It took me a bit longer to reach the end of the row of metal houses because of my ankle. Every time I placed my foot down, a shot of pain burst through my entire ankle. The medicine that Kari gave me was just good enough to help me forget about the pain for about five seconds. Oh well, I’d get a doctor to look at it later. I peeked around the corner and, sure enough, just like Kari said, there was a house surrounded by plastic flowers in the next row of metal houses. So that was Mimas’s house. Unfortunately, a security officer was guarding the entrance. I swore I couldn’t get anything done at all because of those darn security officers. What could I do to get into Mimas’s house without arousing suspicion? I looked down at the officer who was guarding the house; it was a woman, and she had her hair in a stiff, curled updo that she had probably sprayed to death this morning with an entire can of Stick and Stay hairspray. I watched as the woman reached down toward her right knee and rubbed it a little bit; after that, she placed her hands on her hips and tossed her head back. She stretched her back and rubbed her knee. She must have been either really tired or incredibly restless. A small smile crept up on my face. If she was tired or restless, I was sure she would love to be relieved from her post, and the only person who could do that was a fellow co-worker. Oh, this was a much better idea than trying to sneak in or fight my way in, which I really didn’t have the energy for right now. I swung around the corner and headed toward Mimas’s house. “You look like you need a break,” I called out.
The young woman’s face lit up after hearing the word “break.” She started to rub her right leg. “I’ve literally been here all day! I was supposed to get relief hours ago, but no one came.”
“Well, if you want, I can take over for you.”
The young woman pressed her hands to her chest. “Oh God bless you, sweetie.” She quickly looked me over. “I’d say ‘thank you,’ but I don’t even know your name. I’m sorry; I’m just really bad at remembering names.” She nervously chuckled.
“Oh, it’s okay. I just started working here not too long ago.” I extended my hand to her. “My name’s Callisto Marine.”
The young woman shook my hand. “Thank you, Callisto. You’re an absolute doll.” I kept my eyes on the young woman until she disappeared down the alleyway and around the corner.
I climbed over the blue barriers and carefully pushed the metal door open. For a minute, I thought that the door was going to fall backward and land on top of me. The door had been kicked off of its weak hinges and was leaning against the side of the house. Anthe had said that some security officers had entered her house to do a search, but I didn’t think their home would be in such disarray. The couches were flipped over on their sides, the refrigerator was lying on its back with the door wide open, a few pictures that were tacked onto the wall were lying on the floor, and the carpet was torn apart from the right side to the left side of the room. They hadn’t performed a search in here; they had simply wrecked the place with no regard whatsoever for the people who had to come back here and deal with this mess. This was wrong. Everything about this whole situation was wrong and I didn’t like it. Why would they tear this woman’s house apart if she was clearly not the suspect? I shook my head. That didn’t matter; right now, I had to find this receipt, which wouldn’t be an easy task since this place had been turned upside down. I pressed my fingers against my temple while I slowly scanned Mimas’s home, trying my best to figure out where I should start my search.
On the other side of the room was the kitchen. I spotted a small trash can that had been tipped over just like everything else in this house. That was probably a great place to start to find a useless receipt that you really didn’t want or need to keep anyway. I carefully tiptoed over the pieces of furniture and made sure the heel to my shoe didn’t get caught up in the ripped-up pieces of carpet as I made my way over to the trash can. I couldn’t smell it when I was on the other side of the room near the entrance, but once I knelt down in front of the trash can, a pungent, sour aroma filled my nostrils. God, what could possibly be in here! I really wished I had a pair of gloves or something; anything would be better than having to stick my bare hands into this garbage. There was no getting around it. I had to do this, even though I really didn’t want to. I unclenched my fingers, counted to three, and threw my hands into the nasty pile of garbage.
A few cold shivers ran up my arms, but after a minute of digging around, I got over having my hands in the trash. First, I checked the biggest pieces that were in the pile; lying on top were three empty boxes of Comet Crunchy Cornflakes. After I checked those boxes and I set them aside to my right, the sour smell became even stronger. I pulled the collar of my uniform over the edge of my nose and I dug even deeper into the pile of garbage. I pushed through a pile of wet tissues and a potato chip bag. That was when I found the source behind the foul, rank stench that had been bothering me since I started digging in the trash. It was the discarded remains of a purple squid. The poor thing’s guts and half of its head were sitting on some coffee grounds. I had to look away because its lifeless eyes were looking directly at my own. Plus, the stench was overpowering me. When I returned my attention to the garbage pile, I noticed something was poking through the middle of the squid’s guts. I ignored it at first, but the more I looked at it, the more I noticed its smooth texture, how thin it was, and that it was most likely a piece of paper. It could very well be the receipt that I was looking for, but it could also be another soggy wet tissue.
