Teenage Detective

Chapter 5: Everyone's Dreaming

"I think each of you know by now St. Edwards and the harbour have a history together for over sixty years."

The principle spoke through a megaphone as he stood on the small stage in front of what was left of the school: thirty six students and six teachers.

"Sadly this history ends next February," he finished solemnly as the students whispered to each other grimly.

"Although, I hope you can still fulfil the wishes and hopes of St. Edwards High," the principle finished and dismissed the assembly.


Harry and his friends had a bit of rest for the day. Farah's funeral was to take place this evening at her house.

Alin sighed, resting her back against one of the rails for exercising. "Today is the day," she said quietly. "One by one, the folks will leave to move to the neighbouring town, St. Ian, to work at the larger and more promising harbour."

Kevin, standing beside Alin, lifted his head from the railing. "Are you going to move to St. Ian too, Corbin?" he asked anxiously.

Corbin snorted and mocked laughter. "No way, my father is a hard headed guy. He will never move, he's too loyal to your family's business, Kevin. The Laporte Company is his life," the blonde boy told everyone.

Kevin sighed in relief. "Yeah… my brilliant father must have a plan… and my mother married another guy," he said emotionlessly.

"What are your plans when the school closes? The principal suggested us to move to other schools in the neighbouring towns," said Amy curiously, she would not want to be alone.

"I think I would like to go to London to further my studies," Darren said abruptly, surprising everyone a bit.

"What do you mean?" Alin asked inquiringly.

Darren paused to collect some air and then explained. "There are a lot of tuition classes in London. If I want to get into a great university, I think it best if I study there."

A little embarrassed he turned to Harry. "Hey, Harry, why don't you show me around next summer?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Okay. You could stay at my place."

"I want to go too," Amy chirped in. "I want to see my aunt!"

"If that's the case," Alin chimed in, smiling, "why don't we all to London and visit Harry's place?" Adding slyly, "His treat, of course."

"What?" Harry moaned as Hermione and everyone laughed save one person. Harry noticed the tall lanky boy with crew cut hair looking down at the ground and not laughing with the others.


Harry decided to show Hermione around the school, since he did not want the whole day to be melancholy. He showed her the wall, where he doodled with the other boys. To his surprise it was still there, which brought a smile to his face. Then he showed her the classroom where he studied incidentally for two weeks. And the storeroom where he played a prank on Corbin, by locking the boy in.

Then they passed a corridor with trophies and first prize paintings. His eyes caught Elisa's art, a picture of a man with his back to visitor's eyes, not showing his face, standing closely beside a cherry blossom tree. At first he was deeply amazed on how realistic the picture was but when he read the title of the art 'Father', his heart beat faster and he gulped.

'Gavin LP!'

His mind was so into the name that when a hand held his shoulder, he jumped in shocked. He spun around and was very surprised to see a man in his forties, large and wearing squared spectacles. "Ah, Mr. Simmons, you gave me a heart attack," he whined, and then he remembered Hermione was supposed to be with him, but she was missing.

"It's really you, Harry Potter from London, the boy who once disguised himself as a student of this school," said Mr. Simmons, the science teacher. "You've changed a lot but that emerald eyes tell me who you are in an instant," he said, laughing,

"Yeah, that's what everyone says," Harry replied, not really finding it funny. "You haven't seen Hermione, have you?"

"The young lady you were with? She's at the Tennis Club storeroom with Ms. Hancock."

"Thank you," Harry said and left to find Hermione.


"The great Harry Potter came and thank goodness, everything can be done in a jiff!" said Amy enthusiastically; handing over the box she was carrying to Harry.

"Erm… no problem," replied Harry unenthusiastically.

The storeroom was well taken care of, everything placed neatly. The shoe racks were used as a cabinet and trophies shone from above the rack. Hermione was sweeping the floor, while Harry moved some boxes here and there. Amy was wiping the table.

"Why would you still come and look after this room all by yourself?" Harry asked, a bit rude. His arms were killing him with carrying the boxes.

