. She peered up from under her glasses. "Can I help you?" , she said, "Oh… aren’t you that girl who was a witness in the Karen Maie case? Hi I’m Mandy. Nice to meet you." "How did you know?" I gasped quite impressed. "Heard about it", she said in a clear sweet voice. "Let me guess. You want some more information about it because I wrote about the Party Murder article", she said quite nonchalantly. "Yeah", I said. "Well I don’t know much about it but I’ll tell you what I can" she said as she led me into a room that was so neat and organized. "I have to do something so you can wait in my office until I’m ready to talk. I’ll be back shortly" , she said and she left the room. She gave me a good feeling. Someone who was young, organized, and pretty but quite intelligent and ready to do what had to be done. I looked around her office. On one side of the room had a framed report card? I looked at it more carefully. It was a report card from Stanford. She had A’s the first semester! Amazing! B+’s were on the report card often and a lot of A-‘s. No wonder she framed it! She had a masters degree in Literature which was in a glass box near the end of the room. On her desk was a stack of papers. That included like 100 or more pieces of paper. She had a computer with a printer on the left side of her desk. I heard the door open again. "I’m back" she said. She slumped into her chair and took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "Ok. All I know is that Karen Maie was cut in the throat and killed and the police investigated and found some sneaker foot prints that went back and forth. They found a letter. They found a party cone on her head. That is really all I know about that case. The Kelly case I know a lot more about but you are more interested with Karen Maie. The murderer has killed 15 people now" she said. "Thank you so much" I said. "I don’t know how to repay you! You have helped me so much when you could be spending you knowledge somewhere else more important." I said. "Oh it’s okay." she said. Then she started typing on her computer so I left the room. I went out of the newspaper center and thought about what Mandy had said. I bumped into a guy walking on the road. "Watch it!" I said. He had on slick black sunglasses and his brown hair was combed back with gel. Wise guy. I climbed into my car and drove home. I turned on the radio and bounced my head to the music. I got bored of the rock station so I switched to the news station. "Important announcement: the police has caught the Party murderer. The police arrested Lauren Ammick a few minutes ago. She is now being taken to the Dade county Police station." The radio said. What??? I mean… she was my friend and so she did know my phone number and she was at the party but I knew she didn’t murder Karen Maie or did she?
CHAPTER 4

I shook my head in shock. I turned a sharp corner. Maybe Lauren really did murder Karen. I stop at the red light. My mind jumbled back and forth between the road and Lauren Ammick being arrested. What was the evidence though? I pressed the gas pedal as I saw the green light. The more I thought about the mystery the more my concentration left off the road. Then that split second I reached into my purse to get the article "Party Murder" the accident happened. Accident on 25th Avenue! Damage was to the extreme on my car. I fell unconscious because the injury was that bad. I opened my eyes slowly. I saw a glint of strong light right on my eyes. I covered my eyes quickly discovering that my arms were in a cast. I tried to move them. Ouch! It hurt. Then I realized I was in the hospital. Oh no. Now I can’t work on the mystery for months! I noticed a person next to me. It was a nurse. I looked over at her. "Who are you?" I asked. "I am your personal nurse", she said. "Well I am leaving. Thanks for taking care of me" I said rapidly. I started trying to get up out of the hospital bed. "Hold your horses! What’s the hurry? First of all if you are going anywhere I’ll be pushing you in your wheel chair" she said. Then she got up and went out of a room for about five minutes and then came back with a wheelchair. She lifted me up into the wheelchair and started pushing me through the hospital. When I got outside she strolled me through what seemed like a park and she then did a strange thing. When she came to the end of the park path instead of strolling me back to the hospital she went to the sidewalks and the buildings. She stopped at a place where there was a dead end brick wall and pushed me towards it at a rapid speed then letting go. I closed my eyes ready to meet my doom. Then she laughed with an evil
tone …


CHAPTER 5
What happened next was unbelievable. It reminded me of something that would of come out of a Jackie Chan movie! That was when my instincts paid off. I quick stuck my feet out ready to crash and leaned back in my chair and held on tight to the wheel chair firing the automatic brake! Within the 2 seconds I had to save my life handicapped and single-handed I had done it! The wheels came to a squeaky stop as I jumped out and ran (half limping). Where would I go next? When I had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide let alone solve the case…
While Elizabeth C. Park was running three people were sitting at a table talking about important matters such as… future murders. One said, "How is Liza? I hope you haven’t killed her yet. Where is she? Show her to me!" "She got away", whispered the second person. "What? Impossible," the first person screamed. Then the person said calmly, "Carlos, go out and check the street to see if anybody heard that. End of meeting." And one by one the three people got out slowly with fear in their heads…