I walked into his apartment, and there he was watching TV, just like he always did. Sitting in the recliner chair, with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. There were no decorations, no groups of people, and worst of all, there was no giant number 3 and 5 balloons. Looking over at me, Devin said, “Hey Kelly, you look beautiful tonight. What's the special occasion?” Devin said as he flicked through the channels. 

Oh this must be apart of the surprise! Alright I’ll play along. “Oh, you know, no reason. I just felt extra special today.” I said, winking at him. 

“Why is your eye twitching? Is there something wrong with it? I have a friend that is an ophthalmologist. I can call him to come look at it for you,” he said, taking a sip of his beer. 

“Uh no, that’s fine. Anyway, how was work? Are there any new interesting cases you're working on?” I said, taking a seat on the couch. 

“Oh, nothing too crazy. We have this new case where a girl murdered her boyfriend because he didn’t buy her the cookies she wanted.”

“That is such a wild case. They must have been some really incredible cookies?” 

“Honestly, they weren’t even special, just your average chocolate chip cookies you can get from any grocery store bakery. She confessed to have been upset with him about cheating on her 7 years ago. She told us the day he forget the cookies - happened to be exactly one year after she caught him with another woman. She believed he was cheating on her again and she completely snapped. When he was at the table eating the dinner he made, she went postal and killed him with a rolling pin.”

“Wow, that is truly a crime of passion.” 

“Yeah, so when I prosecute her tomorrow at court, she will more likely than not be going to prison for a long time.” He said, taking the last sip of his beer. Getting up from his seat, he walked over to the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink or eat?”

“I’ll just have some water right now.” Getting up from the couch, I started to walk towards the hallway. “I’m going to use the lady's room real quick.” 

Instead of going to the bathroom. I looked in the other rooms of the house. I’ve been here for a while; they are really dragging out this whole surprise party thing.

First, I checked his bedroom, but there was no one in sight, not even under the bed. Maybe they were all hiding in the laundry room, but no, there were only wet clothes in the washer. Doubt started to creep inside of my mind. After putting the wet clothes in the dryer, I walked to the last likely place a group of people could hide.

Opening the bathroom door, the only thing behind it was the porcelain throne and a shower. Closing the door, I walked back to the living room.