Bubble Tea Murderer

By: Grace Zhang

“What flavor bubble tea do you want?” Elizabeth asked her best friend Samantha. Elizabeth, who had worked at the tea shop for 3 years, just turned 27 last week.

“Yum, this is really good,” Samantha said.

“Yeah, I know right?” Elizabeth replied with a forced smile.

Clearly, something is bothering her, Samantha thought. Maybe there is something that I can do to cheer her up!

While sipping their drinks, Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice the bubble tea store mascot, A person in a giant boba costume, who had dark red streaks all over their gloves.

“Hey Samantha, do you see that guy? Like, the costume? The hands look like they have tomato sauce all over them.”

“Yeah, that's really weird!” said Samantha, looking up from her phone.

“I’m going to check it out.” said Elizabeth, eyes still on the mascot.

“Wait! I’m coming with you.” said Samantha, turning her phone off.

“Hello? Sir?” said Elizabeth.

“Hey, what’s up?” said the person in the costume.

“I was wondering if you could explain why there is red stuff on your gloves. I’m just a little wary because there was a death a few days ago in this area,” said Elizabeth quickly. Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

“I- it’s none of your business,” stuttered the boba man.

“Excuse me, I have full authority to ask because I have been helping police officers solve crimes for 2 years,” said Elizabeth.

“What’s going on over here?” asked the manager, who had seen suspicious activity on the cameras.

“Hello sir, I’m here questioning this man. He has red stuff all over those gloves of his.”

“Orion, just take off the costume.” Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff, the manager, said to the mascot.

After Elizabeth finished analyzing and examining the costume, Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff came into the room where she was doing her work.

“So, what did you find? Was there anything out of the ordinary?” He asked.

“I don’t know why the heck you hired this idiot, because he really needs to find better hiding spots. There’s literally a knife in the pocket,” said Elizabeth.

“Look at this security footage I found too.” She said. I finally found you, Elizabeth thought. “This is enough for me, I’ll file a report later,” said Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff.

*Bang Bang Bang!* went the Judge’s dark brown, gold embroidered gavel.

“We are here today to discuss the death of Raina Snozcumber,” said the Judge in a loud clear voice.

“Your Mother!?!?!?” exclaimed Samantha in a stage whisper. Elizabeth didn’t give any response. Samantha now knew why Elizabeth hadn’t been acting like herself lately and she felt awful for not figuring it out sooner.

“Ms. Snozcumber, do you have any evidence on why our defendant here killed Mrs. Snozcumber?” asked the Judge.

“Yes, I do. I found this knife with matching fingerprints of Mr. Orion, and I have this footage” said Elizabeth.

The footage showed a crowd of people leaning over the edge of the balcony to see a show going on down below. One single old lady was sitting, sipping her bubble tea. A big boba cup with arms comes out, muffles the lady’s mouth, and then proceeded to drag her into a storage room. The boba cup pulls out a knife, and then stabs knife towards screaming woman.

Suddenly, the screen blacks out. The boba opens a big vent door with a crowbar, and then drags the dead body into the vent. The video stops abruptly

“You have anything to say about this Mr. Orion?” asked the judge, his eyebrow raised high.

“N-no.” mumbled Mr. Orion.

“I’m wondering, why did you kill this woman?” asked the Judge.

“Because my mother was poisoned and killed, and I wanted revenge.” Replied Mr. Orion fiercely.

“So you decided to take it out on an elderly lady who had nothing to do with the death? Interesting. I want to know, how old was your mother when she died?” The Judge asked Mr. Orion and Elizabeth.

“Sixty-seven,” They replied in union.

“Yeah see so she was going to die anyways!” exclaimed Mr. Orion.

“So was yours,” said the Judge breezily.

“Well, I’m convinced.” *Bang Bang Bang* “Case closed.”