Criminal Continuum: Teen Criminal Investigation Unit - Ch 2

An Aunt in the Kitchen

Before they headed off to do their homework, they each grabbed a glass of ice tea, and then they made their way down the wooden stairway to the basement. The sound of creaking wood always reminds them of being small children and being afraid that they might run into some sort of monster in the cool darkness of the unlit basement’s corners. The remodeled basement is now a large recreation room, which the Dance children also use for a library and for a quiet place for doing homework.

Robert started working on his history assignment excitedly. He is studying about the Vikings of Scandinavia, Scandinavia is comprised of the countries called Sweden, Norway and Denmark and, with some historical sources, can additionally include the Nordic countries of Iceland, Finland and the Faeroe Islands. He is fascinated by the Viking culture and their countries.

Rebecca had a lot to do with her assignment regarding computer languages. She was researching the development of different languages used to write computer programs, graphics, mathematical calculations and numerous other topics related to the computers in use today. It fascinates her and she loves digging in deeper to learn as much as she can about computers. Today’s agenda was reading about one of the oldest programming languages, COBOL, which is still in use today.

Kelly, being a straight ‘A’ student, was usually the first to complete her homework, finally delving into whatever current book she was reading with the fervor a hungry wolf has when devouring its prey.

After what felt like ages of quiet intensity of academic study, the silence in the basement melted away and the room came alive again.

“I’m about finished with my homework,” exclaimed Robert. “Maybe we can all do some more brainstorming later about our informal investigation.”

“Remember, I have ballet class tonight at 6 p.m.” said Kelly, “I sure hope mom and dad are home to take me.”

Rebecca said, “I think I heard dad say this morning at breakfast that he may have to work late tonight. He is working on a special high profile case in San Francisco’s Mission district.”

Their father, Jonothan, often works late during the week.

“I’ll call Aunt Sara to see if she has heard anything from mom yet,” responded Rebecca, “She or mom is usually here by now.”

“See if Uncle Kevin needs me to help him this weekend, ok?” asked Robert.

“Sure.”

The kids usually avoided calling their mom’s cell phone because she, a prosecuting attorney, may be in court with her phone off anyway.

While Rebecca conversed with her aunt over the phone, her mother entered the kitchen.

“I didn’t hear you come in, mom. Did you have a good day at work?”

“Of course I did. I won another case!”

Aunt Sara interrupted Becca, “Let me talk to Felicity, please, Becca.”

“OK.”

“Aunt Sara wants to talk to you, oh yeah, can you ask her if Uncle Kevin needs Rob to work with him this weekend, OK, mom?”

“Sure, dear. I will.”

Before Rebecca returned to the basement, her mom informed her, “Uncle Kevin is off this weekend, so he will not need Rob to work. Your aunt will be here about 5:30 p.m. so I will drive Kelly to her ballet lesson.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“And your father will be home a bit late tonight.”

“OK. Got it.”

As Rebecca returns, Kelly asked, “So, any news?”

“Aunt Sara is coming around 5:30 tonight and Uncle Kevin won’t need you to work this weekend, Rob.”

“Thanks,” they both respond simultaneously.

As soon as the three finished their studies, they began talking about the computer theft and pooled their ideas together.

“OK,” said Robert. “We know that someone took computers from our school classroom over the weekend. We also know that the cleaners were there Friday evening and that the grass was mowed over the weekend.”

“And,” Rebecca added,  “the alarm for that section of the school was also off. The cleaners always set the alarm before they leave each night.”

“The standard FBI formula of ‘Why? + How? = Who?’ may be a bit of a challenge for us since we may not have access to all the information we need,” interjected Kelly.

“Yes,” said Robert. “Why they did it and how it was done can definitely lead to finding out who was responsible, or at least a few suspects to consider, anyway. But, we don’t have access to any criminal records to check along those avenues.”

“We’ll just have to work with what we have it appears,” said Rebecca.

“I’m sure that if the police found some good clues and question any witnesses they will be able to solve this fairly quickly,” said Kelly.

