Doramis
Doramis sat in her car at the parking lot of her school. She was deep in thought as students walked around her and towards the school. She couldn't get her mind off the death of Ivy. She didn't know Ivy well but she was always nice to her. She always thought Ivy was very cool and pretty. She couldn't believe she'll never see her again.
There was a knock on her window causing Doramis to jump. She found Ken waving at her. She lowered the window. "You scared me."
"Why are you just sitting here?" asked Ken. "Shouldn't you be going to class?"
Doramis realized Ken must not know about Ivy yet but it was only a matter of time. "Just have a lot on my mind."
Ken pointed at the passenger's seat. "Can I join you?"
She gave him a nod as she unlocked the doors. Ken walked around the car and got inside the passenger's side. Doramis raised her window. She contemplated telling Ken what happened.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Don't I look alright?" said Doramis with a smile.
"You look sad."
Doramis removed the false smile from her face. "How is it you can always tell how I feel?"
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact we've known each other for as long as we can remember."
"Something bad happened yesterday," she said, looking away from him.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. Nothing happened to me. At least nothing physical."
"What mentally happened to you?" asked Ken.
"Did I say something mentally happened to me?" she asked as she gave him an annoyed look.
"Kinda. Nothing happened to me. At least nothing physical," he said in his best impression of her. "It implies something mentally happened."
"I don't sound like that."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure I should say. I don't think I have a right to say, but you'll eventually find out soon. Everyone will."
"That sounds very ominous."
Someone opened the door to the back seat and got inside the car. Doramis and Ken were startled until they saw who it was.
"Damn it, Junior," said Doramis. "You scared me."
"Don't call me Junior, I'll accept Robbie, and I'm assuming you're here because of what happened to Ivy."
"What happened to Ivy?" asked Ken.
Robbie looked at Doramis. "You haven't told him yet?"
"Your father told you?"
"Not really. I looked through his papers and saw. I knew there was something wrong because of the way he was acting."
"What happened to Ivy?" repeated Ken as he looked between Doramis and Robbie.
"She was murdered yesterday," said Robbie.
"Junior!" exclaimed Doramis. "You shouldn't have told him."
"Ivy was murdered?" said Ken, his voice cracking.
"He was going to find out sooner than later," said Robbie. "Everyone will."
"But it shouldn't have been us," said Doramis.
"Do they know who killed her?" asked Ken.
"My mom thinks it was an animal."
"I'm not too sure," said Robbie.
"What are you talking about? My mom said the only thing that could have done that to her was an animal."
"Yes, but what if someone sicced that animal on her?"
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know," said Robbie. "I'm not an animal wrangler, but her new roommate might be."
"I didn't know she had a roommate."
"She's at her place right now. We should go there and interrogate her ourselves before the police get there."
"Wait," said Doramis. "Let me see if I understand what you're saying. You think the roommate is an animal wrangler and killed Ivy and you want us, teenagers, to interrogate her?"
"Okay," said Robbie. "Maybe that isn't the best idea, but we definitely should go check her out."
"We should go to class is what we should do." Just as she said those words, the school bell rang, signifying class had officially begun.
"Ha, we're late so we might as well go check out the suspect."
Doramis noticed Ken hadn't said anything for a while. She touched his arm to get his attention. "Hey, are you alright?" She noticed his eyes were glossy.
"Not really," he answered. "We should do what Robbie said."
"Excuse me?"
"Let's go check on the suspect."
"No," said Doramis. "We don't even really know this person is a suspect."
"He is," said Robbie. "I know for certain. I saw it in my dad's paperwork circled, suspect / new roommate. Let's go check it out."
"No, we're not detectives."
"We're children of detectives, well I'm the son of a police officer but it's the same thing, so detective work runs in our blood."
"It doesn't work like that," said Doramis, annoyance in her voice.
"We should go check this person out," said Ken, snapping out of his grief.
"You too?"
"I agree with Robbie, we should see who this new roommate is."
