The murder of Katelynn Hendrickson

Chapter Fourteen

(Friday)

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Tomorrow was going to be the memorial for Vasco and everyone was getting ready for the event. Stewart and everybody else were still working on the case as they were preparing for tomorrow. Alan still couldn't seem to accept the news of his friend. Mrs. Jameston was far from ending her mourning over her husband.

Stewart, Detective Stiles, Rickie and the other decided that keeping their distance from Alan was their best option to avoid any confrontation.

For the rest of that day, everyone mainly kept to themselves and continued in through their day with nothing interesting happening. The day felt too mundane-as if something was supposed to happen instead, but of course nothing did happen.

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That same morning, Lesley answered the phone that rang pretty early. She wondered who might be calling at this early hour if the morning but picked it up.

"Hello, Lesley speaking from the Kelling residence." She greeted the person from the other line.

"This is Jake Leighton calling from the police department."The voice from the other line replied. The silence on the other side allowed him to continue. "I am calling to inform you that one of the officers investigating the Hendrickson case was shot the other day and unfortunately died. I believe you might know him. Does the name Jameston sound familiar to you?"

"Yes," Lesley simply replied. She felt a hole form in her heart. "How did this happen?" She wasn't crying but she wasn't smiling, either.

"Mr. Jameston had just came back from informing you about the case and we believe the murderer tied to your daughter's murderer shot him from afar. I believe he did it to threaten us from bringing your family and daughter to justice. We will not stop looking for the person responsible for this."

They conversed a few words to each other and Lesley hung up with Mr. Leighton. She ran back upstairs to inform her spouse of the phone call.

The children played in the garden for the first time since the day of the murder. It wasn't the same garden like the Hendrickson's but still, it was a garden. It was the garden of the Kellings'. They had gardners who kept the area beautiful and watered it daily. Tending to the bushes with hedge clippers was about two times a week as the bushes grew rapidly in a short amount of time, watering the flowers, plants and vegetables, sweeping the patio, cutting the grass and keeping the water fountain running at certain times to preserve water.

None of the children spoke about the ongoing investigation as they didn't know much about it and feared the adults would be mad at them if they ever asked about it. So, they never did, but they had a good clue to what was going on and what had happened. Their cousin was murdered and the murderer was on the loose. That was all they knew. They didn't know she was stabbed, they didn't have a clue who it could be or know any suspects tied to the murder. They didn't know why Bryant wasn't living in the Kelling house with them. They were hoping this nightmare of living under someone else's roof would end soon. They wanted to be back at their own home and leave this time they were in behind them.

There was not much for them to do but play outside or read a book. Sitting around with the adults was another option, but fairly boring as the adults themselves would ingage into adult topics like the news, about their friends or neighbors. Nothing important or anything that would seem to be of interest to the child brain.

"Oh please," Rose said laughing as she took a sip from her glass. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

"No, I'm not." Henry replied. Everyone laughed along.

"If I had a reason to go back in the past to change it would to be save me from that embarrassment back when I was 17." Jude started.

"And what what exactly happened?" Trulia asked putting her plate down.