The Boy Who Cried Murder

Chapter 6

The two of them had been staked out in front of Mr. Watts' house for all of late afternoon. At first they were vigilant and took their mission very seriously, but as hours passed they grew restless. To pass the time, they played hand games and told silly stories and Madlibs. Now the sun was going down, casting a golden hue over the brick buildings. Cars flooded the roads at rush hour and then traffic died down again. Soon it was completely dark and Will was plucking grass stems from their vantage point behind a bush, though Sandra still kept her guard up. As she kept her eyes trained on the front door, she saw it creak open and Mr. Watts step out.

Sandra poked Will on the shoulder. "Look!" she hissed.

Mr. Watts turned around to call back into the house, presumably to Mrs. Rosenfeld. "Yeah, I'm just going for a walk! No, you don't need to come! I'll be fine!" he shouted, then pushed the door closed with a final THUNK.

"Where's he going?" Will whispered.

"Only one way to find out," Sandra replied. They waited until Mr. Watts was several paces away before following him casually, not trying to draw any attention to themselves. I of course went with them.

They found themselves at the entrance to the Boysenberry Skate Park. It was closed for the day, with the gate locked and a single overhead lamp illuminating the hard pavement. Sandra was confused. Why would Mr. Watts go here? It's not like he could skate.

"Oh, leprechauns... come on out!" Mr. Watts said in a childish voice.

Oh, that's right! Sandra thought. She recalled what he had said earlier, when she had been half paying attention, about a meeting of leprechauns or something like that. It was kind of funny, the way he acted like a toddler in an elderly man's body sometimes.

A frigid wind blew, and Sandra shivered. Something could happen at any minute, she thought, feeling jumpy and on edge. She watched Mr. Watts go under a bridge-like structure. Did leprechauns hide under bridges like trolls? It didn't matter, what murderer was going to jump out of the night at any moment? She was starting to regret ever—

"AAAHH!" she screeched as Will tapped her shoulder suddenly. In her panic, she let loose a burst of energy in Mr. Watt's direction. She watched helplessly and bewilderedly as the structure cracked and collapsed to the ground, crushing the unsuspecting man under the wreckage.

The two exchanged a disbelieving look. Sandra looked at her friend, then at the scene that had just taken place, then back to Will.

"Sandra, I—"

"What the hell— I was just startled and somehow I— Was that some kind of magic power like yours? And speaking of your power, did you know this was going to happen?"

"No, of course I didn't!"

"How could you not have? You're the psychic!" She was shouting now, and Will looked remorseful. "This is so messed up, I— we were going to save him. We were trying to stop it from happening. I didn't mean to..." she started sobbing. "I didn't mean to kill him."

"It was an accident. It's not your fault, there was nothing you could have done." He put his arms around her and they shared a hug for a long moment.

"We should call the police," said Will as he pulled away, and Sandra nodded in agreement.

They found the nearest payphone on the other side of the park, but realized they were short of change. I had an extra quarter so I placed it on the ground unnoticed for them to find. Sandra dropped the coins in the slot and dialed the police station. Her heart hammered as the ringtone played. Finally, there was a click on the other end of the line, and she heard Dale's voice saying, "Hello, this is the police."

"Dale! Put Sheriff Navarro on the line."

A moment of hesitation. "Please."

"I can't. Sheriff Navarro is busy."

"Is he sleeping again?"

"Uh..."

"Dale, wake him up and put him on the phone?"

"Alright, okay!"

A moment's pause, and then Sheriff Navarro's gruff, deep voice answered. "Hello, what's your emergency?"

Sandra's voice shook. "Um, I'm at the skate park, and Mr. Watts is dead? I didn't mean to, I—"

Will snatched the phone away from Sandra. "It was an accident, the structure was insecure and it collapsed on top of him. We just found him like that."

After a pause, he replied, "Thanks, officer," and hung up. To Sandra, he said, "They're coming to collect the body, and they'll probably question us at the station too. Everything's fine. We weren't here when the accident happened, we were just taking a walk around town."

Sandra sniffed. "Okay."

They heard footsteps running towards them, and when they looked in that direction they saw Mrs. Rosenfeld. She took in what had happened for several seconds, and then rushed over to the children. They told her the whole doctored story.

"Wait, what are you doing out here this late at night?" Will questioned.

"I was worried about Leonard, wandering off like that. I knew he wouldn't want me going with him like a babysitter, so I planned to follow him from a distance. Oh, I should have kept a closer watch! It's such a tragedy," said Mrs. Rosenfeld.

"We're awful sorry," said Sandra, Will nodding along.

"Oh, don't worry about it children. He lived a good, long life. I can drive you to the police station and tell you all about that time Mr. Watts painted all of the neighbors' trees pink!"