Chapter 1

When I turned 15, my mother sat me down and told me something that shocked me, “Your father did not die in an accident—he was murdered!”

I asked, “Who did it, mom?”

“The police were unable to find a suspect, so it’s what’s called a cold case now, Ray,” she said, “It’s not likely to be solved unless someone already imprisoned tells a cellmate.”

I practically screamed, “Why have you waited to tell me this?”

“I wanted you old enough to understand,” was her ... explanation.

“Well I DON’T,” I yelled, going to my room and slamming the door.

There was a knock and I said, “Go Away!”

“It’s Susan, your sister,” she said.

I wasn’t mad at her ... yet, so I said, “Come in.”

She did, and closed the door. I said, “I suppose you know already.”

“Yes, I do. But, I don’t know any more than you do. Mom set me down two years ago ... I was your age ... and told me probably the same thing she just told you.”

“I’m mad at mom,” I blurted.

“Ray, it’s not her fault that he’s dead!” Susan said.

“Yeah, but I knew what murder meant when I was eight! She could have told me then,” I said more sharply than my sister deserved.

“What good would that have done?” she said back to me.

Knowing she had me there, I answered, “I don’t know.”

“Since the police give up why don’t we try to solve it?” my sister said.

“We’re just kids, what can we do?” I questioned throwing myself forward on the bed next to where she was sitting.

She put her hand on my back and remarked, “I don’t know—want to watch a movie downstairs?”

That piqued my interest. “Sure, maybe a murder mystery and get some ideas from watching it!”

“That’s pretty smart of you little brother,” she said pulling me up by my shirt and turning me around.

Okay let’s stop right there for a minute, my sister is older, 17 to my 15, but I’m taller than her. Despite that, she still called me ‘Her little brother’.

She has brown hair, brown eyes and is kind of cute, if she were only a girl and not my sister. That didn’t come out right, but I don’t care.

I’ve got brown hair, blue eyes and kind of scrawny. I got a burst of height and I’m 5ft10 to her 5ft6.

The first movie we watched was called KISS KISS BANG BANG from 2005, strange and possibly helpful! I’ve never liked Robert Downey much and Val Kilmer always looks like he just woke up from being asleep.

We next watched the movie CLUE, having a blast with all the shenanigans going on. Probably not much help, but it got our minds off darker things. Any chance to see Madeline Khan is great. Lesley Anne Warren has always been kind of hot to me.

The last movie we watched was one neither of us had seen before, it was called SOYLENT GREEN. It was a fabulous bit of storytelling, keeping us wondering the whole time what was really going on?

It was so mysterious that a few times I found Susan snuggling in my arms. She was soft and felt nice.