Chapter 2 - Case One:1

Chapter One - Case One: 1



“ `Ryan and Ryiza, I appreciate your enthusiasm for the field of science, but express concern at the choice for your presentation. Next time, please select a less gas-ly project to make a model of.' ” The boy paused, and turned to his sister walking beside him. “Hey, Rii. What does `gas-ly' mean?”

She leaned to look at the slip of paper in his hand. “Which word?”

“That one,” he prodded the teacher's slender handwriting.

“That's `ghastly',” she correct his pronunciation. “It means gross.”

He frowned at the note. “It was not gross!”

“I'm guessing she didn't like our tiny crime scene,” Ryiza stated, tugging at her backpack straps as they turned down the walk leading to their front door. “And we worked so hard on the blood spatter!”

“Well, at least we got an A on it.” Ryan crumpled the note from their teacher as he shoved it into his pocket and opened the door. “Moooom! We're home!”

As they walked into the kitchen, their mother Amelia - Amy for her friends - looked up from where she had been bent over the table to read some files. She stood, smiling at her two children as they dropped their backpacks on the floor before crawling into the bar stools across from her.

“What's this?” Ryiza asked curiously, leaning forward to peer at her mother's files.

“Uh, no.” She quickly snatched the papers up from her child's prying eyes and pushed them aside under the bread box. “No more sleuthing for you two. I got the phone call from your teacher.”

Both of their faces dropped. “But mom, you saw our project and liked it.”

Amy sighed as she first opened the utensil drawer and pulled out three spoons, then moved to the freezer and removed a carton of cookies and cream. “You know…” she started, setting the ice cream on the counter and handing out the spoons. “You two should be doing normal thirteen year old things. Hanging out with your friends, listening to music, going to the movies…”

“But what fun is being normal?” Ryan asked as he hopped down from the stool and fetched the chocolate syrup and whipped cream from the fridge.

“Besides, we like helping out,” Ryiza added as she shook the whipped cream can and after seizing a large spoonful of ice cream, sprayed the topping across the top before shoveling it into her mouth.

Amy chuckled and lightly chided her to take smaller bites as her son viciously attacked the carton. She looked at her chocolate-haired twins, unable to contain the soft smile from her usually stern face. She leaned on the counter as she helped herself to their snack. "Sorry guys, but I have to work the night shift tonight. There's hot dogs in the fridge and I want you two in bed, asleep, on time. Do your homework."

“Hey Ryan,” Ryiza asked suddenly. “Have you seen my Chemistry textbook?"

"No," Ryan replied shortly. "I'm not in charge of your stuff."

"Mom?" she turned to Amy.

"It was under the TV cabinet, last I saw," she instructed her daughter. Ryiza slipped off the stool and moved towards the room she shared with her twin brother. A moment later a call came from down the hall. "Mooooom! I can't find it!"

Amy sighed and got up. "Ryiza, would you please keep track of your stuff?"

Ryan watched out of the corner of his eye until she disappeared down the hall, before reaching for the bread box.



"Remember to keep the door locked," Amy instructed as she gathered up her kit. "Wait for the answering machine before picking up-"

"We know Mom," Ryan chuckled, holding the door to their front house open for her.

"I should be home before two." She kissed both of their downy heads. "Be good, have fun-"

"Don't those...like, cancel each other out?" Ryiza teased.

"Go. To. Bed," Amy ordered, and locked the door behind her. Both stood quiet until they heard her motor start and fade down the street.

Ryiza turned expectantly to her brother. "Did you get them?"

In response, he strode to the bar stool where he had sat and removed a set of papers from under the cushion. "Good job. You gave me more than enough time to xerox them all on mom's machine," he grinned, waving the papers triumphantly.

They settled on opposite sides of the small coffee table before the silent television and spread the papers between them.

"So what have we got?" Ryiza asked expectantly, flipping open a notebook filled with scribblings and taped in photographs. She turned to a fresh page as her brother sorted out the papers.

"Mr. Marcus Jung, dead man," Ryan quipped, tapping the crime scene report. "Shot three times, two in the chest and one in the arm. In the garage of Mr. Nick McConvile, who made the call."

"Okay...so murder?" Ryiza pressed, leaning over to read the page upside down with her brother.

"Get back on your side of the table," Ryan ordered, pushing her away. "Take notes. And maybe. They were friends, but recently had a quarrel about a sum of money Nick borrowed from Marcus," Ryan replied, reading off from the report. "Nick had slashes down his front and across his arms when the police arrived. He claims that they were in the kitchen. Mr. Jung came over to ask for the money which Nick swears he had paid back. In a fit of rage, Mr. Jung opened a drawer, pulled out a knife, and attacked." Ryiza brushed her short hair out of her eyes as she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth to write across the page to keep up with her brother's dictation. "Nick ran to the garage to fetch his gun and shot Marcus in self defense. Then he called the police."

"That all?"

"Yep. They're currently searching for any eyewitnesses, and for friends who may have known about the loan."

"Hmm...no autopsy report," Ryiza commented as she rifled through the papers. "Must be pending." She scrawled in their battered notebook.

"We'll have to get our hands on that." He spread the photocopies of the photographs from the crime scene out. "Ugh. They're a bit blurry."

"We should get mom a better xerox machine for her birthday," Ryiza stated. "Considering we're the ones that use it the most."

Ryan squinted at the photos from the kitchen. "I see blood all over."

Ryiza looked at the evidence tags. "Blood matches Nick," Ryiza replied, shaking her head. "Consistent with his story."

"Hmm...looks that way..." Ryan propped his chin up on his hands. "I think we need to pay a visit to the crime scene, personally."

Ryiza grinned widely. "I'll go for that." She checked the watch on the VCR. "Let's see...Mom'll probably go to the scene first...spend roughly an hour there, then go interrogating."

"So we have forty-five minutes...give or take."

"Yeah. Then we'll have about an hour to investigate ourselves."

They sat there silently for a moment. "Hot dogs and twinkies?" Ryan suggested.

She grinned. "Just Twinkies?" They both scrambled to their feet and darted for the kitchen.

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