Case File: Golf Shores Animal Testing Lab

The next day I was getting ready for school and as I was eating breakfast Chris was shooting the dirtiest look on the face of the planet. As punishment he had been grounded, had his allowance suspended until further notice and no cell phone privileges for two weeks. He was mad, steaming mad. He had actually stormed out last night in a rage and drove off somewhere. He didn’t come back until really late and because of that he also wasn’t allowed to watch T.V. or use the computer for a week. Not to mention double chore duty.

“Don’t blame me, you skipped class Mom was bound to find out anyway.” I said hotly after I couldn’t take his looks any longer. “Let’s see what the news will tell me this time!”

Turning on the news I was shocked to see it was about the Golf Shore testing lab again. Only this time it wasn’t merely just some group of punks trying to stop animal testing it was sabotage. The whole place was in ruins. Some one had broken in, stole all the animals, destroyed all the equipment and set fire to all the data. I was speechless shocked at such vandalism. Chris laughed in delight.

“Those scumbags got what was coming to them!” He exclaimed. I thought Chris was just a little too happy about it.

That evening I was in my office pondering the incident that had taken place at the animal testing lab. The thing was I was thinking how awesome it would be if I could be the person to investigate it. Of course I knew that wasn’t going to happen but I started acting like I was investigating it. I thought over what I knew.

I knew that protesters had been rowdy for several days before outside of the lab. I also knew the police reinforcements had been called to keep them under control. I knew that the lab was a short distance from my house. Last but not least I remember the news anchor saying it had taken place some time after 9:00 pm when the janitor locked up.

I basically knew nothing. If I were really investigating this incident I would have to go to the scene of the crime for more information. It was too bad I couldn’t get a ride. I laughed at the idea of explaining to my mom why I wanted to break into the ransacked animal testing lab. There was no way mom would let me anywhere near that place.

I heard a car pull up into the drive way I peeked out my window and saw an unfamiliar vehicle. It was a black car of some sort. I don’t know much about cars so I couldn’t tell what kind it was. Two men came out of the car, I didn’t recognize either one of them and I could tell they didn’t know us as well. They went to the front door and knocked. We never use the front door and we tell guests to come in through the side door. Only some one who showed up uninvited would use the front door. I rushed down stairs to see who these uninvited guests were.

When I came down the stairs I saw my mother looked white as a sheet. Something was wrong the two men were just standing in the breezeway looking around aimlessly. My mother stood rigid and had one hand clutching the end of her jacket and the other in a fist pressed up to her mouth. She moved this hand to speak. Her movements were shaky and unsteady.

“Jenna go get Chris.” Four words, but I could tell she was struggling to get those four small words out. Without protest I ran up the stairs to go get Chris.

I ran into Chris’ room slamming open the door I could hardly control myself. He was laying on his bed lounging and listening to some music. I was shaking and didn’t know why.

“What did you do?” I demanded, I couldn’t contain myself, “Chris what have you done now?”

Chris jumped up out of his bed yanking out his ear buds. “What?” he exclaimed, “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything you brat!”

“Then explain the two men in our breezeway asking for you!” I snapped, “Mom looks terrified!” I was scared too. “What did you do Chris?”

“Nothing” he mumbled as he walked past me and head down the stairs. I watched his back as he disappeared down the stairs. Just as his head dropped from view Brandon came out of his room.

“What’s going on?” He asked curious, “You two arguing again?”

“It’s nothing.” I murmured and went down the stairs as well.

Now the men were in our living room asking questions, questions about Golf Shores. They were pressing Chris about what he did last night. It dawned on me that he had been gone during the time the crime had occurred. He kept telling them he was driving around to cool off and nothing else. He told them he was alone and that he couldn’t think of anybody who could confirm it because like he had said before he was alone.

From what I knew about investigators I knew things were not looking good for Chris. On the one hand I was terrified because Chris could be in some real trouble and I wanted these men to leave quickly. On the other I was fascinated; here in front of me were real live investigators. I won’t lie and stay that I wasn’t star struck but my fear was overcoming any admiration that might have been present at the time.

They left after awhile but I could tell that they would be back. Chris took a deep breath and leaned back into the couch. The investigators had asked the same question multiple times in an attempt to allow Chris to come clean but he never changed his story in anyway.

“Did you do it Chris?” I piped up when I realized neither mom nor Chris where talking. “I mean really. You couldn’t have done it right?”

Chris rolled his eyes, “How many time do I have to say it? I was just going for a drive and nothing else!” He said for the umpteenth time that evening.

“Ok I just wanted to know.” I told him heading towards the stairs, “Night you guys I’m heading off to bed.”

I lied when I said I was heading off to bed. In truth I was heading up to my office. I was thinking about all that had happened. I decided I had to find out for myself what really happened at the animal testing lab. The only issue was how to get to the scene of the crime.

I pulled out an old note pad with half the pages ripped out that my dad had given me. It was a hand-me-down but it was useful. I racked my brains on how to get there. Mom would never take me in a million years because she would assume what I was doing. Dad would do the same plus he is never home and he wouldn’t want to spend his day off driving me around. So I would have to get some one else who could drive and considering Chris was grounded I had to move outside of the family.

The problem was which adult did I know who was crazy enough to drop a child off on Golf Shores’ property. Then it hit me. My friend Reba’s Dad was manager of a department at Golf Shores. I also knew sometimes Reba had to go to work with her dad because her mom was on a business trip. Lucky for me her mom was on a business trip this week. A smile came to my face as I formulated my plan.