Louisa's p.o.v;
The next morning,
I woke up to the alarm sound, which felt like it was ringing inside my head. Didn't I turn it off last night? I took my phone and turned it off. When I tried to lay down again, I saw the empty space beside me. Ace wasn't there like he said last night. He left before I woke up.
I let out a sigh and stared at the ceiling. Finally, my mother's words came true again. I can't keep anyone beside me, somehow they'll leave either it'll be me or their wish. This time, it is by both of them.
I got up from the bed and walked out of my room to get some water. When I opened the fridge, I saw the cake I made for Ace. Shit! I totally forgot that I baked a cake for him. What should I do now? If I take this cake to him, what will he think of me? I feel bad about myself. At Least i shouldn't be mad at him yesterday. What can I do if he orders me around?
I blamed the cake, "Your boss is so bad. Because of him, you're going to go to someone else."
My phone rang. When I picked it up, it was Raphael. Why is he calling me early in the morning? What does he want with me now?
I answered, and he asked, "Are you up?"
"Yeah."
"Can you come to the station for a bit? I have something to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"Just a talk. Come here as soon as possible." And he ended the call.
If it's a casual talk then why does he want me to come quickly to the station? Moreover, he sounded serious for casual talk.
I got changed and went to the police station.
At police station,
"Louisa, this way." Raphael took me to his cabin and got me seated across from him.
"Do you know why everyone gives me a weird look whenever I come here?"
"Not many people come often like you. Let's talk about why I asked you to come."
He placed some pictures on the table saying, "Do you know this man?"
When i took a look at it roughly, it was a dead man's body again.
"Do you think i know every dead person in this city?"
"If i show you this, you'll probably know why i called you here for."
He took out his phone and showed me a clip of some guy dressed in black while saying, "This clip was from the surveillance camera near your apartment."
When i looked at him closely, i realised that he's the one whom i chased after for spying on me. Member of Pandora gang. I saw him taken by valentine and Mateo last night. Did they murdered him?
I took the pictures and asked Raphael, "How did he die?"
"Do you know him now?"
"No, but i remember seeing him near by apartment. I thought he was looking for someone."
"Have you seen him talking to someone in your apartment?"
I shaked my head and said, "No, I've seen him totally for twice but both of the times, he was standing and looking somewhere. I didn't see him talking to anyone in the apartment."
If he got the surveillance camera's footage from last night, why didn't I in the footage while i was chasing him?
"Did you check the cameras from the streets?"
"Yeah, it was clean. I checked almost every surveillance near the body too. No trace."
"What do you mean near the body? Where did you find him?"
"I can't share the details with the public. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I can understand. Can I leave now?"
"Yeah, you may leave. Um, if you noticed any suspicious activity near your apartment, please do notify me."
"Noted."
I walked out of his cabin and left the police station. Why did Ace's people murdered him? He's part of the Pandora's gang and he was sent to spy on me. If Paulo, Pandora gang leader comes to know the men he sent to spy on me was dead, didn't this thing becomes big? Why didn't they let him go? Are they planning to murder every people in the city?
While i was on my way to the bus terminal, a car stopped in front of me and someone from inside pulled me into the car, closing the door behind.
When i saw the faces, it was Mateo, valentine and Antonio.
"What are you guys doing? Why did you kidnap me?"
"What were you doing in the police station? What did you tell them? Did you tell them about Ace?"
"I went because of you two." Said after pointing at valentine and Mateo.
Valentine, "What did we do?"
"The guy you caught last night. Why did you murder him? Are you planning to wipe out the entire city or what?"
"What are you saying?" Mateo inquired.
"Don't act like you don't know anything. The guy who's been following me, the guy who you took him with you last night, was found dead under the bridge this morning. Raphael called me to ask if i knew anything about him since there was a clip of him near my apartment."
"Hold on. He's not dead."
"I just saw his pictures few minutes ago."
Valentine ordered the driver, "Take us to the warehouse."
"What? Why are you taking me there?"
"To prove you that he's not dead."
After a while,
I got escorted by valentine into a abandoned place. After walking for a long time, he opened the door and showed me a guy strapped to a chair.
Valentine grabbed his hair and pulled it from backwards and said, "Take a look at him. Do you believe now that he's not dead."
After seeing his face, i got confused with what Raphael said to me.
If the guy was still alive, then why did Raphael showed me some deceased guy's picture and said that it's him. Did Raphael lied to me?
While i was being confused, valentine said, "Come on, let's go."
After we got in car, i was still confused.
Antonio said, "I asked you to stop talking with him. Why didn't you listen to me? Now that you seen for yourself, don't believe him. Stop seeing him."
