“Ginger? Ginger?” Tom’s voice broke through my dreamlike state. I had just been reviewing the facts of what I had deemed my best case yet. Tom and I were in my tree house. My dad had converted it from a jungle gym to a gorgeous tree house that contained The D and L detective agency. D and L were the middle initials of Tom and I. There were two rooms. One was where Tom was now. It was the waiting room. The waiting room was pretty much just white. There were white walls and white floors. The furniture was blue and so were the tables. Each table was cluttered with ads for the police office and a local catering business. The room I was in now was a different story. I had painted the walls fuchsia and lime. The table and chairs were hot pink. The floor was a nice light wood floor. Instead of ads cluttering up my desk, my desk was full of files. After all, I was not the neatest person around.

“Ginger, you need to write up that report for the police,” Tom reminded me. He was my best friend. He had misty blue eyes and dark brown hair through which he occasionally ran some gel.

“Alright,” I sighed. Tom left the room. I got up and looked in the mirror. I saw a thirteen-year-old with frizzy red hair and gray eyes. Plain old me. I sat down and began to write.

It all started with a phone call from Sally Blockett, a friend of my mom. She was crying and I could barely make out what she was saying. I told her that I would be right there.

When I got there, the house loomed in front of me. It was brown with blue shutters. Ordinarily, I came over to hang out with Maddie Blockett, a thirteen year old as well. Something about it today made it seem menacing. Perhaps it was the five police cars out front, or the chalked body outline lying in the foyer. Sally was out on the lawn with Chief Scott. She was crying like a waterfall. She hugged me and stuttered out, “It’s….Ji…Ji…Jim.” With relief at getting what she had to say, she then proceeded to slump forward and cling to my shoulder. Jim was her 23-year-old son who was a local mechanic. His ambition was to become a doctor and that would require a lot of money to go to the school of his dreams.

Chief Scott stepped forward and handed me a file on Jim. I suggested that the chief should get some tea for Mrs. Blockett. Chief Scott agreed and he left with her. That left me by myself. I sat down and flipped through the file. There were many papers, but the two I were looking for were way in the back. I pulled my treasures from the manila folder and pored over them. The forensic paper and the suspect list.

Forensics determined that the stab wound in the back was the cause of death, but they could not find the murder weapon. The body was four hours dead when it was found by Sally Blockett at 6:30AM. The suspect list included: Sally Blockett, Dan Blockett, Maddie Blockett, Mrs. Catch, and Suzy.

Sally Blockett was a fantastic attorney. She handled many family cases and usually won. Sally got up at six every morning to get dressed. Besides her fabulous fashion sense, she was great at picking out beautiful pins which became her law firm logo.
Sally was strict about drinking and parties and took hourly bike rides every night.

Dan Blockett, Jim’s dad, was a professional chef. He catered weddings, buffets, graduations and everything in between. His creations were top of the line. I remember in fourth grade when my teacher held a debate about new doughnut flavors. I practiced so hard with Maddie that it inspired Dan to create a lime flavored doughnut and name it after me. He sold it to a company to mass market the doughnut. This then became the logo for his company. Dan was obsessed with grades and often drove around at night.

Maddie was very excited because she was preparing for high school. She was going to attend a private school until Jim was permitted to attend the pricey college and took nightly walks.

Mrs. Catch was a retired history teacher who enjoyed cooking, reading, and gardening. Jim often ran over her flowers on his bike. Suzy was just an angry customer.

What a case! Tom cam sprinting off of his bike. He clutched a paper bag full with doughnuts. “Sorry I’m late,” he panted.

“ That’s alright, hey, you brought doughnuts!” I said snatching a lime doughnut from the bag. I read the transcript from Suzy’s questioning. It revealed nothing.

“Darn it, my oatmeal is cold!” Tom shouted. “I am going to go heat this up.”

I gave him a thumbs up. A few minutes later, I went to the kitchen too. I hadn’t eaten anything but the doughnut that day.

“Hey! You know what’s funny,” Tom giggled.

“What?” I said.

“This kitchen knife set only has four knifes, but most have five.”

That’s when it hit me. I walked over to the knife set and saw a symbol stamped on the wood that I would never forget. I put my hand to my mouth.

I rushed to the file in it contained a testimony from the neighbors on what they saw last night. In it Dan was transporting materials from his truck to the house, Sally was riding her bike, and Maddie was taking a walk. Perfect evidence!

I finished writing and put the pencil down. I started to climb down the rope to the ground. It was time the police read the truth.

Who Killed Jim Blockett?




Dan Blockett did! Dan was frustrated with Jim’s poor grades in such an expensive college. Dan went out for a nightly drive in his catering van. When he got back he saw Jim coming in the door and his temper got the better of him. He rushed towards Jim with a knife from the van. Dan switched the knife cases in the house and the van in case the neighbors saw something. When I looked at the knife case, I saw his stamp on the case. When the police searched his van, they found the missing knife coated in Jim’s blood.
Case Closed