MURDER @ THE MALL

Text Box: 		       MURDER AT THE MALL
	So, you want to know why McAlister Square Mall closed down, huh? Well, it’s supposed to be STAFF business only, but I guess I could give you part of the story. Oh, by the way, my name is Jack, the janitor. 
	Well, well, well. Where to start? I guess I will start from square one. First of all, the mall wasn’t a very productive building. Maybe 100 people would come, in ONE week! When and if people would come, they would rarely spend a lot of money. 
	So one day, Caleb, my partner in cleaning, was  tired of his minimum wage. And believe me, I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted on going up to Mr. Lee’s office, to complain to him about his problem. 
	When Caleb reached Mr. Lee’s office, Mr. Lee wasn’t even in there. So Caleb turned around and came straight back to me, wondering if I knew anything about where he was. But I knew nothing. At that note, Caleb was very, very, very mad at Mr. Lee! Caleb was so mad, he was even thinking about quitting his job at the mall.
	I on the other hand, was fine about my pay. About one week later, still NO Mr. Lee! That night at around 8:32, it was time for me to go home to my wife and kids. I went to go put my plunger away, and that’s when I saw it, or should I say, HIM

	It was Mr. Lee’s body, in MY supply closet! Well, it wasn’t his WHOLE body. At least not in one piece. His torso was in the trashcan! Only with a twist. There were no arms or head on the torso! Moments later, I found the head. It was on top of the broomstick! At that time, I guess you could have  said that I was FREAKED OUT! So I went and got Caleb. When he got in the room, he wasn’t very surprised. All he said was, “Oh my.” , and “That is so sad!” Not much sympathy there! But do you want to know what the scary part was? The scary part was that Caleb knew exactly where the last pieces to Mr. Lee’s body were! He found the legs on top of the top shelf, the arms behind the cleaning supplies, and one foot under a bucket, and the other on top of the ceiling fan, all under ONE minute! It seemed only about 45 seconds, actually! Then Caleb says, “I’ll go get a mop.”
	So off he went, whistling and all. And off I went, to the bathroom. Not to clean, to PUKE! When I was finished with my “BUSINESS”, he still wasn’t back. I went to see if he had gotten the mop but, nope, he hadn’t even touched it! I searched and searched for him through out the rest of the mall. I still never found him. It was as if he vanished, or fled! 
	I was confused on why he had to leave so soon! Then I thought, “If he left, then maybe he signed out.” “Then I could see where he went.” So I went down the hundreds of thousands of stairs, it seemed like, to the office. When I finally got down there to the office, Kara, the secretary asked me where Caleb was. I said, “I have NO idea!” “I came down here to see where he was and if he signed out or not.” “But the sign out sheet says that he never did sign out today.” “Well” , Kara said, “ I spilt my coffee all over the carpet! “I really need some help cleaning it up.” , Kara said. “I wish I could help but Ii have WAY more important things to do besides cleaning up your coffee problems!” , I said. Then Kara says in her rood voice, “Like WHAT?” “Hmmm…” , I said. “Lets see.” “Maybe trying to catch a murder that just killed our boss!” “Mr. Lee is dead?” , Kara said? So that’s when I told her where his body was, and that I thought that someone was trying to frame me. And that’s when she passed out! 
	But I didn’t have any time to worry about her. I didn’t even move her off of the cactus that she fell on! I had a crook to catch! I went to find the head janitor, Brian. When I found Brian, he was in Mr. Lee’s office, snooping around. When he saw me, he said, “I heard the news.” That right there gave me a hint. How could HE have known? Only Caleb, Kara, and I know about Mr. Lee. I sure haven’t told Brian. Caleb isn’t even here to tell him. And Kara is taking a little nap on a cactus. “How do you know about Mr. Lee.” , I asked. He said, “Umm.. Kara told me.” I thought, “Really???” Then I asked, “So what are you doing in Mr. Lee’s office anyway?” He told me, “Just tidying up.” I asked him, “Why?” “He’s DEAD!” “Just out of respect.” , Brian said. So I got out of there and went on my way.
