Chapter lll CONNECTION Part 1

-CATHRYN-

      Recollecting all the troublesome events that had happened yesterday makes me don't want to come to work today. I just want to lay down in my bed all day long so that I could forget everything. But, because Chris is just a meter away from my apartment, without shame he stormed inside my place, forced me to go get ready, and dragged me through the station within only 4 hours.

"I hate you so much," I mumbled.

Chris bites in his tuna sandwich before responding to my words. "Don't hate me." He shrugged. "I did that cus I know you'll get suspended after what happened to you yesterday." He munches his food as he leans on my desk.

Such an ill-mannered human, don't his parents tell him to not speak while eating?

"For goodness sake, leave me alone right now before I could do something terrible to you assh*le."

I returned my attention at once to the 'missing reports' files that an officer just gave me. Punishment for me from the senior officers, he said, after messing up yesterday. I'm just thankful that our chief is a kind-hearted man or else, The Police Commission would've told me to clean my desk by now.

Chris raised both of his arms while still holding his precious tuna sandwich. "Chill down. Why do you always have to be short-tempered?" He said as he takes his leave and returns to his desk.

Cus if only he didn't start my day by annoying me, I wouldn't be acting like this to him. I lifted my shoulder in a half shrug before looking back at the documents in front of me.

I began to read all the papers scattered in front of me, I suddenly felt strangeness while analyzing all the 'Missing Reports'. Looking at it, there is four female Grade 11 students from the same school who went missing 3 weeks ago with only two days apart each. Because the schools in the city are doing online classes due to the pandemic, there were no traces found nor suspicion of abductions in every report.

Except one, Bea S. Banawi. She has long hair, small and pinkish lips, and a mole on her right cheek. It says here that she was the first student that abruptly disappeared from her dorm. She's been missing for about 3 and a half weeks already, the suspected criminal...her classmate, Martin Paul Nero. The suspected criminal hasn't been defined yet, but it says here that most of Bea's acquaintances witnessed Martin physically hurting her and often get sexually harassed by him inside or outside the school last school year.

But there were no other pieces of evidence that Martin abduct the girl. The court left the case unsolved. What in the world happened to them?

Without realizing the time fastly passed while I was reviewing, again and again, all the reports one by one. I quickly checked my phone what is the time, it's quarter to 11 already.

I have to know and find out the truth. I have a lot of questions playing inside my mind right now that is needed to be answered. I am wholly certain that these reports aren't just no ordinary missing cases. There could be something that is behind this. By just looking at the dates they disappeared, the same school they are in, there is something I should make sure of. Right now, I have to meet someone that could be a big help by telling me everything he might know. It's no other than Martin, of course.

I hurriedly wore my jacket and fixed all the report papers scattered on my table. "Hey, Chris, I'll go out for a while."

Chris raises his eyebrow and gave me a 'where-are-you-going?' stare.

"Don't worry. I will return after lunch, maybe." I said as I bid a good-bye wave to him.

-ꜱʜᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪɴꜱᴏᴍɴɪᴀ-

Because I damaged the patrol car, and it's still getting repaired, I have no other choice but to walk to the next street to get a taxi.

After a couple of minutes, I finally arrived at the destination. The house isn't that so big, from my position, I can see a bit inside the house by the window. I unhesitantly pressed the doorbell. Not too long, a woman in her forties opened the door. She's probably Martin's mother.

"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Greetings Madam, I'm a police officer," I said as I show her my police identification card, "Is this Martin Paul Nero's house? I'm here regarding the missing report of Bea S. Banawi." I continued.

"W-why? My son didn't do anything about that! And it also had been a month already."

"No worries Mrs. Nero, I am not here to arrest your son. I only want to hear a few words from him."

The lady inhaled as she clenched her right fist. "Come inside, officer."

Following Mrs. Nero, she accompanied me to their house's living room. From here, you can see their whole house. Their not so well organized kitchen, a small dinner table, probably for only 3-4 people. 3 more rooms ahead from here can also be seen, the two doors facing each other might be the rooms where they sleep while the other one could be their bathroom.

"Please take a seat." Mrs. Nero said politely. "I will call Martin, please wait."

"It's okay."

