“I told you, it wasn’t me. I swear. I was just sitting in my room singing Carrie Underwood’s songs like I always do… until I heard the heard the gunshot.”
“Young lady, do you know anyone who would want to harm your family, or hurt your father? Perhaps your birth mother or any siblings that you might know of?”
“No me and my dad had lived alone. It had always been that way for as long as I can remember. I don’t think I have ever met my mother, and I do not have any siblings. We have never interacted with the people around us. Daddy said that the outside world is too dangerous.”
“I see. Well my name is Officer Harley and I will be investigating this case.”
Officer Harley is a skinny man. He is tall, well built, and middle aged. He has short brown hair and thick eyebrows.
“I will let you know everything I know concerning information on your father’s death. Because you are not in contact with any other family members, you will need a place to stay. Sixteen years old with a pretty, young face like yours needs to be kept safe. You are going to be staying in police headquarters. Not as a prisoner, but we have to keep you under our watch. There is a place at top of the hill about one hundred yards to the north of the station. It looks like a little cottage but it belongs to us, and it has two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom, and is very worn out. You will be staying there. We wouldn’t want you to get murdered too.”
“I think I’ll be just fine.”
The girl was led out of the room, escorted by two other police officers. They brought her up to the old, grey cabin on the top of the hill. Meanwhile, Harley walked over to the break room in the police station to speak with his partner.
“Officer Crubs, I just talked to the girl. She seems sane. She says she doesn’t even know the people in her neighborhood or anybody else really. Poor thing. She seems like a nice girl too.”
Crubs was the complete opposite of Harley. He is short, plump, and bald. The only things he and his partner have in common are their outgoing, fun personalities.
Officer Harley pulled out the girl’s file.
“Rose Thorn,” Harley read aloud.
Officer Crubs walked over to his partner unhurriedly and also began to read about Rose’s past. She was sixteen years old, had beautiful, long blonde hair, bright blue eyes like the ocean, and a fabulous complexion. Her skin was clear, her lips like her name, as red as a rose, and she was a short girl. She had been home schooled all of her life and doesn’t seem to have any friends. Unfortunately, Rose had lost her mother when she was six years old. She had had a brother who was three years younger than she was, but he had passed away the same night as her mother. They had also been murdered. As Harley and Crubs finished reading the file, they looked at each other.
“Listen Harley. I don’t know what you’re thinking but look; Rose’s mother, brother, AND father were killed in the same way. All of them were stabbed with a knife about an inch above the left ear, dragged out of their house, and died with a rose in their hands lying by the same bush in their backyard.”
“So that obviously means that they were killed by the same person.” Crubs exclaimed.
“Right!” Harley agreed.
“But something still doesn’t make sense.”
“What is it?”
“Well it says here her mother and brother died when she was six years old.”
“What about it?”
“Crubs you do not understand. When I was questioning her, she said that she has never met her mother, and she does not have any siblings and never has. Obviously, she would remember her own mother and brother, or at least vaguely. I just don’t understand why she would lie to me.”
“This means that you have to go question her again. Miss Thorn has a secret. Since you locked her up in that old, creepy room on that hill you can have access to her. Don’t rush, you have time, that place is impossible to break into or get out of. Want to go for a donut?”
“Nah I better get to Rose. I would like to go to bed early tonight.”
“Okay suit yourself. See you later Harley.”
“Bye Crubs.”
Harley left the break room where he had been talking to his partner and started heading over to Rose’s temporary home. As he stepped outside he noticed the awful weather. The air was warm and sticky with numerous clouds in the sky. It had rained the night before, so everything was still wet and soggy. It looked like it was going to rain again.
He was walking with his head down over to Rose. When he got to the small home, he knocked on the door, receiving splinters from the aged wood. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. He knocked a third time, banging more vigorously this time.
“ROSE?!” He waited for a response. “Rose I’m coming in there!” He took a large branch from a nearby tree, rammed it into the door, and busted it opened. He stepped inside and took a look around. No sign of Rose.
