Arrest Him (III)

07:55 P.M. 

Cruz Mall Parking Lot. 

July 20th, the year 2018. Friday. 

"Irrelevant? Do you think this is insignificant to you, Carmela? Oh. I forgot, you loathed Katrina. You are happy because she's gone now," Matthew raged. Carmela furrowed her eyebrows. She shook her head, too. 

"Margo is dead. Now, Katrina's abducted! What will happen next?! They will kill all of us?!" Matthew yelled over and inhaled a sizable amount of oxygen he could intake. Matthew felt his eyes getting hotter at the last minute as he licked his bottom lip. 

"Katrina's birthday is tomorrow. We should all remember that, right?" Matthew mumbled to himself as he drooped down his head again. 

"And now, you even lied to us, Marcus, about the case of Margo. Should I say another one? The one where we saw a person the day we played over Sunflower Villa's basketball court. He was also wearing it. You said that we should keep it a secret?" Matthew muttered furiously as Marcus looked up from the ground. They both stared at each other's eyes as Marcus swallowed.

"If we said it right away to them, we would be curious about who was following us. Even Katrina said that someone was watching her house closely. Yet you lie about investigating Margo's case if we asked about the progress. I'm sorry, Marcus. I was only stating the possibilities that this would have happened," Matthew apologized. Marcus hit him straight on his back. 

He swallowed as he regretted his choice. If he had chosen still to investigate it, he would catch the killer in no time again. He closed his eyes as he realized regrets were always too late. 

"You promised me you will investigate it right away. But no, you are not competent to do it," Matthew mumbled and turned the other way as he held his knees. He felt weak now, thinking about the party he arranged for Katrina. The wind blew away the confession she had. 

Marcus glimpsed at Matthew sobbing. He mumbled, "If it weren't for Xian, Katrina wouldn't go here to the Cruz Mall. She cried her eyes out for reality." 

Abbey, Carmela, Mina, and Zoey stared at him. Their confused faces furrowed. Matthew heard another name coming out of Marcus. He knuckled his fists while still looking at the ground underneath his sneakers. Mina remembered what he asked about the message that triggered Xian.

"Marcus, you said that you will tell me everything right now, and what was it?" Mina mumbled while staring at Marcus's head drooped down. Abbey, Carmela, and Zoey were still creasing their foreheads. Matthew slowly turned around to face them again. 

"I transferred the case because the chief of the police didn't give me the best options that I should pick. There were only two. The one that I should transfer the case to. The one that I should change my teammates," Marcus explained, looking up. 

He stared at Matthew for a long time before saying, "I choose the latter." 

Matthew scoffed and removed his gaze from Marcus with a scowl on his face. They all realized it at once. They closed their eyes in disappointment. Marcus set aside the murder case of Margo Monteverde, the reason he had done things illegally. 

"I can't solve the murder case with new team members. If I have to argue with that transfer case, my members should be behind me. I have been working with them for five years now. I don't want to change them at all," Marcus elaborated as Matthew rebutted. 

"So all you care about is your teammates rather than us. Is that what you are saying?" Matthew retorted back, frowning. Marcus bit his bottom lip and sighed. 

"For the past three weeks, the other team had made no progress with the case. That's why I need to do something that's prohibited. Even though I am the leader of the Major Crimes Division teams and also a lieutenant. I investigated illegally... without the other Lieutenant's permission for the past two weeks after the transfer." He discussed everything. All of them listened to what he said. 

"I need someone to bring me the results from the fingerprint tests from the evidence. I commanded a police officer to be a spy, and he got the information from the forensic team. It's prohibited to see the results because it was a chief of the police's orders," Marcus added. Marcus exhaled as he continued to say those dreadful words that they didn't want to hear right in their ears. 

"The results came out in time, and I never knew that I would hear and see it right through the papers. It was literally a match. Katrina's fingerprints had seen through that bracelet," he whispered. The wind whooshed towards the east. 

The cameras flashed. The reporters were over the side, filming the breaking news for their stations. A chaos blasted through the social media right away after Katrina's abduction.

"And what's worse is that I thought me and the police officer were alone earlier. No, someone was there, listening to us," Marcus mumbled, gritting his teeth. 

"I don't know who it was, but I should be a lot more careful than I thought. That recorded message of our conversation lasted up to a minute. They sent it directly to Xian," Marcus reassured everything should be confidential. But when someone sent it to him, he doubted it was a stranger at first sight. 

"I don't know why they sent it to him. One thing is for sure, it was for him to be the trigger of everything," Marcus conceded. He heard the commotion right behind them. Matthew exhaled as he thought about Xian going to Katrina's house without permission. 

"So that's why Xian confronted Katrina based on that message?" Mina mumbled, also puzzled. 

"What is it with that message? Is it all about the evidence you had got from your spy?" Abbey butted in, staring right through Marcus's eyes. He nodded. Marcus zipped his mouth tight, controlling the fuel to the flame. 

"We all know Xian. He would erupt as much as he can no matter what the consequences are. He was like a ticking bomb that's left on the mines," Zoey muttered, licking her lips out of disappointment. 

"Katrina lost her sanity after she heard that from Xian's cell phone.  He blamed Katrina for what happened to Margo," Mina choked, the tears brimmed. He wanted to tear that person apart. Mina wanted to kill the one who abducted her. 

"So you are all saying that Xian went to Katrina's house to say those obscenities to her. He accused her of being the one behind Margo's death?" Matthew hypothesized. Mina nodded, gazing at him. They all sensed what Matthew was going to do and they were correct. 

"Matthew," Carmela cried out. He spun around, heading straight towards his car. 

"We all know where he will head. We should follow him straight away," Abbey mumbled, running over to hers. Zoey and Marcus looked at each other as they both did the same thing. Mina and Carmela also climbed in their cars out of their haste. 

Matthew stepped on the gas pedal, turned the car around in the corner. It sped up through Bella's Main Highway. 

He gripped the steering wheel as he bit his lip out of his rising anger towards Xian. He saw his cell phone vibrating. It's Marcus. 

He sensed Marcus would blabber nonsensical things to stop him from going to Xian's house. He declined it immediately. 

Marcus slammed the wheel out of frustration. 

"Matthew, you are so hot-headed," Marcus mumbled. He dialed the number of his teammates. Marcus trailed off, saying that he had some important matters to do before going to the station.