The Adventures of Paige Holmes

I never really liked summer break. No, let me rephrase that. I liked having a fixed

schedule, and I liked not having days where I just sat there. Being an only child didn’t help with

the boredom of a down day. So when even my parents were going to be gone for two entire days,

I knew I was gonna have to find something to do.

“Where are you guys going again?” I asked, following my mom from the linen closet to her bedroom.

“We’re just visiting Grandma, you told me you didn’t want to come so we didn’t buy you a plane ticket.” She responded without looking at me, focusing her attention on the clothes she was folding on her bed.

“Why are you taking a plane, isn’t she only a few states away?”

“We don’t feel like driving this time, and your dad loves planes.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone, despite my knowing that plane tickets aren’t just something my family buys on a whim.

“Well, when you’re gone, can I have friends over?” Mom hesitated, probably because she knows I have no friends.

“Sure.”

“Can I walk around town and stay out late?”

“Sure, honey.”

“Can you and Dad leave me a hundred dollars so I can sustain myself?”

“You don’t need a hundred dollars, Paige, the cabinet and fridge are fully stocked with

food for the two days your father and I will be away.”

“Touché.” I followed her down the stairs where my dad was sitting at the table.

“Yes, this is Bill Holmes I’m just calling to confirm my ticket for flight 709,” Dad said over the phone, looking at his tablet through his CVS brand reading glasses.

“Wait, you’re leaving now?” I asked frantically. I heard my dad say thank you before

hanging up the phone.

“We have to be there by tomorrow.” My mom hugged me goodbye and my Dad said,

“Come on, Josephine, we’ll be late!” Mom rushed out the door. “See ya later alligator,” he finished as he walked out of the house and closed the door behind him.

And just like that, my parents left me. What was I gonna do while they were gone? I was alone in my dark house as they got into their taxi and drove away. Was I just to sit here in this empty house and do—

“Sorry, I forgot to give you–” my dad started as he ran back into the house, “–the car

keys. Your mom and I are fine with you driving the car while we’re gone.” He started closing the door, but continued speaking, “I’m sorry, did I interrupt an internal monologue?” He smiled. I rolled my eyes as he closed the door.

And just like that, my dad left me. What was I gonna do while they were gone?

That first night had been major fun. I grabbed my speaker and blasted music as I made

brownies. I watched obscure movies on Netflix until I fell asleep at a reasonable time of 1am. Staying up late was not the reason I was groggy the next morning, though. That came from eating two entire batches of brownies by myself.

When your parents aren’t around telling you to do things, does it ever make you want to be productive? Because that’s how it is with me. In the first hour that I was awake, I cleaned my entire room and reorganized my closet. Now that I was sitting on my freshly made bed with absolutely no friends to call, I decided it was time to get some fresh air. I walked downstairs and reached for the keys, but decided against driving and headed to the door, grabbing my dad’s blue baseball cap on the way out. As I walked down the street, I took notice of how quiet it was. Probably because everyone was out on summer vacation, despite the fact that these first few weeks of summer have been both rainy and cold.

After only a few minutes of walking I came upon the small shopping center that

contained my mother’s favorite bakery–the only place she trusted to make her morning coffee correctly. Ducking into the door that, frankly, was too small for any average human person to walk through without hunching over, the first thing I noticed was the man in the corner. He wore full business attire, had an empty briefcase on the chair next to him, and a newspaper in his hand. He rubbed his face and kept his hands placed over his mouth in the frustrated way that many stressed older men do. I took a seat on a couch across the shop so my attentive staring wouldn’t be apparent. His phone began to buzz and he answered with a smile (a very fake smile might I add), taking the call outside as to not disrupt the others in the cafe.

“You’ve been watching that man for a long time,” said a voice to my left. I looked to my right and saw a boy in an oversized leather jacket. Why he was smiling so big was unbeknownst to me, but I replied anyway.