I’d already set aside several clumps of them. I wouldn’t know what it was until I pulled it out. I bent down and I slowly reached toward the mushy pile of squid guts. I pinched at the small piece of paper with my thumb and index finger. Sadly, some of the slimy juices from the squid’s guts fell onto my fingers as I was pulling it out from the pile. I continued to tug on the piece of paper. I just wanted to pull it out with one good tug, but I was afraid that I might rip it apart since it was so soggy from lying in this pile of squid guts. Just as I was making good progress with getting this wet piece of paper out, I heard two voices outside of the door to Mimas’s house. I immediately froze and stopped what I was doing.
“Hey, isn’t this Fran’s post?” a man asked. His voice sounded deep.
“Yeah, she said a girl named Callisto was filling in for her,” another man stated.
“Callisto? Who’s that?” the man with the deep voice asked.
Oh God, I could hear the overwhelming amount of skepticism in his voice. He was not buying this story about a girl named Callisto working on the ship as a security guard. For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. I prayed they would go away and that maybe the other officer would convince the skeptical-sounding one there was nothing to worry about, that he was overthinking things and that they should just move along.
“Stay here. I’m going inside to check things out.” Oh, how I wished the front door wasn’t a broken-up mess. I could have locked the door behind me, but what was done was done. I had to get my act together before this guy set foot inside of the house. I pushed the mushy wet pile of guts back, carefully peeled the wet piece of paper off the pile of guts, and stuffed the damp receipt into my purse. Right as the officer was stepping through the opening in front of the house, I rose to my feet, wiped my wet hands on my pants, and put on my most convincing smile. A tall man with a scruffy-looking brown beard walked toward me.
“Hi there. How can I help you?” I asked in a sweet tone.
The man said nothing at first. He scanned my body from top to bottom before he opened his mouth and said, “Sorry to intrude. It’s just that no one was outside and I wanted to check to see if someone might be in here.”
My fingers were still sticky from touching those squid guts. I nervously rubbed my fingers together. “Oh, no worries. I just needed to use the bathroom real quick, so that’s why I came inside.”
The tall security guard shook his head. “Oh, okay then.” Yes! It sounded like he bought what I said; maybe he would go away now.
I took three steps forward. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my post.”
The tall, scruffy-looking guard held his right hand up. I came to a stop. My stomach started to tighten just a bit around the edges, but I quickly dismissed this feeling because I knew that if I gave into it, I might lose my cool. I needed to stay confident.
“Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?”
I literally didn’t have time for any questions right now. “Look, I really need to get back to my post, so if you will excuse me.”
For the second time, the scruffy-looking guard stopped me from leaving, but this time, he keep his hands at his side and stepped directly in front me. I tried to move around him, but he mimicked my movements. “Excuse me, but what’s the problem here? I have a job to do and you’re getting in my way,” I spat out.
The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me, but I’m a little concerned, because I don’t know who’s guarding this house.”
I pushed the extra-large lump that had climbed up the back of my throat down into my stomach.
“I don’t know you and you don’t know me, which makes no sense whatsoever,” he added.
“Look, don’t worry. I just started working here. Do you think I would have this uniform if I wasn’t an employee here on this ship—”
The tall guard cut me off midsentence. “It makes no sense because I’m in charge of training all of the new recruits who work in the security department and I don’t recognize you.” His tone of voice was very sharp; every single word cut me deep down to my bones. The jig was up. I was actually in some serious trouble and I needed to think fast. I backed up into the kitchen and my hands clasped onto the kitchen counter that was behind me. All of my anxious feelings traveled up through my stomach and into my mouth, causing it to feel as dry as sand. My eyes left his. I didn’t really care if this made me look guilty, but I needed to survey the area and come up with my next move.
The tall guard continued, “You know what else raises a red flag for me? Your uniform.” Good; keep yapping. Give me more time to think about my escape. I looked out the window near the front door. The second guard was still standing outside. I was sure it was only a matter of time before he came inside out of curiosity. This guy looked pretty strong; the chances of me running past him, not tripping over a piece of furniture, making it through the front door and past his little friend were slim to none.
