Suspect Sophie

Soety: Witness #1

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"There's rumors going around, people saying you know what went do last night."

I camly looked across the table at the older woman, Merideth, who I liked to call Meri. I tried to keep my cool.

"Yeah," I replied as I chewed on one end of a tookpick. "I know what happend."

We sat in a small diner with dirty windows. The waiter, Dean, colltected our empty breakfast dishes.

"Soety," Meri sighed. "Are you gonna tell me or what?"

"Maybe or maybe not."

She eyed me closely.

I knew it wasn't a good idea to toy with her, but I couldn't seem to resist the urge.

Merideth Hart, she's the chief of police around here. She keeps everything in order. If anything goes down, she's, usually, the first to know about it. But not this time. I know what happend because I was there, I witnessed the whole thing.

"What's it gonna take to make you talk?" Meri asked.

"A little bit of this, and a little bit of that." I smiled.

"Seriously, Soety."

"Seriously?...alright. I had to pick up some odd jobs to make ends meet, I want you to find someone to do them for me and I still get the money for the labor."

I leaned back in my chair as she thought over my terms of agreement.

"Okay," She told me. "Consider it done. Now spill."

I knew I could hold Meri to her word. She's never let me down once that I can remember.

"Where do you want me to start?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"From the beginning."

"I was walking around, minding my own business, you know? Then I heard loud noises. I turn and see Sophie and Mr. Boggs. They were fighting, like they always do. I started to approch them, but then they spilt and ran in two different directions. So I walked on. I thought nothing of it. Sophie and Mr. Boggs were always fighting one day, then the next they're as nice as pie to each other later that same day. So, a couple days ago I got bored and decided to take another walk. That's when I saw it happen. No one else was around, they were all out and about doing their own thing, you know. No one else saw it happen. But I did, I saw it all."

"So what did you see?" Meri asked desperately.

"I saw Sophie kill Mr. Boggs."

"What?"

"I saw Sophie kill Mr. Boggs." I shook my head slowly for the dramatic affect. "She was scratching at him like there was no tomorrow. Poor Mr. Boggs got himself torn apart limb from limb. It was a sad sight to see on such a lovely day."

Meri sat back with her mouth hanging open.

"Sophie?" She asked.

"Yep, Sophie."

"But she is such a good...."

"That's how they all start out." I said. "Don't they?"

"I guess so."

"Well, I'm guessing I'm not needed anymore."

"Thank you Soety."

"No, thank you. And if you need anymore info, find a guy named Rian. He probably knows more than I do."

"Alright."

---

Rian: Witness #2

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I looked up from my desk as a woman walked in.

"Rian?" She asked. It was Meri.

"Yeah. What do you want?"

"Soety told me I should find you if I wanted some info on a murder case I'm working on. Do you know anything about the Mr. Boggs' incident?"

"I know he and his friend Sophie were fighting a couple of days ago."

"How do you know that?"

" They're right next door to me, I can hear everthing that goes on."

"Do you know what they were fighting about?"

"I'm not sure, but the majority of the time they were always fighting over Ian, you know of Ian, right?"

"Yes, he's the main reason I'm trying to find out what really happened. Ian is in a terrible state at the moment. He has lost a loved one."

"I understand." I nodded my head. Mr. Boggs and I had been good friends.

"Do you know anything else that might help me?"

"Nope, sorry."

"That's alright. Thank you for your time."

"No problem."

---

Merideth:

---

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen, Soety was still there with Dean. He had her trapped in a head lock.

"Dean, let go of your sister."

"She bit me mom."

"I said let her go."

He released her reluctantly.

I could hear the piter-pater of little feet coming down the steps, walking through the hall and stop at the enterance of the kitchen. There stood little Ian. At his feet stood a big fat yellow tabby cat.

"Mommy, did you find out what happened to Mr. Boggs?" He asked, his brown eyes were red from crying and his face was tearstained.

"I think Mr. Boggs ran away sweetie." I lied.

He looked down at his feet, then at the cat. The cat looked back up at him with big golden eyes.

"Come on Sophie," He said picking up the cat. "Let's go back to my room."

As he left, I turned to the other two kids.

"What did Rian say?" Dean asked.

"He said he heard Sophie and Mr. Boggs fighting, but he didn't do anything about it. All this week he has been shut away in his room at his desk studying for exams."

"You didn't tell Ian the truth." Soety said.

"How am I to tell a five year old boy that his cat killed his mouse?"