2:28 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.
8 hours since Katrina Fajardo went missing.
Marcus didn't have time to explain what he was looking for as he licked his lips. He found himself on the dead-end of the wall. They had stretched the woods, reaching the railings of the national highway on the other side. It was impossible for Katrina to run up the kilometers that can lead up to her death.
He brushed his hand over his face, breathing out in exasperation.
"Lieutenant Lirio, are you suspecting something mysterious here? It was as if I did not mean for us to investigate here. I can feel it. This investigation here was wrong. We should take a retreat right away if those results don't match Katrina's database." Marcus wasn't joking anymore.
He danced the light over the part of the woods a few feet away from the police line. He was darting his eyes on the ground as he saw a folded piece of paper on the side of Lieutenant Lirio's feet.
Marcus widened his eyes towards his feet and glanced at his colleague again. Lieutenant Lirio's shocked by how Marcus swiftly crouched down on the side of his feet. He picked up the folded paper.
He unfolded that paper, astonished by what he saw. He dropped the flashlight on the ground. A loud and shrilling voice that was resonating over the street.
Marcus widened his eyes as he observed around the area. Hearing a woman screaming over the place where they were standing. Lieutenant Lirio had his eyes opened in shock as they both looked at each other. Marcus clenched his jaw right away when he read the crimson letters on the clean piece of the paper.
He bravely picked up the light from Lieutenant Lirio's side. Marcus scrutinized the letters painted on the paper.
"She is in blood. Katrina Fajardo is in pain, and you can't do anything about it."
Marcus gritted his teeth as he shed the light on where they were standing. They were still hearing the scream. Marcus walked to the center of the woods. He saw no trails of blood on the leaves a few feet away. Lieutenant Lirio cried out towards the officers. He commanded them to find the source of the scream.
"Damn it, they are again doing the misdirection," Marcus hissed. Lieutenant Lirio put his hands over his hips, breathing out in exasperation.
"Help me! Help me!" The woman shouted as Marcus stopped in his tracks. He pointed the light over the walls that separated the store and the woods. At that moment, he saw a loudspeaker installed right on the barbed wires. He knuckled his fists, crumpling the paper on his right palm. He yelled over at Lieutenant Lirio, who was observing his back.
"Order the officers to retrieve me a ladder, Lieutenant Lirio, hurry!" Marcus shrieked over the walls as he looked up towards the loudspeaker. He heard Katrina's voice over the speakers. He can't help but shed some tears.
He heard a rustle behind him. He saw Mina, who was putting his hands over his knees, showing Marcus the speaker that he brought with him. Matthew was behind him and Marcus furrowed his eyebrows. Mina heard the same thing.
"Where did you... where did you get that?" Marcus huffed an air after stating his question. They heard Katrina's loud screaming over its surface.
"We looked over the store. We were so surprised to see two to three speakers there. They placed it here beforehand," Mina stated as Marcus got it, turning it off immediately. He broke the speaker with his white gloves on to prevent his fingerprints. They completely blocked it off.
The screaming stopped. They heard the officers walk up the steps towards him. They placed the ladder right away on the ground as they heard another set of footsteps. Marcus saw his girlfriend, Zoey, and Abbey. They're clenching their jaws in worry.
"Isn't that Katrina's voice?" Zoey queried. The officers cut off the cable ties that held the speakers on the barbed wires. Marcus smashed the speakers on the ground. He stomped on it with his feet as he felt the crumpled paper in his hand. He looked at it and sulked his shoulders down as Zoey approached him.
Zoey glanced at his gloved hand, picking up the piece of the paper. The officer successfully cut off the speakers from the barbed wires. The trembling officer went down. Lieutenant Lirio grimaced as the shriek got louder.
Zoey saw the letters, felt her balance dwindling, but Mina caught her right away. Zoey's breath quickened as Mina took a peek over the paper and they all stared at it with astonishment.
"We can check the sound waves from right here, Lieutenant Dela Rosa---"
"No. You can't. Turn it off right away. It has a locator and a voice speaker inside it." Marcus crouched down. He picked up something that was beeping. The red light kept on blinking. Marcus closed his palm tightly. It broke off into tiny pieces.
"If we turn it off and examine it over the station, they will know what we are up to. It also has a voice speaker on it. They will know what we are planning about. Even now, they are hearing the things that we're gonna do. So, cut it off immediately," Marcus hissed, looking towards Lieutenant Lirio. He nodded, giving the speaker to an officer.
"You should destroy all the speakers. I still hear Katrina's voice all over the area. The speakers we found were not the only ones. It was all over the woods. We should destroy it one by one," Marcus ordered them as he wiped off the sweat from his philtrum on his sleeve. Marcus glared at the ground, and couldn't believe that he had heard Katrina's voice.
"The one who did this to us knew all along that we were here. They planned how they would capture Katrina right from the start. They are not fools. This group was intelligent in hiding the clues," Marcus whispered.
He rubbed his eyes, standing up from the ground. He glanced at his girlfriend, who was reading the piece of paper, and he looked down at his feet for a moment.
He bit his lip and asked, "Where is Sergeant Kim?"
Lieutenant Lirio opened his mouth to answer, but they heard someone from the center of the woods. They all turned around, saw Sergeant Kim running over the street. She's going to show the DNA test on the spilled blood on the dandelion hoodie and the one that was on the bark.
Marcus swallowed as Sergeant Kim saluted and showed the folds of the paper.
"Lieutenant Dela Rosa, we have bad news," Sergeant Kim panted as Marcus closed his eyes. He assumed that the blood wasn't Katrina's, and he knew it was someone else.
"It wasn't Katrina Fajardo's blood. And the spots on the bark of the tree weren't hers either," Sergeant Kim continued. Marcus put his hands over his hips.
Abbey observed how tired Marcus looked, and she clenched the hem of her jacket.
The metallic scent over their house, while she was facing her brother, was crossing her mind again. She battled in herself whether she would say it to her best friend or not. Sergeant Kim still continued to explain what was on the results.
"But the good news is... it was Michie Alestre's blood," Sergeant Kim concluded as Marcus looked up from the ground in shock. Mina, Zoey, Abbey, and Matthew all stared at her for once.
"Michie? Do you mean... Do you mean the eldest daughter of the Alestres?" Marcus approached her quickly, creasing his forehead. He picked up the paper from Sergeant Kim. He scanned the name on the results and he gasped right away when he saw it was from Michie Alestre.
"Michie, the one Xian was talking about? The one who kissed him in the hospital?" Mina asked those questions as Marcus nodded. He looked up and furrowed his eyebrows at why Michie would be there. He thought so hard until he gave back the paper over to Sergeant Kim.
"Carmela's co-server at Kelly's Diner is her. Carmela knows where she lives, we should be at stake right now, cmon!" Marcus shouted over them as he ran up the tracks of the woods towards the police line.