"Every Problem" by Meg Trast

Chapter Three

We arrived back at the hotel, and I showed John to his room—which he thanked me, again, for renting for him. I'd reluctantly allowed him and my sister to become acquainted, and I much regretted it only five minutes later. Larissa had attacked him with a shower of questions. The kind of questions you'd expect an 8-year-old to ask, not a 17-year-old. I'll spare you the details.

Wednesday June 7

Wednesday morning, Agent Doggett, Larissa, and I, all headed down to the pool area to investigate. Just checking out the area, watching for any traces of broken glass, stuff like that. Mum entered a few minutes later.

"Jorie?" She said.

I turned my head at the sound of my name. "Yeah?"

"Kelly at the hospital just called. She called about the police officer. Leonard Conner? He's dead."

I glanced over at John, and that worried/confused look played across his face once more.

"Where, exactly, did this happen?" He asked.

I stood over by the only way out of the pool that didn't go through the hotel; the gate. He looked around.

"You notice that there's no broken glass? Somethin' like that, you'd expect to find some slivers left over, right?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, staring around. "Well, it is a pool area...I'm sure they were really careful to clean it up."

"Tell me exactly what happened."

I went into a narrative. "Leonard was staying at the hotel to investigate...you know, the death of that other officer? I guess he didn't come up with anything solid, and was taking a break—swimming. Larissa, mum, and I, were all swimming as well. Some lady started freaking out, going on about how she couldn't find her little girl. So Leonard was getting out of the pool...I dunno, I guess he was going to go look for her, and he bumped into the bellhop. The bellhop was carrying an empty wine glass...it kinda broke when they collided, and Leonard took a few jabs. Two to his right arm, and one in the chest."

The agent stared at me or a long moment. "Jorie, I think you need to call your friend at the hospital. Get a tox. screen on the dead guy, Leonard Conner. I wanna see what that turns up."

We searched carefully for several more minutes, but couldn't really find any evidence of foul play. We retired to lunch in the hotel's restaurant.