Murder At Dawn

Chapter 2- Penelope West

"Are you alright Alice?" asked the voice. I swung around, and wiped my eyes to see the person I hoped to see. I flew into her embrace she held out to me. "Elisia, I'm so happy your here," I said in a joyful cry. I frowned and growled, "Todd, he... I failed him, he's DEAD!" I finished and pushed her away from me. How could anyone love me when I let him DIE!? Tears flooded my eyes, nothing was visible. "Shhhh, it's okay, I'm here now..." Elisia whispered and pulled my head into her chest. I stayed in her arms, I whimpered and cried. She stroked my head gently; this banished my cries each time. I wished I was dead instead. Todd deserved to live. He gave me a chance to start a new life. Without him, I have nothing. I started to feel empty, but then Elisia interrupted my thoughts.

"Alice, Deputy Jeff would like to know if you may speak with him now." I nodded in agreement. I wiped my last tears away and hugged Elisia one last time. She gave me a smile of encouragement, and then I was led into the garden....

June 30, 9:45 A.M

We arrived in Todd's garden, or as he used to call it "Green Paradise", which was filled with squad cars and officers. This brought an image to my mind; I remembered how beautiful this garden was. There was so much life and purity in the air. Todd and I frequently sat and had tea together here. Then reality hit me. That was never going to happen again. I started to get uncomfortable with all the people here; they trampled all over the plants. Had they not noticed how much time Todd took to place and remove plants into the perfect positions? No, of course they never knew him, they didn't care, apparently I was the only one that did. And what's worse is that they wouldn't ask, they noticed the pain that was written across my face. But they seemed to purposely step everywhere to annoy me.

Deputy Jeff led me to this tall, scrawny blonde dressed in a black trench coat and shiny diamond stilettos. Her hair was pulled into a long, blonde, sleek ponytail and glasses peaked on her narrow nose. Her deep red lipstick smudged her pearl white teeth whenever she spoke. Pink blush plastered onto her cheeks, supposedly to bring color to her pale-white, young-looking skin. She turned in our direction and continued to speak to a male detective that scribbled notes alongside her. She gave me a welcomed smile, and then returned to her clip board afterwards. As I squinted, I noticed her dark black name-tag, and on it in bold, white letters was "Penelope West".

June 30, 9:39 a.m.

Deputy Jeff spoke into the silent void that surrounded us, "Alice Wagons, this lady here is Penelope West. She agreed to help with your case, which is an honor. She is the highest ranked detective in Europe. I expect you to be on your best possible behavior. After all, she only came because she was friends with Todd." I nodded and let out a breath I had held in for a quite some time. The air poured out of my mouth and cascaded the clear air around me, with a sharp, white color. After a short silence, I giggled at myself and how I thought stupidly. My tiny British voice pierced the chilled air, "Are you sure she isn't a vampire, any background information that could make her supernatural?" I turned my head to look at Deputy Jeff, waiting for a reply. He elbowed me in the rib which caused me to flinch at the touch. But then he chuckled loudly, "You better not say that to her," he barely made out. We stood there laughing and we clutched our stomachs; surely enough we caused a stir in the crowd. I hadn't noticed that Penelope disappeared from the very spot she had stood in. Someone cleared their throat behind us. Deputy Jeff turned and nudged me as he stood up tall. I caught my breath and then gathered myself. Suddenly, I found myself face to face with this so-called Penelope West.