The Ice Cream Man

Chapter 2 - Turbulance

"Kenton," Jamie said to me.

I reclined on his couch before we settled down to watch a movie that night. I turned my head towards him.

"Yeah?"

"Does that California girl seem a bit...odd to you?"

"Tiara?" I asked. He nodded. "Nah dude, she's hot! Why? Do you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. There's just something unusual about her whole aura. Especially that whole, creepy ice cream truck ordeal this morning."

"Yeah, that was pretty unnerving."

Jamie's mom walked in with a bag of popcorn for us. I graciously accepted it.

"Mrs. Harrison, you rock," I said to her. She chuckled lightly.

"Why, thank you, Kenton," she returned. Her expression suddenly turned solemn. "Did you two hear what happened on the news tonight?"

Jamie and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

"No, mom," Jamie answered. "What happened?"

She looked very disturbed and uncomfortable. Jamie and I grew worried expressions on our faces.

"Mom?" Jamie asked. "Is everything alright?"

She licked her lips.

"It's...the Brunson twins..." she stalled.

"Mrs. Harrison?" I asked. "Are you alright? What happened?"

She sucked in a deep breath.

"Boys, they're dead."

Jamie and I shrunk back in our seats. Dead? The two, obnoxious twin boys, were dead?

"What?" Jamie asked. "Like, the Brunson twins that live in the next neighborhood over?"

She nodded slowly.

"What happened?" I asked in shock.

"They were poisoned," she answered, her brows knitted together.

"Poisoned?" I repeated to myself.

"Is that all the police know?" Jamie asked.

Mrs. Harrison nodded. "Mrs. Brunson said that at 5:00, she came home from work, and they were dead on their front lawn." She stopped a few tears from running down her face. "It's traumatizing, since it's so close to home, you know? I can't imagine what Dawn must be going through right now."

I thought back to that morning and how the two boys were frolicking in the yard just hours earlier. And now they were gone forever. They were my next door neighbors, too. There were probably a ton of police there right now.

I wandered why I hadn't heard from my mom. Surely she would want to know where I was. I pulled out my phone, only to realize that I had it on silent. Yep. There were about a dozen missed calls and several angry "WHERE ARE YOU?!" texts. I let out a groan.

"I'm sorry, but my mom needs me back home."

I got up and put on my shoes.

"If I find anything else out, I'll let you know."

Mrs. Harrison nodded. Jamie turned around.

"Ice cream man?" he mouthed. I shrugged. Nothing had ever happened in Queensville before. Why would some psycho path start going around now?

I drove home as quickly as I could. My mom was waiting for me at the front door. And there were cop cars all over the place.

"Young man!" she shouted. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Mom, I'm so sorry," I apologized. "I have just been at Jamie's house and I didn't realize my phone was on silent and-"

"I don't want your excuses," she snapped. "The police sort of find it suspicious that there are two dead boys next door and you aren't answering your text messages!"

That comment struck me hard.

"Am I...a suspect?" I asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "That's why I wanted you to get your ass down here!"

We stepped inside my house. There were several officers in my house, snooping around.

"He's home," my mother informed them.

"Mr. Olsen, would you mind sitting at the kitchen table?" a cop asked.

I nodded and did as instructed. Two of them sat across from me.

"Kenton, at what time did you leave the house this morning?"

"At around 10:00," I replied.

They wrote that down in their notepads.

"And where did you go?"

"I went straight to my friend Jamie Harrison's house in the next neighborhood over."

"Mm. What's your alibi?"

"I went to the park for a while then hung out at Jamie's house for the remainder of the day."

"So, you have a witness to confirm you alibi?"

I nodded.

"Good," one of the cops said. "We'll be talking to this Jamie Harrison. Have you noticed any strange activity around your house lately?"

I shook my head. "No. Not at my house. But, today at the park, there was a really bizarre looking ice cream truck. It's windows were tinted and it was all beat up."

"That's a little off," one of the cops said. "Can you describe it a bit more please?"

"Yeah, it had a creepy clown head on the top of it, and it was white with faded pink stripes along the sides."

They wrote that down as well.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Olsen."

I nodded. "No problem."

The cops turned to my mom. "Mrs. Olsen."

She nodded in return. The cops left the house and closed the door behind them. My mother turned to me.

"You're lucky that they didn't interrogate you," she said. "Keep your phone on. That's why you have it."

I nodded. "Yes mom."

"Go to bed," she said.

"Bed?" I asked. "But it's only 9:30!"

"I don't care!" she shouted. I started up to my bedroom. "And be careful what you eat from now on!" she called. "I don't want you dying too."

"Me either," I mumbled. "Me either."