One especially cold and rainy night, the type of night you think something horrible is going to happen. James B. Horner was walking home from work when he heard a noise in the bush. He turned around quickly and saw a little brown bird. Once James got home he took off his raincoat, wet clothes, and boots and relaxed on the couch. Then out of nowhere a knife came straight at him and he died. The next morning Lily Anne McGivens was walking down the street with her friends Kaylee, Lucia, and Abby. They were going to get a coffee and talk about the news. The news headline read “James B. Horner Was Murdered. The Killer Is Still Out There.” Under the headline read “Two suspects were taken into the police station early this morning…”
“My,” Lucia said, “Can’t believe we have a murder in our town!”
“Are you excited or scared?” Kaylee asked.
“Both” Lucia said.
“What about you, Abby and Lily, excited or scared?”
“Scared!” Abby and Lily said at the same time.
“Good morning, girls!” said James the baker. “What may I get you?”
“Oh, hi, James! We will all have a latte with a doughnut. Thank you,” Lily said. James left, but just as he left two tall policemen came in.
“Where’s James!” they ordered.
“I’m Jame’s, can I help you?”
“Yes, we need you to come with us,” said the first policeman.
“Everyone get out! The bakery is temporarily closed!” yelled the second policeman. Outside the bakery everything was in such disorder that the girls were mistaken for suspects. They were thrown in a car and thrown in jail.
“Wow, we’re in a jail cell” Lucia said in amazement. “This is going to be great for my paper article.”
“Why do you always focus on your paper! We’re in a flip’n jail right now!” screamed Kaylee. The moment after Kaylee said that a policeman came up and said,
“Sorry, in all the chaos we mistook you for the baker’s daughters.”
“The baker doesn’t have daughters though,” said Abby.
“Ya, well we didn’t know that. Anyway, we’re sorry. Please, you may leave.” said the policeman. The girls left. It was dark outside, so they all went home.
Early in the morning the phone rang, Lily sprang up and almost screamed; she picked the phone up with a shaking hand and managed to say a squeaky, “Hi?”
“Hello? Lily, it’s Lucia, I’m at the police station interviewing the suspects. Can you come down? Please!”
“Fine; I’ll be right down,” moaned Lily.
Once Lily got there, she noticed her friends were there, too. As she walked in, a policeman asked who she was seeing.
“My friend is interviewing the suspects,” Lily replied. The policeman let her in.
“Lily, you’re here! I’m so glad because these suspects aren’t telling me anything I want to hear,” Lucia declared. Lily walked over to her friends.
“What’s your name?” Lily questioned the two suspects,
“I’m Naomi Gritt,” said Naomi. She had jet black hair and purely blue eyes and wore bright orange (because she was in jail).
“I’m Nathan Creg,” said Nathan. He had short, curly brown hair and had a scar across his face on his eye.
“I can see why you two are in jail,” Lily said, “You look like you would do something horrid.”
“Exactly,” said Naomi. “We both look like we would do something bad, but you don’t even know us!”
“Well…” Nathan said, “I have done something…but not murder! I could never, would never, commit a crime that big.”
“Hey, where’s the baker? Kaylee asked.
“He’s not here,” replied Abby.
“Hmmm,” Lucia thought. “Ok, bye, friends” Lucia said abruptly. She shooed her friends out and went on her way.
Then three boy came up to them, one said
“Hi, we were Jame’s friends; I’m Connor. Have you heard any news about the murder?” Connor asked.
“No,” Lily said and left.
“Hi I’m Frank” Frank said.
“And I’m Nathaniel.”
and just as he said that Lucia came up.
“Did you say your name was Nathaniel?”
“Yes?” said Nathaniel.
“Do you perhaps go by Nathan?”
“Yes?”
“Then you need to come with me.” And she walked back into the police station dragging Nathaniel with her.
“What was that about?” Connor asked.
“Don’t ask,” said Kaylee. “Wanna get a bite to eat? I’m starving.”
“Sure,” said Connor and Frank at the same time, and off they went.
The next day was the day they would reveal who the murderer was; they had figured it out. The whole town was nervous with anticipation. Lily and her friends gathered to watch, but where was Lucia? She had gone into the police station with Nathaniel. What if the murderer killed her? The girls’ minds went wild. Just as they were about to go look for her, Connor, Frank, and Nathaniel showed up.
“Hey,” Connor said, “excited?”
Without answering Connor, Abby asked Nathaniel, “Have you seen Lucia?” Nathaniel replied “She’s fine.”
Before Abby could ask more questions she heard Lucia’s voice; it was coming from the stage. “Hello!” Lucia said. “I am here to tell you who the murderer is. The murderer is Lily Anne McGivens.” There was a gasp. Then Lily was handcuffed and taken to the stage.
“How?” Lily gasped.
“I’ll tell you. first, you ‘killed’ James, right?”
“Yes but…”
“Actually, you didn’t kill James; you killed Parker K. Bulk. James saw the murderer coming so he had Parker pretend to be him. And you know the baker, James. He’s actually James B. Horner who disguised himself as a worker at the newly opened bakery. The reason you didn’t see James at the police station was because I had already talked to him. He had told me everything.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me out then?” asked Lily.
“Because I wanted to be completely sure you were the criminal. James is alive.” James walked up on stage. Lily reached for her gun and shot herself.
Her last words were, “You’ll never know why!”