Carol was a thin woman in her late fifties. She scurried out of her house and knocked on her neighbor’s door rapidly. She was in a fix and her neighbor, Mevlin, just happened to be a detective.
A short, round, African-American woman answered the door, “Hey girl, what you doing over here so early? You ain’t look to good, something the matter?”
“Mevlin! I need your help! You’re a detective, right? I need you to come over to my house really quick,” Carol pleaded.
“What’s wrong girl?”
“My fork! Someone has stolen my fork!” Carol cried.
Mevlin raised an eyebrow and laughed, “Girl, just go buy a new fork, not that big of a deal. Shoot, someone stole my fork I’d think they crazy. Why someone stealing your forks for anyway?”
“No, no, no. You don’t understand. It’s not just a fork. It’s a special fork that my father gave me from the Egyptian ruins. It’d be worth quite a bit if it were sold. Someone has stolen it and I need your help!”
“Girl, just call the police. I’m sure they can do more help than I can,” Mevlin sighed.
“I can’t do that,” Carol blushed, “You see, I’ve done something bad. Well… I had guests over last night, and I’m sure one of them stole it. And well… you see… I kind of drugged them.” Carol paused for a moment. Mevlin raised her eyebrows further. Carol cleared her throat and continued, “They’re all passed out in my kitchen at the moment. I thought it would buy me time to figure out who stole the fork. It has to be one of them… but do you see why I can’t call the police? I’ve drugged them and that most certainly wasn’t very nice of me. Mevlin, I need your help, please!”
“What the hell you drugging people for, woman? Damn all mighty, you is crazy!” Mevlin starred at her. She examined the fear and guilt in Carol’s face. Carol had always been a nice neighbor. What could it hurt to try and help her? Mevlin cracked her knuckles, “Fine, I’ll come over. But you best not getting me in any trouble girl!” Carol smiled and the two walked back over to Carol’s house.
Just as Carol had mentioned, three people were passed-out sitting at the kitchen table. “Damn woman, what exactly did you do to these people?” Mevlin asked curiously.
Carol blushed again, “Well I used to use these sleeping pills called Sleeptite. These pills are powerful. I put them in their coffee this morning. After about twenty minutes they all passed out! I took them in the past to help me get to sleep but I don’t need them anymore. I didn’t know what else to do. I panicked this morning when I saw my fork was missing. I had to buy myself some time so I could figure out who stole my fork. I knew right away it had been one of them. They were all terribly jealous of it! Oh Mevlin, please help me! I know you’re smart. You can figure this out. One of them must have taken my fork!”
Mevlin walked over to the kitchen table and examined the three people passed out. “Sleeptite pills, eh?” She poked one of the people at the table. No reaction. Damn things were strong. “Who dis?” Mevlin said, pointing at a thin young-looking man with a brown pointy beard.
“That’s my nephew, Karl. He’s an awfully sweet guy, but he’s really shy. I know he is family, but I also know how jealous he was about the fork,” Carol said.
Mevlin nodded, “And her?” Mevlin pointed her pudgy finger at the blonde sitting in the middle.
“That’s Linda. We used to teach together several years ago. Oh, we were best of friends back then. We’ve drifted since then and only see each other occasionally. She admired my fork quite a bit; she complemented it every time she was over. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she had taken it!” Carol said firmly.
‘She admired my fork quite a bit,’ Mevlin would never have guessed in her life that she would hear such a sentence. But here she was, standing in a kitchen trying to figure out who stole a damn eating utensil. Quite the unusual situation. She cracked her fingers once more and sighed. “And this gal?” Mevlin pointed to the last woman at the table. Her hair was a dark brown and she was extremely tan.
“That’s Kendra. She works with me now at the water company. We’ve grown quite fond of each other over the past several months. She was quite excited to hear about the fork, she claims to be fascinated by Egyptian artifacts,” Carol said. Mevlin examined all three of the
suspects. “So do you know who took it?” Carol asked excitedly.
Mevlin gave Carol a stare, “Girl, do I look like a psychic? Detectives don’t just look at people and know who-done-it, we gotta examine the facts and scene and shit first girl. I ain’t gotta clue who done it… yet.”
“Oh, my apologies,” Carol murmured, “Do you have any ideas though?”
“Well, since they is all knocked out and stuff, I say the best we could do is look through their shit and see if we can find the fork in any of their baggage. Never know, maybe we’ll get lucky and find it. Then we’ll know who-done-it. Not might be the most polite thing, then again, how much worse can it be than drugging your friends?” Mevlin asked.
Carol blushed once again, “Yes, yes, it seems like a great idea. Hurry, I’ll take you to their rooms.” The two ladies went upstairs. “This is the room Karl stayed in.” Carol led Mevlin in. Mevlin wasn’t slow to pick up one of his bags and begin to look through it. Carol hesitated at first and then joined in.
“Let’s see girl, what do we got here. Plenty of underwear, belts, socks, the usual. Let’s check his toiletry bag,” Mevlin said. She picked the thing up and went through as Carol carefully researched the clothing to see if there was any hidden fork. “Toothbrush, nail-clippers, and,” Mevlin spun around and gave Carol a stare that expressed her curiosity, “Girl, why the hell does your nephew have lipstick in his bag for?”
