The Hemnars

The Hemnar family was having breakfast. Sabrina broke off a piece of her toast with the corner of her mouth. Her phone was in the other hand.

'Sabrina; no phones at the table,' her father reminded her. He was sitting across her and his wife was sitting at his right.

'Sabrina, dear, no phones at the table,' her mother this time.

Sabrina took one long look at her mother, then her father. She rolled her eyes and put her phone hand underneath the table.

'How's school?' her father asked her.

Her attention had been shifted to under the table.

'Sabrina, your father asked you a question,' her mother said staring at her daughter's scalp.

She sighed in aggravation. 'Fine,' she responded.

Her father said, 'People don't suspect that you're..?'

'Your daughter?' She laughed. 'There's a good and a bad side to it. The down side is that only the principal knows who my father is. And that makes me feel like an orphan, or worse…adopted. The up side is that no one knows that I'm the offspring of a cop.'

They ate in silence for a little while.

Finally, her father said, 'Do you know a boy at your school by the name of Sineas Murphy?'

Mrs. Hemnar stopped eating. She stared suspiciously at her husband.

Sabrina laughed from underneath the table. 'The black kid? Everyone knows him.'

'Really?' Her father shifted in his seat. 'What's he like?'

'Charles!' his wife exclaimed in his direction. She shook her head slowly at him.

'He's a freak. That's all you need to know,' said Sabrina.

Charles looked at his wife. He could tell she could bite his head off at any moment. Nevertheless, he pushed his luck and turned back to his daughter. 'Has he ever displayed any form of violent behaviour?' he asked her.

Sabrina laughed. 'That kid? Justin once roughed him up during lunchtime but he didn't even try to fight back. He didn't even look up! It's like he was raised by nuns.'

'Are you telling me that this boy has never raised his hand at anyone…or anything?' he asked her again.

She shrugged carelessly. 'Nope. But…for some reason, Doreen seems to be afraid of him.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, it's like every time we go over to see Clarissa, she immediately wants to get away from her as quickly as possible. Since these days Clarissa is always hanging around that strange kid, whenever Doreen gets too close, she switches from vengeful to submissive. I'm not a detective but I could smell the fear on her.'

'What's Doreen's number?'

'Charles!' Mrs. Hemnar snapped. She looked like she was at her tipping point.

'What? I just want to understand this kid better, Martha. It's my job.'

'At our daughter's expense?'

'Wait, wait a minute,' Sabrina said raising her head from underneath the table. She was staring distrustfully at her father. 'Are you trying to make me your informant, daddy?'

'No, dear, I just want to know more about Sineas so I can just…put this case to bed.'

'You promised me, Charles,' Mrs. Hemnar whispered sharply in his direction, 'you promised to keep our family out of this.'

'Martha, please…'

'Wait…' Sabrina frowned at the table. She was pondering over something. 'Does this have something to do with Justin's murder?'

Her father shrugged.

'Because if you're trying to gather evidence against Sineas then I'm game.'

Her mother jumped in, 'No, no, Sabrina! No! There will be no gathering of evidence from you…ever! No one should ever know that you're connected to your father…' she choked on her own saliva. Tears were swelling up in her eyes. 'Do you want us to find six pieces of you buried somewhere, elsewhere and only-God-knows-where?! Is that what you want?' She turned to her husband.

'Just tell me what you want to know, daddy,' Sabrina grinned impatiently at her father. It was as if her mother's words had fallen on deaf ears.

Charles looked at his wife. She looked horrified. He said, 'Um…maybe it's best that we drop this, Sabrina. Your mother's right. Getting you involved in this will only put both you and your mother in danger. If I am correct, that Sineas Murphy is involved in these murders somehow, or if it's anyone else in your school and if they make a connection between you and me…' he shook his head, 'The killer will take all our eighteen body parts and make a bloody jigsaw puzzle.'

'But, daddy; I don't have to be actively involved in the investigation. I can just tell you what you need to know about the kid and you can just go get him and throw him in prison.'

Her father sighed heavily. He looked at his wife.

Martha was now staring blankly into her cup of coffee. She had stopped eating.

Charles was fully aware of how much she disagreed with the idea. She had always hated how he at times took his job so seriously that he was willing to go to great lengths to close a case. Maybe someday she would adjust. Someday. He turned back to his daughter. He nodded.

Sabrina widened her grin. She placed her phone on top of the table and rubbed her hands fervently. She said, 'Well, daddy, first of all, that Sineas kid is a freak! He always makes a fool of himself. Gym class, Physics class, the list is endless. I think you get the idea. Anyway, daddy, the kid can't even do push-ups…push-ups, daddy! Do you have any idea how strange that is?'

Her father immediately stopped her with an outstretched hand. 'Sabrina…is this going somewhere? Anywhere at all?' he asked her.