by Lisa Orchard
Sarah squeezed her tighter and noticed her sister’s eyes were wide with panic, and her voice filled with hysteria. Lacey pushed her away and pivoted, throwing up on a pile of newspapers stacked behind her.
Sarah held her hair away from her face and rubbed her back. “Are you all right?”
Lacey nodded, clinging to Sarah for support. “What is that smell?”
“I think it’s the blood.” Sarah wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t believe it. The Cat Lady’s been murdered,” Jackie said.
Sarah glanced at her and saw the dazed expression on Jackie’s face. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and her face pale from shock. “We don’t know that. Maybe she fell and cut herself.”
Sarah stared at the body, transfixed by what she saw. She had never seen a dead body before or this much blood. The shock of it hit her like a tidal wave, and Sarah stumbled back and almost went down. Her throat tightened, squeezing the breath from her.
All of a sudden, the sound of sirens filled the air, breaking the spell the Cat Lady’s body had on Sarah. She stared at Jackie and Lacey taking in their horrified expressions.
“The police!” they shrieked all at once.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sarah cried.
The girls turned toward the door just in time to see two police cars pull up to the curb.
“Crap!” Jackie yelled.
“We’ve got to hide!” Sarah shouted.
She spun back toward the living room, and collided with the other two girls as they scrambled to hide. Lacey lost her balance and fell to the floor, placing her right hand in the middle of the blood pool.
“Oh gross!” she gagged. “I’ve got blood on my hands!” She grimaced and stood, stepping in the blood.
“This way,” Sarah yelled.
Leading the way, Sarah plowed down a trail between stacks of newspapers. Piles of newspapers were everywhere. It appeared that the Cat Lady kept every single paper she’d received for the last twenty years. There were so many stacks Sarah couldn’t see any furniture. She led the girls through the trail left by the piles. Sarah felt like a rat in a maze. The girls continued their sprint and made their way into a narrow kitchen, which was just as cluttered as the living room.
Sarah found a door leading to the basement. She flew down the stairs with Jackie and Lacey right behind her. The eerie screech of the front door told Sarah the police were coming inside. Lacey closed the basement door behind her, before rushing down the stairs. Breathing heavily, Sarah climbed back up the stairs and huddled next to the door. Jackie and Lacey followed her.
Sarah wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts and took deep breaths to calm her breathing. As she wiped her hands, she glanced down into the basement and saw light coming through a window. She could see dust floating in the air, trapped in the sunlight. The basement smelled musty, but dry. Old boxes were piled against a wall and they were covered with a fine layer of dust. Next, Sarah noticed the dirt floor. There were no footprints in the dirt. Sarah realized no one had been in the basement in years.
“I can’t believe I just saw a dead body,” whimpered Lacey. “It was so gross and that smell.” She continued to wipe her hands on her shirt.
“Shhh. I want to hear what the police say.” Sarah placed her ear against the door. Her heart thundered in her chest. It was so loud she feared it would drown out any other sound.
“Can you hear anything?” Jackie whispered. She positioned herself next to Sarah and pressed her ear to the door. The two girls faced each other, their noses almost touching.
“No, I can hear voices, but I can’t make the words out.”
“I’ve got the weebeejeebees! All that blood.” Lacey grimaced. “I hope I don’t puke again.”
Sarah glared at her sister. “Shhh.”
“I’m going to catch some fatal disease.” She scowled and continued wiping her hands on her shirt.
“Would you shut up!” Jackie whispered vehemently.
Lacey clamped her lips together and didn’t make another sound.
“I wonder what happened to the Cat Lady?” Sarah asked.
“I have no idea,” Jackie said.
“This is a real mystery. Just like this one true crime story—,”Sarah started.
“How come you guys can talk, but I can’t?”
“Shut up!” Sarah and Jackie hissed in unison.
The voices grew louder and Sarah heard the conversation.
“They’re in the kitchen,” she whispered.
Jackie bit her lip and gave her curls a nervous tug.
“They’re following some bloody footprints,” Sarah reported.
