Previous chapters of the River Road story:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

How should the story continue? Voting is open on the current chapter!

Last time, lured by a can of stewed fish, Shakuntala left her dangerous perch in the dome of the courthouse and returned to a frantic Mr. DeLorca. Shakuntala uncovered a clue—a used can of spray-paint upon which was stuck a receipt signed by Mia Duomo. Mia Duomo arrived at the courthouse claiming that she had been sent a message that she should meet everyone there. As Bonnie Whiteside, Nancy and Sarah came up from the basement with Chief Colbert, Bonnie claimed that the person that had hit her was none other than Mia Duomo! Mia was shocked by the accusation and told Chief Colbert that she had no idea what Bonnie was talking about. What happened next? Here’s what you decided.

Chapter 22:
Imperative Statements

“I what?” Mia laughed. “Me? And, break a nail? I don’t think so.”

“She wore the gloves and the costume of the ghost of Theodisa Westwick!" Bonnie went on.

“But, I didn’t.” Mia shook her head, becoming genuinely concerned. “I was at the hotel.”

“You’re here now.” Chief Colbert shrugged.

“This is a set-up!” Mia Duomo began to panic.

“Calm down, Miss Duomo.” Chief Colbert said.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Mia asked.

“First of all, I just want to talk with you.” Chief Colbert said calmly.

“I have nothing to say!” Mia spat.

“Finally, a fantastic first.” Miss Trotter muttered under her breath.

“I heard you, Violet Trotter,” Mia Duomo widened her eyes, “and, it’s precisely that attitude that made your skin wrinkle so badly.”

Before Miss Trotter could say anything else, Annie interrupted.

“Now, everyone calm down.” Annie piped up.

“You, you Annie Trotter person,” Mia Duomo began, “you can tell Chief Colbert. You and Uriah brought me back to the hotel. I couldn’t possibly have had time to change into a silly costume, knock someone on the head, drag them to the basement, change back into my own beautiful, delicious, elegant clothes, put my absolutely perfect makeup back onto my stunning face and get back here in such a short amount of time. Tell him!”

“Mia, Uriah and I did bring you back to the hotel, that’s true.” Annie said.

“That wasn’t assertive enough!” Mia moaned. “Where’s your husband? I want him to defend me!”

“Uriah Trotter is still down in the basement, Miss Duomo.” Chief Colbert said. “He’s having a look around with my partner, Officer Littlepoole.”

“Well, get him up here!” Mia shook her head wildly.

“There’s no need.” Bonnie Whiteside argued. “I know who hit me. I know it was this awful woman.”

“Awful?” Mia gasped. “I am not awful. I’m scintillating! I’m remarkable! Awful? I am a former fashion model! By the very virtue of that fact I cannot be awful. I can only be…”

“A has-been.” Bonnie smiled cruelly.

“A what?” Mia began to shake. “Chief Colbert, just what do you intend to do about this?”

“For starters,” Chief Colbert continued coolly, “I’m going to talk to both of you. I want to hear Miss Whiteside’s version and I want to hear Miss Duomo’s version.”

“I’ll start.” Mia began. “I always started. I was always the first model on the catwalk. People would stand up when I entered. They’d applaud!”

“No one’s applauding now.” Bonnie laughed.

Mia smirked. “You all will when I’ve finished talking. Now, to begin from the perfectly perfect beginning…”

“I say, she’s a bit repetitive.” Mr. DeLorca rolled his eyes. “I don’t understand half of what she’s saying. That reminds me of a time in Londonerry. Yes, yes, Londonderry. It was half past a quarter until a fortnight, and my lovely wife and I were listening to the radio because the news reader was about to announce the winners of the annual Gooseberry-Guessing Guessing Game. I was fairly certain that I was going to win because I had worn my lucky socks for three days in a row. You all know the socks, I’m sure. They’re orange—like sweet potatoes. Of course, they weren’t made from sweet potatoes because we all know that’s impossible. Believe me, I’ve tried. The best I could do was make a tiny little cap for Shakuntala, but she ate that in short order. Now, where was I? Yes, yes, you take one cup of sugar for every single gooseberry, and then you add assorted fruit juices…”

“Mr. DeLorca,” Chief Colbert, held up his hand.