“Since you observed that, can I assume you’ve also been watching me for a long time?” I looked up at him, still sitting on the couch. He raised an eyebrow and reached an arm up to lean against the wall, but missed the wall and came crashing loudly onto the floor. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing at the befuddled look on his face. I watched him as he regained stability and stood back up, straightening his jacket. I rested my chin on my hand and raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to pick up the conversation. To my amusement, he went right back to his faux suave and sat next to me.

“Name’s John. And you are?”

“Holmes, Paige Holmes.” I waited expectantly for the question everyone asked after I introduced myself.

“You’re joking.”

“Why would I have any reason to lie to you, a complete stranger?”

“Well, you have no reason to tell me the truth.”

“Then I guess you’ll just have to trust me.”

“So, Holmes, do you live up to your name?”

“I wouldn’t say I solve mysteries in my spare time, no.”

“But can you read people?” He asked while I wondered where this could be going.

“I’d like to say I can.”

“Is that what you were doing with the man over there?” Asked John, curiously.

“I suppose so, but it was entirely unintentional.”

“What did you gather from what you saw of him?”

“He just got fired and he doesn’t know how to tell his wife,” I responded as I stood from the couch.

“Wait, where are you going?” He asked, jumping up and walking after me.

“I’m going home,” I responded in the same matter-of-fact way my mother always does.

“But we only just met and I want to hear how you knew about that man.” He walked

quickly behind me. When I didn’t stop he continued, “You didn’t even get anything while you were here.”

“I don’t come here for the coffee,” I said, standing in the entrance to the bakery, “I come here to people watch,” I knew he’d follow me out of the cafe, so I walked slowly just to give him the chance to catch up. He walked up behind me and matched my pace.

“Not that I really care, but how did you read that guy?” He asked in the most enthusiastic nonchalant way I’d ever heard.

“His briefcase was empty but he was in a full work suit, which he’d been wearing outside due to his pit stains AND his scuffed shoes. Who wears a suit just to work outside all day? Plus he was reading the job openings part of the newspaper.”

“How do you know his wife doesn’t know he got laid off?” He inquired.

“Who wears a suit and brings an empty briefcase with him just to look at job openings in the newspaper?” I retorted.

“Good point.” He looked down at the ground and promptly ran into a door that someone had only just opened. I laughed. “Sorry, sorry that was my fault,” he said to the woman who’d opened the door. I was still laughing when we passed the store. “What?” He demanded.

“It’s just that,” I chuckled, “your personality really does not match the way you look.” I hesitated to say this, but it didn’t matter much considering I would probably never see this boy again.

“And that means?” He asked as we exited the shopping center and entered the side walk of my neighborhood.

“Can I be blunt?” He nodded in response. “You are trying way too hard and you really

don’t need to,”

“So I guess you’re reading me now?” I shrug, “Okay, let me try and read you,” he said,

walking backwards so he could look at me. Probably not a good decision on his part, considering his passed two mishaps.

“Give it a shot,” I smiled, wondering what he’d gathered from me in the short time we’ve had together.

“You go to the local high school...your favorite color is blue...and you have a dog.” He

smiled proudly and returned to walking forward.

“Those are such generic predictions, and even then, you only got one of three. You’re seeing, but you’re not observing. My favorite color is green and I have a fish. But I’ll give you another shot.” We had approached my house and I sat on my lawn.

“Is this your house?” He asked.

“No,” I said. He sat next to me anyway, but I wasn’t sure whether he knew I was joking.

“I’m gonna try again.” He stared at me. “Okay, I’ve got it. You are really popular at your school, but not a mean head cheerleader kind of popular, you’re just the girl that everyone knows.” I stifled a laugh. “And you take all honors classes and get A’s on everything even though you’re always going to parties.” He smiled and sat back, waiting for me to tell him that his analysis was 100%–

“Wrong,” I said

“What!” He looked genuinely surprised.

“I don’t have any friends, why do you think I people watch in the local bakery?” I laid

back on the grass.

“You’re way too enthralling not to have friends,”

“Enthralling is a big word.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of a good vocabulary.”