She walked through one of the doors ahead. "Martin, come outside please, this is important." Mrs. Nero called.

A pale and slender lad came outside the room. His eyes are swollen, his pure black hair is a complete mess. To be honest, I didn't expect that this was the man they suspected to kidnap a fellow student. He looks so weak.

Martin's mother held him gently, helping him to walk a bit faster.

"Mom, why there's a cop?" He asked with an innocent-like voice.

"Don't worry, she said she's here to help." His mom answered giving him a forced smile.

They took a seat in front of me, both of them couldn't give me a straight eye to eye. They look somehow nervous too, especially Martin's mother.

I noticed his left arm covered in bruises. Where did he get those? "Hello Martin, I am Police Officer Navarro." I showed him my police identification card also. "I hope you would answer my questions and tell everything to me honestly."

Martin nods at me.

"Do you still remember everything about Bea? Your classmate-"

"N-no, no! I didn't, I didn't hurt her, I didn't! I didn't kidnap her, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't!" Martin shouted repeatedly.

"Martin, stop, it's okay, it's okay." Mrs. Nero said as she gently embraced her son.

Seeing them, I suddenly felt like missing my mother. If only she didn't leave, would our family be still together? Would I be in this state? Would I experience a warm love from her?

"I'm so sorry officer, he was traumatized because of everyone's accusations. He was a bright and kind boy." Martin's mother started to cry. "He will never do something terrible like that. He has dreams. Officer," she suddenly ran towards me and fell to her knees, "officer, I beg of you! Please help my son to prove his innocence." She cried. "They won't stop hurting my son! Please officer!"

Hours have passed after finding out everything that happened at Martin. It's highly possible that he could be falsely accused by the so-called witnesses of Bea S. Banawi. Now, it's getting more intense. But why would there be a bunch of students accusing someone who barely knows Bea? It seems like an elaborate plan. The reports also say that Martin used to bully and sexually harass Bea but simply by looking at him, I know that he isn't that sort of person. I had encountered these kinds of situations back in high school and college, I am used to identifying delinquents or rascals by just looking at their postures, clothing, expressions, and environment.

Not to mention, the bruises on his arm...

Because my mind couldn't stop thinking, I didn't realize that the traffic light had turned green already. Now I have to wait again for another 1 minute. I heaved an exhausted sigh. What time is it already? I told Chris that I will return after lunch. My stomach began to growl because of hunger.

"I promise, I'll be back soon!" A man said out loud across the street from me.

He has a very familiar voice so I couldn't help but avert my gaze to him. However, because he was wearing a mask and a cap, I wasn't able to see his face. We accidentally locked our eyes to each other. He looked away instantly and covered his face with his hand as if it's like he's intentionally doing that so I couldn't see a glimpse of his face.

Then a voice abruptly entered my head, it's the scream of the lad I arrested yesterday. I shook my head to get such thoughts out of my mind.

And therefore I realized, that the fellow earlier and the lad named Peter yesterday, have the same voice.

I shortly looked away as well. But of course, it's pointless because he saw me already. Damn it, now we met again.

I guess I'll avoid crossing the street. I'll just go the other way around so it won't be awkward for the both of us.

As I was about to walk away, I heard women squealing from the direction where Peter is. Oh yeah, right he is an artist. Some Fangirls probably recognized him; poor him.

I halted and heaved a sigh and looked at him again, he is now getting surrounded by a few high school female students holding papers asking for autographs, shoving them at his face. I felt bad for him, it might escalate to a worst-case scenario if more people will surround him. I noticed he glanced at me, pleading for help.

Damn it, Cathryn, what are you going to do now? You are a police officer, at times like this you need to help!

My dumb ass of course ran to him as soon as the traffic lights turned red. The moment I entered the crowd, I hurriedly clasp his arm and grabbed him out from there. The students weren't delighted with my sudden intervention.

"I am the police," I said as I showed them my identification card, "you guys are invading someone's privacy right now, if  you don't stay back I might need to arrest each one of you here." I scared them off.

I swerved my head to Peter and realized that I'm still holding onto him so I let go. "Go now, y'all are still students, don't make me repeat twice," I warned again. They are starting to go away one by one while murmuring and mumbling how annoyed they are after I interrupted them. Welp, can't help the situation.