“What? I was just going to tell you all how I ended up almost eating my MP3 player. A messy business, that.” Mr. DeLorca frowned.

“You can tell me all about it later,” Chief Colbert said gently.

“I will that.” Mr. DeLorca nodded. “I’ve got the thing in my pocket. Still works.”

“That’s nice.” Chief Colbert nodded.

“Can we please get back to ME?” Mia shrieked.

“Yes.” Chief Colbert sighed. “I will talk with you first, Mia.”

“Beautiful. Like me!” Mia beamed.

“But, privately.” Chief Colbert interrupted.

“You can come downstairs and give your statement to me and Officer Littlepoole. Then, we’ll get a statement from Miss Whiteside.” Chief Colbert explained.

“I’m the victim here!” Bonnie Whiteside argued. “Just what am I supposed to do while you’re talking to the former Catwalk Cutie?”

“I suggest you rest. You’ve been through a horrible ordeal.” Chief Colbert answered. “There are a lot of strange things going on in town tonight. In fact, as I told Mr. Trotter over the phone, we’ve just come from the hotel where there’s been some vandalism. I have a feeling all of this is connected. We’ll get to them bottom of it. But for now, you wait here with these nice people. Then, I’ll ask those same nice people why they’re all trespassing on private property.”

“I’ll go now, Chief…whatever your name is.” Mia sighed. “But, since you’ve just been at the hotel, you’re sure to have seen me. Everyone sees me! I’m so eye-catching.”

“We didn’t see you, no.” Chief Colbert shook his head. “But, we’ll talk about all of that downstairs.”

“Alright. Just all beautiful right.” Mia sighed.

Once Miss Duomo and Chief Colbert had gone back to the basement, everyone turned uncomfortably to look at Bonnie Whiteside.

“Are you alright, Miss Whiteside. Do you need anything?” Nancy asked.

“I’ve got a packet of mustard in my pocket, if you’d like it. It’s ‘fancy.’” Isaac smiled.

“No, thank you.” Bonnie Whiteside shivered.

“When I asked you earlier if you had any mustard, you told me that you didn’t.” Mr. DeLorca frowned.

“I forgot.” Isaac shrugged.

“Likely.” Mr. DeLorca scoffed.

“What is that smell.” Miss Whiteside smelled the air and looked around.

“Fish slurry—a pelican’s best friend.” Mr. DeLorca answered cheerfully. “If you’d like some, I’m sure Shakuntala might be persuaded to share. After all, if Isaac could offer you his precious mustard, anything is possible.”

“I’ll pass.” Miss Whiteside coughed. She began to look nervous, glancing at her watch.

“Do you need to be somewhere?” Mrs. Conn asked.

“No.” Miss Whiteside snapped. “It’s just that I don’t want to be in here.”

“Chief Colbert will be right back up.” Mrs. DeLorca said. “You won’t have to wait long.”

“I have to go.” Miss Whiteside shook her head. “I want to go home.”

“You’ll have to wait until Chief Colbert gets your statement.” Mrs. DeLorca smiled.

“Do I?” Miss Whiteside growled. “Do I?”

“What’s that? What about pie?” Mr. DeLorca asked.

“Oh, I have to get out of here,” Miss Whiteside headed for the stairs.

“She can’t leave right now.” Annie whispered to Eugenia Victoria.

“Maybe I can get the spiders to quickly spin a web to catch her.” Eugenia Victoria’s eyes sparkled.

“Ummm…okay.” Annie nodded slowly. “But, maybe there’s another way to stop her.”

What should they do?

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Voting results for how the story continues:

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River Road Ch. 22: What should they do? Try to convince her to stay? 51.9% Hope that Chief Colbert stops her on her way out? 25.9% Let Miss Whiteside go? 22.2%   Version 2.03