I asked the driver to stop the car and said to Mateo, valentine and Antonio, "I'll go by myself from here." And got out of the car.
Valentine, "Be careful, Louisa."
I nodded and started walking on the pavement. I should ask Raphael about this. Instead of going to my place, i headed to the police station again.
When i stepped in, everyone gave me a weird look like always. I ignored and walked to Raphael cabin. Before i opened the door, i heard Raphael talking to someone inside. When i tried to eavesdrop, i heard him asking about the spying guy to someone. And i heard him finding him as a corpse under the bridge. I get why he asked me like that. He's using a trap strategy to get the answer. I can't believe i almost fell into it.
I knocked on his door and waited outside the door. After sometime, the door was opened by Raphael, he asked, "What are you doing here? Did you forget something?"
"The strategy you're using right now. You won't find the culprit if you investigate in this way."
"What?"
"The deceased men you showed me in the photograph and the men in the footage aren't the same one. The deceased men you showed me wasn't found under the bridge like you said. No bodies were found under the bridge last night throughout the Sao Paulo. I wonder who's body you were using to make us to tell the truth."
Suddenly, the police station became silent. When i took a look around, they were all looking at me.
I asked, "What's with these guys? Why are they always looking at me?"
Raphael pulled me into his cabin and asked the guy who was already inside his cabin to leave. When i looked at the guy, he's the one who's living in the floor above me.
After that guy left, Raphael said while placing pictures on the table in front of me, "I got these from the surveillance camera near your apartment. This guy has been spotted near your apartment for a week. But he only visits after 10. Like he knew the person he's been following come home after 9 to 10. So i investigated every people living in that apartment who comes after that time. Some footages have been erased, even experts couldn't retrieve it back. I did a background check on this guy, he have so many identities. I got stuck here."
"The deceased men found under bridge…"
"Yeah, not the same guy."
I nodded and said, "Many identities. He can use many identities for transport, food and for his daily necessities. But he can only use one Identity for drawing money, right? Because if we draw money from various identity, the back will automatically block us from transaction."
He let out a chuckle and said, "Hold on. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back." And walked out of the cabin.
Since, Ace helped me out last night, I'll return a favour for him. This is only a favour. Nothing more than that.
Raphael came back and said, "You're not going to believe this. With his identity, i checked him previous case files, he's from Pandora gang."
"Pandora?"
"Did you forget already? The two gangs who does most of the crimes in the city, phantom and Pandora. This guy is from Pandora. I wonder who he was spying on in your apartment."
"Since he's from a gang, maybe he was after someone to kidnap or murder. What do you think it will be?"
"I have to find who he was after to find the reason. Have you seen any suspicious activity in your apartment so far?"
I shaked my head and said, "You know i go to my place after 10. I'm not in my apartment most of the times so i don't know even if there's someone like you say. Maybe you should do investigation with everyone in the apartment to find who he was after."
"You are correct. I'll do it with everyone." "Sorry, kept you here without thinking about the time. Did i distrubed you?"
"Nah, i was in leave already. I only have my part time to go."
"Will libraries be open in summer holidays?"
"No, this is my another job at a cafe."
"Oh, okay. Shall i drop you there?"
"It's still 11 in the morning. It's from 6 to 9 in the eve. I'll get going then."
Before i stepped out, he said, "Sorry for the morning. I was just trying to…"
"It's fine. I can understand, we can't believe anyone here. Especially when you're a cop. You did your job, there's nothing to blame on."
I walked out of his cabin, and got surrounded by some bulky guys. What are they looking at?
One of them asked, "Where are you studying at?"
Another asked, "Which faculty are you in?"
"Are you really in college?"
Raphael came out and asked, "What's going on here?" He looked at me and asked, "What are you still doing here?"
When i came to say, one of the guys asked Raphael, "Is this the girl you were talking about?"
Raphael talks about me to his colleagues?
Before another question comes up, Raphael took me out of the station and said, "Don't mind them. How will you go from here?"
"I'll take the bus."
"Okay."
"Do you talk to your colleagues about me?"
"I told them how you saved me from Ace's house so they've asking about you since then. I'll take care of it."
"Oh, okay. I'll get going then."
After sometime, while I was in the bus, I was thinking about the investigation Raphael was talking about. I hope he never finds out that I was the one he was after.
Before Ace happened in my life, I never thought and worried about things this hard.
I remembered what Ace told me last night, it kinda made me sad. Moreover, he sounded serious this time. Will he really do what he said? Will he stop coming to my place? Wait, i totally forgot about Raphael. I asked him to do instigation in my apartment building. It's better for Ace to stay away from me. I don't know why but I felt happy being with him even we fight for some things.