"Thank you." Said Peter who couldn't take his eyes off me.

"It's nothing." This is so uncomfortable, I gotta go away now, or I might embarrass myself further.

"By the way, I'm Peter, we, umm, we met yesterday at the police station." He explained as he introduced himself.

I know young man, I know. How am I supposed to look at you right now?

I gave him a forced smile and hesitantly answered him back, "Oh, ahahaha, yeh, I see. W-what are you doing here right now?" I answered awkwardly.

"Well, I...I'm on my way to the restaurant I wanted to go to last night...."

He did mention that when he was getting interviewed at the station last evening. He still wants to go there, despite the fact, something happened to him yesterday because of that?? Did he run away again? Does his manager knows about this??

"Ahhh yeah, I remember. Who are you with?" I can no longer keep up with this conversation, please end me.

"I was with my friend but there was an emergency so I'm all by myself now." He replied.

Out of the blue, my stomach started to growl. I haven't had my lunch yet, and I also only ate a slice of sandwich for breakfast It's much more irritating and embarrassing because Peter might've heard it.

I saw a glimpse of a smile on his face, then he let out a small chuckle, which to be honest, is kinda charming. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Ah, sorry. It's just kinda cute," he laughed, "are you going somewhere else? Maybe if you could, you know, accompany me to the restaurant. I can treat you a meal." He smiled.

-ꜱʜᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪɴꜱᴏᴍɴɪᴀ-

The smell of delicious food welcomed us as soon as we entered the Restaurant. They only serve household cuisine, but oh boy, I can already tell they serve the best just by the smell.

After Peter ordered, we took a seat near the counter. There are only a few people here which is nice.

"Is it your first time here too?" Peter asked. I only replied with a nod.

The location of this restaurant in this neighborhood is where I used to live. This establishment wasn't here before. If I remember correctly, this place only used to be a boarding house. I realized so many things had changed in this neighborhood while we were on our way here. It's peaceful and welcoming. What if, that tragedy happened 16 years ago never happened...would I still be living here?

I didn't notice that the food is already being served at our table because of the thoughts bothering my head.

"Seems like there are so many things you're thinking right now. Did I bother you to come here?" Peter said as he takes off his mask.

"Well, kind of. But let's just say I'm doing this to settle down what happened yesterday." I replied. "I'm going to ask kindly, how can I repay you? I did something terrible to you, and I want to be fair."

He chuckled as he took a spoonful of the adobo (a Filipino dish) he ordered, "I see. So what now officer? I'm not the kind of person who holds a grudge. But if you insist, just tell me your name, and everything is settled." He smirked.

I cannot tell if he's serious right now. I'm here being sincere yet he's like this. Maybe he indeed likes to act like a child.

"Well if that's all, it's Cathryn," I answered with a disappointed tone. I started to munch on my food to end this useless chat and so I can leave soon as well.

After some time, we both finished our meal. We didn't converse a lot while eating. I tried my best to keep quiet to avoid the awkwardness.

"I'll go pay for the food." He said as he stood up from his seat and left to the counter.

I noticed a piece of paper fell from his pocket so I picked it up. It's a picture of him with a crowd at his back, maybe his fans.

There's a familiar face in the picture that caught my interest. It's a girl wearing a red cardigan beside Peter. She has long straight hair and is also probably a teenager. I feel like I've seen this face just now, I can't just confirm.

"Oh, where did you get that?" Peter butted in as he moves toward my direction, "ahh, that picture. Those people are my fans, we had a meet and greet 3 weeks ago. They were fun to be with."

So he's this famous eh? Well, I mean from his looks, he could catch someone's attention at once.

I pointed to the familiar face that caught my attention, "She looks familiar." I muttered

"I don't remember her name, but I know for sure she's the first one who came in line. Teenagers' eagerness is just, on a different level." He laughed.

A face abruptly popped out in my head, it's one of the faces on the missing file reports I've been evaluating earlier. My eyes opened wide as I comprehended. The features, her hair, and a mole below his right eye..... I looked again in the picture I was holding and stared intensely at the dame.

"It's Bea S. Banawi."

To be continued~