(approx. 2,890 words)

“Class, hand in your journal entries . . .” Mrs. Chin stopped talking. “Megan, are you all right?”

Megan swayed in her chair while her twin, Tiffany, wondered why Meggie was so pale and holding her tummy. Meggie slid off her chair onto the floor. Tiffany and Mrs. Chin rushed toward her. Kneeling on the journal Meggie had swept to the ground, Tiffany scarcely noticed the words, The scariest thing that hapened on Haloween last night was the party at our house.

. . .

In the stuffy hospital room, Tiffany’s mom assured Tiffany that Meggie would be fine.

“Did you eat any Halloween candy today?” Mom asked.

“No, why?”

Mom turned to Tiffany’s stepdad whose bald head had gone shiny. How come he looked so worried?

“The doctor told us that Meggie’s been poisoned with arsenic,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a metal that can be either a liquid or a powder, but it has no smell or taste.”

“Can you die from it?” Even to Tiffany, her voice sounded small.

Avery loosened his tie. “Yes, if you swallow too much but like your mom said, Meggie will be okay.”

Poor Meggie. Tiffany looked at her sleeping sister.

“Tiffy, did anyone give Meggie candy this morning?” Mom asked.

“Don’t think so.” 

Tiffany’s father charged into the room. “Hey, sweetheart.” He gave her a big hug. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

After he kissed Meggie’s forehead, Dad turned to Mom. “How’d this happen?” 

Mom shook her head and her eyes filled with tears. “I checked every piece of candy.”

“Great job,” Dad muttered. “I’m gonna see my lawyer.”

“Go ahead. Then I’ll tell the cops about the fight you and Meggie had on Saturday.” Mom’s silver bracelets jangled as she pointed at him. “The whole neighborhood heard her yell that she didn’t want to see you again.”

“She was just mad ‘cause I wouldn’t buy her a doll.”

“What’d you do, Rick?” Avery remarked. “Slip her tainted candy to teach her a lesson?”

“Shut it, baldy.”

“Dad didn’t give her anything,” Tiffany said. “I was there the whole time.” Would they ever stop fighting?

“Maybe your sister spiked the candy,” Dad said to Avery. “I hear she hates kids.”

Tiffany spotted a lady in the doorway, but her parents and Avery were too busy arguing to notice.

The woman smiled at Tiffany, then strolled into the room and flashed a fancy badge at the adults who suddenly grew quiet. “I’m Detective Miles.”

“Rick Virta. I’m the twins’ dad, and I wanna know who tried to kill my little girl.”

“We haven’t determined how Megan ingested the arsenic,” the detective answered. “It can be found in all sorts of things. Old paint and wallpaper, cigarette smoke, drinking water, meats, pesticides.”

“Our house is only three years old and we don’t smoke or use pesticides.” Mom held out her hand. “I’m Colette and this is my husband, Avery. Just so you know, Rick smokes.”

The detective opened a notebook. “Had Meggie been feeling ill before today?”

“Meggie’s always complaining about her stomach,” Mom replied. “She has so many allergies and food sensitivities that I can barely keep them straight.”

“She never feels good on Monday,” Tiffany added. “And she hates school.”

Tiffany bit her lower lip as the detective turned to her. “You must be Meggie’s sister.”

“The oldest by fifteen minutes,” Mom said. “And definitely the mature one. Wants to be a writer. Though with a brain like hers she should be thinking about medical school.”

“My girls tell me that lots of strangers come to their house,” Dad said. “I also know that Colette and Avery threw a Halloween party last night. Anyone could have slipped Meggie poisoned candy.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Avery fiddled with his tie as he looked at the detective. “My sister and I operate a financial consulting business from my home. Our clients don’t know the children.”

“And why would anyone want to harm a friendly, outgoing girl like Meggie?” Mom asked.

Tiffany snorted, then blushed when she saw the adults’ stares.

“When I was ten, my younger brother was a huge pain,” Detective Miles said as she strolled closer to Tiffany. “Do you know if anyone at school was angry with Meggie?”

