“Where did Mr. Frogs go?”
Lily and Tom looked at each other.
“I tied him a red ribbon and let him go,” Lily said. She kept her little hands in the pockets of her blue and white dress.
“And you, Tom?”
“I didn't touch him at all. The warts will appear from them and then I will have to go to the hospital, where I will have painful injections. That's what my mother says.”
The children looked around. The small lake, called Cooler, reminded them of a huge mirror, where fish sometimes jump out and greet them. The shore was overgrown with reeds on the sides and amphibians settled there. They all knelt in the wet ground, looking for their new friend.
“Mr. Frogs?”
Tom walked away from the lake and searched in the grass. His brand-new sneakers were wet and squeaky.
“Ben! Ben! I found it!”.
They approached Tom. He looked at the ground and shrugged.
“He seems to have fallen asleep.”
“Oh, no, no! Mr. Frogs! He's not sleeping, Tom. He's dead!” screamed Lily.
“He was killed,” Ben said, examining the frog's body.
***
Detective Ben, who has been working on his own for a long time (after the third grade), decided to find Mr. Frog's killer. Immediately, his faithful friends Lily and Tom became suspects.
“I have a few questions for you.”
Ben seated them on two rocks surrounded by a sea of green grass.
“Lily, tell me where you were between 12 and 13 o'clock in the afternoon?”.
“With you and Tom. You know that perfectly well, Ben, don't be such a jerk.”
“Don't offend the law, Lily Rose Gaun. I'll tell your mom!”
“Ah! That is not law at all! It's dishonest!”
“The plan is simple, my darling. You are going to answer my questions, and maybe I'll even let you go home for dinner. Don't you want to answer normally because you're hiding something?”
Lily's face was the color of the same ribbon that now bound around the little body of the dead frog.
When I finished with his ribbon, I ... went to pick flowers."
“What flowers?”
“Dandelions”.
“And, where are they?”
Lily looked down at her empty hands.
“It turned out I couldn't make a wreath and threw them away.”
Ben had not let Lily go home yet, he wanted to compare her testimony with another suspect. He took Tom away (like on TV) and asked the same question.
“Ben, Detective Ben, I was with you. We were throwing rocks into the lake. You also said I had a cool shot.”
“But after that I didn't see you. And you have a motive.”
“What? Which one?”
“You are afraid of frogs. And hate them as well. You went with us because you like suspect number one. Am I right?”.
Tom's ears turned red.
“Slander! It's all a lie! To the last word! Mr. Frogs was my friend, and if I didn't want to touch him it didn't mean I killed him. My mum said I’m a good boy.”
Ben did not know what to say. Tom really cannot say “boo” to a goose. This interrogation put him in a difficult position. He had no witnesses, no one could examine the frog's body, because they were afraid to die as well. All Detective Ben had was believing that his friends couldn't do that to a poor animal.
But in all the movies that Ben saw, the killer was found. Whether it's a murdered man's wife, a best friend or just a psychopath. There were only three of them on the lake.
“Lily, Tom, I've made a decision. After analyzing the evidence, your words, and your motives, I can say one thing. It was Tom.”
“What? Are you crazy?”.
“You have the motive, the strength and the desire. Every good detective knows what that means.”
“Oh my God, Tom, is that true? Why did you dislike Mr. Frog so much?” said Lily. She stood with her eyes wide open and ran her hands over the hem of her dress.
“That's not true! He is not even a detective, Lily. He's just ... jealous! He likes you too. I'm sure he killed the poor frog, but he just doesn't want to confess!”
They were looking at Ben now. He just clapped his hands and ran away.
“So, it was him all the time?” Lily asked.
“Yes. Let's go home, dinner is coming soon. My mother said she would make me some fruit jelly.”
The children followed Ben. Soon their voices died down. Mr. Frogs opened his huge eyes, freed himself from the ribbon, and jumped into the water.
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