The Costa Rica killing

The Death

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I'm shocked awake by my alarm clock. That one is way too loud. Can't have my neighbors waking up at 4:30 am. They'd be furious. I groan. I am still half-asleep. Another day, another headache.
Hi. I'm Michael and I live in Middletown, New York. I start my daily schedule the way I always do.. making a cup of tea. I'm the type of person that likes to sit down with their tea/coffee and read their book while trying to wake up. My phone rings. Who calls someone at half-past 4:00 in the morning? "Guuuuhhhhhhh." I groan. I do not want to pick up my phone. I look at the phone. It's my mom. Knowing her she does not like being ignored on the phone. I'll have to put on my best 'awake' voice.
I pick up the phone. "Hello my little sunshine! How did you sleep?" She has called me that since I was 12. I chuckle. "Mom, I'm 34 now. You don't have to call me that anymore." She responds. "No matter how old you get, You'll still be my sunshine." She continues "Now I have to tell you something very important. Do you remember your father?" I remember. He went off to vacation for a few weeks in Costa Rica. "Oh, yeah I remember him. I miss him." My mom speaks again. " I do too, dear. He's coming back today and he'll be at my house at about 3:00 pm. I wanna throw a surprise party that welcomes him home. And I need your help to do it. Meet me at my house at 1:00 pm. No earlier, no later." I try to tell her do I really have to go? But she hangs up the phone before I talk.
I finish my tea and the chapter in my book. Then I think about the party ."My mom is that type of person." I say to myself now that I've fully woken up. I take a shower, throw on some clothes, and scuff down a pop-tart. Should've gone with a fruit salad. I think to myself. No matter. I go down to my ford and start driving to my mom's house. I hear a robotic-like voice. "Turn right and start to 25. Dasher road." It was usually 1 hour to get there. 1 hour and 30 minutes with some traffic.
I'm driving down the road when a family of deer scares me out of my pants! I nearly have a heart attack when I stomp on the breaks. "Oh come on ya dumb deer, move!" I'm still really scared after the deer incident. I try to calm myself down by some calming ocean sounds.

I'm pulling up on my mother's driveway and I see her on the porch most likely waiting to greet me. I get out of my navy blue ford and walk to my mother. I greet her. "Hi mother! Are you ready to get this party started?" I sound enthusiastic but by the expression of her face I can tell something is not going so well...
She goes to speak. "Sadly there won't be a party." she chokes a bit as she speaks. I responded "why, what happened?" "Your father has died." I don't respond. All I'm trying to do is calm the billions and billions of thoughts that are swirling around in my head. "When did this happen?" I speak again. "How did he die?" She goes to talk. "I just got the word too. He died yesterday and they say he had a heart attack." I feel.. nothing. And suddenly all the thoughts in my head stopped. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I try to take it all in. But it's hard. He was a good man. I tell my mom. "Let's go inside. We will talk about it more there.

"He was coming on an airplane when he just.. Collapsed on the stairs leading to the plane." It just doesn't add up to me. Dad was a perfectly healthy man. He was only 57. People do have heart attacks at that age. I thought. But still, it didn't make sense to me. Heart attack? Happens to a perfectly healthy man? Something fishy was definitely going on here. I'll focus on that for later. For now, I've got to try to calm mom down. "Well why don't we sit down with a slice of cake and look for something to watch on the TV, huh?" I could tell she was still sad; and I was too. But I had to get her spirit up. Anyway possible. We go to the couch and take a seat. Conveniently, Daniel, my best friend was sitting right there. I put on my mom's favorite movie, The Autobiography of George Washington. I hear a familiar voice. "Michael, my main man! What's going on man?" It's Daniel! I feel nice that he's here and still in the upbeat mode that I love about him. I speak to him. "Daniel man, you're aware of my father's death, right?" He pauses for a second. "Yeah, I'm sorry for your loss." I know he was sorry. I could tell by the tone of his voice. "Yeah, It's okay. Anyways I need to have a talk with you. Alone..."

"So what's this about, Micheal?" He says, now sounding a little concerned. "It's about my father's death." I continue. "It just doesn't add up. Heart attack? Age 57? Keep in mind my dad was a perfectly healthy man." I know he wasn't going to be easy to convince, but I knew eventually he would be down for it. "Now I know you're not gonna believe me straight away, but hear me ou-" He cuts me off.

"I'm in." He continues. "Whatever crazy thing your about to do, I'm down for it." That was way easier than I expected. "Really? You don't think I'm crazy, or anything?" I say, happy it was that easy to win him over. He speaks again. "Look man, I've known you long enough to know that you are not the crazy lying type. And I totally think there's something wrong with that too. Like you said, it doesn't add up. At all." I go to speak again. "Oh thank goodness, I didn't think you would be that easy to get on board with this whole thing." I'm super relieved. But I have to tell him something. "Oh, and you can't tell anyone about this, okay? ANYONE." I try to make myself clear. I hope it worked.

"Yeah Micheal. Totally, my mouth is shut to anyone other than us." Good. Now that we talked we can finally go back to the not-so-party-anymore party. I see cousins, aunties, grandparents. And they all look sad. I sigh. I hate it when they look sad. I have to do something about it. Hmmmmmmm. I think , what should I do to cheer these sad faces? Then, it hits me. A huge family game night. DING DING DING. I get everyone's attention. "Hello, everybody! I know this has been a sad occasion for faces all around this room. But please consider this, we are playing a game of 'crazy eights' right now! Now then, let's cheer up some sad faces, huh?" Then I hear cheering all around me.

After the game, I pulled over Daniel to the side again. "Okay, Daniel. " I say, where did the supposed crime scene happen?" He responds. "Well, Costa Rica right? That's where his vacation happened, am I wrong?" I respond. "No, you are most definitely right. Costa Rica is where it all went down." I continue. "Pack your bags." He questions me "wait, why? "We're taking a trip to Costa Rica."