1:46 A.M.
At the other side of the national road towards the exit of the Capital of Manila.
July 21st, the year 2018. Saturday.
Katrina Fajardo's 23rd birthday.
7 hours and 18 minutes since Katrina Fajardo went missing.
"There were no spots of blood. It was like someone passed over here," Ms. Feliciano said as she darted her eyes over the side of the tree. Lieutenant Lirio and Sergeant Kim were thinking the same thing, too. They narrowed their eyes at the bark of the tree.
Sergeant Kim made a gesture in the air. Lieutenant Lirio watched as she stroked her hand in the air the same way as the blood had spotted.
Ms. Feliciano crouched down on the ground as she saw a few leaves scattered beside the tree. She shed some light over there and saw a few spots of blood on the ground. She sighed as she mumbled, "The victim had been here. Or was it the culprit? They had shot him on his leg, so we don't know whether it was Katrina or the person wearing an oversized black hoodie."
She motioned for one of her teams to retrieve some samples over the bark of the tree. The same as the one on the leaves. Lieutenant Lirio and Sergeant Kim heard a loud screeching of the cars. Parking at the side, they halted abruptly.
They ran over the police line again. Lieutenant Marcus breathing rapidly as he climbed out of his car. Carmela and Zoey both closed the doors of their cars as they breathed and saw Marcus stopped at the foot of his car.
They saw countless officers rummaging stuff over the police patrol cars. Several more over the search on the insides of the woods. Lieutenant Lirio stopped right in front of them and saluted Marcus six paces away.
He sighed, motioning an officer to lead the Lieutenant towards the spots of blood. Sergeant Kim and Ms. Feliciano were still on the bark of the tree. They observe it in every direction.
"Where did you put the dandelion hoodie earlier?" Marcus asked as he put his hands on his hips and observed the surroundings.
Matthew, Mina, Zoey, Carmela, and Abbey huddled behind him a few paces away. He's talking in a serious tone towards another Lieutenant. Marcus motioned for something over the officers who were leaning on the patrol cars. They quickly stood up straight. They saluted first before running up that few paces before bowing down their heads.
Carmela glanced at the windy and shady night on the other side of the national road. She finally glimpsed at the place where she found Margo's body lying on the ground. She's conscious but her abdomen was full of blood.
She was shouting that time as the wind whistled from the horizon and she didn't know what to do. Even though her best friend, Marcus, who is a Lieutenant, cannot do anything about it.
The murderer had deserted from the scene, the one who murdered Margo ran away as fast as he could. No one knew his face, covered with a mask. Marcus and Mina stated earlier when they saw Katrina huddled over the abductor's back.
They can't see any traces of his identity. Carmela thought hard for the past few weeks how they can solve this thing once and for all. Even his hands were wearing gloves, and no trace of fingerprints was found.
His footprints were completely concealed from the public. No one knew who murdered Margo and the one who abducted Katrina hours before they came over the woods. Carmela turned to face the street again where she found Margo's body. It dimmed in one second and will shed some light again. The post street lights that kept switching on and off.
The convenience store shut down because of the cashier. She's also murdered hopelessly. She was the only one who witnessed everything, but she's dead. The real culprit behind all of this was intelligent enough to conceal any clues that lead to him. Even a single wisp of hair was not seen.
Carmela fell on the ground. She recalled Margo's rapid breathing... how she held her deep wound on her abdomen that keeps on spurting out a lot of blood towards the street.
She gasped as it crossed her mind again for the nth time and she felt that she was out of her breath. It was almost a month after Margo died, but what she had seen on where she was facing right now still haunted her.
Carmela's breath quickened. She gasped for some air, reliving that drastic moment vividly in her mind. Her tears fell from her eyes without notice as Zoey crouched down hurriedly, asking if she was okay. Abbey, Matthew, and Mina also did the same thing. Marcus remains serious while talking to another Lieutenant in front of him.
Carmela stared over the place where she found Margo's body. She held her chest, knuckling her fists at that spot. Matthew interrupted Marcus from his talk and pointed towards Carmela.
Marcus rapidly turned his heel around, widening his eyes. He called out through the officers. The two officers in another patrol car draped some towel on her shoulders. Mina guided Carmela to stand up from the ground.
Carmela closed her eyes as the officers walked beside her. They sat down over an ambulance car and the medical team assisted her right away.
"She developed a trauma from the crime she witnessed with her two eyes for over a month," Marcus mumbled. He turned to his best friends again. They're worried about Carmela over the ambulance car.
"She can recover after years. What happened to Katrina right now can only add up to the nightmare we are all facing," Marcus added. Mina looked away from observing Carmela through that car. He saw Abbey beside him, but he stared over the place where Carmela had been staring at earlier.
He walked up a few feet away from his circle of friends. Mina halted right in front of the convenience store. He heard the loud rustle of the trees nearby and in the woods. He saw the store barricaded by police lines.
Two officers in their uniform had been guarding the store in the middle of the night. There were only a few lights installed right on top of them and it was not the same as the one before.
Mina scrutinized every corner of the street as the lights on the post streets blinked on and off. It made the street so creepy to observe, but Mina was unbothered by the dead of the night. Marcus nodded at his girlfriend, Zoey. Abbey was still adhering to what was happening inside of the woods.
The trees were like giants and the leaves off from the branches were falling one by one on the street. Her mind came back to that soaked pant and metallic scent. Abbey shook her head a little and pursed her lips towards Marcus, who was now turning his back to them.
"Will Carmela be okay? She had been through a rough patch lately. Carmela needs us to be beside her all the time," Abbey muttered as Matthew took some time to look at her. Zoey draped her right arm over Abbey's shoulder and soothed it right away.
"Don't worry. We will not leave everyone's side. We had been born to always be together, Abbey. Everything will be fine, okay?" Zoey mumbled, as Abbey leaned her head over her shoulder. She looked through the insides of the woods with blobs of tears in her eyes.
She controlled it from falling as Matthew walked up towards Mina. He was still scrutinizing everything while Matthew was peeking at his worrisome face. Mina breathed out in exasperation as he shifted his eyes from the store towards Matthew.
"I was having a look around. We could use some help towards the investigation who was being led up by Marcus," Mina disclosed. Matthew agreed with him.
He inhaled an enormous amount of air first before saying, "We should. We had been outside for 7 hours already. We need to help Marcus find any clues than just waiting for something to happen."
Matthew and Mina took turns to nod at each other as they paced back and forth at the front of the convenience store. They breathed out. The two officers were observing them nearby.