"And do what?"
"I don't know, but I would like to see her, especially if she was the one who killed Ivy."
"I'm sorry about Ivy, but I doubt this new roommate of hers is an animal wrangler who killed her."
"I still would like to meet her," said Ken.
"What we should do is go to class," said Doramis.
"We're already late for class," said Robbie. "Might as well make good use of it."
"You should definitely go to class since you're a freshman."
"Psst," scoffed Robbie. "Like they're going to teach me anything I'm not going to learn on my own."
"Please Dori," pleaded Ken. "Can we please just go?
Doramis stared at Ken then turned the car on. "Fine, but don't expect much."
"Let's go," celebrated Robbie in the back as he put on his seat belt. "Let's solve this murder."
"And you," Doramis said to Robbie. "Don't tell your father about this. I don't want the police telling my mom I'm a bad influence and causing their not so perfect son to skip."
"Oh please. I'm the definition of perfection."
"Sure you are," said Doramis as she rolled her eyes. "Just don't mention our names if you get caught."
"If someone is going to get caught, it's probably going to be one of you two."
"Let's hope no one gets caught," said Ken as Doramis drove.
****
Doramis pulled up in front of Ivy's Tavern and the teenagers looked up at the building. Sadness hit the three of them at once as they remembered the cute barkeep who owned the place. Doramis parked her car.
"What are you doing?" asked Robbie.
"What does it look like I'm doing," said Doramis as she turned her car off. "We're here to meet the roommate aren't we, or have you changed your mind?"
"This is my plan. I'm not backing out now, but you can't park your car here. Someone will recognize it right away."
"Then where should I park?"
"I don't know. Around the block or something. Just not in front of the murder scene."
"Ivy was murdered here?" asked Ken.
"No she wasn't," said Doramis. She then turned her attention to Robbie. "What the hell is wrong with you? Stop saying crazy shit like that."
"Regardless, this is a place of interest and we shouldn't be parked right in front of it."
"Fine," said Doramis as she turned her car back on. "I'll move the car around the block." She drove around the block and left the car on a side street with the woods on the left side. She looked back at Robbie. "You think this will do."
"Perfect," said Robbie as he got out of the car.
Doramis rolled her eyes as she turned her car off. She looked at Ken who played with his hands. "Are you okay?"
Ken stopped playing with his hands and looked at Doramis. "Not really."
"You were close to Ivy?"
"Not really, but I did like her."
Doramis hesitated to ask. "You had a crush on her?"
"No," said Ken a little too quickly. "Nothing like that. She was just a nice person. She didn't deserve to be killed."
"Yeah," said Doramis. "She was a nice person. Pretty too."
"Yeah," said Ken. "She was pretty."
Robbie knocked on Ken's window. "What are you two waiting for? Let's get to interrogating."
"This kid," said Doramis as she rolled her eyes again. She smiled at Ken. "You ready?"
"Yeah," said Ken. "Let's go."
Doramis and Ken got out of the car where Robbie waited for them with his hands on his hip. "About time," said Robbie. "What took you so long?"
"Calm down, pipsqueak," said Doramis. "Do you even know what we're going to do exactly?"
"Interrogate the suspect."
"And you've done that before?"
"I've seen my father do it plenty of times. I can copy him."
"Sure you can," said Doramis as she stared at little Robbie who was a couple of inches shorter than her.
"Let's just go," said Ken as he took the lead. "We're wasting time."
The teenagers stood outside of Ivy's Tavern as they stared at it.
Robbie looked at his companions. "What are you two waiting for?" he asked. "Let's go inside." He went to the entrance door.
"Like that's going to be open," said Doramis as Robbie opened the door and he gave her a smirk. "Was it really unlocked?"
Robbie walked inside and they followed. They were all caught by surprise when they found a woman who they didn't recognize, sitting behind the bar. She stared right back at them.
"We're closed," said the woman as she looked down. The kids couldn't tell what she was doing but it looked like she was writing something.