Finally someone who was willing to listen. “A couple of kids were mad at her for spying on them.”

“What about neighbors?” the detective asked. “Do any of them have issues with her?”

“That crazy nut, Duane Everson, was furious when Meggie tore a couple of stupid birds from his trees,” Mom replied. 

“He tore birds from his trees?” The detective’s eyebrows rose in puzzlement.

“Duane loves birds,” Tiffany explained. “But cats kept killing the real ones so he took the feeders down and made cardboard birds to hang. Duane’s good at drawing.”

“Oh!” Mom covered her cheeks. “We trick-or-treated there last night. He gave the girls a fistful of candy.”

“What kind of candy?” Detective Miles asked.

“Little chocolate balls wrapped in shiny orange paper,” Tiffany answered. “Chewy on the inside. I still have some.”

“Nice neighborhood you got there,” Dad said.

“And how many people in your trailer park have criminal records, besides you?” Mom asked.

Dad ignored her and turned to the detective. “I gotta go back to work.” He stroked Meggie’s face, then gave Tiffany another hug.

“Mr. Virta, I’ll need your phone and work numbers,” Detective Miles said.

After Dad gave them and left, the detective turned to Tiffany. “Do you know if Meggie ate any candy on her way to school this morning?”

“She was chewing something, but I don’t know what it was.”

“Do you think Meggie still has any of Mr. Everson’s candies?”

“Don’t know, but Aunt Bonnie might. She took some of Meggie’s to punish her for snooping in Aunt Bonnie’s and Avery’s office last night.”

Detective Miles turned to Avery. “I need to know if your sister has any of those candies left.”

“I’ll call her.” He pulled out his cell phone.

While Mom straightened Meggie’s blanket, Detective Miles moved closer to Tiffany.

“Would your sister eat a piece of candy off the ground?”

“Totally. A candy fell out of her mouth while she was feeding our cat this morning. If Mom hadn’t told her to put it in the garbage, she would have eaten it.”

“Think she did anyway?”

Tiffany whispered, “Meggie always does what she wants. Gets away with it too.”

Detective Miles gave her a sympathetic smile. “The younger ones always do.”

. . .

In her bedroom, Tiffany re-read the first page of her brand new short story, “The Mysterious Poisoning of the Butt-head Spy”. This would be way better than real life. Real life, Tiffany had discovered, was adults taking a kid’s candy away and whispering behind her back. It was also sisters who lied. Meggie told Mom she hadn’t eaten anything on her way to school even though she had. Last week, Mom had warned Meggie that if she did any more bad things for the rest of October there’d be no TV, video, or computer games in November.

Tiffany looked at the paragraph she’d just written.

Had their shy neighbur, Devon, really put arsenic in Halloween candy? When the police showed up at his house, Devon ran away. Now everyone wondered if he’d poisoned that nosy butt-head, Muffin.

The doorbell rang. Tiffany headed downstairs as Avery and Detective Miles went into the kitchen. Tiffany started to follow them when Aunt Bonnie barged out.

“Can’t talk now, Detective,” Bonnie said, hurrying to the door. “I have an appointment.”

“But I’ve been trying to reach you for two days,” the detective said, trying to catch up with her. “I want to know about the candies you took from Megan Sunday night.”

Tiffany’s cheeks flushed. Was Aunt Bonnie a suspect? Her aunt might not like kids, but she thought it cool that Tiffany wanted to be a writer.

“I took a lot of candies,” Bonnie said. “Ate all of them and I didn’t poison Meggie. If you have more questions, talk to my lawyer.” She flung the door open and rushed outside.

“Tiffy, feed the cat, please,” Mom said from behind Detective Miles.

While Tiffany poured food into a bowl on the sundeck, Detective Miles joined her and looked at the backyard. “You girls have an awesome playhouse.”

Tiffany glanced at the little building with the slanted roof and shutters around the window. 

“Avery made it. He likes building stuff. Made this deck too.”

“Bet you spend a lot of time there.”

“Nah, Meggie took it over. Put all her junk inside.”

