Okay. I lied before. I said I was going to go back and change the first four or five chapters, but I am way too busy to deal with that. So, you guys will all just have to deal with it. I've stopped getting flames about camp lakeway (by the way, MunkyMuppet never contacted me so she's fine with it) so now all is happy happy. Anyway, I've been busy and I'm going to continue to be busy. But I'm going to try and keep this story updated. I've not been doing a very good job on that and I apologize. Now, on with the story!
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They all stared at her in shock. The room was entirely silent except for the occasional gurgle or two from Charlie.
"A dead body?" X-ray repeated incredulously, Jewel still perched awkwardly on his lap.
"Here? In the compound? Owned by the government?" Minx's mouth fell open and she almost forgot about her son in her arms.
"Everybody who has access to the inside of this compound either works for the government directly or is under constant surveillance like us." Squid said, biting his lip and thinking hard.
"Well………none of us did it, right?" Star hurriedly looked around at them all to make sure. They quickly and firmly shook their heads.
"So does that mean that a government official murdered somebody?" Caveman asked awkwardly.
"Either that or it was a group effort and several of them did." ZigZag nodded glumly, his arm snaked about Kitty's waist.
"Well I'm not about to just sit around and wait for it to come on the news!" Fidget exclaimed, heading for the door with Twitch right behind her. "I'm going to go see what's going on!"
"Don't!" Apple shot out an arm and stopped her. "Don't go out there, dummy!"
"What? Why?" Fidget stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She looked at Apple like she was an alien from the eighth nebula of Orion or something.
"They're going to think it was us!" Apple exclaimed desperately. "Right when we move in, dead bodies start showing up? This is not going to look good for us!"
"Well we didn't do anything," Magnet pointed out. "There isn't going to be any evidence of our guilt when we had nothing to do with it. It shouldn't hurt to go and check it out."
"What do you think Star?" Link turned big round eyes upon Star. She was sitting on the couch in between Armpit and Rogue, and she was holding Rogue's hand.
"Me?" Star was surprised. Why were they all looking at her like that? Since when had she controlled everybody's every move? "Well, I guess it's okay. I'm pretty curious myself, I guess."
And that settled it. Everybody was up and heading for the door.
"I'm going to stay here." Minx announced as they all struggled to fit through the tiny front door. "I don't want to expose Charlie to such things."
"I'll stay with you." Apple offered. "Dead bodies don't really suit me anyway."
So everybody, minus Apple and Minx and the baby, raced down the thick metal stairs and out to the front gate.
The police had already set up yellow caution tape around a square section of garden. They had dug up rows and rows of pretty wildflowers and were digging deeper and deeper. There were two body-bags lying zipped up just inside the tape, and still they kept digging.
"Two bodies!" Kitty turned to Fidget with giant eyes. "I thought you said they'd only dug up one!"
"Another one must have turned up when I ran inside to get you guys." Fidget shrugged, watching in fascination as a pale and mottled arm appeared underneath a shovel. Star and Jewel made sick faces and turned away in disgust.
"You kids need to get on out of here." A policeman caught sight of them and ambled over, his face serious. "This is no attraction. What are you doing in here anyway?"
"We live here sir." Link said politely, her hands folded innocently behind her back. She was wearing a blue jumper with a white sash that tied behind her back. She looked perfectly adorable.
"In this compound?" The policeman narrowed his eyes on them. It was obvious he didn't believe them. And why should he? He shook his head. "Go stand back there a little ways. Don't get in our way." And he turned back to his work.
The group backed up to the edge of the drive and continued to watch in sick fascination as the policemen took a third body, this one of a nude and branded little girl, out of the deepening hole.
The head policeman shot another suspicious look at the kids watching from the sidelines and headed over to the manager of the compound, who was being questioned at the time. The manager was a well-rounded middle-aged man with distinguished salt-and-pepper hair and a freshly pressed suit. His name was Mr. Rydell.
"Can I steal you away for just a moment, sir?" The policeman asked, and without waiting for an answer he pulled Mr. Rydell to the side.
"Can I help you, Officer?" Mr. Rydell looked frightened. He was pale and sweaty. A definite suspect, and he knew it.
"My name's Officer Handy," The policeman introduced himself with a curt nod of his head. "Those children standing over there, on the edge of the drive; they say that they live here. Do you know them?"
"Yes Officer, they do live here." Mr. Rydell nodded and continued to wring his hands nervously. "They moved in just days ago, as a matter of fact."
"What are a bunch of children doing living in a government compound?" Officer Handy sounded quite harsh as he asked. "It seems highly inappropriate."
"They've just been released back to the community. They're here under surveillance to make sure that they will obey all our country's laws." Mr. Rydell explained.
"What did they do?" Officer Handy demanded.
Mr. Rydell gave the policeman a superior look. "What, you haven't heard of the Greenlake Killers?" He demanded.
"Those kids are the Greenlake Killers?" Officer Handy turned incredulously to the gaggle of children watching intently. Sure he had watched the news reports about them whenever they came on, but they weren't recognizable now that they were cleaned up and respectable-looking.
"Yessir, sure as I'm standing here." Mr. Rydell nodded, turning to look at the children as well. They held each other's hands and whispered terrified comments back and forth.
"It seems to me like we've got our primary suspects then." Officer Handy pulled out a notepad and began scribbling something down on it.
"Oh no, Officer. Those kids didn't kill anybody." Mr. Rydell fervently shook his head. "As much as I'd like to have the killer caught and done away with, I know for a fact that those kids didn't do it."
"And why is that?" Officer Handy demanded coldly. He hated civilians, even civilians associated with the higher government, telling him how to do his job.
"Well as soon as the guard dogs uncovered that first body, we instinctively thought of those kids too." Mr. Rydell explained. "But we've had them on surveillance twenty-four hours since they entered the compound. And they came straight from their trial to the compound. Only three of them went outside of the compound this whole time, and they were all three girls."
"And why couldn't it have been one of those three girls?" The policeman demanded.
"Because none of them match up with the killer's build." The manager shook his head. "On the surveillance camera, the person doing the burying was dressed all in black from head to foot, even with a mask over their face. But specialists have been doing analyses ever since the footage was recovered and not a single one of those kids matches up with that body."
"Hmm." Office Handy turned away from Mr. Rydell, done with him for the moment. These new revelations were certainly promoting the innocent of the Greenlake Killer's, but the policeman wasn't about to dismiss them completely from the case. Not in the least bit.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Link announced wearily, turning away. "I think I'm going to go back upstairs now."
"I'll go with you!" All the girls were quick to offer. Not one of them wanted to stay down there with three dead bodies, and possibly a fourth or more. The boys didn't want to stay by themselves, so they all headed back up to their apartments.
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A little slow right now, I know, but in the next chapter, you'll see how our favorite convicts get drawn into yet another murder story. Anyway, like I said before, I've been super busy and everything but I really am going to try to keep everything updated from now on. Whenever I have the chance!