Ongoing Story ~[The Case of the Card House Murders]~

[Pineapples69]

The Case of the Card House Murders

Chapter One

-Eugene, Oregon: Investigation Department-

Victim One

Utah Mathews
Sixteen years of age
Born February Tenth
Found on 134 Wardon Road, 10:00pm
Reported by Horton Jason Kendy on September Fifth at 5:00am

Cause of death was suffocation
Next to the body was a house of cards made only of Aces


-Investigator Jenny Williams Report

Jennifer H. Williams rushed through the office. Her sneakers were crunching on the dirty floor that, apparently, the janitors had decided not to clean the previous night. She said hello to Tresh as she passed the forensic lab. Tresh yelled after her.

“Don's in your office, he needs confirmation on the case!” Jenny lifted her right hand off the top of the files to show that she had heard Tresh and understood. Tresh shrugged and went back over to his computer. Jenny had not, however, truly understood what Tresh said, as was evident when she ran head first in to Don, who was playing with a neon green slinky.

“Oh, hey Williams” Don laughed “What are you doing down there?” He crouched down next to Jenny who drop kicked him, making him fall down in symmetry to her.

“Don't play with my slinky,” she muttered, collecting her files and setting them on her sycamore desk. “What did you want, Tarzan?”

“Aw, don't call me that” Don whined immaturely, placing the slinky intelligibly on top of Jenny's crystal lamp.

“As long as I'm still in charge here, I'll call you whatever I want” Jenny grumbled. Don rolled his eyes.

“Yes director, I just wanted to make sure you still wanted Leonard Peterson to come in today, you haven't been here-” Don was rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“I'm Miss Williams to you, and yes I want Leonard in here! Back to work Tarzan! Get Reynolds and Tracy in the Green Room STAT!” Jenny stood up and looked down at her jeans. They were ripped at the pant leg. Noticing this, Don fled from the room but he heard Jenny shout “And you owe me a pair of black Faded Glory jeans, size ten!”

Jennifer Hickory Williams was not a very mean lady. She was strict and possibly the most violent director E.I.D. had ever seen, but she was most definitely not mean. In fact, she took great pride in her ability to empathize with suspects when she spoke to them.

She was a short woman and she wasn't exactly thin. She had short, stringy, orange hair that was highlighted with a natural blonde. She always wore jeans to work, as Eugene wasn't a specifically rich town and so she could easily 'move out' and look at a case with her team, Patrick Tracy, Casey Reynolds, and Trent Owens. She was quite proud of her team and, providentially, they had solved every case to which they had ever been assigned.

Back to Jenny, she was a middle aged (45) woman that no one ever wanted to mess with. She was divorced and had two children both went to Jefferson High, so when the Card House Murders were sent to her office she almost had to remove herself from the case. But fortunately, no one on her team knew of her children. Tresh and Don knew of them.

Tresh was young (27) and had taken a friendly liking to Jenny's children as he took time to teach her daughter, Maple, the basics of forensic science. He was also teaching her son, Darik, how to use Adobe Illustrator on his Mac. Tresh was like a brother to Jenny, a rather young brother, but a brother nonetheless. Darik, when he was younger (12) had asked if Jenny and Tresh were going to get married. Jenny had smiled and quickly explained that Tresh was homosexual, something Darik didn't understand until his first month in junior high. Maple had, all the while, attempted to find men to hook Tresh up with. Tresh laughed at her fruitless attempts at this. By then Tresh had become a very good friend, moreover baby-sitter.

Don, on the other hand, was a member of the computer investigation team and doubled as Jenny's personal secretary. They had known each other since high school, when Jenny moved to Eugene. Don was now happily married and had an adopted son who was in the same class as Jenny's. Don had always been a bit immature for his age but him and Jenny were very good friends. Jenny made him stay away from her children, in fear that they would turn out like him.

So, as Jenny rushed back up the stairs to the main office area she realized how blessed she was that no one there knew of Darik and Maple.

“Oi! Jennifer! Leonard is here for an interview!” It was Kelly; the real secretary for the E.I.D. Jenny rolled her eyes and yelled back.

