Harris was munching on a jelly filled donut, patrolling down the hills. "Harris! Harris!" yelled the two, making the cop turn around.

"Good morning, Barley; Popuri. Early risers, eh?" he questioned, then sipping his steaming hot coffee.

"My boyfriend is dead!" wailed Popuri, laying into the policeman's shoulder.

"Officer, Kai was found dead early this morning by a gunshot. He's laying there dead on the beach," explained Barley in a calmer voice.

Harris dumped the rest of his coffee on the ground and took action. For a forty year old man, he was pretty fast. He charged down the hill which led to the beach. When the three got onto the beach, every one of the townspeople were circled around Kai's dead body. "Stand back, people," demanded Harris, pushing people out of the way. He picked up Kai's bloody body and walked him to Doctor, who was in the crowd as well.

Some shouts of 'Who killed him'? and 'How could somebody do this were heard' but Harris only did his job by announcing what was going on. "People, please go back home. Kai is dead and by the looks of his blood; he was killed less than twenty four hours ago. Doctor Trent and Elli are going to do some tests on him, while I investigate. I can assure you that this killer, whoever he or she is, will be caught," he explained. The killer was, in fact in the crowd, but didn't show his face. Everyone, including the mayor, went back to where they were before the event while Elli and Doctor studied Kai.

Popuri, however, stomped home and cried into her fist as her mother saw her. "Oh, dear," she said, hugging her only daughter. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not fair," she sobbed, wiping her wet tears with a tissue. "I really loved him, too!"

Then came in Rick, who was munching on a cereal stick from Doug's Inn. "Hi, mom," he greeted. "Hi, Popuri." He acted as if nothing had ever happened, talking about random things. "Mom, I fed the chickens."

"Honey, where were you all morning? Why, you weren't even here for breakfast," exclaimed Lilia, comforting her depressed daughter.

"I was at Karen's house," he lied. Karen was his girlfriend, and they were as close as Kai and Popuri used to be. "We were… uh… picking grapes from the vines. Yeah, her dad's winery was really runnin' low on grapes, so yeah…"

"That was nice of you to do that, Rick," said his mother nicely. "Now if you don't mind, could you pick me up a couple of books at the library about mystery?" Rick gulped at this.

"Why, mom? I thought you liked romance."

"Yeah, but my genre's changing. Could you please do that, honey?" she wondered.

"I guess," he replied, not really wanting to. He jingled the bike keys and went outside, ready to go pick up some books. Rick walked outside while whistling some tune, unlocked the bike rack, hopped on his bike, and drove to Mary's Library.

Popuri didn't get out of the house that day until suppertime, when she decided to get a burger at Doug's Inn. (They sold food there, too.) There inside was Doug, Ann, and Karen, all drinking alcohol (they were old enough). "Hey, Karen," greeted Popuri sadly.

Karen and Popuri were actually good friends. "Hi, kiddo," she answered, hugging her as tears steamed down Popuri's cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," groaned Popuri while frowning. "I miss him already." She sniffled her runny nose at this, and it became runny because she was crying all day.

"I'm sorry that happened," she apologized, and actually meant it, unlike everyone else that said it.