Mom opened the door. “Tiffy, hurry up. You’ll be late for school.”

“I can drive her, if you like, Mrs. Harvey. I want to talk to Meggie’s teacher anyway.”

“I appreciate that, thanks.” The bells on Mom’s earrings tinkled. “And I still think that nut Duane Everson’s behind this.”

“He’s not very social,” Avery added as he joined Mom. 

“You built a beautiful deck and playhouse, Mr. Harvey,” Detective Miles said.

“Thanks. Got a great deal on wood.”

“Would you mind if we checked your house for contaminants? We’ll be doing the same at Megan’s school.”

“Go ahead, but Colette’s right. Poison’s in those candies.” Avery ran his hand over his bald head. “I mean, it’s too coincidental that Meggie got sick the day after Halloween, don’t ya think?”

“Let’s see where the evidence takes us, shall we?” 

. . .

“I want everyone to work on your journals,” Mrs. Chin said.

After the ambulance took Meggie away last week, Mrs. Chin gave Meggie’s journal and backpack to Tiffany. Yesterday, she asked Tiffany to bring in any homework Meggie had finished. There wasn’t much. Since Tiffany had already written her latest entry, she’d decided to see if Meggie had finished last week’s journal assignment. They’d had to write about the scariest thing that happened on Halloween.

Tiffany started to read Meggie’s entry, tempted to fix her lousy spelling, but it’d take forever. As she read the last lines of the journal her mouth fell open. Meggie had written about getting caught hiding in Avery’s office when she’d tried to sneak jelly beans from the jar Aunt Bonnie kept on her desk. Meggie had been disappointed that she hadn’t gotten any jelly beans from trick-or-treating. She’d written, Aunt Bonnie said she’d break my  arm if I told anyone what she’d herd. But journals don’t count. And I herd Bonnie tell someone on the phone that she’d get the cocane for him right away.

. . .

Tiffany’s pen hovered over her short story as she thought about what she’d told Detective Miles this afternoon. Part of her wished she hadn’t told Mom and Avery about Meggie’s journal ’cause they were fighting a lot now, and Aunt Bonnie had apparently disappeared. Tiffany tried to concentrate on her story.

Detective Marvel had a new suspect. The butt-head spy, Muffin, said that her mean aunt, Brutal Bertha had threatened to break her arm if she told anyone what she’d overheard Bertha say on the phone. It didn’t take long for the detective to learn that Bertha was selling drugs at her hairdressing salon. Now Brutal had vanished and the police were looking for her.

Tiffany heard Avery shouting downstairs.

“Then use your bloody search warrant!” he yelled. “You won’t find anything!”

Tiffany had learned about search warrants on TV. It meant that the police had permission to search their house. But what were they looking for? Poisoned candy? Drugs? Worry flip-flopped in her stomach. She tiptoed out of her bedroom and sat at the top of the staircase.

Seconds later, Avery shouted, “That’s not mine!”

“You’d better come with us, Mr. Harvey,” Detective Miles said.

Next, Mom’s voice. “I’m gonna kill Bonnie!”

Tiffany ran to the phone in Mom’s bedroom and dialed her father’s number. “Dad, the police are here and they found something in Avery’s office, and they’re taking him away!”

“Be right there.”

Tiffany crept downstairs, wishing she could do something to help Mom and Avery.

“I wouldn’t poison Meggie!” Avery said. “What kind of monster do you think I am?”

“Calm down, Mr. Harvey. I’m not accusing you.”

“You just found drugs in my office. How am I supposed to react?”

Tiffany swallowed back her fear. Was Avery going to jail because of what she’d said? When Mom blinked back tears, Tiffany couldn’t help doing the same.

“Tiffy,” Mom said, “wait in your room, honey.”

“But I want to h-help.” A tear trickled down her cheek.

“Actually, Mrs. Harvey, I could use Tiffany’s assistance with some computer research on arsenic, if you and she agree.”

Mom dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “I don’t see the point, but whatever.”

Detective Miles turned to Tiffany. “My daughter’s about your age and her class uses a couple of good websites to research stuff. Do you?”