“Even if I am enthralling I just don’t like making friends. I just watch people, they’re less annoying that way.” I got up and walked to the door of my house.

“I thought you said this wasn’t your house?” He called to me.

“And you believed me?” He followed me up to my porch as I opened the door. “It was

nice meeting you, John.”

“Can we talk again soon?” He asked.

“Sure,” I began to close the door, “but next time, lose the leather jacket. It doesn’t suit

you.”

The next morning I woke up to the phone ringing. I rolled out of bed and shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen, picking up the phone and answering with a gruntled,

“Hello?” My moms voice came on the other line.

“Hey, honey, your grandma tripped down the stairs last night and now she’s getting

surgery on her hip so we’ll be away for a few more days.”

“All right, I’ll see you then.”

“Is that all? You were so worried about us leaving the other day.” She almost seemed

offended.

“No, I mean, I miss you guys, but it isn’t as awful as I thought it’d be,” I responded

quickly. There was a knock at the door, “Hey, mom, you should get back to Gramma. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you too.” I set the phone down and went to the door. On my way I passed the hall mirror and realized I still had my glasses on, my hair was a wreck, and I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet. I put my hair up real quick and answered the door.

“Hey, you busy?” John asked.

“No but I’m not leaving my house until I tame this mess.” I gestured to myself.

“You don’t look like a mess,” he said.

“I just got out of bed two minutes ago.” I went back up the stairs to my room, leaving the front door open so he could come in. I brushed my teeth, put in contacts, and pulled on my sweats and an old camp shirt. When I arrived downstairs, John was sitting at the kitchen counter on his phone.

“Want some cereal?” I asked, looking in the cabinet.

“Yeah, what do you have?” He stood next to me and looked in the pantry. I pulled out

some Cheerios and two bowls. Sitting at the table, we ate our cereal in a comfortable silence. I was the one who broke it.

“So what are we doing today?” I ask.

“I don’t know, I’m just bored. I was thinking we could walk around town.” He put our bowls into the sink. I wondered if he was just as friendless as I was.

“Sounds fine to me.” I grabbed my hat and opened the door for John.

We didn’t really speak as we walked, but I was fine with it. Our town had small, little streets with stone pathways on either side, followed by short, colorful buildings of various antique shops and parlors. The neighborhoods surrounded where John and I stood, on the Main Street of Accident, Maryland. Our small town couldn’t muster a population far over 300 people. Nothing happened here except the occasional car crash of a tourist who doesn’t know how to maneuver the tiny streets. On this day, though, things were going to get interesting.

“Morning, Katie!” I said to the barista as I entered the coffee shop.

“Morning, Paige. The usual?” She asked.

“Actually, I think I’ll get something today.”

“Oh, switching it up, I like it. All sorts of crazy things happening today,” She looked up, waiting for me to ask what other crazy things have happened today.

“What other sorts of crazy things happened today?” John asked before I could. Katie

leaned forward.

“You know that guy Jonah who owned the barber shop down the street? He committed suicide last night!” She exclaimed, smiling.

“All right, Katie, try not to look so excited.”

“I’m sorry! It’s just that nothing exciting ever happens in this town! The police are still

down the street at the crime scene!” She looked out the window.

“If it was a suicide why would they still be hanging around?” I asked.

“Same reason I’m so excited about it. They’re drawing it out as long as they can, all the

police department here ever investigates is petty theft by, like, twelve year olds.” I took John’s hand and we left out the back door of the bakery.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“To the crime scene, duh,” I said, running behind the buildings until we came to the

barber shop. We inch along the side until we can see into the building. Three police officers are inside talking and I survey the scene. A bottle marked as evidence sat on a table alongside a note.

“You’re thinking of something. What are you thinking about?” John asked.

“It’s just...weird, that’s all. Men don’t usually poison themselves. They kill themselves

much more violently. At least, that’s the usual. But I guess this case could be different.” The officers started leaving the shop and we retreated back around the corner. After they passed us I returned to the door.

