“I hate Founding Day,” I groaned, as I handed out the 400th ring of the day.

“Five hours down, five to go,” Mavis said enthusiastically.

I sighed and went back to sit on my stool behind the booth. I pulled out my Death on the Nile and opened it up to the page that I had folded. I’ve read this book so many times but every time I read it, I always learn something new.

“Felicity!” I heard Adrian yell from the front of the booth. “We need you out here!” I sighed. put my book down, and trudged to the front of the booth.

“We’re running out of prizes,” Mavis said. “Can you go get the rest from the back of your truck?” I nodded as I watched Adrian hand out the last red ring to the little girl who happily grabbed it and ran off to show her mother.

“Hurry up, Felicity. Kids are going to start lining up,” exclaimed Mavis. I threw on my sweatshirt and ran off to grab the prizes.

I ran through the carnival, watching the little children having the time of their lives and filling up their pockets with candies and toys. I made my way to the parking lot, and walked to where my red pickup truck was parked. I opened the trunk and grabbed the black garbage bag which contained the prizes.

As I was locking up my car, I accidently dropped my keys. I bent down to pick them up, and that's when it caught my eye. I saw the limp arm stretched across the dirt, totally motionless. I put my hand to my mouth in total shock. Was I hallucinating? Was this some sort of prank?

I stood completely still  for a few minutes, not knowing what was real and what was fake. I finally snapped back into reality and got the courage to walk around my car and examine the body. I gasped. There lay Jennifer Rivers, the most popular girl in school. Every girl wanted to hate her, but they couldn’t because she was so kind. She was the girl every guy fell head over heels for. I knelt down and looked at her pale face. I could see the fear and terror in her lifeless blue eyes. Her black hair swayed with the wind and her rosy cheeks turned red from the cold. That's when I noticed it--the pool of blood trickling out of her back, like a forever flowing river. There was no murder weapon to be seen. She must've been dead for about an hour. It looked as if she didn’t know what had hit her from behind. She must’ve been making her way to the carnival, but never made it. She was supposed to be running the face painting booth. I got on my knees and closed her eyelids, letting her go into a peaceful eternal sleep. I looked at her hands. I noticed that her nails had been recently painted red.

“Felicity?” some called from a distance. “Felicity! Where are you?” I recognized Adrian’s voice. He and Mavis came running to where my truck was parked.

“Where have you been?” Mavis cried. “We were so worried about you!” Then she too saw the limp body stretched across the ground. Mavis screamed. Adrian’s green eyes filled with terror and his red hair seemed to stand up on his head. His face turned so pale, so that not a single freckle was visible.

“Who is that?” cried Mavis.

“It’s Jennifer Rivers.” I relied.

“W-what happened?” uttered Mavis, still in total shock.  

“I found her like this,” I said. I walked around the body, looking for any forms of evidence, and that when I saw it--the small object in the woods reflecting the glow of the moon. It shimmered in the darkness, as I walked to pick it up. Laying in the middle of the forest was a small gold coin. A few feet from it lay another one. I walked to pick up the second coin. I looked for more, but there were none in sight.

I walked back to where Mavis and Adrian stood, both still in shock. “Guys, we have to look for clues or any kind of evidence.” I said. “Check her jacket or her pockets for anything that might be helpful.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” asked Mavis.

“Of course we should, but not just yet. The whole town is here and we can’t make this the center of attention.” I rummaged through Jennifer’s jacket pocket. I pulled out some lipstick and gum out of the right pocket. Then I looked in the left pocket. I felt something long and cylindrical. It was a pregnancy test. Was is Jennifer’s?

“That's it. I’m calling the cops,” said Adrian. He pulled out his phone and dialled the three-digit number. In a matter of minutes the area was encircled by flashing lights and caution tape being wrapped up around the perimeter of the parking lot.

The three of us went home with the case on our minds. I had to solve this case. I needed to know what had happened. It wasn’t a coincidence that I had just stumbled upon Jennifer’s body.

That night I pulled out a notepad and wrote down a few things that I had learned that night. I made a list of possible suspects and made a few notes about the gold coins and the pregnancy test. As I wrote, I turned on the radio. The reporter spoke of Ashwood’s bank, that had been broken into that night. 75,000 dollars were stolen. This had to be connected to Jennifer, I thought. I had found the money next to her body, and coincidently, a bank had been broken into. I put down my notepad, and climbed into bed. So many thoughts and questions were racing through my mind. Who could have killed Jennifer? Why did they kill her? What did the money have to do with this? Why did Jennifer have a pregnancy test?

