Drake was in a sour mood when he arrived at the murder scene early that morning. He did not like being interrupted when he was working.
Mace called him at around eleven in the evening, asking if he owns any construction company. He remembered that he counted to five before answering the woman. And when he gave his answer, she dropped the call.
He cursed and almost threw his phone out of frustration. Drake was in the middle of a business meeting when Mace suddenly called. He had to cut his meeting short just for her.
And now in the light of day, the woman that made his night sleepless was out of sight.
"Looking for Mace?"
Jerome asked, noticing that he was glancing behind them every now and then. Mace must have called him during one of his late night calls.
He winced, remembering the time when he did such a thing, Drake was pissed the whole week. Seeing him in the same mood was not good.
"NO."
There was a sharpness to his tone that betrayed his true feelings. To be honest, Jerome did not know what the man wanted with Mace. Was he going to reprimand her? Or was demand that she apologize?
Either way, Mace was…indisposed for the day.
The rumble of an approaching excavator can be seen. It was big and yellow, TEVES CONSTRUCTION was written on its door. The man did deliver what they needed.
It stopped and everything was silent again. The man who jumped from the driver's seat was Edward. The man was worried. His young master strode out the house giving orders to the maid on what should be done.
He was aware of his young master's added duties, but he needed to be sure that he was not being used.
Edward hid his surprise when Jerome greeted him. The last time Drake talked about this man was when they were studying in the same university. He was also the only man Edward trusted. His young master had many friends, but this one stood out.
"Hello, Edward," Jerome warmly greeted with a smile on his face. "Would you care for some bread?" he offered, extending his hand holding a box of cinnamon rolls.
"No, thank you, young sir."
Jerome raised his eyebrows at that. After all these years, he was still called that. And it had been years since he last saw Edward. He was like Drake's father…but not really.
Family was complicated.
"Young master, this is the key," Edward gave a slight bow and gave the keys to Drake. His young master instated that he was the one who would operate the excavator. He must have been that pissed off to be in his state today.
Drake nodded, and waited for him to step aside. He took a deep breath and climbed on it. Jerome hopped on the side, coming along for the ride.
Drake made sure that when the excavator was driven it would be bought on the back side of the property. He wanted to make sure that all the evidence from the burning was still intact. The backyard was untouched though.
"What are we looking for?" Drake shouted over the loud roar of the engine.
Jerome gestured to the tree that looked like it was about to fall, and told him to dig there.
Drake looked at him with skeptical eyes and asked, "You want me to dig there?"
The man nodded.
Drake shrugged and did as he was told. The hoe of the excavator dug deep within the soft ground of the yard. Slowly, he pulled the lever back, taking the earth with it.
What they saw made his blood run cold.
Bones.
Drake turned off the engine and looked at Jerome with horror. He was expecting he too would be horrified, but instead, he was making a video call. He narrowed his eyes and was preparing to shout at the man, when the phone was flipped so that he could see who he was talking to on the other side.
It was Je Anne.
But something was wrong.
"Je, will put you on speaker mode so Drake can hear you as well."
"Hi, Drake!"
Came her warm greeting, he waved at her, waiting for her explanation as to why she called. He was starting to see a pattern with these three. And honestly, it was like hitting yourself with a rock.
"Oh, sorry," Je Anne apologised, she looked behind her to check on something, then looked at them again.
"You need to call for help with digging those bones. An excavator will only damage the corpse you need to make sure that all of those are not damaged. Well, except for those…"
There was a loud scream on the other end of the line. A kind of steam that would definitely haunt those who could listen to it.
"Mace is okay?" Jerome asked.
A slow shake of her head was followed by two more shrieks of pain. It was obvious that the person causing those loud noises was Mace, but why doesn't Je Anne help her?
"She…she kinda walked in…"
Jerome let out a curse and raked his fingers on his neatly combed hair. Somehow, he lost his composure and was on the verge of hitting someone as well.
"Did you get?"
"She recorded herself. For some odd reason, something compelled her to do it. Rather than tell us, she met the gaddamned man head on."
Drake was confused. What were they talking about? Has something happened to Mace? Does she need help? If so, she could just call, right?
"How long has she been out?" Jerome asked, looking at his watch.
"Five hours, Supremo."
Dread settled at the pit of Jerome's stomach. Five hours. The stu*p woman had willingly walked for five hours and she did not even bother to tell anyone?
Jerome looked at Drake's confused and worried face. How can he tell his man that Maceis currently trapped herself inside Je Anne's paintings? That if the sun touched the horizon and Mace was still inside those paintings, she will die?
How could they tell Drake that they were really different?