As soon as Kevin Kinkirk pulled into the Camden driveway, he realized it would not be an ordinary Saturday afternoon. It was a shame, really. After a long day's exhausting work patrolling the bustling Glenoak Promenade, he had been looking forward to a nap and then a relaxing double date with his girlfriend, Lucy. Alas, the moment he saw Simon Camden's unconscious body lying on the Camden rooftop, he realized that his quiet, relaxing Saturday plans were in serious jeopardy.
Instinctively, he picked up his transmitter and radioed for emergency assistance. First they would need to get Simon off the roof, and then, from the looks of things, he might require some medical treatment. Dammit. This was not what Kevin had planned for his Saturday afternoon.
Irritated, he stepped out of his vehicle and into the house. "Hello! Is anybody home?" No one answered. "Great," he muttered.
He climbed the stairs all the way up to Lucy and Ruthie's room in the attic, trying to figure out if there were a way he might gain access to the roof to help Simon. Alas, none presented itself. The windows all opened out above ground rather than rooftop, and all tree limbs were much too far away to even think about grabbing one and climbing up. "How did that stupid kid get up there?" Kevin pondered.
The sound of sirens below snapped him out of his thoughts. He raced downstairs to find a few EMT's and firemen, one of whom was his younger brother Ben. "Kevin! I came as soon as I heard the call," Ben shouted.
"Thanks, bro. I have no idea how the little shit – er, I mean, Simon got up there."
"There's no ladder sitting around the yard or anything like that?"
"I haven't really searched the grounds yet, but I don't think so."
"Well, don't worry. We'll run the fire ladder up there and pull him down in a matter of minutes."
"Sounds good. I'm going to look around while you're doing that to see if I can figure anything out. If you need me, just yell."
"Will do."
Kevin then made a cursory pass around the house but, as expected, didn't find any ladder or other such climbing implement. He did, however, note that Simon's bedroom window was open, and that there was a tree next to it. Even so, the tree looked as if only clawed animals would be able to climb it. It was straight and very tall. On the other hand, if someone wrapped his arms and legs around it tightly and somehow managed to wiggle his way up, he might be able to jump over to the roof…but nah. Simon wouldn't have had the balls to do something like that. Kevin had always figured the kid to be kind of a poof, even though he had a girlfriend.
He re-entered the house through the back door, stepping into the kitchen. There, he noticed four different colored baking pans sitting on the counter and some unfinished milk Chugs on the table. He walked over to the pans and noticed brown crumbs in each one. Lowering his face into one of the pans, he inhaled deeply and smiled to himself. "Brownies."
Satisfied with his sweep of the kitchen, he went upstairs to inspect Simon's room. He noticed that the door was closed, so he opened it to reveal a room in a complete state of turmoil. Simon's closet door was wide open with junk spilling out, including his guitar, which was half in and half out of its open case. His bed was moved halfway across the floor from its usual position, and the sheets and blankets sat in a mussed pile atop the crooked mattress. "Geez, what the hell happened here?"
Curiously, Kevin walked over to the open window and looked down. The ground was pretty far down, but not that far. Perhaps someone could survive a soft landing… Then he looked over to the tree again. It still didn't look very climbable, but… A strange potential sequence of events was beginning to occur to Kevin. It didn't make much sense, but neither did anything else he had seen thus far.
With the ideas fresh in his head, he raced downstairs and collected the brownie pans. Then he dashed outside to find his brother on the truck, helping to position the ladder. "How are you guys doing?" Kevin asked.
"We'll have him down in about five minutes," Ben answered.
"Great. Listen, once you've got him stabilized, I want him tested for substances."
"What?" Ben asked with surprise in his voice. "You think Simon…"
Kevin nodded gravely. "I think he might have been drugged."
"Wow. Who would do such a thing?"
Squinting, Kevin answered, "I don't know, but I've got an idea. Listen, take good care of Simon. I'm going to run these over to the station for testing," he said as he pointed to the baking pans he was holding.
Ben looked at the pans questioningly, but just shrugged and said, "Okay."
Heading back to his police car, Kevin sighed heavily. This was not the ordinary Saturday afternoon he had planned. It was a shame, really.