F.I.V.E: The mystery of the Mid-night Gunshot

CHAPTER 4

         The next few days went like a blur. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into days. Three days after, we found out the hardest truth of the century; our friend's uncle was the cold-blooded murderer of his father. Though Vivienne and Iris found it hard to believe, Evelyn and I had a strong feeling that the letter we found proved that Adrian's uncle had a motive and a hand in the murder of his brother.

Evelyn's parents volunteered that we use their summer house at the edge of the city for the 'research we were doing for our competition'. To be very sincere, I felt a little guilty about lying to them in their faces like that, but what had to be done, had to be done right? We were driven to the summer house by Evelyn's parents' chauffeur early in the morning after a quick breakfast. Though we preferred to stay there alone, her parents insisted that we stay with the caretaker of the house.

The summer house was the perfect location for our operation this is because it was very close to where Adrian's uncle lived. We looked up his address on the letter and after lunch, we took off on our bikes to his house. To be honest, I was pretty impressed by what I saw. In my head, I already imagined Mr. Smith's brother living in a damaged house that those villains live in. But when we got to the house, it was a well-maintained duplex.

We kept a distance from his house and watched for any suspicious movements. After three tiresome hours of watching, he only came out once to trash the garbage. We went back to the summer house starving, disappointed and frustrated all at once. The doubt of Adrian's uncle being the murderer began to grow in our minds.

The next day yielded the same result. Mr. Smith's brother took his dog for a walk around the park in the afternoon. We couldn't ignore the hard-coated truth-Mr. Smith's brother wasn't the killer and we were wasting our time. Things seemed uninteresting and fruitless until one night.

On the third night of our stay in the summer house, we were taking a walk around town when we came across a car we recognized as Adrian's uncle's car parked near a conservation forest.

Why was the car parked there?

As we came closer to the car to be sure, Evelyn said "why is Adrian's uncle's car parked at the front entrance of the conservation forest like this?"

"Maybe he is inside," I responded squinting into the entrance of the forest expecting to see him.

"Guys, I don't like the sight of this place. Can we go home now? It is getting kind of late." Vivienne protested.

So typical.

"Check if the car door opens," Iris said with a glint in her eye. I knew already what she was thinking.

"Hell no!" I disagreed "we are not breaking into someone's car."

"I agree with Fiona! I mean what if it isn't even his." Vivienne said as she looked around with a tense expression on her face.

"It's his car," Evelyn confirmed as she looked into her phone. "Some days back, I took a picture of his plate number while we were spying on him as usual. Look, it's the same."

"If that's the case, let's check it then. The evidence we are looking for may even be inside the car." Iris insisted peering into the window of the car.

"What makes you think so?" I asked

"Well, for one, he takes the car everywhere he goes and if he killed his brother, he wouldn't keep the evidence in his house because he fears the FBI would search and find it," Iris explained rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Now PLEASE may we open it?"

"So you prefer we break into the car of a cold-blooded murderer?" I asked maturely. I didn't feel right about any of it.

"Oh yeah, of course," Evelyn and Iris replied in unison. Iris took out her hairpin from her hair and gave it to Evelyn who put it into the keyhole and went to work.

Naturally, Vivienne complained. Since I was left with no choice but to help, I was on the lookout. After a few attempts of rattling the hairpin in the keyhole, she pulled the door and it opened. She slid into the passenger's seat in front and pressed a button. Instantly, we heard a sound, and she signaled for us to pull the door open.

Iris excitedly pulled the passenger's seat door at the rear entrance and slipped into the seat drawing me in with her. I didn't even have time to protest I was already in. We spent time searching the car as Vivienne as usual, kept complaining and urging us to be quick. After a while of searching, Iris called our attention to a box she found beneath the driver's seat.

We all struggled to force the box open with the hairpin. What a night! With Evelyn swearing under her breath as she wiggled the hairpin in, and Vivienne holding the door open and urging us to come out of the car, Iris saying all this excitement is making her want to pee and me? I don't remember what I was doing.

Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't like the idea of breaking into the car. I was regretting it even as I sat on the passenger's seat with Iris. I wish we never went for a walk, I wish we never saw the car and I wish we never decided to break into the car. Maybe what happened next wouldn't have happened.

When the box was forced open, Iris let out a gasp of surprise when she looked in. As our heads formed a circle at the top of the box, when we peered into it, panic, fear, and anxiety kicked in. Then the worst thing happened.

Vivienne whispered in a tone that indicated urgency; "Guys he is coming!" as she stared at the shape forming in the darkness.

In a brief matter of seconds, we shut the box, ran out of the car without even bothering to shut the doors, and took off into the night. Our hearts filled with fear and regret as our feet hit the floor as fast as we could make it.