This is my small try at a romantic story of sorts. And I wanted to have a go on fiction with a Filipino historical setting. I probably made a mess of it, oh well. I'm also trying to do a sort of police procedural thing, but I know very little about...
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Corporal Sebastian Manuel couldn't help but stare at the grandeur before him as the kalesa, a horse-drawn coach popular in Manila,bearing him went inside the gates enclosing a grand mansion and the vast lot of the Villagracias estate. Thankfully, the distance from the gates to the front of the mansion was enough for him to get his composure together and began to think more like a member of the civil guard policing the walled city of Intramuros.
Because the Villagracias mansion, allegedly, was the scene of a most heinous crime. Corporal Manuel, however, was getting more and more skeptical about that part.
That morning, a native man came to the civil guard headquarters to report this crime. Everyone in the headquarters already knew that the man was one of the servants from the nearby Villagracias mansion since he came over two or three times a month to report a felony or theft in the mansion– which usually turned out to be just a misplaced item. With the way things worked in the Intramuros Civil Guard and the fact that he was a servant of the very well-to-do Villagracias, he could get into the headquarters and speak straight to the lieutenant in charge. That morning, however, the native man was only in the lieutenant's office for a few minutes. Shortly afterwards, the lieutenant called the first subordinate he could find in the station. Corporal Manuel, in this case.
"Missing what, sir?" the corporal said, unbelieving and believing at the same time.
"Dog," said the lieutenant, sounding aggrieved. "A small female dog, answering to the name of..." looked down at his notes, "Foo-foo."
"Foo-foo, sir?"
"Foo-foo."
"You want me to check it out, sir?"
"Please."
And there he was 10 minutes later, his eyes full of the display of wealth, thanks to the trade between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico, if rumors were correct. Even though trading there ended several decades ago because of the political strife in Mexico, it had obviously been good to the Villagracias family. The Villagracias probably grew richer with more trade due to the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt ten years ago.
As he neared the house, Corporal Manuel used his baton to knock on the coach's roof to signal the driver to stop the horses so he could get off. Although the corporal was ready to walk to the Villagracias estate from the civil guards' headquarters, Pedrito, a native and one of the kalesa drivers who was always around the place, offered him a ride. Corporal Manuel, unlike most of the other civil guards, saw Pedrito as a friend and often went out with the native after work for a round or two of drinking. But this time, he's the driver, Corporal Manuel told himself – not a friend but a subordinate.
The officer got down as the coach stopped, walked towards the door of the house and reached for the heavy brass knocker, which was shaped like a lion's head with its mouth open. Two knocks and the door was opened by a dour man with eyes that looked so heavy.
