Impotent Death: A Paranormal Mystery

Chapter Six

     Just ten minutes after my alarm went off the next day, I was dressed and ready for school. I was about to leave my room when I remembered Raymond's letter from Anthony that I meant to read yesterday. I grabbed the envelope written in green ink off the desk in my room and tore it open. It read:

     Dear Kevin,                                     27 August 1933

     How have you been lately? And how is your mother doing, have her symptoms worsened since we last spoke? Our visit to your hotel last week was so lovely. Thank you for the invitation and for giving us such a generous discount; Robyn and I really enjoyed ourselves.
     I heard you started dating that remarkable young woman from Seattle, Julia Harris. She seems like such a charming person; I hope you two are able to be happy together. Speaking of woman, there's something I've been meaning to tell you about, and I felt that it would be best to do it privately on paper.
     Over the past year, Robyn and I have been having struggles within our marriage. She often tells me I'm not spending enough time with her. More concerning, she has recently started displaying an unusual amount of interest in a fellow named Hyrum Dallas. I've never once doubted her loyalty to our marriage, but now I'm starting to.
     Maybe this is too personal to put into a letter, but I was hoping you could give me some advice on how I can restore my relationship with my wife. I apologize if my discussing Robyn has aroused any negative feelings in you; I know how close you two once were. Please let me know if you have any advice.
     Thank you for everything.
  
     Yours Truly, Anthony Green

     My jaw hung open for a solid thirty seconds. Oh my gosh, Anthony had a motive to kill his wife! She probably cheated on him! I knew I wasn't crazy for suspecting him. I had to tell Ruth about this right away.
I barged into her room, clutching the letter in my hand; only she wasn't there. My ten-year-old sister got up earlier than me? Sad.
     I found her downstairs at the table, eating a bowl of cold cereal. Seeing that Benjamin and Cameron were also at the table, I slid the letter into my backpack and slowly sat down by Ruth.
     "There's something I need to tell you about the murder. Like now," I whispered to her as I pulled a box of Cheerios near myself.
     "Does it have something to do with the letter you were reading this morning?" Ruth wondered.
     "How the heck did you know about that?"
     She drained her bowl of milk, then said, "Kevin told me."
     "You mean he saw me reading it and then told you?" I asked. That kind of bothered me.
     "Yes. So what did the letter say?"
     "It was a letter from Anthony Green. It turns out that—"
     "You guys are doing it again," Cameron interrupted. He was glaring at me and Ruth.
     "Doing what?" I said back.
     "Whispering."
     "What's wrong with whispering?" I replied defensively.
     "It's just a little—abnormal," Benjamin said as he poured himself a bowl of Mini Wheats.
     "Just mind your own business," I said cooly.
     Ruth and I were gonna have to start being more careful when discussing the murder from now on. Our brothers were very determined to prove we were up to something.
     Sadly, I was never able to finish telling Ruth about the letter because the twins stared us down until I had to leave for school. Ugh, how could I wait through the whole school day to tell her? This would be torture. But maybe school wouldn't be so bad; at least Liam would be there.

     <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

     Today was an A day, which meant language arts with Mrs. Elms (and Liam!) first period. I was actually skipping the rest of the way to school when I thought about how my secret crush was in that class... but then I realized I hadn't even started on the essay that was supposed to be due this morning. Oh, no.
I entered the classroom with five minutes to spare. Liam was already in his seat with his neatly written essay resting on top of his desk.
"Hey, Makayla," he said with a grin. "Did you finish your essay?"
I felt myself blush as I stammered, "Um, no, actually. I—I forgot about it."
He raised his eyebrows in shock, which gave me a horrible pit in my stomach, but said, "Wow. You must be a pretty busy girl. Have you been doing a lot of unpacking?"
"Yeah." I've also been trying to solve a murder. "Do you think it'll affect my grade a lot?"
     "The essay? Nah, it was just the rough draft. The first rough draft, actually," said Liam. "We're supposed to do two more and then do peer editing for each other. Have you at least picked a topic to write about?"
     "Erm... I'm still deciding," I replied. I hadn't yet chosen a topic for the argumentative paper we were supposed to be writing. But what was there to write about? Why dogs are better than cats? Why Vans are more comfortable than Nikes? All of my ideas were so lame.
     I spent an embarrassing amount of class time that morning brainstorming ideas to write about, when a thought suddenly hit me: I could write about the murder. It was an argumentative essay, wasn't it? That meant opinions; and I happened to have a very strong opinion about the murder of Mrs. Weller 79 years ago. "How Kevin Lee Raymond Was Falsely Accused of Murder". I already had the title picked out.
The bell rang as I started typing out my introductory paragraph. As everyone was cleaning up, I remembered something I needed to ask Liam. I barely caught him as he was turning the corner to his next class.
"Liam! Wait! Um, sorry to bother you about this again, but... you've lived in Mosier for a while, right?"
"Yeah. About seven years," he said as he ran his fingers through his messy blonde hair. "Why?"
"Then... do you know anyone alive who I could ask about the Robyn Weller Murder?"
He chuckled. "Well, I definitely don't know anyone dead who would know about it. Do you?"
"Oh, haha! No, of course not," I said with a fake laugh. "I meant, is there anyone whose family has been here in Mosier for at least three generations?"
He thought for a moment. "Actually... yes. Yes, there is."
My insides fluttered with excitement. "Who are they?"
"Their names are Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Bakersfield. They're my neighbors, actually. Both of their husbands died a few years ago, and their kids and grandkids moved away. They've just been keeping each other company living together."
"Do you think you could give me their address?" I asked hopefully.
Liam gave me a weird look. "Okay... maybe after school. Uh... meet me outside by the front doors."