The trio talked for quite some time discussing the possibility that someone associated with either the cleaning staff, or the groundskeeper who mowed the lawn, may have committed the crime. Kelly felt that if it were the groundskeeper, that person would have called in sick and not mowed the lawn at all; that way they would have established a sort of alibi for themselves.

“Dinner,” shouted mom down the basement stairs. “It is almost 5 p.m.”

“What’s for dinner tonight, mom?” questioned Kelly.

“Baked potatoes with gravy, green beans and, of course, roast beef.”

“Yummy.”

As they sat down for dinner, Kelly said, “I wish dad was home for dinner.”

“I do too,” responded their mother.

Mr. Dance was usually home by dinnertime unless there was a special case he was working on. The family enjoyed eating dinner together and discussing the events of the day.

“So, mom,” addressed Rebecca. “You mentioned that you won another case in court today.”

“Yes, dear, it was a criminal negligence case involving an owner of an apartment complex in Alameda. The owner will now have to repair a number of things wrong with the building and reimburse tenants for some of the services they did not receive, but should have.”

“That’s good,” said Robert. “I hope everything goes well for the renters.”

“How was your day at school, Kell,” asked mom.

“Great,” answered Kelly. “We are learning about some country histories in history class and happen to be studying Scandinavia.”

“Me too!” exclaimed Robert, “We are studying about the Vikings from that region.”

“It’s a small world, they say,” their mom replied.

“We had to skip computer lab today and went instead to a study period in the library since someone had stolen the school computers out of our computer lab classroom,” complained Rebecca.

“Stolen computers?” questioned mom.

“Yes. Someone broke into the school over the weekend and took all of the computers. I sure hope we get them back,” continued Rebecca.

The doorbell’s ring interrupted the lively conversation. “I’ll get it,” Kelly said, as she ran to open the door.

“Hi, Aunt Sara, come in.”

“Thank you, Kell.”

“We just finished dinner and everyone is still at the table.”

The two entered the dining room just as Kelly’s two older siblings were gathering up the dishes and leftovers.

“We should be back about 7:15, Sara,” Mrs. Dance said.

“OK, I’ll try to keep us all out of trouble.”

The two women got a bit of a laugh out of that.

“Kell, run up and grab your ballet things and meet me in the car,” her mom said.

“OK.”

Once Mrs. Dance and Kelly drove off, Sara helped the twins with tidying up the dining room and kitchen. When they finished, they settled into the living room.

“I saw on the news that your school was broken into and some computers were stolen,” commented Aunt Sara.

“Yes, they took them all,” replied Rebecca.

“The police are investigating the crime now,” added Robert.

“I sure hope they get to the bottom of this soon,” responded Sara. “We actually have quite a peaceful community here. I’d sure hate to see that change.”

Mr. Dance arrived home much sooner than anyone expected and joined the family in the living room. “So, your school has been hit and some computers stolen.”

“How did you know already, dad?” replied Robert.

“Word on the street gets out fast. You’ve heard the saying that ‘the walls have ears,’ haven’t you?”

“Yes,” said Rebecca, “and I wish our schools walls also had eyes. Then we would know who took the computers.”

“You sure would,” stated her dad.

“Would you like some dinner, Jonothan?” asked Sara.

“Oh, I ate a late lunch, thank you, but I may have a snack later on. I’ll just run and change clothes. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Mr. Dance sometimes used old-fashioned sayings like that. However, to parents it probably seems only like yesterday when people said things that way.

“What’s a ‘jiffy’ anyway?” asked Rebecca.

“Peanut butter,” answered Robert.

The twins and Aunt Sara laughed.

Kelly talked to Lindsey Connors during her ballet practice as they prepared for class. They talked about ballet, school and other girl things.

“Are you related to a police cadet named Jim Connors?” questioned Kelly.

“Yes, he is my brother,” answered Lindsey.

“My older brother and sister met him today at their school. He was there investigating the theft of some school computers.”

“He is here with me tonight. Sometimes he brings me to ballet practice.”

“Maybe we can talk to him during our break,” suggested Kelly.

“Sure, that would be great.”