“Send him to the Green Room!” And then rushed up the right stairs to get to the Green Room herself, she would assist in this interview.

“Hello Jennifer.” Casey Reynolds, a member of the investigation team and a famous athlete. This Casey Reynolds was just a member of the team, as she did not play sports. She had dark red hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her eyes were also dark and her skin was tan.

“'Bout time you showed up, boss” Tracy, an obnoxious man who had too much time on his hands and wasn't too good at his job in the first place. An idiot. He was a brunet whose hair clearly took hours out of his every morning. He was much like Don was at his age (36). It wasn't much of a surprise to them when a young boy, sixteen at the most, came up the stairs and down the hallway assisted by Kelly, the secretary. The boy, presumably Leonard, was clad in a black and white sweatshirt, tan jeans, and a hat. Kelly was grinning and ran her hand through her greasy dreadlocks.

“Dun dun dun dun, I present to you: Leonard Jerold Peterson the Sixth!” Tracy apparently, found the young man's entrance absurdly hilarious and burst out laughing. Reynolds did not, however, find this in anyway funny and decided to glare horribly at Leonard, who shivered. Jenny rolled her eyes and smacked Tracy upside the head. Reynolds smirked. Meanwhile, Leonard watched this exchange in slight concern. Reynolds didn't cease her glare until Kelly ran her hand back through her blonde hair nervously.

“I'm. Uh. Going to go back to my... uh... post now” she muttered, scurrying away down the hall.

“I'll be interviewing you” Reynolds grumbled, motioning for the boy to follow her into the Green Room. Leonard stared at Jenny; pure fear of Reynolds glistened in his eyes.

As they entered the Green Room, Jenny and Tracy walked into the Viewing Studio. Leonard and Reynolds sat down in the Green Room and Jenny turned on the microphone.

“Why am I here?” Leonard asked grumpily, leaning backwards and crossing his arms. Reynolds' eyebrows rose slightly and she gave Leonard an ‘are-you-really-that-stupid?’ kind of look.

“Murders” Reynolds said finally, breaking the silence. Leonard laughed and uncrossed his arms.

“You think I killed Utah?” he asked, still laughing.

“Is that funny?” Reynolds asked; her eyebrows were still raised. Leonard stopped laughing and shrugged.

“I didn't kill, Utah, man, I can't even build a card house”

“Where were you at nine o'clock Friday night?”

“A party, Utah was there too”

“Did you speak with Utah?”

“Nah, we're from a different crowd...Utah's a...er...”

“Geek.”

“Yeah, so nah, we didn't talk”

“What are you?”

“Huh?”

“If Utah's a geek, what are you?”

“I'm a jock,”

“Yeah?”

“I play lacrosse”

“Oh, I hate sports”

“T-that's cool, man”

“Hn”

“Who do you think killed Utah?”

“Probably someone who was at the party”

“Who was at the party?”

“Let's see…everyone…. except the people who don't speak English”

“There are people like that at your school?”

“Yeah, seven”

“Who?”

“I dunno...er... Aillel, Kimimono, Erabi, Yusoro, Xavier, Serisa, and Michelle”

“Where are they from?”

“Aillel and Serisa are from Ireland...Kimimono, Yusoro and Erabi are from Japan. Michelle is from France”

“Who was most likely to have killed Utah?”

“…”

“Answer”

“The Drags”

“Yeah?”

“Group of kids, had bad lives...their all weird...like philosophers or something”

“Philosophers?”

“They say things, when you get close to them”

“Like what?”

“Like...they'll say ‘Zeus has entered’ and then...group glare”

“Ah, that group”

“?”

“I was like them in high school”

“?”

“They have their own little religion” Reynolds stopped the conversation there and turned to look at the mirror on the wall behind her “We're done here!” She said happily, which startled Leonard a bit.

“Um, does that mean I can...er...go?” He asked suddenly. Reynolds turned to him.

“Yes, but we're going to need your written statement” she answered, opening the door for Leonard to leave. As he exited Jenny and Tracy rounded the door and looked a Reynolds, who grinned. “We're going to Jefferson High School” Jenny smirked and Tracy did a punch to the air.

