08:40 P.M.
Xian Santos's Residence.
July 20th, the year 2018. Friday.
"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.
Marcus furrowed his eyebrows towards Xian. He thought about the bullets in his accident. It's as if someone was misleading them into finding the real culprit, even if he was close by.
"Xian... about the bullets... did you, did you remember the name of the bullets from the threshold on where it came? And also the name of the gun?" Marcus stood up straight. He furrowed his eyebrows towards Xian. He waited for his answer that he was always dreading to hear. Something was going on between them. Believe it or not, he can't deny the fact that his idea to catch this person scattered out.
The loaded pistol they were carrying... It has permission. They have to follow the order to shoot if things get out of hand. Marcus has the power to command everything alongside except for the Chief of the Police. But he wasn't the one holding the case.
He can't break the rules by swapping the cases in his own opinion. It would be prejudice towards him and his teammates. No matter how hard Marcus tried to get that case back, he signed the agreement, and there was no going back.
What was going on in Marcus's mind right now was the person who threatened Mr. Rosario. It made him transfer the case to another division. The 'Lordelle' that Lieutenant Jacob must talk about was someone they knew close by.
Xian sighed as he tilted his head to one side and couldn't even remember what was the name of that gun. The crimson letters occupied his mind. He knew it was the clue to the person they needed to find.
"Xian, does the name of the gun was Beretta Px4 Storm?" Marcus asked as Xian averted his eyes from the floor towards him. Marcus inhaled.
Xian squinted his eyes and said, "I don't remember that name, but... one thing is for sure, I knew the meaning of the letters on the side of the car, and it said that..."
He stopped murmuring. Xian brought back what the detective said. He looked up at those prying eyes, waiting for his answer that can bring so much fear. Xian exhaled once again as he knew it will scare them.
"It translated to 'I will kill you all'," he finally muttered as Mina and Zoey gasped right in front of him. Matthew and Abbey both widened their eyes as they stared at Xian. Xian thought that saying it to him would mean another action to prevail.
He looked down at his lap again. He felt guilty about confronting Marcus and Katrina about the recorded message. Xian knew it triggered the reality that Margo's death had unjust justice. Xian ingurgitated all of his pride and the shame succumbed to him as he realized it might be a misdirection.
"It is a misdirection. The message that's sent to Xian, it was a clue and a bait," Marcus articulated, narrowing his eyes. Carmela sighed in front of him and she took turns staring into his best friends' eyes. She knew Xian was saying the truth just by looking at how mystified and puzzled his eyes were. The person wearing the black hoodie bothered all of them, and they didn't know who it was.
"Come to think of it, I saw the person wearing that same thing the day Carmela got hired," Marcus mumbled. They all turned to him in astonishment.
"The scandal of Carmela and Katrina...," Matthew mumbled. Marcus walked up towards the front as the tears from Mina's eyes subsided. All of them listened immensely.
Abbey spoke her thoughts for the first time since they had gotten inside Xian's house. She asked, "What are you saying, Marcus? You saw the person wearing the black hoodie before all of this had happened?"
Abbey was so baffled at the moment, and by the time she knew that something was flying right, she would speak up. It's they who wanted not to keep secrets, but they were also breaking it against the pledge. She didn't want this kind of situation. She knew she needed to talk some sense out of their minds to resolve this suffering.
Marcus put his hands over his hips and said all of it to them. Xian tried to stand up while Marcus was talking and Zoey picked up the wooden crutches from the floor. She guided him on standing up and raised his hand to signal that Marcus should stop for a second.
"We can all sit on the couch. Let's all talk about how to catch this scumbag person wearing that goddamn hoodie. Also, the one who killed Margo. We need to find Katrina as well. I say that I still loathe her by what she did to Margo," Xian spoke, limping towards the couch. The reddish spot on his cheek was now visible because of the cold climate and breezy atmosphere.
Zoey guided him to sit down as they all settled in the living room. Marcus retrieved a pen and a paper on the table. He crouched down and drew a small circle. Seems like a dot.
He pointed at it and said, "This is... this is the person wearing the black hoodie that started the conflicts that we were now facing."
He drew a few circles again with different colors of the pen that was available at the table. He wrote the names of his friends, including Xian and Margo. They all waited for what Marcus had to say until he looked up.
"So... when Carmela applied as Margo's assistant, we all celebrated that morning, right?" Marcus tried to collate his ideas once again. He wanted to see any similar motives and reasons so they could catch that person once and for all. He didn't have a clue, but Marcus knew that if he looked carefully, he would know who it was.
"That day was June 4th," Zoey mumbled as Marcus looked up at his girlfriend. Zoey always had a lot of time sticking on the exact dates, and Marcus nodded at her immediately.
"Right, the day of June 4th, Carmela got hired, and she was along with Mina and Zoey. That day too was the time Katrina and Carmela got into a heated argument." Marcus drew a much larger circle. He placed a violet circle that represented Zoey, green circle for Mina, and the red one for Carmela. Marcus wrote the keywords of Margo's residence and Kingston Restaurant. Right underneath, and outside of the circle itself.
He placed the yellow circle of Katrina. An orange circle that represented him. The blue circle for Matthew. Marcus placed the pink circle last at Abbey's. He sighed, showing, "That day when we were celebrating together, I got angry at Zoey and fumed out of the comfort room."
Marcus stared at the paper, saying, "That was also the day I saw the person wearing the same thing. I don't think any of this situation was only coincidental. It was all planned."