Sarah heard the voices growing louder.
“They’re coming this way!” She gasped.
“The footprints lead to this door,” a police officer said.
Sarah made eye contact with Jackie as she realized Lacey’s blunder had led the police right to them. Turning, she glared at her sister.
Seconds later, the basement door flew open and a bright light shone down on them. The policeman had his gun drawn and aimed at the girls. Sarah’s heart lurched in her chest. She’d never had a gun pointed at her before.
“On the floor, now!” he boomed.
The girls scurried up the stairs and dropped to the ground, spreading their arms and legs.
At the sound of the officer’s command, another officer loomed in the doorway and stared down at the girls.
“Klonsky, search them for weapons,” the first officer said.
Lacey started to cry. “We didn’t do it! We just found the body!”
“Yeah,” Sarah piped up.
Her pulse raced as Klonsky probed her for weapons. His rough hands on her body made her skin crawl. Sarah winced and shivered. She made eye contact with Jackie, grimaced, and shook her head.
“No weapons, Walker,” Klonsky said.
“Okay, let’s get them cuffed and down to the station,” Officer Walker said.
“Wait, we didn’t do anything!” Sarah yelled. She glanced at Lacey and groaned. Her T-shirt was smeared with blood. Sarah’s spirits sank. We’re in big trouble.
“We’re innocent!” Jackie screamed and flailed her arms.
“We’ll talk about that downtown. Now get moving,” Officer Walker said, pushing Sarah forward.
She moved a few steps to the right to get past the officer’s belly. A lover of donuts, Sarah observed and stifled a nervous bubble of laughter.
“We’re going to jail,” Lacey sobbed.
“We didn’t do anything,” Sarah insisted.
“We’ll talk downtown,” Klonsky said, escorting the girls to the police car.
Walking to the cruiser, Sarah noticed a small crowd forming across the street. She studied the faces of the Cat Lady’s neighbors and watched their expressions harden when they saw the girls in handcuffs. Suddenly, feeling like a criminal, she lowered her gaze.
Klonsky opened the car door. “Watch your heads.”
The girls grunted in effort as they struggled to get inside the car.
“Hurry up!” Klonsky snapped.
Sarah snorted. “It’s not easy getting into a car with your hands cuffed behind your back.”
“You girls should’ve thought about that before you murdered the old lady.”
“So she was murdered!” Jackie’s eyes widened.
“We didn’t murder anyone!” Sarah argued.
Her anger at being searched was no match for her rage at being unjustly accused. She sent Klonsky an angry glare before leaning her head against the seat and closing her eyes. Sitting close to her sister, she smelled the coppery scent of blood on her shirt. Turning her head, she tried not to gag. The tight space in the car was heating up and sweat formed on her brow.
“That’s right, we’re innocent,” Jackie insisted.
“Save it for the station,” Klonsky muttered as he slammed the door and walked back inside the house.
Sarah opened her eyes and raised her head. The sweat on her f
orehead rolled down the side of her face. “Ugh.”
“What’s the matter? Jackie asked.
“I can’t wipe the sweat off of my face.” Sarah wiped the side of her face on the back seat. “What’s going on out there?”
“I don’t know,” Jackie said, trying to blow some of the curls out of her face.
After an eternity, or so it seemed to Sarah, Klonsky reappeared from inside the house and climbed into the car. He ignored the girls as he started the engine. As they pulled away from the curb, an ambulance came into view. Behind the ambulance were three more police cars. This is definitely a crime scene.
“This is going to be the longest car ride of my life,” Sarah groaned.
“No doubt, girlfriend,” Jackie grimaced.
Lacey started to sob. “We’re going to jail!”
As the cruiser picked up speed, Sarah stared at the world from behind the tinted window. The full force of her predicament hit her like a sledgehammer. What if this is the last time I see sunlight? Her stomach fluttered. It won’t be, Sarah argued. You’re innocent. You didn’t do this.
Lacey sobbed. “I can’t believe we’re going to jail.”