While Doramis and Ken were hesitant, Robbie didn't have that problem. "Who are you?" asked Robbie to his friends' surprise.
The woman looked up at them again. "Aren't you a little too young to be in a place like this? What are you doing here?"
"No," said Robbie. "I'm the one asking the questions here."
"Is that so?" said the woman as she stood up and the teenagers took a step back. She went around the bar and took a seat facing them. "What do you want to know?"
The three teenagers observed her carefully. She had a laid back attitude as she leaned more than sat on her chair. She wore a black t-shirt with a picture of 1989's Catwoman on it and jean shorts. Ken recognized the shirt.
"Who are you?" repeated Robbie.
"My name is Jordana," she said to their surprise. "Who are you three?"
"Nope. We're the only ones asking the questions? What are you doing here?"
"Nah," said Jordana. "We're not going to do this like that. I answer one of your questions and then you answer one of mine."
"No. We ask the questions," said Robbie, a little hesitation in his voice.
"You can ask all the questions you want. I'm not going to answer any of them until you answer mine."
"But..."
"My name is Dori. This is Kenny and Robbie."
"Dori!" exclaimed Robbie. "Don't give her our names."
"You want answers, right. Then we're going to have to give our own. I suggest we pick our questions carefully."
"Nice to meet you, Dori, Kenny and Robbie," said Jordana. "Now what was your question again?"
"What are you doing here?" asked Doramis. Robbie stared at Doramis, surprised that she had taken control of the situation, but then he turned his attention to Jordana.
Jordana just smiled at the teenagers. "I'm talking to three teenagers is what I'm doing here."
"That's not what I meant. What I meant was what are you doing at Ivy's Tavern? This place should be closed. You must know what happened."
Jordana's demeanor changed completely as her shoulders went a little slump and her smile turned sad. She crossed her arms around her chest. "Yes, I heard what happened to Ivy. I'm a little surprised that you three have heard as well, but I've been told multiple times this is a small town."
"Yes," said Robbie. "And people know where we are so don't get any ideas of trying to hurt us." Doramis and Ken gave Robbie a look of what the hell.
"And why do you think I'll hurt you?"
"No," shot back Robbie. "You still haven't answered our original question."
"But I did answer a question. It's your fault you didn't specify what you meant." Doramis and Robbie gave her a come on man look and Jordana laughed. "Fine, I'll answer your original question but make sure to specify for the next ones. The reason I'm here is because Ivy offered me a room and I have no other place to stay."
"So you were Ivy's friend?" asked Ken.
"Uh-huh," said Jordana, waving her pointer finger. "It's my turn to ask a question. Why do you think I would hurt you?"
"Because you were the last one seen with Ivy," said Robbie a little too quickly that Doramis punched him in the arm. "Ouch," he said as he rubbed his arm. "Why did you do that?"
"You shouldn't be telling her that?" said Doramis.
Jordana's demeanor had changed again as she held herself tightly. "So that's what the town is saying. No wonder I haven't seen anyone else around other than that cop."
"What cop?" asked Robbie.
"No," said Ken a little too loudly. "That is not our next question."
Jordana smiled at Ken. "Good for you, kid. Take charge. You are a part of this interrogation."
"Who said this was an interrogation?" asked Doramis.
"Stop," said Ken. "It's my turn to ask a question."
Doramis brought her hands up to her mouth then mouthed sorry to Ken.
Jordana gave Ken a nod. "Go ahead, ask your question."
"Were you Ivy's friend?"
"I considered her a friend but we did meet that same day."
"You can't become friends with someone that quickly," said Robbie.
"Not true," said Jordana. "There are some people in this world you are meant to click with instantly. I feel me and Ivy were like that, but I suspect Ivy made quick friends with everyone. She seemed like that type of person."
"Yeah," whispered Ken. "I think she was."
Jordana noticed how hurt Ken was. "What were you to Ivy?"