There was a note upon the table in the center of the room. Officer Harley could smell the fumes of a sharpie, quickly realizing that the note was recently written. The note said “Catch me if you can.” Underneath the writing was a drawing of a rose.
Harley was confused. How did this person find Rose? How did they know she was here? How did they get in? And that was when it all clicked.
“ROSE IS THE MURDERER!” he screamed aloud. He immediately took out his cell phone and called Crubs. While waiting for the seemingly everlasting ringing to stop he stood in the room, looking for clues. Sweat dripping down his face, his heart pounding like a drum, and with lack of breath, he searched for clues. Finally Crubs picked up.
“Harley you got to see this. Come to-”
“Crubs, before you go on, I got to tell you something. She’s not here. I came to question her and she is gone. But I do know that she is the murderer! She killed her parents and her brother. She’s INSANE! We have to find-”
“Stop buddy. Calm down, we will find her… and I think I have an idea as to where she might be. I went to her house after you left to talk to her to see if I can find any fingerprints, DNA or anything else to help find the murderer. When I got here, I noticed the front door was unlocked. I slowly crept into her house and there is someone in here. I think it’s her because I heard someone singing ‘Before He Cheats’, and if I am not mistaken, that is a Carrie Underwood song. I quickly got out of that house and drove down the block. I was almost at the end when you called. I was just about to call you. We need to have each others’ backs.”
“I’ll be right there.”

Harley drove own to Rose’s house and met up with Officer Crubs at the end of her street. Harley filled in his partner about what happened at the cottage and all about the note.
“This is crazy” Crubs exclaimed. “There is no way we can catch this girl, she killed her mother and brother when she was six years old and got away with it. We are no match for Miss Thorn.”
“We can do it. Do you know how many times you have said those notorious lines? Well guess what, we have investigated many cases and have always gotten to the bottom of them. Look at us now. Not once have we had any harm come out way. Being policemen is our lives. Now let’s go before she changes location.”
Officer Crubs and Officer Harley drove back to Rose’s house nonchalantly in one car together. They were armed with loaded guns, pepper spray, and flashlights. When they arrived at her house they cautiously walked up to the front door and pushed it open. The house was pitch black. There was one light on in the backyard. The officers turned on their flashlights and looked down, noticing a path of rose petals. They followed it, and coincidentally it led to the bush where Rose’s family members have been dragged to after they had been killed. On the ground there lay two roses. Crubs and Harley heard the sound of crunching leaves and rapidly spun around. Standing in the spotlight of the only light that lit up the area was Rose. She had on a white dress covered in dried up blood, her hair unbrushed and flowing in her face, barefoot, dirty, and beady-eyed. She was standing with her hands behind her back with a slight smile upon her face. Finally, she stretched out her arms revealing a knife in her hand.
“Miss me?”
Crubs was definitely not the most intimidating person in this situation so Harley spoke up.
“Why do you do this Rose? You could have a perfect life, and by killing people you throw all your chance away.”
Rose looked at the ground, gradually lowering her weapon. “You know, nobody seems to get it. I am the type of person who you do not want to make angry. If you make me mad, you die. If you are not on my side, you die. I could not stand my family one bit, so I got rid of the problem. Now you two are my problem, and I will be getting rid of you very shortly.”
“Listen darling,” Crubs said sympathetically. “I get where you are coming from. Look at me. I am a depressed middle aged man who doesn’t have the best looks. I was made fun of all the time by siblings and classmates when I was younger. If I got ‘rid of the problem,’ there would be nobody left on earth. And it gets better, trust me. After a while everyone drifted away from me and saw that they were wrong. Everyone has hard times, it’s just life. Killing is not going to solve anything.”
Rose looked up with tears and her eyes. She kept looking up at the two police officers and down her knife. Again and again Rose repeated the procedure, deciding on what to do. At last, she dropped the knife, held out her hands and said, “Handcuff me.”