Chapter 49: Discovering Marian

JADE:

I looked at the calling card bearing the name of the website I checked the other night – The Red Shoe’s Curse.

“Where did you get this,” I asked Kix in a hushed voice.

For a moment, I forgot that he was in his wolf form when I read the contents of the website last time. I should feign ignorance if I don’t want him to discover that I already knew his secret…

“It’s a card that I was able to steal from our suspect,” he said.

Kix proceeded to tell me what happened to him when he went to the buffet table to get some food while at the ball.

“So this website right here… There’s a big chance he was the one who created it, right? He must really be Marian’s killer then!”

“That’s right.”

“Actually, I had come across this website already. The last victim – Marian – she has encountered this website too, and I think she dug deeper into it.”

Kix nodded furiously. It was really rare to see him with such a serious expression on his face.

“Do you think Marian was able to find out something about the killer? Was that why she died?”

“There’s a high chance she did. Marian didn’t fit the characteristics of the killer’s first two victims. If it were a case of serial killing, the types of victims would all be similar, right,” Kix said in agreement.

“Then, let’s proceed into retracing Marian Rabelo’s steps. Let’s investigate what she found out,” I suggested.

I looked at Kix’s face. I was thinking he’d vehemently discourage me like Dianna or Liam, but to my utter surprise, he nodded.

“Alright, but under one condition. You’re doing all of these things with me.”

As expected, Kix would support my decision. He didn’t attempt to stop me, but rather, he wanted to be a part of it.

“Hmm, alright… So, how do you suppose we find more information about Marian?”

“Well, we do have a survey project to immediately accomplish,” Kix retorted, “so why don’t we make that survey right in front of the east wing?”

That’s right… The man in the black hoodie must have had classes there. Why would he come to that wing if he didn’t?

That was my initial thoughts, but Kix was one notch ahead from me. He explained his ideas over a quick lunch prepared and delivered by Edril.

“Distributing the survey form would be a good disguise for us. We can ask about Marian with his classmates, and if we’re lucky, we’ll get more information about our suspect too,” he said as Edril prepared the table.

“Ah, go ahead, and eat,” Kix said once Edril had finished. I could only stare though at the gourmet meal Edril had prepared as soon as he arrived.

We sat by the wooden benches near the eastern wing of the university. There were so many students around, so being served with such a meal in such an inconvenient place was too damn embarrassing.

“Actually, I’m not hungry,” I said. Why was Kix doing this grand gesture?

“It’s bad enough to eat fast food all the time. Go ahead and have some home cooked meal, Jade.”

Home cooked meal my ass… All these dishes here looked like they were taken out of a five-star restaurant!

“Here, have some salad,” Kix urged me again. “The sooner we eat, the faster we could start with our task.”

I thought Kix’s nonchalant nature was better than Liam’s overprotective tendencies, but I was wrong. Sometimes, they are both just plain crazy that I don’t even know what I should do with them…

After that awfully fussy lunch, Kix and I began sorting our survey form and distributing it near the eastern wing.

This wasn’t, of course, our true aim.

We were looking for several people in particular. Kix wanted to spot the two boys he saw who were talking about the drug in my wine while I wanted to find out more about the two boys who were talking about Marian at the library.

Of course, our prime target would be Gary Eduardo – the person who masterminded giving me the pill that night during the ball…

By now, I was one hundred percent sure he was the one who killed Marian. Why else would he conspire against me if he wasn’t guilty at all?

Just as luck would have it, I was able to spot one of the two boys who were talking about Marian in the library sometime last week.

“Hello! Would you like to help us with our survey,” I greeted.

I tried my best to be courteous, polite, and pleasant. He conceded with answering the form.

Before he finished, I went for the kill.

“Um, you were a classmate of Marian Rabelo, right? I heard you talk about her in the library with another classmate,” I said.

The uncomfortable look in his eyes was so apparent that I was sure he was going to make an excuse to leave soon. Luckily, Kix stepped in and used his magic.

“Hey, that Marian girl - I heard she’s a little crazy, right? What kind of stuff was she up to?”

“Uh, well, she really was a weird one. She’s just too plain serious,” he said, warming up a bit at Kix’s sympathetic opening.

“Just how serious was she? What kind of things did she do?”

“Well, she’s very much into solving crimes and stuff. We’re psychology majors, and she’s very much into understanding people’s psyche. There was this one website she became obsessed with. It all started as a joke blog site, but Marian was seriously into it, just like how she was into that autosuggestion thing.”

“Right, right… Maybe her obsession got out of hand, huh?” Kix feigned his agreement.

“Yes. The last time we saw her, she said she’ll catch the college students’ serial killer. She said she’ll set a trap for him… We didn’t know she was serious enough to risk her life like that…”

“I see… Well, even if you had known it, nothing would have changed, right?

“P-Pardon?”

“Marian Rabelo – what a courageous woman she was,” Kix said, his tone abruptly changing into a condescending one now that he heard what he wanted from the boy. “To think that that girl ended up dead because no one believed her… What a pity!”

The boy looked at him, utterly bewildered.

“Anyway, buddy, I hope you learn your lessons from that… Like you said, Marian was weird, but out of everyone who saw that blog alongside of her, she sounded like the most courageous one of all… May her soul rest in peace,” Kix continued.

I felt much better after hearing Kix’s words. I too felt sorry for Marian. Out of all the people who read that blog, she was the only one who attempted to solve the mystery. She was the only one who exerted the effort to understand the mind of the killer and to attempt stopping him.

I used to think I was the only one who cared for Marian, but hearing how Kix defended her proved once more that I was wrong…

With Kix here, I would never be alone in this fight to find out the truth.