 |
|
Interactive crime scene mystery detective game
Be the crime scene investigator!
"Girls' Night In" - #11
by Hy Conrad
March 15
Mystery
 
ne advantage of moving back home, Amy told herself, was the chance to
rekindle friendships. Back in high school, they'd been an inseparable
foursome: Amy, Sue, Donna and Beth. Only one of them, Donna, didn't live
locally. And so, when Donna returned for a weekend visit and the visit
coincided with Beth's birthday, the four old friends found themselves in
Beth's living room, laughing and gossiping and, of course, giving Beth
presents.
"Mystere perfume," Beth exclaimed as she unwrapped the box from Amy.
"Just in time. I'm almost halfway through my last bottle." They all
laughed, marveling at how so little had changed in their lives.
"What did Uncle Bertie send?" asked Amy. Beth's uncle, a jeweler, had
always provided extravagant gifts. Beth opened a red velvet case and watched
her friends "ooh" jealously over the tennis bracelet, yellow diamonds in a
modern gold setting.
"I love it," Beth said unconvincingly. "I tried wearing it with my new
pashmina top, but the darned settings catch on everything."
Beth piled the gifts on the fireplace hearth. She returned the bracelet
and case to her room, then fetched a tattered game of "Clue" and a nearly
antique "Dream Date", their two favorite pastimes from middle school. They
spent the rest of the evening wandering back and forth between the kitchen
and living room, baking brownies, playing games and doing each other's hair
and make-up.
Amy and Sue left around two a.m. They were still lingering on Beth's
front walk when Donna threw open the door and waved at them. "Good, you're
still here," she said breathlessly. "Beth's tennis bracelet is missing."
Amy and Sue reentered the house and followed Donna up the stairs "Beth got
me settled in the guest room, then went into her bedroom. Before undressing,
she opened the case to check on the bracelet. It was gone."
Beth was standing at her bedroom bureau, gazing dumbfounded into the empty
red velvet case. "I put it here right after showing it off. I'm positive."
"Could it have fallen out somehow?" asked Sue.
The women searched the bedroom, then the rest of the small, cozy home. Donna
didn't object when they searched her suitcase and the drawers and closets of
the guest room.
"Completely vanished," Beth whispered as they wandered back into her bedroom.
|
Amy stood in front of the bureau, staring at the objects laid out on top.
"Are you expecting things to speak to you?" Sue asked. Sue had always been
skeptical of Amy's deductive powers. Some would say jealous.
"In a way," Amy answered. "Someone was obviously in this room after Beth
left the case and before she checked it again. That much is clear."
Illustrations by Josh Neufeld
|
|
|
|