The next morning, I met up with Adrian and Mavis to tell them what I had figured out.

“We have to go ask people questions if we want to solve this murder”.

Our first stop was to Amber Smith’s house, Jennifer’s best friend. We knocked on her front door, and she answered. We told her that we were investigating Jennifer’s murder and we would like to speak to her. She wanted to the murder to be solved as much as we did, so she told us everything.

“I was always jealous of her,” she said. “I envied her. She was so beautiful and so kind. Everyone adored her. But she was my best friend. She always helped me, supported me, and told me everything. I would never kill her.”

“Where were you last night at the time of her death?” I asked.

I was running the face painting booth. Her shift was after mine, but she never showed. I couldn't leave the booth unattended. I was so worried. I called her, but she never responded.”

She paused. “A few days ago she found out something that changed her life. She was pregnant. She was absolutely terrified. She was too afraid to tell her parents. She told her boyfriend, Andrew. Yesterday morning she told me that they were planning to run away together, so that she would never have to face the wrath of her parents and could have a chance to start over. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to tell.” She started crying, and we were not longer able to understand her. We thanked her for her time, and left her sobbing at the kitchen counter.

Our next stop was to Charity Johnson’s house. She claimed to have been at the scene right before Jennifer’s murder.

“I was on my way to the carnival to cover my shift when I saw Jennifer in the parking lot,” she said. “She was talking to someone. I couldn’t see who it was. They were wearing a black jacket. It was dark and they were facing away from me. The person was tall and seemed to be telling something to Jennifer that made her very upset. The parking lot was empty. I don’t think they noticed me. I left before anything happened.”

After leaving Charity’s house, we got into my red pickup and drove to Andrew Kahn’s house. Andrew was Jennifer’s boyfriend. “Yes, Jennifer told me about her pregnancy. I was surprised at first, but I knew that I had to support her no matter what.”

“Where were you at the time of Jennifer’s death, last night?” I asked.

“I didn’t feel too well so I stayed home,” he replied. “I was supposed to be running the basketball booth, but I came down with a fever and ended up staying home.”

Next we went to Jennifer’s ex-boyfriend’s shop. He worked in a small barn, helping out his father fix the broken cars that people brought in.

“I always loved Jennifer,” he explained. “She was beautiful and kind and loving, but she had her secrets. She never opened up to anyone, but everyone opened up to her. I didn’t go to the carnival last night. My father was out of town, so I ran the auto shop last night.”

Mrs Rivers lived alone in a large house that she once shared with Jennifer.

“Jennifer was a good girl. She was kind hearted and selfless. She cared about her friends and her family, but she was also very secretive. She never told me where she was going or what she was up to. I think it usually had to do with that boyfriend of hers.”

Our last stop was to Andrew’s mother’s shop. It was a small little flower shop on the corner of a small street.

“I never saw a lot of Andrew. He was always out with Jennifer. They were almost always together. They went to the carnival together last night. Andrew didn’t return until this morning.”

Thinking about it, everyone's’ stories and alibis made sense. But Andrew’s alibi and his mother’s didn’t seem to add up. Andrew claimed that he was at home, sick, while his mother claimed that Andrew hadn’t been home the whole night. Andrew seemed like the most probable suspect for the murder of Jennifer Rivers.

We went back to Andrew’s house to speak to him once again. “Did you or did you not murder Jennifer Rivers?” I asked.

“Why would I murder Jennifer? I loved her.” He explained.

“Then why did you lie? You claimed that you were home, sick, while your mother claimed that you weren’t home all night. That you just came back this morning,” I questioned. Andrew stood there, unable to utter a word. “It all makes sense. You broke into the bank last night to steal the 75,000 dollars for you and Jennifer. You two were planning to run away together. Charity saw you two meeting in the parking lot last night. You were the last one to be with her when she was alive. After killing her, you went to hide the money, but you left a trail. But the question is, why did you kill her?”

“I was terrified of being a father!” He cried. “How could I ever face the shame and embarrassment of what I had done? If people found out that Jennifer was pregnant, my reputation would’ve been ruined forever. I murdered her to make sure the secret died with her. I never wanted to kill her. I loved her.”

The case was solved. The police came, handcuffing Andrew and ushering him into the police car. I saw the horror in Andrew’s eyes as he looked at me for the last time and climbed into the car. We watched as the police car pulled out of the driveway and drive into the red sunset.