PSYCHESTRAIN

04| First Page

04| First Page

She never hesitated to even say it, nor did she seem to be emotional. She said it plainly and casually, as if saying a joke, and Irwan somehow waited for her to take it back. But they remained staring at each other for almost a minute. And he understood that she was telling the truth.

"I am so sorry to hear that." He lowered his gaze, but the young girl remained in her usual seemingly delighted expression. The light arch of her lips never went down.

Was it pretense? Irwan thought to himself. Or that she was just plain calloused, lacking empathy, or simply apathetic. The young girl confuses him. It is not that none of his patients back then had troubled his mind like she does, but there are so few.

And the realization hits him again: Glen was again right. She was not the usual patient he ever handled, for she didn't seem to have any sociopathic tendencies. A psychopath would do, but she's yet to meet the standard. She might simply be a criminal if proven guilty. Did she even commit those crimes? If not, then she is not a criminal. And whoever is responsible for those is the least of Irwan's concern.

They both agreed to proceed. He asked her a few situational questions that involved crime, and she answered them all with keenness. She talked exactly as if she had done them already. It proved that she has a criminal tendency, but it is not yet quite evident. Irwan needs more; he has to know more about her.

"How is the case so far?" From the other line, Glen asked.

"Still starting, still on the first page."

"How is she?"

"She is good. like you said, nothing seemed wrong with her." He sighed as he went to open the windows in his room. "She has some criminal tendencies, but it is not yet evident if it has something to do with some mental ailment or disorder."

"Oh, the usual. You're indeed still in the rudimentary step. But why have you called for?"

"She obviously has some emotional issues and traumas. It seemed the trauma that impacted her big time was from the death of her mother. Suicide, she hanged herself. That matter, obviously, is so sensitive and indeed triggering for the family that I couldn't impulsively ask for further information about the incident."

"I would try my best to access some information regarding Trevejo's wife and her suicide. But I might not get much of it. Ang alam ko ay galing sa mayamang pamilya rin ang asawa niya. Mga negosyante sa Mindanao, but they are lowkey."

"Her name was Helena Lausan, right?"

"Yes, Lausan-Trevejo."

After hanging up, Irwan decided to review the journal. It was with him all along, and yet he hadn't read a page on it. He did skim; he saw those that he was looking for, including the sanguinary and brutal murder scene. He already felt the need to inspect the scripts thoroughly.

He sat comfortably on the bed and grabbed his glasses on the nightstand. He released a gentle sigh as he moved open the covers, then appeared an empty page, which he also turned to see the next.

It was the family's driver. It was his great betrayal of the family. His attempt to take the children away. His ill intentions and all the attempted pillage led to his simple murder. He was only shot in the head and died.

I could have made it more brutal.

I could have made it more worthy.

I could have made it more deserving of his crimes.

"He just did not show up one day," the Judge said as he recalls the mysterious disappearance of one of the family's trusted personnel. "Clemente Fajardo worked for us for almost a decade before he vanished. Even his family in Agusan has no idea where he could have been."

"His family, did they suspect you?"

"Condemned," he seemed to be correcting him. "They believe no one's more potentially responsible than us."

"The case is still going on, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course, but the progress is so bare that it seemed halted. After 2 years, the case would be closed, and he'd be announced dead, but even just now, the authorities, even his family, believe he already was."

"Why?"

"Because he had nowhere to go. Also, he left a few traces that made us conclude he took his own life. His family has mentioned that when he went home in their province, he became different, indifferent. He is always spacing out, stood staring at the stream for an hour, barely eating, and at times, he could be seen shedding some tears. The last footage that he is seen around the house was when he stood in the railings of the balcony on the 3rd floor but took no leap."

"So he was last seen in this house."

"Yes, that is why the investigators searched this whole property for 3 days, but they found nothing. They found no trace of him apart from that footage."

"Are there more?"

"He bought a gun." And after a long pause, "from someone who used to be a mutineer in Agusan, according to his family."

And Irwan recalled how he was killed, according to the journal. He believed the Judge had read it, and he knows what was written on that page. The Judge did, he knows exactly why Irwan asked about him that after their conversation he asked Nina to send him coffee. Together with the coffee is a note, in which there is an address.

The next morning, Irwan just found himself leaving the house and driving his way to that place. After almost 4 hours, he arrived in the province and embarked on searching for the house of the Fajardo's. He eventually found it, a bit distant from the heart of the town beyond the towering coconut trees that sparsely stood on a hectare of land. Right next to the river bank stood a squared nipa house.

"Unsa man intawn imong kinahanglan diria dong?" (Ano ang sadya mo rito, hijo?)

A man in his late 50s, as Irwan guessed, asked. Right beside him was a woman who seemed to be the same age.

"Ito po ba ang bahay ng mga Fajardo?"

They turned to stare at each other. After some moments, the woman decidedly responded with knitting brows, a creased forehead, and worried eyes.

"Ngano man, dong?" (Bakit naman, hijo?)

"Gusto ko lang pong magtanong tungkol kay Clemen一," and the man turned his back to him hastily, then walked away. The woman followed him with her gaze yet remained. "Tungkol po kay Clemente Trevejo."

The woman sighed. Irwan could totally sense the discomfort that the woman might have been feeling. The heaviness of the atmosphere, and perhaps so does her chest.

"Ngano man pud nga gipangita nimo akong anak?"

"Pasensya na po kayo, pero hindi ako gaano nakakaintindi ng bisaya."

The woman again sighed and nodded. "Bakit mo hinahanap ang anak ko?"

"Hindi po siya hinahanap. Kayo po ang sadya ko rito at may ilang katanungan lang ako. Maari po ba?"

And she invited him inside their small nipa house. She offered him a drink and some bread, and despite declining, she served him. It took moments before Irwan could even start the interrogation as the woman catered and offered him stuff that she believed might make the visitor more comfortable.

"Pasensya ka na, dong." Aniya, "hindi lang talaga ako handa tanungin tungkol sa anak kong si Clemente. Alam kong alam mo namang wala na siya. Alam ko ring, maaring, andito ka dahil sa pagkawala niya."

"Tama po, kayo."

"Unsa ba imong koneksyon sa akong anak, dong?" And her voice started to tremble, as did her eyes. "Hindi ka man mukhang kaibigan o talagang kakilala ng anak ko. Ikaw ba kay isa ka Trevejo?"

"Hindi, po. Ako si Irwan," he said, taking out his wallet and showing her his ID. "Consider me as one of the authorities that is working on the search for your missing son."

She still has questions. She still questioned his intention, and as someone who mastered the art of manipulation as part of his job requirement, he had to get through it all. In the end, he grasped the information needed , or at the very least, the information he wanted.