"Nothing really," answered Ken. "Just neighbors, I guess."
"Still, I'm sorry for your loss. I can tell she meant a lot to you."
"My turn to ask a question," said Robbie as he took a step forward, gaining confidence. "Did you kill Ivy?"
"What the hell, Robbie!" exclaimed Doramis as she punched him in the arm again.
Robbie took a step away from Doramis as he rubbed his arm. "Stop doing that. It hurts."
"You can't be asking her that."
"What does it matter? She's going to deny it anyways."
"Because I didn't kill her," said Jordana. "Is that what people are saying, that I killed her?"
"We don't know that," answered Doramis. "We're just teenagers."
"I doubt you're just teenagers. Now what is your question, little miss detective?" asked Jordana, her full attention on Doramis.
Doramis thought real carefully about her next question. "If you didn't know Ivy before that night, what brought you to her establishment in the first place? No one visits this town. It's strange that you would be here in the first place."
"That's a waste of a question," said Jordana as she uncrossed her arms and reached behind the bar to grab a bottle of rum. "I'm sure most of the town already knows why I'm here and you'll eventually hear from one of them the answer to your question."
"Really, I-"
"Nope," said Jordana, cutting her off as she made herself a rum and coke. "You asked and I shall answer. The reason I'm in your little town is because my truck broke down outside of it. Your town mechanic is fixing it now and I met Ivy a little after that. Long story short, me and Ivy hit it off and she offered for me to stay at her place while my truck gets fixed."
"I could have told you that," Robbie whispered to Doramis.
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" she whispered back. Robbie only gave her a shrug.
"I guess it's my turn to ask a question," said Jordana, then took a sip of her rum and coke. "Whose children are you?" The teenagers were all caught off guard and none of them wanted to answer her. She gave them a couple of more seconds to answer but they stayed silent. "Seriously, not going to answer my question now? That isn't fair."
"Why do you want to know that for?" asked Doramis.
"That's a question. You have to answer mine before you ask me another."
"We're not going to answer that question," said Robbie.
"That's not fair."
"I don't care. I'm not going to tell you who my father is so you can tell on me."
"So they don't know you're here," said Jordana with a slight laugh.
Robbie brought his hand up and over his mouth while Doramis glared at him. "Sorry, I think we're done here. You have a good day," said Robbie as he started to head for the exit.
"My mothers are Paloma and Anita," answered Ken. "Dori is the daughter of Lucy and Robbie is the son of Roberto."
"No!" yelled Robbie. "Don't tell her that."
"It doesn't matter," said Ken. "She would eventually find out if she sticks around. Here is my question. Why are you wearing Ivy's shirt?"
That question did catch Jordana off guard and Doramis noticed. Jordana looked down at her shirt, seeing the Catwoman on it. She didn't answer and Doramis got impatient.
"It's bad taste to steal from the dead," said Doramis.
"I didn't steal this," said Jordana. "I borrowed it."
"I don't think you can borrow from the dead."
"Yeah," said Robbie. "It's called stealing."
The entrance door opened and Robbie's face turned into horror when he saw who it was. "What the hell are you three doing here?" yelled Deputy Tirado as he glared at Robbie. "Why aren't you in school?"
The teenagers were frozen in place as Deputy Tirado waited for them to answer. "You have two more seconds to answer my question or I will arrest you for trespassing."
"I'm... I'm..." said Robbie as he tried to come up with something.
"They were interviewing me, officer," said Jordana. "Sorry, I don't know your name."
"Deputy Tirado and I was talking to them."
"Don't be angry with them," said Jordana. "They saw me enter this establishment as they were going to school and thought I wasn't supposed to be here. They were just being good neighbors and making sure I wasn't breaking in."
Deputy Tirado wasn't fooled but he wasn't going to make a scene. "Go to school right now," he told the teenagers as he kept his sights on Jordana.
"Yes sir," said Robbie as he and his friends rushed out.