“Earlier today, I heard a report about a security officer who was attacked by a lady during a fake fire alarm. She took his uniform from him too.” Now things were really starting to get serious. I tried to swallow, but I couldn’t. Over to my right was a door. I had no idea where it led to, but if things were going the way I thought they were going to go, I might need to slip in there for a bit. “So basically, someone has been masquerading as a security officer for the past couple of hours, and I think that person is you. I really do,” he said with a tiny smirk.
Oh, he was so proud of himself; he just so happened to find me in this house, almost like a needle in a haystack. But I doubted he knew why I was masquerading as a security officer. If he did, then maybe I would actually have been impressed. “Look, I won’t hurt you or anything. Just come with me and turn yourself in.” He stretched his hand out toward me; he still had that silly little smirk on his face. My eyes darted over toward the door to my right. “Hey, don’t do anything crazy now. Look; just turn yourself in and everything will be okay.”
I took my hands off of the kitchen counter and shifted my right foot in the direction toward the door that was beside me. The tall security guard leapt forward, but it was already too late for him to catch me. I darted toward the door, pulled it open, and locked myself inside before he could get his hands on me. It turned out this door actually led to the bathroom. I chuckled a little bit. From the other side, the tall officer was pounding onto the door with one fist and jiggling the door handle with the other. I ignored all of the racket he was making and I had a seat on the toilet. I’d accepted the fact that I couldn’t get out of this house and away from either of these security officers. I was most likely going to be taken in for questioning, which would also lead to some sort of search and confiscation of my things. I couldn’t let them have the evidence that I’d gathered so far for my investigation.
“Come out of there right now or else I’ll kick the door down!” Sounded like I didn’t have much time left. I folded the paper I’d pulled from out of the trash can in half and stuffed it down into my bra. “I’m coming in.” An incredibly loud thud came from the door. When I looked up at it, near its center was a crack; several jagged splinters were pointing toward me. I had to hurry before this door shattered into a million pieces and he pulled me out of the bathroom. I took my camera from out of my purse, flipped it over on its side, pressed the little red button at the top, and took the mini data disc out of it. I nestled the mini data disc, which had all of my pictures on it in, between the pieces of paper that were down in my bra. I made a few adjustments so I could feel comfortable. I also wanted to make sure that nothing was poking from out of my sides. I really didn’t want to give away that I was stashing anything in the cup of my bra. Finally, I got up and unlocked the bathroom door.
The tall guard was about to plant his foot back into the door, but he stopped and firmly planted his foot back onto the ground. I lifted my hands into the air and said, “I’m ready to turn myself in.” With an even bigger smirk on his face, the tall guard grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through the house and out the front door.
I remembered earlier when I was looking over the map to the security room floor that there was an extension to the floor in the middle of the hallway that was just beyond the first door at the front of the hall. At that time, I thought that it was probably leading to more offices, most likely ones that were private for people who made more money and had supervisor-type positions. Turned out that I was one hundred percent wrong. Beyond that door was a row of holding cells—eight holding cells, to be exact—and I was sitting all alone in cell number five with a pair of tight plastic handcuffs on my wrists.
The moment I was brought upstairs, my personal possessions were confiscated. When they asked me about my mini data disc and where it was, I told them that I didn’t know where it was. When they asked me what I was doing downstairs in Mimas’s house, I told them that I was just curious and I felt like doing some exploring, which made them frustrated, but at the same time, what I said wasn’t a complete lie. I was curious about why Mimas was being charged with stealing the rings. I closed my eyes and stretched out on the long piece of thick ivory-colored metal that stretched around the border of my cell. If I were to guess, it was probably big enough to seat twenty people. There was nothing I could do except wait for the supervisor of the day to come take a look at me and decide what my punishment would be, but who knew how long that would take since finding the rings was more of a priority than dealing with me and my shenanigans. The best part of this whole situation was that the same tubby, smart mouth, jerk-faced guard who took Wendy away was in charge of watching over me while I waited for my sentence to come. His name was Jeb. What was even better was that he hadn’t stopped talking to me since the moment I sat down in my cell.
“So tell me, little missy, did you have fun playing dress up?” Jeb asked while running his black baton over the bars of my cell. I thought this was the fifth time this jerk had asked me this question and I was really sick of it. I didn’t even bother to get up. Instead, I tried my best to ignore the throbbing pain in my ankle. Making that mad dash from the tall guard and straight to the bathroom, then making the long journey from the bottom of the ship and up to this floor made my injury even worse.
