Short Story: the One She Loved the Most

     Detective Micheals came home from the precinct that evening feeling more tired than he had ever been. There was a case at work that he’d been trying to solve for more than two weeks. He didn’t like to bring work home. It made his wife, Jenny, squeamish. But tonight he couldn’t help it. He needed to unload. He began telling the details of the case to his wife as they ate their dinner.

     “This is what we’ve gathered through interviewing each of the teenagers’ parents and friends. Cliff Workshaw and Catherine Lipton drove home from school together on January 29th, 2009. Catherine’s mother overheard their conversation from where she was in the kitchen.

     “‘So I’ll see you at eight?’ Cliff asked his girlfriend

     “‘I... I don’t know,’ she stammered. ‘I don’t think your parents are going to like me.’

     “Catherine and Cliff were from vastly different worlds. His was perfect, it’s only trials being what to spend his parents’ money on. Her world was the polar opposite. It was filled with death, sorrow, and poverty. It still had its simple joys, however, such as music and art.

     “Catherine just knew that Cliff’s family would not approve of her. She’d seen Cliff’s past girlfriends. They all had perfectly blonde straightened hair, designer purses, gigantic trust funds, country club memberships, and tons of plastic surgery on a certain area of their anatomy--none of which Catherine had. Catherine was pale with numerous orange freckles, unruly black hair, close to no money, and a flat chest. And to top it all off, she was the eccentric daughter of funeral home owners.

     “Catherine could tell that Cliff knew exactly what she was thinking as his hazel eyes stared into her chocolate ones. His look made her reproachful. How could she refuse to do something that would make Cliff happy? He was the only person other than her parents that had ever cared about her.

     “Cliff kissed her forehead and smiled. ‘So you’re coming, right? Keep in mind that if you say no, I’ll just have to kidnap you all day.’ He wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

     “‘I’ll be there,’ Catherine grumbled.

    “The two young ones walked to the front door walking hand in hand. After Cliff left, Catherine stood there thinking of how much she loved him.

     “Later that evening, Catherine hopped into her car intent on meeting Cliff’s parents, but she never got there. Cliff’s friend Ponelope said that he was so mad, he started crying. She kissed him on the cheek, trying to cheer him up, but then the bullet came through the window and killed the poor youngster.

     “It’s a tragedy, really. Nothing like this has ever happened in W. Uthering, sweetheart. I always thought that we’d remain a crime free town. I know I’m a policeman, but all this recent crime is making my job a lot harder.”

     The detective’s wife pondered the details while setting a freshly baked apple pie on the table. “Wait a minute, whatever happened to Catherine?” Jenny inquired of her husband.

     Detective Micheals sighed. “I guess you could say that it’s a bit of a mystery. Just after Catherine left the house, her parents left on a one week vacation. When they returned, she wasn’t home, but her totaled car sat parked in the driveway. She hasn’t come home yet. No one knows where she is.”

     “Darling, you can bet your last penny that if that girl knows her boyfriend is dead, she would’ve gone to see him. And if my suspicion is right, she is the one who killed him.”

     “Jenny that is absurd! Everyone I spoke to told me that they were so in love. She couldn’t have done it. She had no motive!”

     “Ahhh, but she had opportunity, dear.”

     “What opportunity? She never showed up.”

     Jenny’s eyes opened wider. “Exactly! But you can’t assume that she went missing before her boyfriend got shot. My guess is that she saw the boyfriend and What’s Her Face kiss. She lost it. She shot at the other girl, but since the two bodies were so close, Catherine shot the boy instead.

     “In an attempt to cover it up, she drove her car into a tree, and then ran away.”

     Once again the detective exhaled loudly. “She’s a seventeen year old girl. We’ve been asking around and searching the area. Something should have came up.”

     “Like I said before, she’ll want to go see her boyfriend.” Jenny said, then left the topic alone so she could finish eating. “This pie is the best I’ve ever made.”

     Detective Micheals wasn’t completely convinced, but he put a surveillance team near the graveyard to see if Catherine would show up. She did, just as Jenny had expected. When the detective approached her, she broke down and offered up a confession. Again, Jenny was right. Catherine said she’d seen the other girl kiss Cliff, and in a fit of rage, she’d shot at her. She missed, however, and now the one she loved the most was dead.