The ballet dancers worked on some of their basic moves like the ‘Cambre’ where they bend from the waist to the side or the back, the ‘Penche’ for leaning forward and the ‘Fondu’ that involved lowering their bodies by bending at the knees. After about a half an hour, the dancers took a short break, so the two girls went to visit with Lindsey’s brother, Jim.

“Jim,” said Lindsey to her brother. “This is my friend, Kelly. She said you met her older brother and sister today at the high school where the computers were stolen.”

“Really?” he questioned. “They must have been the ones I talked to who were sitting on the lawn.”

“My brother and sister are twins,” Kelly said. “Fraternal twins, so they are not exactly identical.”

“I thought they looked alike,” Jim commented. “The whole group of kids was very inquisitive and seemed exceptionally intelligent. It’s good to see some high school students who are sharp and energetic. When you get home you can inform them that we may have a suspect.”

“Wow! Really?” exclaimed Kelly.

“I didn’t know that,” replied Lindsey.

“In fact,” Jim continued, “we interviewed the groundskeeper who mowed the lawn and that led to some very interesting information. I cannot say much now, but possibly, tomorrow we may have this case wrapped up. It must have been your sister who mentioned that the grass was cut over the weekend.”

“Her name is Rebecca and my brother’s name is Robert.”

When the dance instructor called for the dancers to return for some more practice time, Lindsey said quickly, “Got to go.”

“Bye,” said Kelly and Lindsey to Jim.

The group assembled for the second part of their lessons while the instructor made an announcement, “I will be choosing a few of you to perform a ‘Variation’ in our next performance. Next week, or the week after, I will let you know who I choose.”

A ‘Variation’ is a solo performance done during certain scenes in many classical ballets. Some of the girls seemed very excited while others looked like they wish they could hide somewhere for a decade or two.

The dancers practiced for another half hour before it was time to go home. The girls introduced Kelly’s mom, Felicity, to Lindsey’s brother, Jim, before exiting to go home.

As they walked to their car, Mrs. Dance said to Kelly unexpectedly, “Let’s stop for an ice cream on the way home.”

“OK!” responded Kelly with the excitement of a child who was ready to open a Christmas present.

Back at the Dance house, Mr. Dance and the twins were enjoying an evening of conversation on the living room couch. Sometimes they liked to read and other times they just watched some of the popular TV crime shows. Aunt Sara returned to her home shortly after fixing some coffee for their father.

The Dance family loved living in Berkeley because there was so much to see and do. Berkeley has the university, U. C. Berkeley, the oldest campus of California's University system, the Berkeley Marina, the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, historic People's Park, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Space Sciences Laboratory, just to mention a few. They also enjoyed visiting the stores on Telegraph Avenue near the U. C. campus. One can even take the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to various locations all around the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

“Hello, everyone,” mom greeted as she and Kelly entered the house.

The pair heard a number of responses as they made their way to the living room.

“I met Jim Connors, the police cadet you told me about,” Kelly told her siblings. “He sometimes takes his sister to ballet practice.”

“Did you get to talk with him at all?” questioned Rebecca.

“And do you have any interesting info for us to hear?” asked Robert.

“Yes,” responded Kelly. “He said they interviewed the groundskeeper who cut the grass over the weekend and now they have more information, which he couldn’t tell us, but they may be able to solve this case soon.”

“That’s great,” replied Rebecca.

Mr. Dance said, “It sounds like this investigation is well underway and like that cadet stays very well informed. That’s a good sign for a new officer, to have an excitement and interest in his or her assignments.”

“It is also nice that he takes his sister to ballet practice sometimes,” Kelly said with a hint in her voice. “Isn’t it dad?”

With a bit of a chuckle in his voice, Mr. Dance replied, “It sure is.”

The twins did not say a word. Of course, neither of them could drive a car, which meant they would have to take a bus or taxi to take Kelly to her practices… maybe one day they will join her at ballet practice, now that they know police cadet Jim Connors may be there.

“Time went by so fast tonight,” Kelly complained.

Soon the Dance children were off to bed. Mr. and Mrs. Dance were enjoying some quiet time together in the living room talking about their day, the kids and anything else that suited them.

Next Chapter

Chapter Three: Diaries & Destinies