“Sure.” Tiffany smiled, grateful for the chance to do something useful.

The detective started to explain why she wanted Tiffany to research arsenic when a loud rap on the door distracted everyone.

Tiffany hurried to answer it. “Dad!”

“Hey, sweetie.” He gave her a quick hug.

“What are you doing here?” Mom asked.

“I called him,” Tiffany said. “Thought you’d want to go with Avery to the police station.”

“That’s the man you should arrest!” Avery pointed at Dad. “He’s violent. Been arrested for assault twice.”

Detective Miles’ cell phone rang. She stared at Avery while she listened to the caller. “Good. Bring her in.” The detective hung up. “We have your sister.”

Avery nodded. “Now we can sort out this mess.”

“She says you’re the dealer,” the detective replied.

. . .

Tiffany sat at Avery’s computer, ready to start research for Detective Miles. Luckily, Avery was back home from the police station and taking a nap, so Mom said she could use his computer. Tiffany wasn’t sure why she’d been asked to look up everything arsenic was used for, but the detective said she’d understand once she started reading. Fifteen minutes later, Tiffany had her answer.

“Avery poisoned Meggie,” Tiffany mumbled. “It was his fault.”

                                              . . . 

Detective Marvel had uncovered the truth. Brutal Bertha killed her enemies at a Halloween party by giving them candies and drinks with arsenic in them. Since Brutal didn’t want these guys dying in her office and messing up the place, she asked them to help her set up fireworks in the backyard. No one knew that Muffin wanted even more treats than she’d already gotten from trick-or-treating. She’d snuck into Brutal’s office and took what was left of the poisoned candies. By the time Brutal’s enemies were collapsing on the lawn, Muffin was doing the same in Brutal’s office. Muffin’s Mom was right all along. Too many candies are bad for ya.

Tiffany smiled. Her story would need more blood, some talking and maybe a chase scene, but at least it was finished. Her attention drifted to the flower bouquets and toy bears Meggie had brought home from the hospital. Detective Miles would be here soon to tell Mom and Avery about their research. When Mom found out what Avery had done, she’d get mad, but at least Aunt Bonnie had confessed that Avery hadn’t known about her drug deals.

The doorbell rang and then Tiffany heard Mom and Detective Miles talking. Before she knew it, the detective was telling Mom and Avery that Meggie had gotten arsenic from their sundeck and playhouse.

“I don’t understand,” Mom said. “Meggie doesn’t eat wood, for pity sake, and why would arsenic be in it?”

Miles turned to Tiffany. “Would you like to explain? After all, your research helped prove my theory.”

Tiffany beamed. “Wood used to be treated with a chemical called chromated . . . chromated . . .”

“Copper arsenate,” Detective Miles added.

“Yeah, and it was made to keep fungus and bugs from destroying the wood,” Tiffany said. “But anyone who touched it got arsenic on their hands. If someone put their fingers in their mouth or ate something they’d found on the wood, like a really sticky candy,” she gave her mother a long look, “they could have gotten sick, especially if they’d done that kind of stuff a lot. Anyhow, no one’s supposed to sell that type of wood anymore.”

“We sampled your deck and playhouse,” Detective Miles said. “Put a rush on the tests and found high quantities of arsenic in the wood. “Yesterday, Megan admitted to eating the candy she’d dropped on the deck, though she didn’t want you to know, Mrs. Harvey. You see, without knowing it, Megan’s been ingesting tiny amounts over a long period of time probably from her playhouse. But as the doctor told you, it builds up in the body. That last little bit put her over the edge.”

Tiffany grinned. The truth at last!

Detective Miles turned to Avery. “I talked to the store manager you bought the wood from. The product was taken off the market four years ago, but I guess the manager decided to make a few bucks.”

Mom smacked Avery’s arm. “You and your cheap deals. How could you be so stupid?”

“You didn’t know either!” He rubbed his arm. “All this over a bunch of old wood and some candy.” 

And about adults who accuse others without knowing the facts, Tiffany thought. Talk about scary.

THE END