08:29 P.M.
Xian Santos's Residence.
July 20th, the year 2018. Friday.
"What did you say?" Xian fretted. Marcus held his forehead. Carmela, Abbey, Mina, and Zoey exhaled with him too. They were not expecting that Matthew would do it inside Xian's house.
"Katrina is now missing. Can you say that Katrina killed Margo to bug our minds when someone else was right there, trying to kill us?!" Matthew bellowed at Xian. He felt the tears on the verge of falling down his eyes. Everyone's cell phone vibrated at the same time except Xian's.
Marcus retrieved it out of his pockets. He laid it down on his hips as he saw the birthday reminder as he knuckled his fists.
"It will be Katrina's birthday tomorrow," Abbey mumbled, and she looked down at her feet.
Xian was quiet for a moment, but he chuckled right away that all of them stared at him with bafflement. Mina clenched his jaw and stood up beside Matthew as they observed how Xian cackled like crazy.
"What I heard actually made my day," Xian muttered. Mina crouched down before Matthew could ever grab his collar first.
Mina inched his face closer to Xian as he gritted his teeth in anger. Zoey looked at Mina with worry as she whispered they should stop the argument.
"Mina, please," Carmela mumbled right through their backs as Matthew exhaled. The housemaid hurried over to the telephone, puzzled by their actions. She dialed Sammy Carbonel right on the tone. She voice mailed that six people, including a lieutenant, were at their house.
"Stop it, you maniac. You don't know what happened to Katrina because of you," Mina hissed, right at Xian's smirking face. He can't help raise his fist. Zoey grasped a hold of his arm. Mina averted his eyes towards her with confusion.
"Mina, don't add another fuel to the flame," Zoey whispered to him. Mina removed her hand rashly. He punched Xian hard in the face. Xian snickered right through the floor while he spat some drops of blood over the tiles. He turned to Mina.
Mina clenched his jaw and spat, "Your consciousness wasn't there in the first place, Xian. You're not regretting everything!"
Matthew glanced at his cell phone. The tears fell down right on the screen as it reminded him again of Katrina's birthday tomorrow. Only a few hours left before his surprise, the pain ached in his heart. Abbey glimpsed at him. She quickly approached Matthew.
She wrapped her arms around Matthew. Mina's angry tears poured down her eyes while Xian was still sniggering at them.
Marcus noticed the housemaid, and he got the telephone from her. The maid took a step back from him. He put it right through his ear and he heard aunt Sammy's voice bellowing over the phone. She was shouting, and Marcus heard the mellow song playing in the background over the other end of the line.
"Aunt Sammy," Marcus mumbled. He glanced over at Carmela, and their eyes connected with electricity. She sighed, closing her eyes tightly. Mina positioned his fist again, throwing the blow. The maid didn't know what to do. She fled the room in an instant.
"Marcus?" Aunt Sammy asked worriedly over the line. Matthew's sobs were clear all over the house. Xian guffawed, overpowering Matthew's howling. Mina removed the grip from his shirt and fell back onto the floor. Katrina's image huddled on the back of the person crossed his mind again.
The blood spilling from her dandelion hoodie haunted him for the past hour.
"If I... If I have run much faster than that... the abduction would never happen," Mina muttered to himself as Zoey asked if Xian was okay. Xian looked at her in disbelief. Zoey knuckled her fists, controlling herself from slapping his face.
Mina's grief showed right away. Marcus glanced at them, in sorrow and in deep anxiousness.
"I need to investigate your son, Aunt Sammy," Marcus lied through the line. He hung it up abruptly. It made Sammy widen her eyes while standing frozen backstage at their production. She was now wearing her ballerina suit, and they had tied her hair up in a bun. Astonishment surged through her, and she went out of the backstage room. Her co-actresses were calling her. She rummaged for her coat and slacks over her seat in the dressing room. Sammy wore off the ballerina costume right away.
Marcus put the telephone back in its place. The silence ensued right away except for Matthew's and Mina's sobs. Marcus looked down at his feet. He felt guilty about passing over the case. No matter what he tried to protect them, he would have to admit to himself that he didn't have a clue who was following them.
Carmela approached him and grabbed a hold of his left arm. He looked up as his vision became blurry because of the tears on the verge. Xian fell back on the floor while he grimaced as he felt the unbearable pain in his right leg.
Carmela shook her head and mumbled, "You don't have to take all the blame, Marcus. We need to find the person who did this to Katrina."
Marcus gazed at her again as he bit his lip. He shook his head repetitively. It's him being incompetent.
"I shouldn't be a lieutenant. I can't even protect my friends," Marcus mumbled as he felt his shoulders shaking.
Xian cackled right away again as Matthew's sobs were dying down. They all looked at him as he asked, "You know what's funny right now? I still don't have any clue on why this situation erupted between us."
Xian smiled sadly, pointing out, "We are always blaming each other. When in fact, it all happened because of that damn person wearing the black hoodie."
Matthew chuckled, his tears still evident on his cheeks. He retorted, "So, why were you blaming Katrina when you have known this all the time?"
Xian slowly turned his head. The cold tiles sent chills down his back. Xian stood up from the floor, grunting. He leveled his right arm so it wouldn't get injured again. He held his right leg with his left hand. Mina and Zoey were all staring at his face with detest. They can't help to feel that what he has to say further can make the flame grow more in rage.
"I lost. I didn't know what to feel because Margo had died just like that, without justice. The time I got into an accident, Marcus wasn't the one who was holding my case," Xian explained. He averted his eyes from Matthew to the Lieutenant over the couch. Marcus tilted his head on one side and swallowed as he remembered the vehicular case of Xian over a month ago.
"Marcus, I thought you were the one... who made this to me because of the bullets that spotted right on the backside of my car. It was from a pistol that only the police had. And all I can think of was you," Xian elaborated, and they all shifted their eyes. It befuddled Carmela. She stared at Marcus's stony face.
"Where did you get the bullet report? From the Vehicular Accident division?" Marcus asked back as Xian nodded. He sighed and his case didn't even come to his mind because he was so busy solving murder cases from that time.
"What Matthew did, was also the product of rage that we have in each other. What I felt when you said that Katrina was missing. I felt relieved that my suspicions were correct. Someone was here to kill us, not just to torture us or everything. That person was going to kill us," Xian supposed, looking at the cast on his right leg.
"Katrina killed Margo with her words, and I couldn't even accept that. All this time, I had a relationship with Margo before she died. I can't even say nasty things to her because she was like an angel," Xian glimpsed at his right arm and placed it over him. Mina, Matthew, Abbey, and Zoey all looked at him with their eyebrows furrowed. They can't help to think that Xian was now sober to think all of that logic behind them.
"And that time I said those words to Katrina, I can't help to wonder if that was me or not," Xian hesitated. It made Carmela gazed at him completely.