We're All Suspects For a Reason

A woman rushes into the waiting room. She sits down, breathing heavily and taps her foot impatiently. She studies the minimalistic room. Plastic chairs fill the rim of the room. In the center, there is a table stacked with a variety of magazines and cheap plastic water bottles. There were no windows and only two doors in the room. The first door is the one Nicole had just entered through, which is locked from the outside and guarded by two men. The second door has a small window and she can see people arguing inside. 

There are five other people in the room. A young couple looking sadly at each other, a middle-aged woman looking nervous, a man with crossed legs looking smug, and a person with an unreadable face. The woman looks to the person sitting next to her.

“Hello, my name is Nicole,” she smiles brightly to the man with a smug look on his face.

“I don’t think we should be talking right now, “ he replies quietly.

“Well, there’s nobody there to tell us what we can and can’t do, and I prefer to make the best out of bad situations. Can I at least have your name?” Nicole looks at him expectantly. He looks like a man who likes to talk about himself so she just has to give him a small push and soon the atmosphere would lighten.

“Ok then. My name is Russel Tweenie. I’m actually a baker, too.”

“But you were stuck being a cashier for most of the time, right?”

Russel doesn’t answer the question immediately and with an angry expression on his face tries to change the subject, “well since you’re being so judgmental, why don’t you tell me why you’re a suspect,” He sniffs, turning his nose up at her. 

Nicole looks curiously at him, “We shouldn’t be sharing that information.”

“Look who suddenly cares about the rules,” he scowls bitterly.

“Let’s not raise our voices, oka-” she begins but then a loud sneeze interrupts their quarrel. Everyone turns to find a middle-aged woman, looking very frightened.

“That was quite a sneeze,” comments Russel.

“I-I-I,” the middle-aged woman stutters.

“Someone’s acting a bit suspicious,” pipes the high-school girl.

“Come on, Teresa,” says the boy sitting next to her, presumably her boyfriend. “That’s not nice.”

“Don’t act like she’s innocent, Jason. We’re all as innocent as each other, and that’s to say, not at all.” Everyone looks frightened at those words. 

The middle-aged woman accuses, “well you could easily have been the one to have killed Pete.”

“We’re all suspects for a reason,” she responds darkly.

“And who are you?” scolds the middle-aged woman, pointing at the person who has had an expressionless face the whole time.

The person does not look up.

On a rampage, the middle-aged woman says, “and why are you sitting like that? What kind of lady are you?”

“Sam is nonbinary,” a man growls. Nicole is surprised to see that the voice belongs to Russel.

“Someone’s got a soft spot for Sam,” laughs Nicole.

“Yeah, well I can be nice sometimes, too,” Russel shoots back. 

“I didn’t mean that in a bad way, calm down bud.”

Russel grumbles, gets up, and sits down next to Sam, trying to comfort them. 

The middle-aged woman says, “We still haven’t heard a peep out of Sam, though.”

“Who even are you,” Sam accuses, speaking for the first time in the entire conversation.

The middle-aged woman’s face turns a deep shade of red before replying, “Caroline.” No one says anything until a loud slam of the door with the window shakes up the group.

“Miss Teresa Rose,” a man announces. He is calm, but he looks flushed. Nicole could guess that he is one of the arguing men from earlier. “This way, please. You’re being interrogated first.”

Teresa’s legs are wobbly as she stands up. She looks at Jason hopefully and he gives her hand a squeeze.

“Good luck, Teresa,” Nicole calls kindly. Teresa gives a nervous smile and stalks behind the detective.

When the door slams shut, Nicole is the first to speak up, “so, Jason, you’re close to her, aren’t you?”

“We’ve had our differences,” he replies honestly. “But all in all, we’re pretty close. I think some of you would understand what I mean.”

“I get what you’re saying,” admits Caroline. “My ex-husband and I were like that.”

“Why did you guys break up?” inquires Nicole.

“He discovered a love for baking,” she scowls darkly.

“Your ex-husband is Pete?” exclaims Sam. “Then what have you been doing in the bakery he works at?”

“We didn’t have a terrible ending to our marriage, he just didn’t feel a connection anymore.”

The slam of the door that they had heard half an hour ago repeats itself. “May Caroline Mayer please come up.”

Caroline nods and glumly stands up. When the slam of the door announced Caroline’s departure, it was Nicole who spoke first.

“Interesting that she didn’t change her last name, right?”

“Not exactly,” says Sam. “We live in a modern world.”

“Yes, but she is a traditional woman.” They all look at each other uncomfortably.

“How come Teresa didn’t come back?” Jason asks nervously. The four remaining people look at each other uncomfortably again.

“I suppose it has something to do with the fact that she can’t warn any accomplices,” Sam growls, looking at Jason. Jason scowls.

“Out of all of us here, you’re most likely the one that killed Pete,” Jason shouts.

“What about Nicole?” Russel says. “She’s going around asking questions and sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.” Nicole frowns, offended.

“Yeah, that’s what it is,” Jason agrees.

“Fine I’ll tell you my story,” she begins. All eyes were on her when she says next, “my boyfriend is a teacher and he asked me to stop by Pete’s bakery to pick up some donuts for his students. I had never been to the place before, so I accidentally went through the back door into the kitchen. The staff all saw me and told me I had gone through the wrong door. They kindly showed me the right way and I thanked them.”

“You’re not telling us the whole story,” accuses Russel. “So why are you a suspect then?”