Suspect A1

Leonard Jerold Peterson VI
15yrs old
Student at Jefferson High
Written Statement

My name is Jerry. I live two blocks from the school, on Gregory Lane, in the tall white house with the petunias out front. My mom’s name is Sheryl, Sheryl Kelly Fitzgerald-Peterson. My father’s name is Leonard, Leonard Jerold Peterson the fifth. I have a little brother; his name is Kelly Roger Peterson.

I walk to school everyday, leaving at 7:00am and arriving at school around 7:45am. School starts at 7:57 and ends at 2:35. On Tuesdays I ride the bus home, because Kelly gets out early on Tuesdays and I’m in charge of walking to Beverly Private Schools to pick him up.
I went to school with Utah, yeah, but I didn’t kill him. I didn’t even talk to him before. I didn’t kill any of them. Not a single one. I can’t even build card houses.  

[Pineapples69]

The Case of the Card House Murders

Chapter Two

-Eugene, Oregon: Jefferson Public High-

Naomi clicked her mechanical pencil again, watching the lead fall onto her open composition notebook. Sighing, she slid down further into her chair. The teacher continued to babble about the bones in the human body. Sighing again, Naomi allowed her pencil to fall on the floor, making a distracting clattering noise. The whole class, excluding the teacher, turned to look at her. She shrugged, leaving the pencil to collect dust. The teacher began her lecture on self-mutilation and Naomi grinned, reaching out to barely touch the butt pocket of Leonard Peterson, she caught a twenty-dollar bill that was slightly poking out of the seam between her index and middle finger, slipping it out. She jumped back into her seat, Leonard not even blinking.

Oblivious narcissist, don’t carry twenties in your back pocket. She hummed to herself. The bell rang and Naomi began to collect her things before she heard a small knock on the biology room’s door.

“Naomi!” It was a tall, dark haired man with deep purple eyes. His hair fell down to his mid-back but was collected nicely in a low-lying ponytail. Grumbling about space aliens, Naomi turned to look at the man.

“What Ares?” She asked, tossing a paper plane into the recycling bin.

“The strike’s at four, Main Street, in front of City Hall” he muttered, slipping on a long, worn, brown jacket. He pulled out a small white box from one of the inside pockets and offered it to Naomi. She grinned and pulled out one of the death sticks.

“You know I won’t actually smoke it,” she said, stating a fact more than asking a question.

“Yeah, but I know you like the smell, and the feel, now come on, we’ve got to get to the deli.” Ares pulled out another cigarette and lit it, taking a deep breath in.

“The rest coming?” Naomi asked, holding her stick out for Ares to light. Ares exhaled and nodded. Naomi shrugged and pulled on her black sweatshirt.

“We can take the truck,” Ares was grinning and inhaled again. Naomi rolled her eyes and waved her cigarette, which was perched between her pick-pocketing fingers.

“No way in hell, am I riding in that” a small bit of ash fell from the tip onto the ground “we’re taking the jeep.”

“Whatever” Ares blew smoke out of his nose onto Naomi’s neck. She coughed and the two walked out the door, Naomi still waving her un-smoked cigarette at Ares.

The deli was having a slow day. Nice sixties music was playing and Rachel, the main gal, was wandering about, picking up things people had left behind. As Ares and Naomi entered the place three dark teenagers waved from a circle table near the restrooms.

“Ares!” a younger boy yelled. He had spiky brown hair with lip, eyebrow, nose and ear piercing. The boy ran up to Ares and swung his arms around the man’s neck.

“Hello Reo” Ares said through gritted teeth, staring at his cigarette, which now lie solemnly on the tiled floor.

“I’m not cleaning that!” came a yell from the other side of the deli. A quiet girl near the wall stood and waved shyly to the Naomi.

“Hey Mandy, what’s up?” Naomi grinned. The shy girl smiled back and shrugged. Another boy, wearing a basic muscle shirt and low cut jeans, popped a neon pink bubble-gum bubble.

“Daniel?” Naomi asked, eyebrows raised. He looked up with bored eyes. “Do you have more gum?”

