JAYDEN'S POV:
"What?" Zienna wired, "Marcus! Do you not remember the interrogation?"
He was blank. We tried showing him the pictures of the girls. But as soon he noticed the girls in the picture, he went pale. He stammered and grabbed his head with both of his hands, "S-Sorry, we're closing. I'm sick. I'll c-come back later to lock the door, p-please see yourselves out." He just left, stammering all the way.
It was more than just confusing. We called one of the guards that was assigned to monitor him. He said that Marcus often went to see a doctor. We got hold of the location of the hospital and details of his Doctor from him and decided to pay him a visit immediately.
I drove in my car and Zienna and Cole drove in his'. We reached sooner and ran to the front counter and asked one of the recipients for Dr Park from the department of Psychiatry. Since it was the process of the investigation, we didn't need to wait for the appointment. We went straight up to the fourth floor to his office.
Just when we were about to enter, I got a call from Colonel George. He said that the Search team has found something and asked us to gather in the station immediately. It sounded serious. But I told him that we were out for an investigation. So, he asked one of us to be there. Thus, Cole went to the station, while Zienna and I went to the doctor.
We showed him our IDs and notified him we were there for an enquiry.
I proceeded, "Is Mr Marcus Dane your patient?"
"Yes, that's right" he replied.
"Can you tell us about his condition?" I asked.
"Yes, but, May I ask you what the enquiry is for?"
And so we told him about the case and why we were there for. As soon he heard it from us, he denied the allegations completely saying Marcus wouldn't even dream of such a thing.
He began, "Marcus has a past. He lived with his abusive parents. His only happiness was his little sister and his only dream was to provide an ultimate life to his sister, without the shadows of their parents on her. But one day, when he returned home from school, he witnessed something he'd always feared. His parents were abusing his baby sister because she wouldn't stop crying. Seeing the baby in pain, he decided to do something hard. When his parents were away, he carried his sister and placed the wounded baby at the doorstep of an orphanage. He thought someone from a good family would adopt her and she'd live a life he couldn't. Soon after that, he ran away from home, thus dropping his education out. He developed a trauma and until this day, he's been blaming himself for losing his sister. Since that day, whenever he sees a girl of his sister's age, his trauma would wake up, and he forgets the incident immediately. This, in medical terms is known as 'Dissociative Amnesia' where a person blocks out certain information he's too overwhelmed to handle, often associated with a stressful or traumatic event." Dr Park elucidated.
"So, his trauma woke up when the pictures of the high school girls were shown to him, and that was also why he forgot the incidents related to it; Is that what you mean, Doctor?" I asked him.
"Exactly" he replied.
We thanked him for the cooperation throughout the enquiry and left his base.
With all of the unexpected truths, though I was okay, it was just too much to take in for Zienna, considering her relationship with Marcus.
Just when we were about to get in the car, I got a call from Cole.
"Jay.." he faltered.
"What is it? What did the Colonel say?"
"Mina, daughter of Maria, was found dead in a deserted pavement."
"What the!? Did you get a hold of Marcus' location?"
"No, he's nowhere to be found."
"What about the forensic?"
"Just arrived."
"Alright, be with them. We're done here, we'll be there in 30 minutes."
I filled Zienna with the information. We drove to the station, thoughts loaded with bafflement.
By the time we reached, the forensics had done with their job and Mina was taken away for the body examination.
I saw her mother and her tutor, Maria and Santiago, waiting there. The look on their face was so grief-stricken, it was heart breaking. There was nothing we could say that would console them at the moment.
Though we tried everything we could, we still felt the guilt throbbing through our hearts.
The Colonel summoned the team for an urgent meeting. The other cops and subordinates were ordered to complete the other tasks which included one Search team with a strong backup, another team to monitor specific areas related to the crime etc.,
George, Cole, Zienna and I stayed back at the meeting.
We were asked to report on every lead we'd found on the case. And so, we filled him with the incidents with Marcus and his illness.
"Right, and what about the other case?" he asked with a straight face.
"The other case?" I asked him back.
"Yes, the other incomplete case." He stated.
We exchanged glances with each other.
"You call yourselves cops? If one thing happens, you totally forget the other things! What has gotten into all of you? Do you want me to remind your duties every now and then? If you guys are this irresponsible, what do you expect to happen with the accused and the victims? Has it gone to the level where you people "forget" the cases and your duties? If things continue this way, we don't need you here anymore. This is the last time shit like this happen, understand? Now, figure on your own what it is." George stormed out of the room, his tone filled with rage.
We just stood there with our heads faced down.
After he left, each one of us took a seat and sighed in unison.
"It was about the second victim of Hayes Miller case, Charlotte Wilson right?" Cole asked.
"Yeah. I think we deserved that, don't you think? We totally forgot about it." I said.
"Right, it wasn't a simple case after all. But that case is a mystery. It's like someone copied a murder." Cole replied.
We agreed. We'd totally forgotten an impostor murder. Huh.
Few minutes later, we received a message from our team.
It said, "Marcus Dane of Dane's Dine was found passed out in the parking lot of his home. He's been admitted in a hospital nearby. The reason for the pass out was related to excess stress on his trauma, as per the records."
"Hmm. Things are getting more complicated" Zienna sighed.
"I know, right?" Cole agreed.
"Alright, let's summarize the whole case real quick, okay? Maybe we missed something." I steadied myself.
And so, we summarized the incidents right from when Santiago waited all day to meet me, the next day when he reported Mina missing, the same time when Mina's mom came in crying, the interrogation, Marcus, the missing report of Bianca and Marcus again and Mina's death.
"Oh wait! I forgot to mention something", Zienna began, "That day when I spoke to Mina's mom about the statement where Mina lastly left for a 'Cheese Tapa' to Dane's Dine; she told me that both the mom and the daughter had 'Lactose Intolerance' and that she wouldn't have bought it for herself, nor for her mom"
"Ugh, I thought it was going to be something useful!" Cole sighed.
I caught something and I started to laugh.
Both Cole and Zienna were shooting glares at me for being a nut crack at a serious time like this.
"You know where Santiago is from, right? I mean, his nationality," I asked them.
"Yeah, Spain." Both answered, irritated.
"Do you know what Spain is famous for?" I asked.
They tried to look at me for my unreadable dumb questions out of time.
"What?" Cole asked.
"Cheeses, Tapas, Cheese Tapas"
I replied.
***