“They thought I could’ve slipped something in his drink,” she frowns gravely. Out of nowhere, she starts crying and the remaining three people look at her uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” Russel apologizes, looking guilty. Nicole looked up with a tear-stricken face and screams at him.

“What about you, huh? We all know Pete was rude to Sam, and you care for them.”

“How do you know? You said you had only been to the bakery once.” Everyone goes silent, including Nicole. She rubs her face and gives a sad smile.

“Avoiding the question, I see.”

The slam of the door reduces the tension in the room and the officer demands, “Russel Tweenie. It’s your turn. Get over here. Now.”

Russel scowls, “how come I’m not getting any preferential treatment like Caroline and Teresa?” The officer growls in response and Russel disappears behind the door.

“I knew it,” Jason says. “The officer is acting like that towards Russel because he knows something we don’t. He’s guilty, he has to be.”

“I don’t think so,” Sam interrupts. “I’ve known Russel for a while now. He can get angry sometimes but he has a good heart.” Jason and Nicole look at each other uncertainly.

After a moment of silence, Nicole asks, “so you guys know my story. We know why Sam is in here. What about you Jason, what’s your story?”

Jason looks uncomfortable before he starts, “my birthday is next week. Teresa thought it would be a good idea to bring a birthday cake to school, because my actual birthday is during break. We stayed there for a while, waiting for Pete to come out so we could tell him we had made a decision. He never came out and then we heard police sirens. We were the only customers there at the time so the police immediately took us in and sent us here.”

At the end of the story, Jason looks around. Everyone is momentarily sad as they realize that at sixteen years old, he is the youngest person being questioned in this case.

The door behind them is slammed open once again. “Jason Dwight.” Jason looks sadly at the officer and follows behind him.

Now the only two people left in the room, Sam and Nicole look awkwardly at each other. Sam says, “Nicole, you look like a sweet girl. I personally don’t think it could be you.” Nicole nods at that. “But don’t be offended if I have to go through questioning and they ask me who I think did it, and I say it was you.”

Nicole stares at the ground and about half an hour passes until the door slams open again. The officer comes out and says, “Sam Brussels, please come in.” Sam nods and walks towards the door, waving goodbye to Nicole before disappearing into the room.

Another half-hour passed and the officer comes out and says, “Nicole Williams, after you.” Nicole walks into the small room. It only has a table, a dim light overhead, and two chairs. “Please, sit down.”

“Thank you, Officer Lambert,” she responds.

“Detective Shirley Stone, we appreciate the work you’ve put in for our case. We will share the information we have gathered with you and we hope you are able to make the final decision.” He slides a notepad across the table and Detective Stone studies the numerous pages of scribbles.

She takes it and begins to read:

Teresa Rose

-She went to get a birthday cake with her boyfriend (Jason Dwight, also a suspect) but Pete never showed up, he had died moments before he could give them the cake

Caroline Mayer

-Ex-wife of victim (Pete Zollanger)

-Caroline claims they remained friends after the divorce

-Caroline claims he had been acting strangely when he had demanded a divorce

Russel Tweenie

-Suspect’s (Sam Brussels) close friend/ employee

-Known for anger issues/ known for not getting along with Pete

-Claims Pete had been acting mopey and sad

Jason Dwight

-Went with the suspect (Teresa Rose) to buy a birthday cake for himself. Pete never showed up because he had died the moment before they could receive the cake

Sam Brussels

- It is known that Pete ridiculed Sam for being non-binary

-Sam claims they kept Pete because he was an exceptional baker and the bakery wasn’t doing well so they couldn’t afford to fire him

“Officer Lambert,” Detective Stone says finally, looking up. “May I please see Pete’s file?”

Lambert nods and slides over the file. Detective Stone skims over the file.

Pete Zollanger

Age: 35

Gender: Male

Race: White

She flips a few pages, looking for the account of his death.

Mr. Zollanger was found dead in the bathroom of the bakery holding a half-eaten cupcake. Doctors confirm he was poisoned, and that there was most likely some type of rat poisoning in the cupcake. There was a note left in his pocket saying that if he ever died, it was because of Russel. In his note, he claims that Russel threatened to kill him and he was worried he would do just that. None of the suspects, including Russel, were given this information before the interrogation.

Detective Stone nods before she admits, “I know who did it. Pete Zollanger and his ex-wife Caroline Mayer were in a very bad condition. Pete had sought out to live his dream as a baker extraordinaire but instead, was rejected by society. He was left to be a baker for Sam Brussels. He had insisted to them that there were only two genders. Sam didn’t mind but Russel was overprotective of Sam. He made sure that Pete had a very bad and uncomfortable experience working at the bakery. Pete had felt like he was a failure. He insisted to divorce with Caroline because he felt she deserved better than him. He promised that they would remain friends and Caroline visited the bakery often. On the day of his murder, he had seen a young couple roaming the streets. They were talking excitedly about a birthday cake. That couple was Teresa Rose and Jason Dwight. He went back inside and as usual, he was ridiculed by Russel Tweenie. He was feeling terribly depressed and the events of only the past week and put a great toll on him. He lost his wife, his hope, he couldn’t even be happy doing what he loved, and now- he lost his will to live. Pete Zollanger knew it was time to end his life and he made a cupcake filled with rat poison. Before he died, he had hoped he could frame Russel as the one who killed him so he locked himself in the bathroom and ate the cupcake. Before he died, he made sure to write a note saying that it was Russel who did it. So here is the truth, the person who killed Pete Zollanger was none other than Pete Zollanger himself.”