THE MYSTERY OF THE SHATTERED ICE

The Mystery of the Shattered Ice 1

Chief Roger McCollum sits in his police cruiser, feeling the heater warm his numb fingers. His gaze moves slowly from the frost forming on his windshield to his rearview mirror, revealing three young children sitting in the backseat.
"Please don't take us to jail," one of them says between giggles.
"I don't know," Roger replies. "How do I know you're not the bandits I'm looking for?"
This is Roger's favorite part of the job. The town of Northbury, Pennsylvania is so small it hardly ever has any crime. Roger gets to spend most of his time playing cops and robbers with the local kids, trying to slip in lessons about being good citizens when he can.
Suddenly a voice cracks over his radio. "Roger, the mayor is looking for you and she sounds angry."
Roger sighs as he gets out of the car and opens the back door. "You're lucky the mayor saved you this time." The kids smile and hug him as they jump out and run to play in the snow as flurries fall around them.
A few minutes later, Roger stands in front of Charlotte LeBlanc, the mayor of Northbury. "The ice is gone. Completely gone," she says. She is about a foot shorter than Roger, but her nervous energy makes him feel small. Roger follows her as she paces around the room, rubbing her hands together to warm them in the chilly air.
"What do you mean?" Roger asks. The roads were slippery from all the ice on his drive over.
"The ice for the competition. Someone smashed it to bits."
The Northbury Winter Festival starts tomorrow. The main attraction is always the ice sculpting competition. It draws hundreds of tourists each year.
"How is that even possible?" Roger says.
"That's your job to figure out. The ice was delivered yesterday and we kept it in the park, like we always do, but this morning it was smashed. This is even worse than the year we had a blizzard during the festival!"

The Mystery of the Shattered Ice 2

Roger bends over and picks up a handful of ice. Charlotte was right. Where there should be six perfect blocks of ice, there are now six piles of ice chunks. Roger breathes in the frigid air and breathes out a puff of white mist.
"Who would do this?" he thinks. A few years ago, Roger suggested storing the ice somewhere more secure, but Charlotte laughed at him, reminding him the park is in the middle of the town. Everyone is always watching it.
Around him, the park looks like the perfect winter scene. A blanket of snow covers the ground, like thick frosting. Tiny icicles hang from tree branches and sparkle in the sun. Normally, the sky is overcast during the festival, but the weather reports say tomorrow is going to be nice and sunny.
Roger, remembering what the mayor said about everyone watching the ice, walks across the street to the diner...

The Mystery of the Shattered Ice 3

Roger, remembering what the mayor said about everyone watching the ice, walks across the street to the diner. Normally, Roger would take his cap off in a building, but the diner is so drafty he decides to leave it on. He walks up to the counter and waves at Jess, the owner.
"What can I get you today, officer?" Jess asks.
"Information," Roger replies. "Did you see anything last night?"
Jess shakes his head. "You mean the ice? No. I locked up around nine and everything was fine then."
Roger asks a few other people, but none of them know anything. The windchill was below zero last night, so everyone just stayed inside and warmed themselves by their fireplaces.
Roger notices a group of six teenagers staring at him suspiciously. He walks over to their table and smiles. He recognizes a few of them from his games when they were little.
"Enjoying your break from school?" he asks. They all nod, but don't say anything. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about the ice, would you?"
"No sir," a boy wearing a hoodie with "Northbury High School" written on it replies.
"You know this is very serious, right? The competition is incredibly important to this town."
"I know, sir. We all love it just as much as everyone else. Maybe it was someone from Riverview."
Riverview is a nearby town that has a much smaller winter festival each year. They're always trying to steal people away from Northbury's festival. Riverview's main attraction is a snowshoe race that nobody ever attends. Roger thinks the theory actually makes a lot of sense, but then he notices one of the girls.
A short, redheaded girl named Emma. She's wearing an oversized sweater and nibbling on a gingerbread man. He used to play with her and her brother all the time. Normally, she's friendly and chatty, but now she won't even look at Roger. "She knows something," Roger thinks.
"Well, I have to get back to my investigation. If any of you hear anything, let me know." He takes a business card out of his wallet and sets it down on the table, right in front of Emma. "Just call or email me. I even text."
Roger leaves the diner and sits in his car, brushing the snowflakes from his jacket as he sits down. He turns up the defroster and waits for the fog to clear from the windows as he tries to decide what to do next.
Suddenly, his cell phone buzzes. He unlocks it and sees he has a text message from a number he doesn't recognize. It says...

The Mystery of the Shattered Ice 4

Suddenly, his cell phone buzzes. He unlocks it and sees he has a text message from a number he doesn't recognize. It says, "I saw this last night. Please don't tell anyone I told you. My parents can't know I was out." Several pictures are attached to it. Roger can't believe what he sees. They are dark and kind of blurry, but they definitely show Charlotte and her assistant attacking the ice with sledgehammers.
He looks up to see Emma wave and smile at him through the window. He smiles back, torn between being thankful for her help and shocked by Charlotte.
Roger walks straight to Charlotte's office, shaking the slush off his boots, and slams down prints of the pictures on her desk. Charlotte looks at the pictures, then back at him.
"How did you—" she starts.
"It's like you said, people in this town watch the ice."
"But you're barely even a real cop. All you do is play with kids all day," she says angrily. Roger laughs. "Look, I did it for the town. You can't tell anyone, all right?"
"You did it for the town?" Roger asks in disbelief.
"Do you know how much free publicity we'll get from this story? Everybody will report on it. Everyone will hear about us. It's the best ad campaign ever!"
"We don't need other people's pity," Roger says. "You're under arrest for destruction of city property."
Charlotte tries to argue, but Roger just handcuffs her and leads her to his car. He takes her to the station and locks her in a cell, then leaves to find and arrest her assistant.
The next day at the festival, Roger listens as everyone gossips about Charlotte between sips from steaming cups of hot chocolate. Roger tries to ignore them. He just wants to enjoy the nice, brisk weather and maybe get a glass of eggnog. Jess walks up to him, holding a clipboard. He hands it to Roger and says, "It's a petition to get Charlotte fired."
"That's a cause I can support," Roger says, removing his glove so he can sign his name on the sheet. He's relieved that the rest of the town is as upset about it as him. "Who's going to replace her?"
"We don't know yet. The treasurer will take over until we have an election. Some of us were thinking maybe you'd run."
A child screams behind them. Roger spins around just in time to see him throw a snowball at his nearby friend. "Hey," Roger shouts, "I'm going to have to take you two down to the station." The kids burst out in laughter. "Thanks, but I think I'll stick to this job," he says, smiling widely.