Mystery at Poplar Cove, Chapter Two

Chapter two

When they got to the house, the four of them split up, the two boys went around one side and the two girls around the other. “Hey guys. Come here”, yelled the girls. The guys came running around the back of the house to where the girls were standing. Kate was pointing up at the window. It wasn’t just broken, all of the window’s glass was knocked out so that someone could crawl through it without cutting themselves. Kenny tried the back door and it was unlocked too. Very strange! Very strange indeed!
Kenny opened the back door and started into the house. Alex followed him, putting up his hand to signal the girls to come in behind them just in case. They had entered the kitchen, where the intruder had broken in through the window. “The glass is on the floor. That indicates that the intruder broke it on the outside. The glass fell inwards”. Said Kate as she walked around careful not to step on any of the glass. Alex was crouching down over the blood on the floor. There was a partial footprint made from someone having stepped in some blood. Where had he seen that shoe sole pattern before?? The grooves were shaped like the letter “S” up and down the bottom of that shoe sole. Hm…. Kenny went into the living room to search for more clues. He wished he had brought a flashlight. They always used a flashlight on TV when they did crime scene investigation. He took out his pad and made a note to himself to get flashlights for everyone.
Kate and Penny took off in the direction of the stairs. They wanted to see what other clues they could find upstairs. They were careful not to touch a thing. They watched CSI and knew the drill when investigating a crime scene. Their eyes combed the walls and other surfaces for signs of finger prints or blood splatter as they made their way up to the second level of the house.
Once up stairs, they walked down the hall to the left. They saw a bedroom. Glancing in, they saw that the bed was made, the room was tidy and undisturbed. They turned around and headed down the hall in the other direction, past a bathroom. Again, it was tidy, no signs of anything out of the ordinary, but wait!! Kate walked over to the bathtub and pulled back the shower curtain. “I thought so”, she said. Someone had showered and there were traces of hair in the drain. Hm……DNA, thought Kate. Lacking any forensic supplies or tools, she just stuck her fingers into the tub drain, took out the hair and wrapped it carefully in a tissue she’d had in her pocket.
At the other end of the hall was another door. This lead into what was apparently the Cragen’s bedroom. There were two twin beds, a night table between them with a lamp on the table. In the corner sat a dressing table and stool.
One of the beds was made, though had been sat on, while the other had been slept in. The girls walked over closer to take a look. Hm…..no signs of blood there. Penny leaned closer as she gazed at the pillow. On the pillow case were some strands of long red hair. Red hair!! Mr. and Mrs. Cragen both had short gray hair. Now this was very strange! Very strange indeed! Penny picked up the strands of hair. They were at least 12 inches long. She looked around for something to put them in. Kate rushed over to the dressing table in the corner where she found an envelope. “Perfect!” and she rushed over to Penny so they could put the hair strands inside of it. “There, safe and sound. Let’s go see what the boys have come up with”, said Kate, as they headed back towards the staircase.
Once they reached the stairs they saw the boys were just about to join them, but seeing the girls coming down, they waited for them at the bottom of the stairs. “ Wait until you see what we found”, said the girls, holding up the envelope with the hair strands and the tissue with the hair from the drain.
About the time the girls reached the foot of the stairs they all heard a loud BANG come from the basement. Kate let out a scream as the four of them bounded out the front door, down the stairs and off into the grove where they could hide. They dove into the bushes and crawled into a small clearing that was hidden on all sides. Their hearts were beating so fast they could hardly catch their breath. They sat huddled together, peeking through the bushes at the house, afraid to take their eyes off of it for a second. They heard what sounded like a door slamming, some footsteps and then quiet again. Someone had been in there while they were, and had gone out the back door. Kate and Penny both started to cry. The stress and fear welling up inside of them. Alex and Kenny put their arms around their sisters, and comforted them. “Don’t be scared. We aren’t going to let anything happen to our favorite sisters.” This made the girls giggles. “We’re your ONLY sisters”, laughed Kate. “And the best ones you’ll ever have,” added Penny grinning.
They watched the house for a while and nobody came out and there was no more strange noises so they all relaxed.
Kenny looked at his watch. “Listen everyone. Let’s scatter for now and meet later at the hideout. First, synchronize our watches. It’s 12:00 noon” The others nodded in agreement. “We have to go back home for lunch. Let’s meet at the hideout in an hour. Agreed?” Again, everyone nodded in agreement. “Okay then, SCATTER!!” whispered Kenny as loudly as he could, and off they all ran in different directions, circling back to their own cabins.