Expect the Unexpected

Meeting Toby

The loud music busting from my speakers, the bass turned up so loud I felt every beat from the music vibrate through my body to my heart. I rolled the window down and let the wind flow through my short blonde hair. I continued to cruise down the empty road until I found a sign that read, "Whispering Pines Subdivision". I turned the volume on my radio down as I pulled up to the big black gates, and made a mental note of how nice the neighborhood was. It must come with a big price to live here. My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice. "Can I see your residential key please..?" I looked over to see a small woman, sitting in a narrow booth. She must be the person that controls the gate. "Actually mam, I'm with the police." , I said calmly as I held out my badge for her to examine. She slowly grabbed it and pulled the purple glasses that had been hanging around her neck up onto her nose. "Mhm... Mmmhm..." She mumbled to herself. "Alright. Thank you." She said softly handing my badge back to me. I watched as the big black gates slowly slid apart, and slowly drove through. I passed a pool with what looked like a big water slide, a small playground area, and big wooden cabana, with lots of picnic tables. I quickly put my foot on the brake when I noticed a mailbox with 1648 written on the post. I pulled into the brick driveway, carefully examining the house. I parked the car and sat back in my seat. I couldn't help but admire the house. It was huge, with a 3 door garage, and a grand staircase leading up to the huge double front door. It looked as though it was a 3 story house, with a wrap around porch. I slowly opened my car door, and slid out of the drivers seat. I was met by the crisp cold air, sending shivers down my back. Making sure to shut my door quietly, I swiftly walked over to the side of the house, and stared in awe at the backyard. It was all perfectly level, the grass was so green and evenly cut it almost looked fake. The balcony on the 3rd floor provided shade for the screened in porch on the 1st floor. As I got closer, I noticed in the screened in porch, there was a big rectangular table, a hot tub, and what looked to be a dog bed. My heart almost jumped out of my chest as I heard a screen door start to creak open. I heard a woman's voice chuckle. "Oh my God Angie. Your so crazy." She said, trying to hold back a laugh. "So tell me again what ya'll did for your honeymoon?" I quickly hurried back to the front of the house, praying whoever it was, didn't see me creeping around by their backyard. I looked down at my silver watch that read "12:18pm". Crap. I thought. Hurry up Alex. You gotta get moving with this case. I made my way up the huge brick stairway, and up to the big black doors. I heard two male voices, one was a lot deeper than the other. That must be the dad. The other sounded like a young boy. My guess would be around age 9. The young boy was screaming and giggling, which always followed with the older man saying "IM GONNA GET-CHA!". Man. They're loud. That was probably the mom I saw go out on the back porch. No wonder she went outside. I took a deep breath, and slowly knocked on the cold wooden door. The giggling and the yelling in the house immediately stopped. I heard some mumbling, and saw the blinds on one of the narrow windows next to the door quickly shuffle around. I stood there patiently, until I heard the lock click. The door slowly creaked open.
"Hi. I'm Officer Grayson."