The Santos Conspiracy

Chapter 3: Mr. Green

As the conversation went on about Bella's troubles on how she thinks that the man in the green windbreaker keeps following her, James could not take his mind off what he saw - or what he thinks he saw. He had always been a fan of horror movies and thrillers so the thought of him being spooked by something like this came as a surprise to him.

Isabella explained that she started seeing the man about four days ago, at the gym not far from the Hacienda. Just as she was about to finish her cooldown on the treadmill, she saw the man in the green windbreaker from out the window directly in front of the treadmill about a good fifty meters away, across the street, barely lit by the nearby street light. They called him Mr. Green, for now. Then, as she explained, the sightings became more and more frequent. Multiple times a day, for the past four days.

"He's always just standing there, and I could tell he was looking at me..." Bella said shakily. "Well he had his hood up, but I just know he was." It was obviously hard for her to talk about this in front of her parents who evidently think that their daughter might be seeing things that are not there.

After a momentary pause by everyone, Luis Santos finally spoke up, clearing his throat, and carefully choosing his next words. Maybe cautious so as to not upset his daughter any further.

"Hija..." He calmly said, his voice was gentle, every bit of concern evident. "Remember two nights ago, when we were at that restaurant, you said this man was two tables away, looking at us. Hija, it was a black tie restaurant, nobody wearing a green windbreaker could go in."

Mr. Santos was right. The restaurant in question was in fact the Yellow Crablette, a members only establishment where the rich and powerful come in their designer suits and dresses to eat overpriced steak and wine.

"Can you think of anyone that you believe would go to these lengths to follow you?" James calmly asked Bella, yet also directed the question to Luis and Leonor, hoping that they also had someone in mind.

"I know what you are thinking, and no, it isn't my brother." Bella said in a very sure tone. "My brother and I were two peas in a pod. Before he-" She stopped. There was a crack in her voice that almost echoed through the large living room. "He would never." She continued.

James could recall seeing on TV that the Santos siblings were indeed very close. They only had 2 years between them and, based on what James saw on TV, he could tell that Bella is telling the truth.

"As a precaution, we will go ahead and hire Mr. Dela Cruz to accompany you and find out IF-" He really did emphasize the if, as if the following statement was as hypothetical as the moon being cheese. "IF- there is a Mr. Green, then he can find out who he is and arrest this man and lock him up!"

James was not sure how that would hold up in court though, as normally since the 2032 constitution, someone stalking would be hit with minimal to no jail time or at least fifty thousand peso fine. The Police would much rather have fewer check-ins at the Bilibid Prison ever since the last president declared it over populated to the brim. But, considering the Santos' influence, James had the feeling Luis Santos had a way of having things go his way.

After some careful thought, James very visibly checked his cracked watch as if to signal everyone that the hour was late. It really was. James had hardly noticed that he had been there for four hours, and the sun was starting to set. The golden glow seeping through the trees of the yard and, for one last time, James looked over at the spot where he thought he saw Mr. Green. Absolutely nothing there. James got up and cleared his throat.

"I'll do everything in my power to find out who this man is, and to protect Bella to the best of my abilities." Was this new found confidence a product of this big case? James thought to himself, was there even *a* case? Never mind that, he thought, either way, they're still going to pay him for his time.

"Thanks, Mr. Dela Cruz" Bella said, a hint of relief in her tone. "Kuya Alberto will bring you back to your apartment, I've asked him to drive you there, as a thanks for coming by."

James had not noticed that the butler, Kuya Alberto, was standing by the door the entire time. He was a fairly medium sized fellow, not more than five foot four inches tall. He looked as though he was about forty years old, with black hair and white streaks on the side. It was in the slickest slick back James had ever seen. He was wearing a three piece suit with a cream colored vest and a black tie.

"Right this way, Mr Dela Cruz." Alberto guides James out the room. As he exits the living room, James takes one last glance at the Santos family, the aura of power barely felt anymore as both parents were visibly worried for their daughter. Whether it was for their daughter's safety, for her sanity, or for both, you could not deny that Mr and Mrs Santos would do anything for their remaining child.

A few hours later.

It was 3 AM and James was sitting on his desk in his office, sipping from a cup of lukewarm coffee, most likely brewed and reheated in the microwave multiple times already. A notebook in front of him already filled with notes on what happened that day.

He booted up his outdated laptop. It took about five seconds before it opened the browser. Which is snail paced compared to the instantaneous processing that they have in those new quantum laptops. He paused for a moment to think. Then put his fingers to the keyboard and typed in the search bar.

'Where is Edward Santos now'

While some may think that this would be a stupid thing to search online as the last sighting of Edward Santos was on the day he ran away, one would be surprised at the number of conspiracy theorists on online forums all theorizing on where Edward was hiding all these years. Some even theorize that he stole the money in an attempt to foil his father's plan of establishing the new world order. You know, the usual tin foil hat type of thing.

As time went by, James' eyelids were getting heavier each second. He could feel the effects of the coffee wearing off. Just as he was about to close his laptop for the night, a notification popped up on the bottom right corner of the screen. It was a message from Bella.

"UAAP basketball finals tmrw."

"see u at 12 at d arena entrance"

Great, James thought to himself. Another public appearance. What could possibly go wrong?