“I really need to see a doctor about my ankle,” I said.
Jeb lightly tapped his baton on a cell bar that was directly in front of me. “No can do, little missy. My job is to make sure you stay in your little cell until the officer of the day gets here.” He pressed his face against the cell bars. “And, from the looks of it, you’re not bleeding all over the place and your foot’s not falling off, so you’re okay.” Jeb turned around and headed back to his desk, which was near the entrance. No, I wasn’t bleeding all over the place with my injury, but I needed to see a doctor because half of my foot was starting to feel numb. I told them the moment that I was brought up there that I had been shot in the ankle, but they brushed me off and threw me in the cell. My back ached so badly. I kept trying to make myself feel comfortable while I was lying down, but I couldn’t. I kind of wished I were back in my bed in my hotel room.
My hotel room! I shot up from off the metal seat I was lying down on. Poor Anthe. What was going to happen to her now that I was down here? What if they decided to search my room and they found her? Had I managed to make things worse for me and her as well because I wanted to play detective? Huh, playing detective; that was exactly what I’d been doing this entire time. I hadn’t accomplished a single thing. The only thing I’d managed to do was to get myself into a heap of trouble. The corners of my eyes were burning hot like fire. I tried to push my tears back, but they managed to claw their way out and fall down both sides of my face. Maybe this was some sort of sign. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this whole detective investigation thing. When I got home, I was heading straight to the school’s guidance counselor and letting them know that I was switching majors. I mean, how great was it that I found out that I was really not cut out for this while I was still young and I could still change my mind. Maybe I’d do what every other girl in my class was doing and just major in communications. Yeah, that was it; I’d major in communications and learn how to operate a ship’s switchboard, how to type on a keyboard without looking down, and how to answer incoming calls from other ships. What was even better was that Dad could get me a job anywhere in the senate and Mommy could get me a communications-type job on her ship or on a ship that she was familiar with. Yeah, that was what I’d do. I lay back down on the cool slab of metal, then I closed my eyes and tried to come to grips with the epiphany that I’d just had.
I was jolted out of my not-so-comfortable sleepy-like state by the sound of laughter. Who in their right mind would be back here laughing? It must be that big fool, Jeb. I closed my eyes and lay back down. But once again, I was awoken from out of my sleep, but this time, it wasn’t because I heard someone laughing. This time, someone was calling out for help. I jumped up and ran toward the bars on my cell. The calls for help were coming from a cell that was all the way at the end of the hall. The cries for help sounded like they were coming from a woman. I wondered if they had brought someone in while I was sleeping.
Jeb was standing near the entrance of the cell door. He had his back turned to me so I couldn’t see what was going on, but I could still hear the steady cries for help. I turned my head toward the entrance; the door was slammed shut. I figured that at any moment, someone was going to come inside and see what all this commotion was about. But the woman kept hollering and screaming and, to my dismay, no one came. What was going on in here?
“Hey, I’m trying to get some shut-eye. What’s happening down there?” I yelled.
Jeb turned his head in my direction. “Nothin’. Just shut up and go back to sleep.”
I didn’t like this; a woman calling out for help in a closed-off area like this and she was all alone. This whole situation reeked of foul play. I especially didn’t like how Jeb was just standing there and not doing anything at all to help stop this woman from screaming. It was almost like he was enjoying a good show or something.
A loud yelp came from the end of the hallway. Moments later, a body came flying from out of the cell. It was hard for me to get a good look at whoever was tossed out of that cell, but I could hear them talking with Jeb. “She’s a lot stronger than what I thought.”
Jeb laughed. “Oh, yeah. She put up one heck of a fight when we brought her here earlier this afternoon.”
The other guy remarked, “Doesn’t matter to me. I love green girls that have a little bit of spunk in them.” Oh God, I really didn’t like this. I was stuck in this cell and I couldn’t do anything to help this lady who was being attacked. What could I do? If only I could distract them or bring their attention to me so she could be left alone. When I sat back down, I started patting my hands on my leg. I could feel something small and round down in my pockets. Thankfully, even though my hands were restrained, they were cuffed in front of me and not behind me, so I was able to reach into my pocket. I remembered that I still had those two pieces of white chocolate coconut cream candies in my pocket that Kari had given me earlier. Fortunately, they hadn’t searched my pockets earlier because this was just what I needed to help get their attention.