Cases Uncovered

13 | A Symbol Solution

"Do not be tricked by what you see now, sometimes the most unimanginable thing is the truth!"

-Shinichi Kudo

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Chapter 13:
A Symbol Solution

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ZANE

I had just caught up with her when she stopped and turned back, her russet brown eyes fixed on us once more.

"Sir Jerick, have you seen anyone suspicious lurking around here?" she asked, facing the man in formal attire with a calm expression

"And most importantly, why are you looking for our help and not the police?" I interjected, stepping closer to them.

The man shifted his gaze from me to Raine, his eyes narrowing slightly. He moved towards her and asked in a hushed tone, "Is he your friend?"

Raine nodded subtly, her smile tight yet polite. "Uh, yes," she replied.

"Well, to answer your question, Mr...?"

"Nuñez. Zane Nuñez, sir," I stated.

"To answer your question, Mr. Nuñez, Raine here is a good friend of mine," replied Sir Jerick. "The De Verra family has been assisting me for a long time."

Oh, so the De Verra’s also helped them before. They’re truly skilled, and I’m glad the company still trust them, even though I don’t yet know what happened to her parents.

"And why did I call her? Simply because of my instincts — no crime, just that strange symbol," he added.

I fell silent and let them proceed as they wished. It was up to them; I wanted no part in it for now, to avoid making things worse.

Sir Jerick sat down on his gray swivel chair and opened his sleek computer. "That’s not the only thing bothering me. This is what I saw on the CCTV footage: that symbol just arrived here a while ago."

He displayed the CCTV footage. Inside the room, no one else was visible; only the rotating security guard appeared on multiple monitors around the building.

As we entered our current location, we saw him shut the door. But before it could latch, darkness abruptly swallowed the room, and all five CCTVs went blank at once.

Just as I braced myself, a hand landed on the keyboard and pressed the Spacebar, freezing the video. "Try not to blink. See what will happen next," urged Sir Jerick.

"Why? What’s the prob—" I started to ask myself, but he quickly resumed the video.

"It was a two-minute brownout," I added.

"Power interruption," both of them corrected, looking at me as if I had said something that triggered them.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"It was a power interruption. Brownout is a slight decrease in voltage," Sir Jerick explained.

"Oh, okay." I should have just stayed quiet.

The video continued, and I noticed the paper with the symbol was now visible.

Once again, a hand landed on the desk, this time clutching the computer's mouse. With her gaze fixed on the screen, Raine rewound the video by two minutes. 12:05 a.m.

I recalled lying in bed at the flat when suddenly it grew dark. During those moments, I picked up my phone and started reading comics to distract myself, unable to fall asleep after everything that had happened.