"Will you please tell us now who are the people you've been involved with these past few weeks, Engr. Narvaez?" Officer Steve asked him.
"Well, there's Mr. Dungelia, Dr. Castronuevo and Mr. Cantio," sagot nito pagkatapos mag-isip ng ilang segundo.
"Pwede mo bang idescribe sa'min yung tatlong yun?"
"Nakasama ko si Mr. Dungelia nung may inirefer siya sa'king manufacturing company na nangangailangan ng serbisyo ko as MechEng. Although we're not on the same field, nagkasundo pa rin kami. He's nice and a very hardworking man."
"Anong trabaho niya?"
"He's a free-lance journalist, dati sa mga dyaryo siya nagsusulat pero ngayon mas focused na siya sa magazine articles. Nagkataon lang na kaibigan niya yung dati kong katrabaho kaya kami nagkakilala."
"Ohh.. what about Dr. Castronuevo?"
"He's a chemist at USTH, a very old friend of mine. Naging classmate ko siya nung highshool at nagkita lang kami ulit last month. From then, 'pag may time nagkekwentuhan kami, mostly about my kid Joey. Wala na kasi siyang anak kaya tuwang-tuwa siya 'pag nakakarinig ng stories about my son," sagot nito.
"Hmm.. eh si Mr. Cantio?"
"Ohh! He's the park relations head here before nung dito pa ko nagtatrabaho.
"You mean.. you used to work here before?"
"Yeah, seven years ago dito ako nagtrabaho. Isang taon din ang inilagi ko dito."
Nagkatinginan kami ni Nickan. Tama ang deduction ko kanina na nagtrabaho siya dito as Mechanical Engineer. He must be someone working on the maintenace and technicalities of the machines. Kung 7 years ago siya nagtrabaho dito, it means 2006-2007...
"Isang taon lang ba ang naging kontrata mo dito?"
"No. Actually, its a two-year contract but the management forcefully terminate it right after--"
Tumunog ang phone nito kaya napatigil ito sa pagsasalita. Agad naman nitong sinagot niya ang tawag.
"Hello? What? Hey what do you mean? Hello? Hello?!--Jeez!!"
Hinintay namin siyang kumalma.
"Anong sabi ng kidnapper?" Tanong dito ni Officer Steve.
"Sabi niya.. dadalhin niya daw yung anak ko sa lugar kung saan nagsimula at magtatapos ang lahat!! Argh!! Where could it be?"
"May narinig ka bang any sound na pwedeng maging clue?"
"Sound? Teka.. parang may narinig akong malakas na natugtog at nagpapalakpakang tao? Saka.. hangin.."
"Hangin? So it's an open area.."
May malakas na natugtog at nagpapalakpakang tao?
Open place...
Don't tell me...
"Kailangan nating maghiwa-hiwalay para mahanap kung san yun! Mr. Narvaez, may picture ka ba diyan ng anak mo?"
"Ahh oo.. ito yung picture namin kanina.."
Pinakita niya yung cellphone niya. Pinasend naman namin ito via SHARE IT app.
"Kailangan nating magmadali, kapag nakita niyo siya, tawagan niyo ko agad!"
"Okay sir! Let's go Nickan!" Tumakbo na kami paalis. Nakarating kami sa may food court. Mukha namag nagets niya kung bakit dito kami tumuloy.
"Nandito sila kanina noh?" Paninigurong tanong ni Nickan. Tinanguan ko lang siya. Nagtanung-tanong kami sa mga kumakain doon pero mukhang walang nakapansin sa mga ito.
BINABASA MO ANG
Euclid Shellingford (Volume 1)
Mystery / ThrillerA renowned M.I. Detective was suddenly dragged by her mom to get back to his home country and study in an environment different from where he has been trained since he was a child. Much to his surprise, what welcomed him there is not exactly as the...
