Cold Murder

The magazine laid on the table. A woman looked at it and smiled she turned to one page that said:

Hi my name is Ella! Detective Ella. My career all started one cold day in Autumn. In Austin,Texas it usually isn’t cold but then again it was a strange day. I was going to visit my sister. At my sister’s house we talked to each other and suddenly there was a knock at the door. Jordan, the butler opened the door and there stood a really old lady appearing in her 80’s or 70’s. My sister stood up and greeted the old woman but I know she meant to say, "What in the world are you doing here?" Finally the old woman said, "I know you are wondering who I am and why I am here. Well, you see, your mother died a few years ago. Which of course you know but what you don’t know is that your father married me a year ago. I am your stepmother. A week ago your father died! Oh your poor father…" then she started to cry and wheeze. My so called stepmother started up again, "Well, your poor father had his funeral last week and his will was announced yesterday and all his money was to go to Maggy, his older daughter. So, I came here to tell you that you are to pick up all the money and the house with everything in it." After she said that she gave a piercing glare right at Maggy, my older sister. " I was sent to live here in Maggy’s house so it said in the will of my husband," she announced. What! Both Maggy and I looked at each other awestricken. "Live here?" Maggy squeaked. "By the way what is your name?" Maggy questioned. "Mrs. Cornelia Peacock," she said. As I was walking home I realized the name sounded familiar like I had heard it somewhere on TV or on the radio or somewhere…


"It’s all her fault! If Gilbert favored me more I would have gotten the money! I was sure I would get it. The instant millionaire. It’s awful what I had to do. It’s because… but I had to do it…", A figure said. And as the person said that another person was watching the figure at all times…


I looked at the pink umbrella and straw in my Hawaiian punch drink. I looked at Maggy, who was drinking a punch drink also, and Mrs. Peacock, who was silently sipping green tea on a pretty china saucer, and I noticed something was wrong. As we sat near the swimming pool on the lawn in a pretty, white gazebo I gazed at the blue sky when something caught my attention. Near the gnarled oak tree which when I was younger thought were hands and claws that were trying to catch me I saw a note. I went to the tree and bent down to pick it up. It said in big bold letters:
MEET ME AT THE AWKWARD HAWK’S CAFÉ TO TALK @ 3PM 5/19/02
It was scribbled messy as if in a hurry. I checked my watch 1PM 5-19-02. I had two hours to find out what was going on.

At 3PM I arrived at the café and I saw a figure at a table that looked very much like Mrs. Peacock. She was saying, "Give me the money. I killed him and did my job." A gruff voice said back, "No, I have one more job for you." And then I couldn’t hear anymore because they were whispering. I left in a hurry and that night I locked the door…

In the morning I got up and looked in the newspaper and almost screamed in shock. The headline was Maggy Burrow dead. Who did this???? I had to find out. Then as I went to the door I remembered and knew who it was…

I arrived at Westchester Avenue at my sister’s house. Mrs. Cornelia Peacock was the murderer. I had the note. I had a picture. I had proof. I went to the police and reported what I knew. At 6 PM Mrs. Cornelia Peacock was arrested because of me. I now knew where I had seen the name before… in the newspapers! I cut out the picture and gave it to the police. EVIDENCE! She had escaped prison. That’s how my career came to me by accident… a detective

After the woman had read the article twice. She sat down on the couch and sighed. She made a quick phone call and headed out the door. She went to the Awkward Hawk’s café and met Jordan there and started discussing murder…

Epilogue
POLICE NOTES:
A letter was found in Ella Burrow’s room. It was a confession. By the time the police had found it. Ella had committed suicide for she knew what was coming.

I did murder Maggy and my father. I wrote an article in a magazine to cover up and I rearranged the newspaper so my stepmother would look like she was from prison. I am actually Cornelia Peacock. I escaped prison and I put my stepmother’s picture in the newspaper I had saved instead of my own picture. By the time anyone finds this I will be dead. And people will think now that I was a crazy lunatic but really I was a genius! I found a way to put my stepmom in jail, my annoying older sister who always took my pride away from me and money in one shot.