Any turned to him and answered happily. "Because this school has no Tennis Club and because of that as a senior student, I must come and play"

Harry put down the boxes in one the slots on the shoe rack. "So it's like that."

Amy nodded. "But the lack of members closed this club a year and a half ago," she said sadly. "If five or more people sign up, this club can start up again."

By now Hermione stopped sweeping and listened in the conversation.

"To wait for that day, I always come and clean the club room."

"I didn't know you're so determined," he complimented.

She blushed and winked at Harry. "What would you say if I told you my dream is to enter the Wimbledon tournament?" she asked demurely.

Harry laughed. "I would say you sure are a great dreamer," he replied, then he noticed Amy was silent and he stopped laughing. Then tears started to form in her eyes. The red headed girl quickly wiped them away.

"Amy…?" Hermione murmured, almost gasping.

"Ho, ho…sorry…! Can't stop giggling till I was laughing," she said lamely, and wiped her eyes more in frantic. "This will ruin my image… I used to be bright…" she faced away from them.

Then the lights on the ceiling started to blink. Amy took this time to change the subject. "Oh, the electricity will be out soon…. We have to go now!" she told them, a bit harsh and quick.

Harry and Hermione just remained silent and followed Amy out of the school, leaving the club room half clean.


Harry and Hermione went back to Alin's place to change for Farah's funeral. When they both got separated to their separate rooms, Alin sprang out of nowhere and seemed over eager to tell Harry something.

"Harry! Harry! I got it!" she said excitedly, with an equal expression. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling their faces close. Harry was surprised. "The important things are the cherry blossom tree and the goal post opposite it across the field. If you draw a line between them it crosses the spot where Farah was found."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, puzzled. He wanted to get away from Alin's wild theories. She had been like this ever since the incident at school.

"On the day of the incident, the killer invited Farah to the school earlier than any of us. Now, here's the method. The killer, holding the dart, climbed the tree, and slid down a rope tied between the tree and the goal post. As he did so, when he was near her, he stabbed her in the back of her neck with the dart!" Alin then let go of Harry and crossed her arm in proud fashion.

"And with this method there will be no footprints left on the snow covered field," she said smugly, Harry just shook his head, disagreeing.

"What if Farah wasn't anywhere near the rope line?" he asked forwardly. Alin was going to think of answer but Harry continued.

"Also when she the rope she would have to be curious. She would have looked and seen someone coming at her. But she never tried to run. And the killer would have to leave footprints removing the rope."

Alin sighed in defeat. "So what's your view?" she asked, with pleading eyes.

"There is a way," Harry answered Alin was surprised that he had one so soon. "Only one way."


Corbin and Kevin joined them half an hour later outside Alin's house and the five of them began walking to the funeral. They all dressed the same as they had for Elisa's funeral.

Alin, Hermione, and Corbin walked a few feet ahead of Harry and Kevin.

"Can't stand it," Alin said gloomily. "It's like every day we go to another friend's funeral."

"But we can't make excuses to not go," said Corbin with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Harry and Kevin were having a conversation of their own.

"Hey Kevin," Harry said to the tall broad boy.

"Yeah," Kevin replied.

"Why doesn't Corbin play the guitar like he use to?" Harry asked casually.

"Well, at the last Snow Festival, last year, he went missing for a month."

Harry was shocked to hear it. "A month?"

"Yes," Kevin replied and nodded. "And when he came back he didn't want to play anymore and started helping his father."

Harry felt sad to hear that. "Everyone's changing," he said blankly.

"Yeah it's been nine years!" Kevin said and Harry laughed.

"And I can't believe you don't play football anymore. I always thought you'd be a great football player someday," Harry told Kevin with a smirk.

Kevin snorted. "I thought the same thing back in the twelfth grade. When I made it into high school, the football club was quite active, even though we had only twelve or thirteen members. But with me and Darren, we were known as the best," Kevin looked up at the sky and continued his explanation. "We beat teams from the cities that have even more players. The summer games too were the greatest for us."

"Then why did people leave?" Harry asked as they walked pass the playground.

