Timeline of Errors

Part 10 - Behind the Critical Unit Window

I stood in front of a big window, peering at the man lying in a bed inside a room full of medical equipment. Something clipped his finger, and the clip was connected to a machine standing right next to him. The machine beeped every second, while displaying a line in green across a black monitor. The line moved up and down slightly, while a number was displayed next to the line, measuring his heart rate. His body was wrapped in a blue kimono the hospital provided. Beside me, a girl was sobbing while she clasped her hands together.

"If it wasn't for me..." she sobbed.

"Lucy, this isn't your fault," I said, sighing as I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Even after all that... sobs..." she said and wiped her tears off her eyes, "he still... cares..."

"Yeah, about that..." I said.

"...Matias's my ex-boyfriend," she elucidated before I could ask, "we broke up around two years ago, right at the same time Azul was found dead,"

"Oh... what happened?" I asked hesitantly.

"Well, he was involved in a case of serial kidnapping!" she said and threw her hands to the side, "ten girls in total, including Azul,"

Just then, blood rushed to my head.

"What?" I asked, "Lucy..."

"I know it's surprising... but it's true. He admitted to me that he was the one who rounded up the girls in the abandoned supermarket in Clemence Hill... then they are suddenly killed in December 1 and..." she said, "we had a fight about it... he kept saying that he never even touched the girls, let alone slaughtering them, but..."

No way... I thought and looked at the person lying in bed in disbelief, Matias, seriously, what exactly do you expect me to find?! Do you expect me to somehow turn the whole situation around when everything's pointing at you?!

"Well, that's what I was about to warn you about..." she said and wiped her tears away once again, "I thought he planned to lock you up like those ten late girls... you never know what his higher-ups told him to do..."

"Did you say his higher-ups...?" I asked.

"The kidnapping case was an order from his 'master'... and he didn't refuse because he wants to keep his mother's job..." she explained, "if this is just like that, then..."

"Are you kidding me..." I muttered and slapped my forehead, "that house told the worker to kidnap girls and now they're telling me to clean up the mess for them with the same worker..."

"Clean the mess... for them?" she asked.

"...the mission..." I said and bit my bottom lip, "promise me you won't tell anyone..."

"You are ordered by them to clean their name?!" she whisper-shouted.

"More like to find proof that they really aren't murderers..." I said and hugged my arms, "damn, but this is... they're in the wrongs too... like, how much do you expect?"

"That they kidnapped them but didn't murder them, huh..." she said, "yeah, that was always his argument too. He didn't deny, at least, that he kidnapped those ten, but... back then... he told me... that that day... on the first of December, he left the building since the master asked him to meet up... and when he returned... that's what he found... dead bodies..."

Dead bodies... just like that... I thought and put a hand to my chin, honestly, no matter how fishy this story is...

"We never slaughter or even touch any of the late girls. It was an unexpected incident to us, and that's what I want you to know," he said with a stern gaze, "you might be a new assistant director, but you should get a heads-up that in politics, anyone can frame you with the tiniest flaw,"