Clueless Cases (Chapter 5): The Case(s)

Cliff and the others waited without interruptions as Ivy explained the case from the beginning thoroughly and clearly, not missing any important detail.

"Hailey Carmine," Ivy continued,"according to Mrs. Greene, had moved to Number 9 Dillway Lane for about three months now, and had been very private and secretive, rarely associate with other people in the neighborhood, but sometimes talked to her nearest neighbors. Nancy Greene, Mrs. Greene's elder daughter, who always buys the groceries, sometimes spotted Carmine talking to the grocer. She said they talked as if they were close friends." She spoke with the air of a real reporter. She had always been like that whenever she explained anything. 

"That's it then," Kevin interrupted. "Mason's a suspect." This was a shock to them, including Kevin himself.

They doubted it would've been Wyler Mason, the kindhearted and generous middle-aged gentleman who owns one of Clyville's grocery shop. He seemed too innocent to even become a suspect. Yet, the children couldn't deny that things could be all twisted and turned, just like the story line of the crime fiction books Cliff always reads. If he was close to Carmine, then he knows a lot about the victim than any others in Clyville.

"But one thing, though," Cliff said."Is it certain the victim was murdered? I mean, couldn't it have been..," he paused, half-expecting someone else to complete his sentence, but there wasn't anyone talking, all four pairs of eyes fixed on him. "Perhaps...suicide?" Everyone turned to look at Ivy, as if they all had the same question in their heads since the sergeant talked about the locked door.

"Possible," Ivy said simply. "The locked door shows the possibility of suicide."

"And yet," Cleo intervened,"the scream doesn't. I don't think she'd scream that loud if she had committed suicide."

"Suppose it was suicide," Tyler said."She killed herself because she was upset, something bad had unexpectedly happened or she simply gave up to live, which we will never know because of her being too private. So what now?"

"Good question," Ivy commented. "We need some evidence to examine, and some suspects to question. Either it was murder or not, or it might be her falling down the stairs, we still need clues and people. But first," she eyed them with annoyance,"can I  please finish explaining the case?" Silence fell as the others stifled a laugh.

"Oh, wait!" Kevin's exclamation gave everyone a start. "There's something else I'm not comfortable about." No one interrupted. "Why didn't Miss Greene bother to call the police last night?" This brought puzzlement and agreement to the group of young detectives.

"Who knows," Tyler whispered, "she might be the killer from the start."

Ivy hushed everyone and told them off for talking about the witness. "She might just be afraid. Even my mother was like that when she heard the scream last night." But Cliff wasn't listening. He quivered at the thought of trying to find the killer, when they were sitting right at the back of their house, breathing in fresh air at their very own, beautiful garden. But he shook his head mentally and banished the thought while Ivy continued.

Cliff and Kevin wrote notes while Cleo and Tyler helped them catch up with the details of the case when Ivy told about the main suspects. She doesn't seem to even want to insert the name of Cassandra Greene, the ear-witness. She could sense that her friends were suspecting Cassandra. She couldn't deny the whole facts of it herself. Even if Mrs. Greene had told the police that Cassandra was too nervous and afraid to talk to the police, she couldn't help thinking that, after all, Cassandra was alone last night. Could the culprit be that close?

Ivy forced herself to proceed without thinking about the probability of Cassandra's involvement. "There were two suspects so far with a possible motive to kill that the police were going to interrogate," she said. "The first one will be Wyler Mason, a gentle, kind and generous man who own the grocery store, which you already knew would be quite impossible to be involved in this crime. We don't know his possible motive yet if he ever had one. Second, Melvie Dunston. A 32-year-old lady who, since Carmine moved in to Clyville, had always thought her husband secretly had feelings for Carmine. Obviously, her possible motive would be of jealousy. I feel sorry for her after what happened."

"Why would you feel sorry for her?" Kevin asked, sensing something.

"Yeah, what happened?" Cliff jumped in as if he could read Kevin's mind.

There was a long pause, a look of pity mixed with horror was expressed on Ivy's face. "Sergeant Simerwell just got news," Ivy said softly, her lips slightly trembling,"of Mr. Derek Dunston being found dead in his house by his own wife just this morning."

Please correct any grammatical mistakes or replace any word with a more suitable vocabulary in the comments below, thank you:)