A ball came rolling from the playground and stopped in front of them. Kevin stooped and picked it up.

"Sorry," a kid from the playground yelled at them. "Can you please pass the ball back to us." They waited patiently.

Kevin was just staring nonchalantly at the ball. Harry looked at Kevin and was puzzled at the tall boy's act. "Aren't you going to throw it back to them?"

"Huh? No, you can," Kevin requested and Harry gasped. He threw the ball back quickly and turned back to Kevin.

"My shoulders are injured," Kevin confessed. "When I was in the second year of high school, I was playing so rough that I ended up injuring my whole body. Even with treatment and surgery my shoulders can't be healed."

He rubbed his shoulder as though it was still sore. "The news of me being injured kinda dispirited the other club members and, one by one, they left and a lot of them changed schools." Then with a sigh, he made a confession. "Maybe I too should have back off at that time."

Harry was utterly speechless. After hearing both Corbin and Kevin's stories he could not come up with any reply, but he reminisced about Corbin's attempt on a Van Helen song and the time everyone played football nine years ago.


When they reached Farah's house, a police car was parked right in front of it. The five teenagers were shocked to see this and ran the rest of the way. They bumped into Darren and Amy, who were standing near the door. Darren waved at them to come over.

"Why are the police here?" Harry asked swiftly.

Darren nodded.

"Something about a shoe," he answered simply.

"Maybe it's just the work of a prankster." The inspector came to the conclusion easily.

Mrs. Tornberg was stubbornly explaining that is was not what the inspector thought. "On the day of Elisa's funeral, Farah dried a very wet shoe near the window, but now it was gone. Maybe it's got something to do with the murder case," she explained in a grave voice.

The inspector shook his head in annoyance. His laziness made him come to the easy conclusion. "I know your feelings as a mother, but your daughter committed suicide. Only her footprints were visible."

"But…" Mrs. Tornberg protested, flabbergasted at the treatment she was getting.

"Inspector!" someone yelled form the door.

"What?" the aging inspector spun around and saw Harry bursting through the door with the six others.

"Did I hear right, that her shoes were stolen? That's proof that she didn't kill herself, but was murdered," Harry said with precision.

Harry's abrupt interruption enraged the inspector. "You. You're the kid who likes to turn the facts around, what do you want this time!"

Harry was direct to the point. "To tell you that this matter should be handled in a proper way," he stated. The inspector narrowed his eyes, angered at being called incompetent, but Harry continued. "You see, the footprints on the snow that day weren't left by Farah but the killer himself."

"What? That's absurd!" the inspector leered.

"Not at all. On each of the seven mornings before Christmas the snow falls and the rain follows an hour later. The killer knows this and invited Farah to the school to kill her. Afterward the killer wore Farah's shoes and walked backward to leave the field. That's why only Farah's footprints were found. And that's why the stolen shoes have a rational explanation. Had the footprints been investigated they would probably have been found to not have been Farah's. But the rain came later and nobody investigated the footprints, so we will never know. Which is what the killer wanted." Harry said the last bit with a small growl.

Everyone in the room was in awe of Harry's deduction, especially the two girls. The detective shook his head in annoyance again and asked.

"So the footprints were a ploy to trick us into thinking Ms. Tornberg killed herself?"

Harry raised a brow. "Isn't finding the evidence your job?" he quipped.

The inspector was taken aback and frantically ordered his men to do something. Alin and Corbin came to Harry's side and gave him the most painful pat-on-the-back that Harry ever felt.

"You're so cool, like a real detective!" Alin squealed, patting Harry numerous times.

"Bloody damn, really out of my thoughts, you aren't that stupid!" Corbin said in astonishment. Harry just quietly whined in pain. Hermione on the other hand was awfully quiet.

Harry went on to sign the guest book on the reception table, while cursing his friends for taking a chance to hurt him. Just when he was about to scribble, his eyes found a name.

'Gavin L.P'

Harry alarmingly scanned right and left, he carefully looked at every single person in the room.

"Is he here, right now?"