A Collection Of Beginnings

One: How Can You Tell?

Detective Cedric Lewis ran his hand through his long brown hair, taking in the horrific scene in front of him. A middle aged man lie on the floor of a clothing store, his unblinking eyes staring at the note that had been left on the ceiling directly above him. Cedric surveyed the area surrounding the man so that he could avoid looking at the gaping hole in his chest. A spraypainted circle had been drawn around him and all the clothes on the shelves had been rearranged so that all the clothes in the dead man's view were red.

"Creepy," said a voice behind him. Cedric jumped but calmed once he realized it was his partner, detective Meredith Ellis. "I know this is the first murder of this type, but this screams of something more serial...the circle, the note, the clothes...this guy is definitely crazy."
"We can't jump to conclusions," Cedric sighed. "Shane, tell me what we've got!" The young man moved away from the body and walked to the two detectives with a notepad in his gloved hand.

"The victim is a male of 47 years of age. He was found at 4:55 PM inside a clothing store," said Shane quickly. "The cause of death is, obviously, this...um...hole in his chest. There's a note on the ceiling that we're still trying to get down."

"Thanks," Cedric replied, turning his back to Shane. "Meredith, I think-"
"Um, sir?" Shane interrupted.

"Yes?" Cedric didn't like to be interrupted.

"There's a woman here who thinks she can ID the body...should I let her in?" Shane was a nice kid, but really clueless in Cedric's eyes.

"What do you think? God, you're helpless. Bring her into the station." Cedric looked at Meredith and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, sir," Shane blushed and walked back towards the woman.

When they were back at the station, Cedric and Meredith went to talk to the woman who thought she could identify the man. But when they entered the room, they were met with a surprise. Not only was there a woman in there, but also a young girl of about seven or eight.

"Um...I'm sorry," Meredith said as she checked her clipboard. "Ms. Martin...are you sure you want your daughter in here?"

"Oh, this isn't my daughter, I just nanny her. Her name is But she has a...something to tell you. Go on, Irma." The woman looked over at the girl and nodded encouragingly.

"I told you," said the girl coolly, "don't call me that. Call me IKW." After that she turned to the detectives and started speaking. "My full name is Irma Katherine Wolfe, but I like to be called IKW. That's pronounced separately like I K W. I know who that man is and I know how he died.The victim is a male of 48 years of age. He has a pale complexion, straight graying dull blond hair in a mid-length braid, and green eyes. He is tall, of average weight, and is dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. He was found at 7:22 PM in a clothing store. His name is Billy Park." Meredith and Cedric stood in stunned silence as she continued. "I know who you are too. You are a male of 33 years of age. You have a fair complexion, straight light brown hair cut short, and brown eyes. You are short, fairly muscular, and wearing an old suit though you hope no one can notice. They do, by the way. Your name is Cedric Lewis." She looked at Meredith and kept going. "And she is a female of 34 years of age. She has a dark complexion, curly dark brown hair worn mid-length, and dark brown eyes. She is a little short, somewhat thin, and is wearing a suit. She got drunk last weekend. Drinking is bad for you, you know."

"How-" started Meredith.

"I know everything there is to know about people just by being near them. Well, almost everything. I can't figure out who killed Billy Park. I want to help you. Can I help?" The IKW looked imploringly up at cedric and Meredith.

"I'm sorry," Cedric replied, "we can't have a young girl working with us, no matter how helpful you might be."

"What if she didn't help...what if I just took what she said and told you guys?" Ms. Martin asked slowly.

"I suppose we could get her registered as a consultant on the case," Meredith whispered to Cedric behind her clipboard.

"How do we know we can trust them? I mean, she just said a lot of stuff that she shouldn't know, can't know, and yet somehow she knows it. How do we know she's not the killer?" Meredith couldn't help but giggle at his question.

"She's eight," she said with an eyeroll.

"I know, but she doesn't act or talk like an eight year old!" Cedric was annoyed at his partner's lack of understanding. Sure, it sounded crazy to count an eight year old girl a suspect, but there was something about this girl...

"How do we know we can trust you?" Meredith finally asked the girl.

She grinned for the first time since they had entered the room. "You don't," she said.