CHAPTER 7: Investigation

— LIA —

It’s been almost two werks since I went back in the Philippines. I can say that my life has been somehow peaceful when I arrived. There were no one following me, or someone calling me by the name “Dennise”.

The lady I met in the plane, Chynna, talked to me sometimes over the phone. There are times where she insisting to know my address. Of course, I didn’t gave it to her! When I told her that I can’t for my safety and because Alejenadro said so, which is I made up, she stopped nagging me about it.

I discovered that Chynna is staying in Cebu. That province is far from Manila, the place where I’m staying, so I don’t have to worry about us meeting face to face. However, prior to that, I always go outside with face mask amd shades. I even wore oversize clothes and changed my fashion so she, or other people who know Dennise, will not recognize me!

It was tiring, hiding from someone you don’t know everyday. I didn’t even get to enjoy the remaining days of my vacation because of that.

Now, I’m going back on chasing criminals and deal with them until the next vacation.

“Look who’s mood’s sour today,” a baritone voice rings in my ear. I don’t even need to look at him to know who’s talking.

“Shut up, Nick. Or I’ll shoot your head,” I annoyingly said as a give him a sharp look.

He just chuckled at me and he went on to his table.

“Hello, everyone!” a cheerful voice greeted us. I turned my head to the door of our office and I saw our cheerful, yet somehow lazy, detective.

“Hi, Darwin,” I greeted him as friendly as I can, although my bad mood is still visible.

Darwin walked towards me and scrutinized my face. “What's with that face? Mukha kang namatayan.” (You look like someone just died.)

“Don’t ask about it. I don’t even want to remember why,” I responded with a bored face.

He was about to reply when someone entered the Office. It is our Senior Detective, our team leader, Detective Gisselle Javier. From the look on her face, I’m sure that we have another case to solve.

I am sure that I’ll be busy. I think it's better because I won’t think about my ruined vacation everytime.

“We have a new case,” she said as if it is her substitute for good morning. “A kidnap for ransom case.”

She gave each of us a folder. I immediately opened it and read the details of the case.

“The victim is Alexa Ramirez. Surname sounds familiar? She is the daughter of the Manila Mayor, Mayor Xavion Ramirez,” she started explaining as we read the files. “She was kidnapped on her way home. Patay ang driver ng sasakyan na lulan siya. May tama ng baril sa ulo.” (The driver of car she’s on was dead. He was shot in the head.)

Ramirez. That surname is well-known here in Manila, not just because it is the name of the Mayor, but also almost all of the establishments and companies here are owned by them. They're main business is creating various colognes and perfume. It was a success. They were able to build branches of their perfume company in Japan, Singapore, Spain, and United States.

They’re a wealthy family. It is not a shock for me that the daughter of the Ramirez family was kidnapped for ransom.

Usually, kidnappers choose to kidnap those people who came from wealthy family. The wealthier the family, the huge the ransom is. But that is not just the strategy of those kidnappers. They will also study every member of their target family, and they will choose the one they deemed to be the weakest and most fragile.

In this case, Alexa Ramirez was chosen by the kidnappers. They could’ve chosen the youngest Ramirez who is still 7 years old, however, the child was heavily guarded and goes out of their house very seldom.

Alexa was the weakest in the kidnapper’s eyes. Maybe it was because she is not physically fit. If I remember it right, Alexa has asthma and was hospitalized a lot when she was still young. She is also an introvert and has a very few friends because of her low social skills.

She cannot fight physically once she was abducted. She will be easily defeated by the kidnapper.

Despite of Alexa’s weak body, she was titled as the “Ace of the Ramirez”. She was an honor student and a business tycoon. Almost half of the business deals that their family sealed was because of Alexa. It will be a huge disadvantage for the Ramirez if they will lose her. I’m sure that the kidnapper knows about this. He chose Alexa as his victim because he knows that the Ramirez are willing to do anything to keep Alexa alive.

“The kidnapper is Sylvester Alejo. It’s not the first time he kidnapped someone. The first kidnapping incident he caused was 25 years ago. The first victim is the youngest son of the owner of Quezada’s Enterprise. I think you knew what happened on that case,” Detective Javier said. The room suddenly became gloomy because of that statement.

Although I’m still a toddler that time, I read and study that kidnapping case when I was still studying as a forensic psychologist. The victim was just a 12-year-old boy. The ransom was worth 50 million pesos. Everyone was talking about the case that time.

The problem is, they were not careful. The family was too blinded by their emotions that they can’t think clearly. They gave the money first to Alejo. However, Alejo didn’t follow what they had agreed on. He run away with the child after getting the money using a car. They lost them while the police was following the kidnapper and the victim. Hours later, they found the car that Alejo used in a cliff.

The car exploded together with the child inside.

Alejo wasn’t captured by the police. He was still wanted and the police are still searching for him. Not until now.

“We have a meeting with the chief. Study the files. Let’s go,” our senior said and all of us proceeded to the meeting room.

The meeting started immediately after we entered. The chief gave the deeper and specific details of the case. He also assigned different teams to do specific task. Our team was assigned to talk to the family of the victim. However, I wasn’t able to join them because I was assigned to make the profile of the suspect.

I wrote everything on the report. From his job to his family, until to his characteristics. I added that there is a huge chance that he is not just after the money, but also after the suffering of the family. He likes it when he saw the despair of the family once one of their member died. I told the chief that it is important for them not to repeat the mistake of the police on the previous kidnapping case.

After submitting the profile, I immediately went to the house of the Ramirez family. On the way, I saw Chynna calling me.

“Hi, Chynn!” I called her by her nickname.