	By Monday, everyone in the mall staff had heard about Mr. Lee. There were so many questions going around! If each question were a brick, I could have built the Berlin Wall, twice! A couple of news stations heard about Mr. Lee and they knew the whole story too! But when they tried to air it, we sewed them! That’s why supposed to be staff business only! So don’t go telling any of your friends that I told you any of this! 
	Days went on and we still hadn’t brought the killer to justice. So I hired a detective. His, or should I say her name, was Maria, Maria Neely. She just recently graduated from Harvard about a year and a half ago. The first thing that Maria did was that she checked out the crime scene. Right off the bat, she noticed something that we hadn’t, the weapon! I know what you all are thinking,. “Did she find the rifle under the shelf.” or, “Was there a chainsaw in a box?” Well if you  thought that, then you are way off! What she found was an old plunger!
	Mrs. Neely had a prediction. She thought that when nobody was around, some JANITOR had brought Mr. Lee into the  supply closet. The killer must have gotten the old plunger from the back of the room and suffocated him first. Just to torture him, they probably stuck it in the toilet before the suffocation began. Then, with the garden rake that was right by the plunger, began chopping away. Not at the weeds in the garden. Chopping at Mr. Lee. Both of the weapons were right there beside the crime scene. 
	That was the only was that they could have done it! Besides sticking the plunger in the toilet first. I had told Mrs. Neely about Brian the other day being in Mr. Lee’s office, snooping around. And how he had lied about Mr. Lee.
	The next morning, I saw Kara. It was quite a sight though because she looked like a Greek mythological creature! She was half human, and half porcupine! I guess she got the “quills” from her little bed that she slept on those last two nights. She asked me what had happened but I told her that it was sleep on a cactus night here at the mall. She actually bought it!
	Mrs. Neely was on the hunt! She checked out the schedule to see who was here when Mr. Lee had died. It was narrowed down to 5 of us. Caleb, Kara, Brian, Mary Beth, and Me. So Mrs. Neely started asking more questions. It turned out that Kara and I were safe! It was between Caleb: the janitor, Brain: the head janitor, and Mary Beth: a very angry customer! 
	A day later, Mary Beth was released. It was down to two! I was in the same room with a killer! Then, at that same second, the lights went out! There was a scream in the pitch black! Ok, so there wasn’t a scream! But the lights did go out! Apparently, someone forgot to pay the electric bill. Caleb took a match out of his pocket. He lit a candle that was placed on the shelf beside them. Everyone was there, except for Brian!  
	We thought that Brian was going to run for the door to the outside! But he hadn’t even left! Actually, he was hiding under the shelf, cowering in fear! “What, I’m afraid of the dark.” , Brian said as he was sucking on his thumb! “I want my mommy he said.” “If I never would have killed Mr. Lee, this would have never happened.” , he said. “OH NO!” Brian said. “Ummm… HAHAHA, I got you.” “Right Brian! I’m sure you were faking it!” , I said. “Well, I can still get away!” , Brian said. “Hey Caleb, if you could move away from the door for just a second.” , Brian said. “Hmmm.. Let me think about that, NO!” Then that second, Caleb takes out his tazer and tazes Brian. “What?” Caleb said. “I always keep one of these handy!” 
	“Well, there are still some unanswered questions, Caleb” , Maria said. “Why did you run away when you were going to get the mop?” , I said. “Well, before I went to get the mop, I had to go to the bathroom!” “Some guy was puking in the guys so I went in the girls.” , Caleb said. “Well, then how did you find all of those pieces to the body in under 45 seconds, then?” , I said. “Its really not that hard to find a pair of legs, arms, and feet, Jack.” , Caleb added. “It seemed that you were so mad at Mr. Lee, you would have done something like that.” , I said. “I might have been mad at Mr. Lee, but I wouldn’t have killed the man for an extra couple bucks!” , Caleb said. 
	“Well Caleb, I’m sorry I doubted you.” But next time our  boss gets murdered, try to stay with me.” , I said. “Ok.” , Caleb said. “You know what, Caleb.” , I said. “What?” Caleb said. “I’m going to let YOU be MY boss.” “I promote you to take place of Brian.” , I said. “Ok.” Caleb said. “But NO REFUNDS!” From that day forward, more people came to the McAllister Square Mall. All thanks to my best friend, Caleb!
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