"Carl... everything has been cleaned up."
Carl sat back down on the bed and raked his fingers through his hair in frustration.
"I wanna know how the hell the murder weapon was found in dad's room?"
I felt tears brim up in my eyes.
"I'm...I'm..I'm scared Carl...what if we can't...can't save dad!"
"STOP IT RACHAEL!!!"
He faced me squarely and cleaned my eyes.
"We'll save dad. We'll find a way...we always do."
It was the next morning. The morning after the whole drama.
We had managed to mail the letter to the police station, although the one of the stupid policemen said that dad wouldn't be able to get it till later today.
We tried to clean up the Cafe as much as we can.
"GUYS!!!"
Cami yelled from downstairs.
"You need to see this!"
We shot up from the bed where we sat on, and jogged downstairs in lightening speed.
"Yeah...Cami what's... what's up?"
I asked, sounding out of breath.
She didn't say anything, but just walked into the kitchen.
Carl and I shared a confused look.
We followed her into the kitchen.
The kitchen was a large wood styled kitchen.
Everything was made with strong fine wood.
The decorations on the kitchen walls were pictures of forests, trees, forest animals and there were many pictures of the family up there.
Cami led us to the large drawer were we kept different kinds of knives.
She pulled out the drawer.
"What do you notice?"
She asked.
Carl raised his left brow.
"Uh... lots of knives...why?"
Cami rolled her eyes and gave me a 'seriously?' look.
I just shrugged, showing that I didn't understand as well.
"Well...of course you guys wouldn't notice. I'm actually the only one amongst us who gives a heck about cooking."
Carl rolled his eyes.
"Just go on to the point."
"Well... apparently,two knives are missing from the rack."
She pointed two empty spaces on the rack.
My eyes widened in realisation.
"The killer was in this Cafe?"
She nodded.
"Yup! And he knew where to find stuff "
My legs went weak and I leaned against the kitchen island.
"Are you ok?"
Carl asked me.
"The...we...we..there was a killer living with us all this while?"
"How are you sure that it's not just a misunderstanding?"
Carl asked Cami.
"Well... I'm in charge of utensils and I always make sure stuff is arranged."
She said with a 'duh' look.
"Well...maybe if you guys paid kitchen attention you would have known this."
I deadpanned.
"Seriously Cami not now!"
She raised her hands up in mock surrender.
"Ok..ok.."
"What if the knives are just...you know... missing?"
"Yh... missing like hell!"
Cami rolled her eyes.
"Guys... knives I arranged the night before, doesn't just disappear into thin air! Where are we? Magnus Bane's house."
"The knife recovered from dad's room looks nothing like this."
I said referring to the shape of the empty spaces where the knives were supposed to be.
"That means that the real murder weapons are still out there!"
This was crazy!
"If the murderer was a customer? He spent a night here right?"
Carl asked,while Cami and I nodded.
"Cami...get the list of customers who lounged here at the cafe,from the day before the incident."
She nodded and ran back upstairs to the admin room.
"Rachael...let's look at the river."
Walking out of the cafe felt different.
I felt empty.
Just three days ago, everything was normal.
I woke up and walked out of this very place,not giving a fling about anything.
For all I cared,the world could catch fire.
But now, barely three days later, I'm walking out, watching my back, scared and nervous.
"el.. Rachael!"
I snapped out of my thoughts.
"Yh...what? When did we get here?"
He shook his head.
"You were lost in your thoughts.
"C'mon...let's go to the other side."
We crossed the small wooden bridge.
The breeze brushed smoothly across our faces,as if wanting to calm us down and tell us that stuff was gonna get better.
I really wished that I believed that.
The large crime scene tape was still wrapped around the river.
We crunched down to pass under it.
"Whoever dumped this body here was really strong though...that guy weighs a ton."
I remarked.
Carl nodded and squatted over some leaved by the river bank.
"Rachael...come look at this."
I tilted my head in confusion before bending over as well.
"What do you see?"
He asked.
I rolled my eyes.
"You guys need to stop doing this crap. If you've noticed something just get to it already and stop this Sherlock Holmes bull crap."
He furrowed his brows before letting out a sigh.
"Ok...if you look closely at this spot, you'll see a red spot."
I raised my eyes to meet his.
"You think it's..."
"Blood...yes!"
"Do you think they'll leave trails."
He nodded slowly.
"We have to follow it right?"
He raised a brow at me.
"Hell yes!"
I began to trace it but reached a dead end at a point not too far from the river.
Gosh...this is frustrating! Where's Cami by the way?
As if on cue, Cami came over with a sheet of paper in her hands.
"Ok guys..."
She said as she ripped the caution tape apart.
"What did you..."
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh c'mon Rachael...no one gives a darn about this. If they make a fuss later,we can just use a masking tape or something."
Carl shrugged as I stared at him for back up.
"Ok...so we had 24 people lounging in the café three nights ago."
Oh shoot!
"So many! This is looking like a needle in a actual stack of needles!"
"Well...as I was saying, the 24 consists of 4 families...we have; the Thompson's definitely out of the picture. That means less three people.
Then we have, Mr and Mrs Noel and their 5 kids,Mrs Walker and her 4 kids and her younger sister and then that guy...uh...Fedrick who came here with a bunch of 7 kids."
"Who amongst these people would have been able to kill Mr Thompson?"
I asked, leaving the question floating in the air.
We accounted for everyone.
During the night check, the guards always make sure that everyone was present in their rooms.
"If we can't pinpoint exactly who it was,maybe we can find out where he was killed.
It was obvious that he wasn't killed around here."
I loved how Cami always seemed to know what else to do or say.
"Do you think we can follow the blood trails?"
Carl asked, raking his fingers through his hair; something he always did when he was nervous and unsure.
I shook my head.
"They stopped over there."
I pointed to a spot not too far away.
I sat on the grass and began to play with a blade of grass.
We needed a plan.
Not just guessing and fooling around. We needed an actual plan.
"Got any ideas Rachael?"
I looked at him and I'm sure he saw the glint in my eyes.
"We need a plan!"
He nodded at me,while Cami smirked.
There was silence for awhile.
"I want to help."
I slightly feminine but masculine voice called.(You get the point.)
We snapped towards the direction of the voice to see a tall thin boy with blue eyes, staring at our direction.
"Zee?"