Weeks of talking to Chynna, I grasp a lot of information about Dennise. I became better on pretending to be her. As of now, I can say that Chynna is still not suspicious of me.

“Thank goodness! I thought something already happened to you!” she exclaimed. I can hear her catching her breath on the other end of the line. “I was calling you since noon!”

“Oh,” that was my initial reaction.  “I was busy. I didn’t notice.”

One thing I discovered about Dennise is that she never said “sorry”. Chynna voluntarily gave that information in one of our “talk sessions”. I can still remember what she said back then.

“That woman bumped me!” she was telling me about what happened in the beach. “Because of that, my ice cream fell down on her bikini.”

“But I didn’t say sorry. Duh? It was her fault it happened. Besides, you told me not to say sorry because apologizing is for peasants.”

I can still hear Chynna catching her breath, like she ran a thousand miles before calling me.

“Did something happen?” I asked her while looking around outside the taxi I’m on. The tone of her voice brought me back to observing my surroundings like someone is watching me.

“I saw Clint when I was shopping!” she shouted. I have no idea who that Clint is, but from the tone of her voice, I'm sure that that Clint is someone she doesn’t want to meet.

“Clint?” I asked.

“Yeah! Clint is here! And if he’s here, I’m sure Kelleon is here, too!”

That made my blood turned cold. Kelleon... that is the name of Dennise’s ex-boyfriend and the person who kidnapped me. Did he found out that I’m here?

“Are you sure that you saw him?” I asked, nervousness is evident in my voice.

“100% sure! You better hide or tell Alejandro about it!” she responded to me. I can hear that she is very concerned.

“I will. Thank you, Chynn. Take care.”

The call ended after that. If that Clint is with Kelleon, then they're in Cebu like Chynna. By riding a plane, it will just take a few hours for them to reach Manila.

I can’t wait for them here, but I don’t want to hide. I have a job and my family in Iloilo is dependent on me. I don’t even know why I need to hide even if I’m not doing anything!

I texted Detective Javier.

Me: Senior, I won’t be able to go to the Ramirez’s House. Something came up, sorry.

After some seconds, she replied.

Senior: It’s okay. You’re done with your job. I’ll inform you about the progress of the case.

I closed my phone and started thinking on what I’ll do.

I was in the middle of thinking a solution when my phone beeped again. It was a message in our group chat.

Althea: @Maria Mahalia, punta kami sa bahay mo. Sleepover tayo. (We’re going to your house. Let’s have a ssleepover.)

Smiling, I replied to her message.

Me: Sige. Dala kayo maraming foods. (Sure. Bring lots of foods.)

I released a sigh of relief. Knowing that my friends will be with me tonight makes me feel safe. If I could just tell them to live with me so that I will feel safe everyday, I will do it.

SEVERAL KNOCKS on the door stopped me from cleaning the floor. I walked towards the door to open it. I’m still far from the door but I can already hear the voices of my friends on the other side.

“Lia!!!” they exclaimed and attacked me with several hugs.

“Kain na tayo. Gutom na gutom na ako,” Jerome said while putting the foods they brought on the table. (Let’s it. I’m very hungry.)

We started eating. They really brought a lot. There were barbecue, chicken, pizza, and many more. It looks like there is a feast inside the house.

“Tell us the tea about what happened in Spain,” Jerome said while getting a piece of the pizza even though there are already a lot of food on his plate.

“Yeah! Why did you go home early? I thought you have a month of vacation?’ Celsi asked me.

I looked at Althea. She also looked at me meaningly. I gave her a fake smile, and she widened her eyes at me as a respond.

I looked at my friends one by one before telling them what happened.

“Wait. So this Kelleon, had an ex-girlfriend that looks like you? And he kidnapped you because he though you’re that Dennise?” Jhoan clarified after I finished telling them the story of my ruined vacation.

I nodded.

“That’s so bad. If he is really determined to find that Dennise, then he will go after you!” Celsi exclaimed.

They exchanged their opinions and theories about what happened. From why Kelleon is so mad at Dennise, to why Dennise looks like me.

While they were debating, Celsi got up and open the television, together with the videoke. She grabbed the mic and speak on it.

“Let’s forget about our problems! Magwalwalan na tayo! Whoo!” (Let”s party! Whoo!)

With that, everyone started to go crazy. Most of us entered songs on the videoke, while other were just talking about random stuff as they eat. There were no liquors involved here, but we all look drunk.

“Bakit late siya kumanta?” (Why does he sing late to the song?)

“Naka-red ping ata signal niya.” (His signal must be red ping.)

We were all laughing, singing, and eating. Some of the voices sounds hoarse and bad but we don’t care. We were just having fun. I’m sure that ny neighbors are disturbed by our noise, but I do not want to stop my friends. It’s our party after a long time and I do not want to stop the fun. I’ll just apologize to my neigjbors tomorrow.

We stopped the party when it was already late at night. We were still laughing like crazy while cleaning our mess. We were so tired that we didn’ even get to my room to sleep. We all sleep on the living room.

There was silence, but it is not a silence of sadness. It is the silence of happiness... and contentment. How I wish this will go one forever.

I didn’t notice what time I fell asleep. I just woke up because of the continous knocking on the door. I still feel tired so instead of getting up, I hide myself under the comforter.

I felt someone got up and opened the door.

“Sino po sila?” (Who are you?) It was Jhoan’s voice. I slowly rise up my blanket to get a small view on what’s happening.

“Is this woman here?”

I was stuck in place when I heard that voice. If I remember it right, that is the voice of the driver who kidnapped me in Spain!

Jhoan didn’t answer him. He repeated his question.

“Ma'am, do you know this woman? Is she living here?”