Chronicles Revealed

Chapter 20: Culmination

I sat there for a while, lost in heavy thoughts, wondering what tomorrow will bring with all those things I tossed and turned and spun In my head. The balance between right and wrong is imperceptible but you can feel where it tilts and that is where your strength and weakness will come into play. It's where you take the dilemma by the horn and smash it to the ground. You decide or you die. The line between life and death is invisible but when they took the light from the back of his eyes whose side should I be? What is right, what is wrong? Who determines that: the police, the lawyers, and the judge?   Do they really know anything? Do they know how to investigate, do they know how to prosecute, do they know how to judge? Do they really believe in justice? Are those just empty titles that they flaunt in our face, intimidate us with?

What happens when the murder of your son falls into the hands of lazy and/or corrupt police officers?   What happens when it goes into the hands of a lazy and/or corrupt prosecutor? What happens if it falls into the hands of a lazy and/or corrupt judge, assuming that it reaches him? Nothing will happen, except to add more pain to your heart every single day.   And you can only gnash your teeth and weep to the high heavens and wish they will all go to hell together with the killers of my son.

I was not yet ready to go home so I ordered for another mug of coffee. It was actually my third at the table. I did not feel like doing anything. I was not even inclined to listen to the recordings again. I've just talked to two very good and intelligent friends, not prone to rush to judgment, and they both gave me heavy dosage of reality. What they suggested was something I considered on Day 1. It was frightening but it seemed inevitable to me. It was the only acceptable option I could think about. I closed my notebook because browsing the internet seemed so petty and meaningless activity, a waste of time and efforts.

From where I sat I watched the ebb and flow of the mall people as they appear and disappear in stores; go up and down the escalators. I even saw former co-employees apparently just gallivanting in the mall waiting for the bell to ring and go home.  I see the mall citizens in every corner and in corridors but none had an idea of what I was going through and they wouldn't have cared a bit if they knew someone like me with so much weight in his heart and mind was among them. To each his own is the practical wisdom you see in their faces. It was not a propitious sight and you go deeper into yourself, feeling pulled apart by hostile forces. I thought of calling Andre but I was too empty inside to make the effort.

Do what you have to do and get it over with. You can't procrastinate with this. End your vacillation today and make the biggest decision of your life, I told myself. It's now or never. Do it now! Call Andre and I did.

Andre answered the phone. He was in his office.

Andre, good PM. Are you free right now? I would like to see you here at Ayala mall. I have something very important to tell you.

Sure, partner. I'll just wrap up here and I'll be there in fifteen minutes. I'll just walk. Good exercise after sitting down for several hours in the office, Andre replied.

Okay, I'll wait for you here at Figaro. The camp of Andre is less than a kilometer away from Ayala center and in less than fifteen minutes he found me at Figaro. He took a seat in front of me facing the door and ordered brewed coffee. I usually sit facing or with a view of the door in a public place like a coffee shop. This time I reserved the seat to Andre, knowing his similar sitting preference.

Partner, try the muffins or some cookies to go with the coffee. It's a perfect combination, I goaded Andre who is a health buff and seldom eat something sweet..

Partner, how are you? Sorry, I have not been in touch these past few months. I was at AIM for a management study. I don't know why. I am just a policeman and I have no ambition of being a manager or what. I am sorry to say that brod's case continues to languish in the case files of homicide section. I talked to the policeman in-charge and he had nothing to tell me. No leads. No suspect. No person of interest. It makes me mad to see that they could be so inefficient and indifferent. I am ashamed of them. Brod must be very frustrated with me now. From now on, I'll follow it up more closely. Don't worry, part, we will get the killers of your son, sooner rather than later. I promise. We will make them pay.