Ice Scraper

I talk a ton

Mystery

February24

Angelina shivered as she watched the skater slow to a stop, bow, and skate off the ice. The air was cold and the smell of rubber floors filled the huge room. Everyone sat and watched the rink in the middle and the judge’s chairs, elevated and black, sat high enough to see everything. Angelina rubbed her arms to warm them before she got onto the ice and watched the next skater do a jump. One spin, two spins… landed. Angelina looked at her coach “She is good.”
Her coach took a second to stop applauding for the skater and start listening to Angelina, “Yes, but you are better. Don’t be nervous, you will do great.” Her coach smiled a little then looked away and started watching next skater, “Make sure you are ready though, you are next.” Angelinas coach was a popular one, she coached more skaters than just Angelina, so, Angelina was surprised that her coach was spending her time with her, but she didn’t mind that at all. The skater was gliding along the ice, making graceful moves and obviously trying her best. Angelina’s coach applauded when she was done, high fived the skater as she got off and then smiled at Angelina, “Ready?” Angelina took one long, cold breath, removed her sweatshirt, and glided onto the ice.
She waited until the applause for the last skater stopped and went into her starting position in the middle. She could feel her hands shaking from being cold, but mostly from being nervous. Then she waited for the music to start. As the quiet sound came from the speaker she glanced at her mom and coach at the door for reassurance then she began.
She skated backwards, then turned forwards into lunge. She leaned her head back and stretched out her arms. Her front foot shook a little and she franticly stilled it. Next was the hardest. She stood up and turned her feet outward and glided into the turn. Her feet hurt more than usual and she shook.
As she turned she glanced at the judges who were watching her and taking notes. Then she looked at the door. Her coach had a worried look on her face but nodded and quickly changed expressions when she noticed that Angelina was looking at her. And her mother had a blank expression on her face, something else Angelina had never seen.
The last trick, Angelina took a deep breath and started skating backwards. She put her toe pick into the ice behind her and pushed herself into the air. She turned once, twice and she went down for the landing. The second her blade hit the ground it went jaggedly sideways, throwing Angelina of her balance and she fell on her side, hitting her head.
~
The dark room was small. With a lamp on a small table sitting next to the bed that Angelina was laying on. It had cabinets on the opposite wall and a couch a couple feet away from the bed. The arguing voices coming from the other side of the white door sounded like her mother’s, her coach’s, and someone she didn’t recognize.
She sat up and instantly her head was pounding. She held it and whined a little. The door opened to her mother coming in and sitting down on the end of the couch.
“Honey?” her mother said, “Can you hear me? I am sorry.” The sound her mother made pierced Angelina’s ears and she laid back down, “I can hear you… what happened to me? Sorry for what?” Angelina croaked.
“You hit your head pretty hard,” said a man in a white shirt and with a stethoscope around his neck. “You should rest more.” The man and her mother left the room and she stared at the ceiling. Soon her coach’s muffled voice woke her from her light sleep and she listened.
“She has a concussion because of it! I… Yes, I know. Ya. But they will find who loosened the connection from her blade to her boot and when they do it will be me on the line! It’s not like she is the first that we- Ok, ok. Alright… bye.”
~
“We are doing everything we can ma’am, but a good investigation takes time.” The police officer rubbed his chin, “I am sorry.”
“Alright, thank you.” Angelina’s mom was tired. The search for Angelina’s skate culprit had been going on for a week now and everything was leading to a dead end. Angelina thought and thought but she couldn’t think of anyone who would have motive.
The judges hadn’t seen anything, her coach had been so focused on the competition that she hadn’t noticed anything, except that one of the judges kept on glancing at them before the competition, but he had no motive, and a strong alibi. They were sure that the skates had been messed with the day before the competition between 4pm to 7pm but everyone had a solid alibi.
Angelina’s mom put her head in her hands, “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“I know,” Angelina slumped down in a chair next to her, “hey, mom?”
“Ya?”
“When I was in the hospital after I fell you came in and said sorry. What for?”
“Well,” Her mother started, “I was sorry for you… I knew that concussions hurt a lot and so I was sorry for you.”
“Oh, ok” Angelina put her head in her hands too and sighed. Suddenly the door swung open to her coach, “They found fingerprints!”
~
The rink looked different with all of the lights turned off.Angelina walked through the doors of the rink with her mom on one side and her coach on the other. They walked past the door to the rink, and around the corner. When they reached the bench that had several policemen crouching around looking at the floor for more clues. When a policeman saw them he got up and walked towards them. “We found them right next to where her skates were setting before the competition. The chief is taking them to the lab right now to find out who’s fingerprints they are.”
“Thank you, officer,” Angelina’s coach started walking out of the building and angelina and her mom followed.
~
The lab was bigger than angelina thought it would be. It had a large room with a desk and lots of chairs. Through a door in the back of the big room was the actual “lab.” As Angelina passed through the doors she saw a large cage with mice in it staring up at her. She walked up to the chief with her mother at her side and looked around for her coach, but she wasn’t there. Angelina guessed that she was just having a lesson and kept going.
The chief had a strange expression on his face when they reached him and he spoke very quick, “We have found a match for the fingerprints, but there is a problem.” He looked Angelina in the eye and said,”The fingerprints are your coaches.”
Angelinas mom took her hand and raised her voice, “Well this doesn’t mean anything, her coach would touch her skates, to… to… see that they are working, right?”
“Maybe,” The chief put his hand on the desk,”If she did then she didn’t do a very good job though, I mean look at what happened.”
~
“Have you ever heard of coach swils?” Angelina’s mom shouted across the house.
“No, but it’s ok, I don’t need a new coach, not yet, thanks though mom.” It had been a month since the accident but Angelina still didn’t feel confident on the ice. “I still don’t see why Coach Reet did it.”
“She got offered a bunch of money, its not your fault.”
“I know,” Angelina looked up at her mom, “So, Coach swils? When do I meet her?”

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