“Are you breaking in?” John asked. “Don’t do that, that’s stupid,”

“Don’t you wanna know if it’s really a suicide?” I ask.

“No, I actually don’t care!”

“Live on the edge sometime, would ya?”

“Can you even pick locks?” He asked.

“Can you see that they didn’t even lock it?” I opened the door and went inside.

“People in this town have too much trust,” he said, following me and closing the door

behind him. I walked to the note and observed it but didn’t touch it. “Paige, come on, let’s leave--”

“Some silence right now would be lovely, John,” he stopped talking, “Oh my gosh, did they even look at this note? It was written by someone who’s left handed. You can see the

smudges on the left side of the paper and the way it’s slanted...”

“You’re seeing things, Paige. Let’s just go.”

“No, John, Jonah was right handed. He cut my dad’s hair and he never used his left hand. I have to tell someone.”

“Then they’ll know you broke in,”

“They’ll also know that there’s a murderer in their town.” We waited outside the barber shop until the officers came back with food in hand.

“Hey, kids. How can we help you today?”

“Hi! I just wanted to tell you that your suicide case was a murder.” They laughed.

“Darling, this isn’t a joking matter. It’s a tragedy, and you shouldn’t go around making such accusations.” One of them reached for the doorknob. I stopped him.

“Sir, I’m not joking.”

“Young lady, I’m Chief Anderson of the police department and you better get your hand off that door knob.”

“When men commit suicide barely any choose to use poison. And even though that’s not definitive evidence, if you look at the note you can see that it was written by someone who was left handed, and Jonah was right handed.”

“Maybe he was ambidextrous,” the man said, trying to go inside again. I closed the door before he could get through.

“In one hour I can give you all the evidence you need to prove this is a murder.”

“Sure you can,” he said sarcastically.

“I need access to the autopsy report.”

“There was no autopsy, it was a suicide.”

“Then I want access to the crime scene.”

“We can’t have some little girl moving stuff around and messing up the scene.”

“If it’s a suicide then that doesn’t matter, does it? Besides, are you supposed to be eating Chinese food on a suicide scene?” I asked with a smile. He opened the door for me to go in.

“My IQ just went down by listening to him,” John said. I started by comparing his handwriting from his book keeping notebook to the handwriting on the note. The writing on the note was heavy and hesitant, whereas the notebook was light and familiar. It was obviously a forgery, but that apparently wasn’t enough for these officers. They sat patiently in the corner of the room, paying John and I no mind. I looked at the trashcan and saw takeout containers from down the street along with a balled up receipt. I took

the receipt and boxed the food, setting them on the table with the note and notebook. I also put his pocket calendar on the desk. I called the policemen over.

“Now, I’m sure this is something you all could’ve figured out on your own if you weren’t so stubborn, but I’ll break it down for you. First, we’ve got the obviously forged suicide note. You already know about that. I also told you that men rarely ever use poison when committing suicide. Next I present to you his meal from last night as well as a receipt. The receipt is for two entrees and two sides, so we can presume he ordered for two. This means someone else who hasn’t come forward was with him last night. Very suspicious. If you test some of the food you may find the poison. Lastly, if you look at his pocket calendar you can see that he had events and meetings planned for the rest of the week, the next few months even. People who are going to commit suicide just don’t do that. And you can also see that there was something written to happen yesterday, probably the name of the person he was meeting with, that was erased. Anyway, you’re suspect should be a woman. But I guess this could all be coincidence. I mean, however you want to take it I guess. Thanks for letting me help, Chief Anderson!” With that, John and I ran out before they could ask questions.

My parents returned from their trip two days later. I was sitting on the porch with John as they pulled up. Mom jumped out of the car.

“Hey, hon! How did you do without us?” My mom asked as my dad unloaded. She

hugged me as I responded.

“Pretty well I think. I made a friend. This is John.”

“Hi, John! I’m Josephine. Anything exciting happen while I was gone?” She asked. John and I looked at each other.

“No, not really.” I shrugged.