“You just had to get blood all over you, didn’t you?” Sarah snapped.
“Like I did it on purpose.”
“Shut up, Sarah. It could’ve been any of us,” Jackie said.
“Yeah.” Lacey wiped her face on her sleeve.
“Maybe,” Sarah conceded.
The cruiser slowed and turned into the parking lot of the police station. Klonsky parked the car and turned off the engine.
“What’s going to happen to us, now?” Lacey sniffled.
“Hey, Officer, what’s going to happen to us, now?” Sarah asked.
Without turning his head, Officer Klonsky said, “Since you girls are under seventeen, we have to call your parents before we can question you.”
“We didn’t kill the Cat Lady,” Lacey whined.
Klonsky turned and glared at them. “That’s what they all say.”
Klonsky’s dark eyes bored into the girls. They were bottomless pools of anger. Sarah gulped as she took in his size. His shoulders filled the front seat and his head, even with short hair, brushed the ceiling of the car.
“It’s true.” Sarah clenched her trembling hands.
“You ever heard of death row?” Klonsky glowered at Lacey.
“Yeah.”
“The majority of those guys say they’re innocent, too.” He turned away from the girls and fiddled with the police radio.
Lacey began wailing. “We’re going to be on death row!”
“Stop crying, we’re innocent. We didn’t do anything.” Sarah glared at the back of Klonsky’s head. “He’s just trying to scare you.”
“It’s a good thing too. Have you seen what those inmates wear? Bright orange jumpsuits, they are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. Orange is definitely not my color,” Jackie grimaced.
Sarah made a face at Jackie and nudged Lacey, whispering, “We didn’t do anything. Remember CSI? The evidence tells the story.”
“What are you, a detective?” Jackie asked.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get that CSI guy to help us,” Jackie said.
Sarah gave Jackie one of her ‘are you brain dead’ looks. “That CSI guy you’re talking about is a fictitious character on a TV show.” She cocked her head and nudged Lacey. “No one is going to jail. We didn’t do anything.”
Lacey nodded and sniffed. “Okay.”
“Inside,” Klonsky said as he opened his door. When he rose out of the car, it seemed to sigh in relief. Opening the back door for the girls, he towered over them as they struggled to climb out. His sheer bulk blocked out the sun.
“I’ll take the cuffs off when we get inside.”
Sarah stared at the building housing the police department of Harrisburg. It was a two-story, red brick building with large, white-paned windows. The panes on the windows reminded Sarah of bars on a cell door. She shivered at the thought of going inside.
Once inside the station, a separate officer was assigned to each girl. The officer in charge of Sarah led her to a separate interrogation room, removed her cuffs, and left her alone.
Sarah slouched in a folding chair, waiting for her aunt and uncle to arrive. The air conditioning had turned the room into a deep freeze, and the chair felt cold against her legs. She shivered. Goosebumps appeared on her arms and she rubbed them while she stared at the gray walls.
The walls in the tiny room closed in on her, and she suddenly had trouble breathing. Looking at the big mirror placed in the middle of the wall, she studied her reflection. She noticed her pale face and her shock filled eyes. Her lips were slightly parted as she took shallow breaths. Focusing on her image, she took some deeper breaths, easing her panicky feelings.
“This is just great,” she said to her reflection. “Just when summer vacation was starting to get fun.”
Sarah shifted her weight, and her mind wandered. Why would anyone want to murder the Cat Lady? Crossing her legs, she drummed her fingers on the table as she thought about the old woman. It doesn’t make any sense. She didn’t have any friends, except for the cats, and she never left home.
Just then the door opened, and Sarah’s uncle walked in. All thoughts of the Cat Lady flew from her mind. Sarah noticed Uncle Walt’s wispy hair was standing on end. Whenever he got stressed he tugged at what was left of his hair. It always ended up sticking straight up. He resembled a balding Einstein.
Uncle Walt was a highly intelligent, congenial man who had a hard time remembering why he was sent to the grocery store. He would often call Aunt June after he had gotten there to ask what was needed. Sarah snickered at the thought and decided he appeared to be more of an absentminded Einstein.