Carol’s jaw dropped, “Well, err, I don’t know exactly…” Mevlin handed Carol the bag so she could see for herself. Carol scratched her head and closed the bag, “I don’t want to see this, maybe this isn’t a good idea.” She began to pack Karl’s stuff back up.
“Oh come on girl, it ain’t nothing to worry about. So your nephew is some cross-dresser or something,” Carol winced as Mevlin said those words. “It’s all the new rage, ain’t nothing to be ashamed of. Just chill, come on let’s go check the others’ rooms before they wake up.” Carol sighed and took Mevlin to the next room.
“This is where Linda slept,” Carol said as they searched her luggage.
“Well look at what we got here!” Mevlin exclaimed as she pulled out a book titled Kama Sutra.
Carol’s eyes widened, “Oh my.”
Mevlin chuckled, “At least this woman knows how to get her pleasure. Right on, girl, right on.” Carol blushed and the two continued to search through Linda’s stuff.
“Let’s see. We got some of those Sleeptite pills, pack of smokes, make-up. Nope, don’t see any forks here,” Mevlin said as she closed up the bag.
Carol frowned, “Perhaps we won’t find the fork?”
“Don’t give up so easily girl, we still got one more room to check.”
The ladies entered Kendra’s room. “Let’s see what we got here,” Mevlin rummaged through her stuff, “We got some pointy stilettos; this girl knows how to work it I tell ya. What’d you find, Carol?”
“Nothing whatsoever, just a bunch of clothes,” Carol sighed.
“Aha!” Mevlin exclaimed.
“Oh, did you find my fork!?” Carol asked excitedly.
“No, no, no. Look at this!” Mevlin held up a scarlet scarf, “Told you this gal knows how to work it!” Mevlin chuckled. Carol frowned and continued to look. They had finished looking through Kendra’s stuff. An extra pillow, some romance novels, but no fork.
“Now what do we do?” Carol asked.
Mevlin thought for a minute, “Well, iunno, tell me about the fork I guess. Where was it?” Carol motioned for her to follow and they went to Carol’s room.
“Here,” Carol said as she pointed to a plaque above her bed, “It used to be in there. But here is the kicker. Somehow, someone managed to take the fork during the night while I was sleeping. And that’s extremely odd. I mean, I sleep so lightly. And to be able to take the fork out of its plaque, which is above my head while I’m sleeping, and not disturb me, how does someone do that?”
Mevlin scratched her head, “This is sure one hell of a case. You sure nobody else could sneak in?”
“I’m positive, all the doors are locked and I got a decent security alarm system. There were no signs of breaking in, I’ve already checked. And nobody has the keys but me. It has to be one of them!” Carol insisted. She paced back and forth, “Oh what do we do Mevlin?”
Mevlin thought for a moment. She closed her eyes and twisted her mouth in an unusual way. She always did this when she contemplated complex situations.
Carol starred at her, “What are you thinking?”
“Give me a damn minute, girl, I’m still thinking” Mevlin said as she kept her eyes closed. Carol blushed and paced the room once more. Mevlin’s eyes suddenly snapped open and she cracked her pudgy fingers, “Girl, I think I know who-done-it!” Carol’s eyes widened as she smiled. “Come on, I say we wait till they wake up and we’ll figure out where they put the
fork.”
“Ok, sounds good. But who took it?”
“You’ll see girl, you’ll see,” Mevlin said as they walked back downstairs. Carol frowned.
“Wake up!” Mevlin said as she poured water on the thief’s sleep-filled face. No response. “Damn, these pills are strong!” Carol shrugged.
“So how do you know it was her?” Carol asked.
“Look at what I’m doing right now, girl! I’m throwing water on her face and she ain’t even waking up!” Mevlin responded.
“I know I know, but I would like to know how you know she stole it,” Carol said.
“That’s what I’m telling you girl. Look at these pills. They put you into a deep sleep!” Carol looked confused. It was at that moment that Linda woke up.
“Ok girl, tell me where that fork is!” Mevlin shouted at Linda.
Linda was startled, “Who are you? What fork?”
“The fork you stole from lovely Carol over here. I know you took it, now where is it!” Mevlin demanded. Her voice was fierce.
“Oh,” Linda glanced at Carol as she began to cry, “I’m so sorry Carol. I needed some money.”
Carol frowned, “Linda! I can’t believe you! You thief! You know how much that fork meant to me! I demand you give it back at once! And then… then leave! I never want to speak to you again!”
Linda wiped away her tears, “I understand.” Linda retrieved the fork from her pant pocket and gave it to Carol. Carol let out a sigh of relief as she hugged her fork.
“Now leave!” Carol demanded. Linda quickly went up stairs and began to gather her stuff. Mevlin smiled, she was glad to have helped Carol out.
“Oh Mevlin, thank you so very much!” Carol cried, “But you must tell me, how did you know it was her?”
“I was trying to tell you,” Mevlin smiled, “The Sleeptite pills. Linda had some in her bag upstairs, remember? She must have drugged you with them last night so she could sneak into your room with ease.”
“Oh!” Carol exclaimed, “I see now! She drugged me, just like I drugged them!” Carol embraced Mevlin, “Thank you so very much! This fork means a lot to me!”
“Girl, I’m glad to help. I must be going now, best of luck explaining to your other friends why the fell asleep at the kitchen table!” Carol blushed and waved goodbye. Mevlin winked back and walked out.
