The Case of Jaxon Parker

3: Paul

Paul fell backwards onto his bed, exhausted. "Oof, what a night," he said to no one in particular.

Right after he closed his eyes, someone knocked on his door. "Paul," his older brother started. "Mom wants you to help us bring our bags inside from the trip."

Paul audibly groaned. "Not now, Simon. I had a long night."

"And we didn't?" Paul's twin sister Hannah jumped in.

"I didn't say that, Han. I know you guys had a long night. You were on a plane for almost a day."

"So what did you do last night?" Simon pried.

"The-" Paul started before being cut off by his phone going off. He looked at his siblings then walked out of the room. "Hello?"

"Is this Paul Elliot?" The person on the other side of the phone asked.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"I'm Detective Bob Charles. A guy named Theo Hawthorne told me that him and a few friends hung out at your house last night. Is that true?"

"Yeah, why?" Paul continued to give basic responses.

"Jaxon Parker was found dead this morning. A couple of hours ago Mr. Hawthorne came down to the station to be questioned due to our procedure. We need you to come down if you can so we can hear your side of what went down last night." The detective said. "And just to clarify, Markus Turner was the other one there last night am I right?"

"Yeah, he was there. I'll be at the station in like an hour. I have to help my famly unpack from their trip." Paul said with fake enthusiasm.

"You didn't go?" The detectives eyebrow raised on his side of the phone.

"Nah, I had a baseball tournement so I had to stay home. Besides, they went to visit family who have never reached to us until now."

"Any particular reason why they chose now to reach out?"

"Dad left Mom. I have to go. I'll be at the station as soon as I can." Paul hung up.

"Who was that?" Simon asked, wrapping his arm around Paul's neck. "Was it your girlfriend?"

Paul shoved him away. "No. It was a detective. Apperently Jaxon was found dead this morning and I have to go down to the station for questioning. Theo already went and I'm guessing Markus has to go next."

"Jaxon's dead? That's too bad, he was hot." Hannah sighed. "I was going to ask him out when the school year started."

Paul punched her arm as his mother came into the hall. "Paul," she scolded. "You do not hit your sister. Who were you talking to on the phone a second ago?"

Paul shrugged. "Just this detective dude who wants me to go down to the station to be questioned about Jaxon's death."

"Then go. The three of us can manage to unpack on our own. It's our stuff anyways."

*

"I'm looking for Bob." Paul put his elbows on the desk in front of him and leaned on them. "Where's he at?"

"Detective Bob Charles is down the hall, third door on the left." The receptionist replied while shoving Paul's elbows off her desk.

Paul smirked at her then waddled off.

"You must be Paul," Detective Charles stuck out his hand when Paul walked into his office.

"Yeah." Paul ignored the detective's hand and sat down in front of the desk. "Let's make this fast. I'm not going to stay long." He crossed his arms.

"Okay," the detective took a seat himself. "What did you and your friends do last night?"

"We just played a board game. Is that illegal?"

"I didn't ask this to Theo, but what board game did you play?"

"We messed around with an ouija board. Again, is that illegal?"

"Not at all," Detective Charles smiled. "Was Jaxon acting off at all?"

"If you meant if he was wimpier than usual then yeah." Paul kept his face as straight as a ruler. "He kept wimping out when the board said something he didn't like at all."

"That's interesting," the detective wrote some things down in his notepad. "What is the last thing that you boys did?"

"We asked a question I can't remember, then I woke up on the floor next to my front door."

"Okay. One last question for you- did you kill Mr Parker?"

"No. Now I'm out of here."

"No boss, I didn't really get much out of this one." The detective sighed. "All I got was that they were playing an ouija board, not a board game."

"Dang it, Charles!" The boss slammed his fists on his desk. "I know this case just started but we need to get it finished! We have a lot more cases that are a lot more severe than this one! Just hurry up and do your job!"

*

"Hey Mom, do you need any more help?" Paul asked when he got home.

"I think we're good, but thank you for asking." She smiled. "How'd it go at the station?"

"Fine, I guess." He shrugged, then his phone rang. "Sorry, Theo's calling. We'll talk later, okay? Okay." Paul went to his room and closed the door. "What's up this time, T?"

Theo sighed. "Did you go to the station and talk to the cop dude?"

"Yeah."

"What did you tell him?"

"All I did was specify what board game we played. Chill, man. It's not like I said-"

"Okay, you're done. I'll see you in a few nights." Theo hung up.

Paul smirked, then called out to his sister. "Hannah, come here. I need to talk to you."

"What's up, Paul?" She peaked her head into Paul's room.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Duh, I haven't told anyone about how you still sleep with Mr Finkles."

Paul yanked Hannah into his room, made sure no one was in the hall and slammed his door closed.