Sighing to release some of the tension in her body, Sarah realized she was glad her parents weren’t here. Dealing with her uncle would be much easier. “Hey, Uncle Walt.”
“Hi, honey. What is going on here?” he asked, concern etched on his face.
“We found the Cat Lady’s body.” Sarah stood and suddenly grasped the table, her legs felt like jelly.
“Who’s the Cat Lady?”
“Mrs. Fedewa.”
Her uncle reached out to Sarah, and she ran into his comforting embrace. She stifled the sob trying to escape her throat.
“Are you all right?” her uncle murmured into her hair.
Sarah nodded.
“Okay, tell me everything. Start from the beginning.”
They sat down in the folding chairs. He put his arm around Sarah in a protective gesture. She snuggled next to him, grateful for his warmth.
She took a deep breath. “Well, Lacey, Jackie, and I were playing Truth or Dare.”
“And?”
“Jackie dared me to ring the Cat Lady’s doorbell.”
Her uncle chuckled. “I’m sure you didn’t turn that dare down.”
“You got that right.” Sarah gave him a lopsided grin. ” So, when I rang her doorbell, I looked in the window and saw someone lying on the floor.”
“What did you do then?”
“I ran to the big picture window to see who it was. I figured she was the Cat Lady.”
“Okay, so what did you do then?”
“I ran back to the door, went inside, and that’s when I saw all the blood.” Sarah shuddered at the memory.
“Why did you go in the house?” Uncle Walt frowned and spun in his seat to look at her.
“I don’t know,” she said, her voice cracking. “I didn’t know she was dead. I thought maybe I could help her.”
“You should never go into someone’s home like that.” Shaking his head, he placed his index finger on the table to make his point. He pressed so hard Sarah saw the white crescent above the pink on his fingernail.
“I bet you would’ve done the same thing.”
“It doesn’t matter what I would’ve done. I’m not a fifteen-year-
old girl,” he said with a stern look.
“I was trying to help.” Sarah’s stomach fluttered and she shifted uneasily in her chair.
“Do you realize the killer could’ve still been there?”
“I didn’t know she’d been murdered!”
“Okay, okay, but use your head next time.”
“I hope there won’t be a next time.”
Her uncle groaned and tugged at the hair on top of his head. “Honey, I just don’t want anything to happen to you or your sister. How would I tell your parents if something did happen? It worries me when you take risks like this.”
“I know, but I honestly didn’t think we were in danger.” Sarah shifted in her seat and gazed at her uncle. “I didn’t see the blood until I was inside.”
“Your heart’s in the right place.” He sighed, searching for the right words. “Sarah, you’re a courageous girl. I admire that about you, but you need to be more careful.”
“I bet if the Cat Lady had been alive, and we’d saved her life, you’d be telling me I did the right thing.”
He gave Sarah a rueful smile. “You’re probably right. The mistake you made here is that you didn’t call the police right away.”
Sarah frowned, and stared down at her hands. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Maybe?”
“All right, you’re right.”
“So, you discovered the body. That’s why you girls are here. At least they don’t think you murdered her.”
“They do think that.” Sarah squirmed in her chair.
“What? Why in the world would they think you girls murdered Mrs. Fedewa?”
“When I showed Jackie and Lacey the body, the police pulled up in the driveway.”
“You mean you went back into the house a second time?” Uncle Walt leaned forward in his chair and stared at Sarah.
“Well, yeah. Those guys didn’t believe me, so I had to prove to them I saw a dead body.”
“And?” Uncle Walt was beginning to look ill.
“The sirens scared us. Lacey tripped and got blood all over her shirt.”
He leaned back in his chair and groaned. Both of his hands began tugging at his hair. “Go on.”
Sarah glanced at her uncle and suppressed a nervous grin. His hair was standing straight up. He looked like an aging punk rocker refusing to accept he was past his prime. The only things missing were the leather pants, tattoos, and the pierced ears and nose.