“No.” He said, blowing another bubble. Naomi leaned over and popped it, causing it to pop all over his face.

“Meaner” she said, turning to Ares who sighed and pulled out the pack of death sticks and handed it to Naomi. She grinned and lit one, holding it between her fingers. “These things burn out real fast,” she said sighing. Reo nodded. At that moment in time the whole crew turned to hear a loud crash and a long string of curses, followed by Rachel turning the corner to face them, hopping up onto another circle table.

“Alex will be out in a few minutes,” she said nonchalantly, sipping on a neon green straw sticking out of a diet, caffeine-free coke. “What’s the gig today?”

“Not a gig, a strike” Ares corrected. Mandy nodded quietly.

“Oh? What against?” Rachel swung her legs back and forth and took another sip from her coke.

“The law against homosexual marriages” Mandy answered, blushing and peering at Re, who was still dangling from Ares’ neck. Rachel raised one eyebrow but decided not to ask.

“So…Mandy, you and lazy a** over there still together?” she asked. Daniel popped another bubble and Mandy fiddled with the hem of her lacy black gloves. The two (Daniel and Mandy) had been together since an ancient discovery of mutual dislike of meat. No one really understood what had happened, as Naomi often said ‘it was an un-foreseen miracle’.

Mandy Schneider, a fourteen-year-old freshman with a bit of a social problem. Despite her attitude she wore elbow length black-lace gloves and puffy black and white dresses, with a certain ‘air’ about her that made her look fragile. Daniel often explained that it was her pale, sickly skin and white hair, making her look unworldly. Ares thought it was the ‘girly dresses’.

Ares House, a seventeen-year-old rich kid. His parents died when he was young (not that he had ever met them) and by some odd reasoning he inherited the several billion dollars in their account (“not that much, when you subtract and education and a house”). Naomi and him had been best friends since they met at their first foster home.

Naomi Fitzgerald, a sixteen-year-old ‘chick’ with a temper. She had ethics (“I found them on e-bay”) no smoking, stealing from poor people, driving drunk, or hitting on people under thirteen (“that one’s more for their safety then mine”). She wore ‘guy-shirts’ she found at Hot Topic and tight jeans, ranging in color from black to orange. She liked to pick on Daniel.

Daniel Murray, a sixteen-year-old lazy guy (there was no other way to describe him). He slept. He dated Mandy. He chewed gum. He ate. He picked on Reo. That was it.

Reo Cunningham, a sixteen-year-old boy, Daniel’s chemistry partner. A total optimist. No one could figure out what he was doing with the group, with his whole ‘what goes up becomes a star’ attitude. He fit in the group though, for some reason, and everyone loved him. Now, Ares may not have noticed it, but everyone else did (thus Mandy’s aforementioned glance), he liked Ares. Ares liked him of course, just too afraid to do anything (“It’s getting damn annoying”).

“We’re still together” Daniel muttered through popped gum. Mandy’s blush deepened and Rachel clapped her hands together.

“Good! Oh! There’s Alex, you kids have fun!” and she rushed off to do more cleaning.

“Hey,” a deep voice emerged from next to the ‘employees only’ door. The crew turned around to see a dark skinned man with long dyed white hair and deep red eyes.

“Alex!” Naomi shrieked, running over to hug the eighteen-year-old “I haven’t seen you since the riot!”

The riot: currently known as the best party ever. See, there’s this girl Olive Stewart, she’s a homophobic and known quiet well for her parties. See, there’s this group called ‘The Drags’ consisting of Mandy Schneider, Naomi Fitzgerald, Ares House, Alex Rode, Daniel Murray, Rachel West, and Reo Cunningham, they’re known for crashing parties. You can probably figure it out.

“Dude, that was a sweet gig!” Alex said, giving highfive-ing Naomi, whose cheeks turned a teensy-weensy bit red (“I do not like him!”). “We ready to go?”

“Yup!” Reo cried from Ares’ neck “At least…I am!” Alex rolled his eyes and picked up a couple of white signs from next to the table and passed them out, they adorned protests (“Yay! Signs!). The group took the signs and rushed out the back door, planning to walk to Main Street (“It’s only a block away”).
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