I’m in the Gardening Club

by Abel Abyu

The light bulb hanging from the ceiling swung back and forth, casting shadows that danced around the room and on the men’s faces. Two detectives stood over a young red-haired boy. One of the detectives grabbed the suspect in question by the neck, as the other caught the swinging bulb and shown it in the boy’s face.

“Hey that’s really hurting my eyes and could you loosen up your grip on my neck? I have arthritis.”

“Tell us why you have this receipt for fertilizer and a worn down knife. You just couldn’t stand it could you? Being the geek and not one of varsity jocks!”

The detective reluctantly eased his grip when his partner reminded him they were being recorded.

“Officer, I’m in the gardening club, please you have the wrong person-,” the boy piped as he began to whimper.

“We have witnesses who say they’ve heard you wish death on some of these missing students. And $475 seems like a lot of money for gardening fertilizer, unless of course you needed an extra couple of pounds to cover up all the bodies you dumped. How much are shovels going for nowadays Frank?” the detective sarcastically asked his partner.

“The basketball players always gave me a hard time in Sex Ed. My name is Cassidy, just Cassidy! But they always called me Chastity, and so I lost it!” he cried.

“And that’s when you plotted their death you sick son of a b-“

“But you didn’t let me finish. I got up and told them to all be banished to the third black hole of Galagon. Totally different than death, if you’ve ever watched Star Quest! And ask my Grandma, she let me borrow that old knife today. I was using it for Bonsai,” the boy protested.

*

“Well the kid is innocent,” said Frank. Detectives Frank Dobbs and Harry Lawrence stood outside a local tavern. Harry lit a cigarette.

“I don’t get it; he fit the mold of somebody who’d be guilty. Rich in motives as well! If it weren’t for his friggin’ alibi we’d have cracked this case!” Harry exhaled.

“Take it easy man. We’ve only been on this for a week, heck, the kids have been missing for a month! For all we know they’re probably in Barbados sipping Pina Coladas!”

Frank’s cell phone rang. Harry continued to take deep drags from his cigarette as his partner stepped away from the noisy pub entrance.

“This is Dobbs”

“Detective Frank?” the disguised voice croaked.

“Speaking, who’s this?”

“Meet me at Port. I’ve got some information you’d be interested in, about the Chanson High boys.”

“Who is this?” Frank asked, but the person on the other line had already hung up. Frank quickly jogged over to Harry and motioned for him to start walking to their car.

“Who was it?” Harry asked as flicked his butt into the gutter.

“I don’t know but we’re heading over to the Port. Lock and load Harry, we’ve got ourselves a case.”

*

The two detectives parked across the street from the entrance of the desolate dockyard. Wielding pistols, they approached the fences and hoped over them. Stealthily quiet, they avoided the orange glow of the street lights by scaling the sides of freights.

“Hey do you see what I see?” whispered Harry. Near the dock, there stood a hooded individual, slender build.

“Yeah I see him. What do you want to do?” replied Frank.

“Let’s grab this bum and get outta here, this place is creepy.” They both nodded their head in unison.

“Police!” Frank yelled, pointing his gun as he approached the suspect.

“Please, don’t shoot. I’m a student from Chanson.” The suspect removed her hood to reveal frizzy blonde hair.

“Young lady, what are you doing meeting us here and at this time? Do your parents know?”

“Look my folks have been really shaken up since the boys have been missing. They didn’t even notice me anymore! I asked you to meet me here because I fear for my life. I’ve been getting death threats," she cried.

“Alright, let’s go talk about this at in a warm place. Come on,” Harry replied as he gently placed his arm on her shoulder and led her away.

*

“So what’s going on? No one is going to lay a finger on you dear I promise, just tell us the truth Iris,” said Frank kindly. They’d arrived at the Station and were in a smaller interrogation room.

“The cheerleaders and I were going to the creek. Samantha Kidders suggested we go smoke some weed. I’m a sophomore and I wanted them to accept me, so I went along. But I didn’t smoke I just watched,”

“What are the names of the other girls?” Harry prodded.

“Look I’m no snitch and I’m like gonna totally die if I tell you!” she yelled.

“I told you no one will lay a finger on you. However, you’re just as guilty as them if you don’t tell us what happened,” Frank replied firmly. The young girl looked around the room, avoiding the penetrating stares of the detectives. Her eyes began to brim red with tears.

“Ursula Yin, Jane Franco, Wendy Small and Samantha,” she cried.

“So continue with the story kiddo, you’re doing a great job,” Frank reassured.

“We were at the creek and they were smoking. Wendy had just got dumped by one the basketball jocks, Kenneth Green. She was real hurt, heck; I probably was more likely to smoke before she would. She was such a good girl. Real devastated by it. Jane suggested we get even and play a prank on him and his friends. Everyday Thursday, the boys would come to the creek we were at, and hang out. Throw some football and just chill. Jane is like the leader of the pack and Ursula is her wingman. She’ll do anything she’s asked. Jane tells Ursula to bring her dad’s gun to school, so they could scare the boys. The next day-,” she whimpered, “The next day we all went down to the creek in masks. The boys were there as scheduled, drinking beer and conversing, real chill,” she began to shudder as tears rolled down her face and on to the desk.

“Keep going,” Harry gently said.

“Jane pulls out the gun and tells the four guys to line up side to side. I guess she didn’t know the gun was loaded. Next thing you know bam!” She stared blankly into the wall.

“Who did she shoot?”

“All of them. She killed Kenny, then the other three. I guess she freaked out when the gun went off. She would’ve let the other three go, but she lost it! After she shot Kenny, the other guys tried to take her gun. But she shot them.”

“How come she just didn’t kill the rest of you?”

“She said that we were sisters. Wendy and I stood there balling. Jane, Ursula and Samantha took the bodies and threw them into the lake. She got suspicious that we’d snitch since we were crying, and ever since, they’ve been threatening Wendy and me at school.” The detectives stood up. Harry went to the door as Frank cuffed Iris.

“It’s going to be alright Iris, thanks for cooperating. We’ll work this entire thing out,” Frank said as he led her out of the room.