Tease Out the Truth

Kabanata XIV: Sleuth's Tournament

Chris

HINDI pa rin nahahanap ang stone hanggang ngayon. Isang Linggo na ang nakalilipas. Sa palagay ko ay ito na ang pinaka-highlight ng kalokohang dulot ni JDC.

Kasalukuyang nasa dorm kami ngayon. In my dorm to be specific. Wala kasing magawa 'tong dalawang kasama ko ngayon kaya ang weekend ko naman ang guguluhin nila.

"Twenty suspects na lang!" Dave exclaimed.

"We need to narrow it down until 10," I suggested.

"Sa tingin ko, Dabid maraming kasabwat 'yang si JDC. He can't just execute his plans without the help of someone else," saad ni Eroll na kasalukuyang nakahilata sa kama ko.

Right.

It was kind of boring these past few days. Walang kaming ginawa kundi ang makinig sa mga boring na lectures ng mga professors namin. Nakababahala kasi na walang kalokohang nangyari. This was what JDC did to us. Bigla na lang kaming nag-o-overthink. Paano kung biglang may mangyari na naman at hindi namin ito napaghandaan?

"Dudes! Let's go out. Nakababagot dito sa dorm ni Chris. Puro libro," nagrereklamo na naman si Eroll. He always do that and we're used to it.

Dave instantly agreed though. He might have felt the same. Well, I couldn't blame them. I didn't ask them to accompany me here in my room. I was just relaxing together with my books today, but then these two had to ruin it.

In the end, I was already following them. We let Eroll lead the way to the so-called fun. Where ever that was, it didn't matter. All I wanted was to ease the boredom in my system too.

It was then that I realized that the so-called fun was in the Mall.

Tsk. What were we going to do here? Shop like there's no tomorrow? Mauubos ang pera ko niyan.

"Anong gagawin natin dito?" naiinip na tanong ni Dave.

"Shopping?" painosenteng sagot niya.

"Then I'll leave," sabi ko at akmang aalis na patungong exit nang hinila ako pabalik.

"Just kidding, bro. Someone referred a case to me. You might want to help me in solving it."

A case, huh? Well it's been a while. Why not try?

Pinuntahan namin ang sinasabi ni Eroll. Nasa Clothing section kami ngayon ng Mall sa may second floor. I have no idea if what was the case all about. However, since the clothing section was a mess, I assumed that it might be a robbery case.

Sinalubong kami ng isang matandang lalaki na sa tingin ko'y nasa edad sixty pataas.

"Eroll, ikaw pala 'yan. Pasensya na dahil magulo pa ang lugar na ito. Hindi pa namin naayos matapos kaming malooban kagabi."

Nilibot ko ang aking paningin at kapansin-pansin ang magulong ayos ng silid. Nagkalat ang iba't ibang makukulay na kasuotan. Branded or not, walang pinalagpas.

"May mga nawawala po ba?" tanong ni Dave.

The man shook his head. "Wala namang nawawala sa kinita namin kahapon. Ngunit hindi lang ako sigurado kung may nawawala ba sa mga damit."

So the culprit planned to get some clothes?

Sinuri namin ang bawat sulok ng silid dahil maaaring may naiwang ebidensya ang magnanakaw. Si Dave naman ay tinungo ang pinto at pinagmasdan ito nang maigi.

"I think the culprit didn't destroy the door knob. There's no sign of scratches, malinis ito," Dave murmured to himself.

"Sa katunayan ay bago pa lamang ang door knob na iyan. Kabibili lang namin 'yan noong isang araw," paliwanag ni Lolo.