Chapter 72: Why Red

JADE:

My heart almost froze as the man in a red jacket sat on our table, and even more so when he spoke as he took his cap off his head.

“Hey, kids. Did you really have to wait for me to show up?”

It was none other than Captain Martin Rigdon – the police officer investigating Marian’s case.

“Captain, why are you here?”

“And why are the two of you here? Was it fun playing detectives?” He had an irritated look in his face when he spoke. “Let me ask you again – did you have fun risking you lives like this? Didn’t it occur to you how dangerous the situation you just put yourselves in?”

“Wh-What are you doing here, captain,” I asked nervously again. I can’t help but stare at the red jacket on his back.

What does this mean? Why was he wearing red?

Probably sensing my anxiety, Liam went over to my side and put an arm around my shoulders.

“Captain, explain to us. Why are you here, and why are you wearing a red jacket?”

He gave us a hard look for a few minutes before sighing deeply. “I think you are misunderstanding something…”

He asked the waitress for some water and gulped it down before telling us why he was there.

“I received some intel about a blog site that may have been a confession of the killings of the university students. I sent a message to the creator of the site. He sent me a message to meet him up here…”

My jaws dropped to the ground. I looked at Liam, and he was as dumbfounded as I was.

“We had a whole team set up in here just to entrap our guy, and then you two showed up. Is that a coincidence,” Captain Rigdon said irritated.

“Now, tell me, why are you guys here? I have been watching you after you came by the station, Miss Sy, and it seemed you had been up to no good, sneaking around your campus. Something tells me you’re up to no good here too…”

I wanted to answer the captain back, but Liam tightened his grip around my shoulders as he spoke.

“Listen, sir… I don’t know what’s going on between you and my girlfriend, but like you guessed, we came here because we were asked by someone… Now, can you show us proof that you are who we think you are and not really the one who lured us here?”

I could only look at Liam. Although I understand the need for his suspicious stare, this was Captain Rigdon speaking in front of us. He was the police officer in charge of Marian Rabelo’s case. He can’t possibly be that guy… right?

“I understand what you are thinking, Jade, but isn’t it suspicious that he’s here?... Besides, even a police officer can be a suspect,” Liam said as he stared back. Even without a word, he had guessed my thoughts.

I looked up at Liam’s dead serious face. It was the first time I was seeing him like this.

Captain Rigdon was also giving us both a hard and suspicious stare.

“How about the two of you? How sure am I that you are not the ones who set up my whole team to come here?”

Liam reached for his phone. I saw him pull up the email our suspect has sent last night.

“You were correct on your assumption that we had another motive for being here. We didn’t just go to eat out. We received this message, so we decided to come…”

After flashing the suspect’s email, Liam gave Captain Rigdon another skeptical look. “Now, please show us proof that you are not the one who sent us this message…”

The captain sighed. He touched his left ear. “Group one, come over here now.”

After saying that, a male and a female from two different tables inside the restaurant, one of the waitresses, and the cashier all walked towards our table.

“So, we really have been exposed… The bastard who set up that blog site must be laughing at all of us here somewhere,” the waitress who earlier brought our dinner said.

“So all of you guys are really part of a legitimate operation? You’re not pulling our legs,” I croaked.

“They are not the only ones that are part of our operation tonight. Actually, those who are here right now are the only ones that could reveal their identities.”

I unconsciously eyed the people who were standing close by the restaurant. So, those sidewalk vendors could also be part of the undercover police force, right?

“Miss Sy, if someone was pulling our legs, maybe that who’d be you. How do you explain why you put on those red heels,” Captain Rigdon continued, and this time, he was bent on interrogating me.

“We received directives from the person who messaged us to wear red.”

“I see. So he did play us. The captain was also instructed to put on this ridiculous-colored jacket,” the cashier remarked.

“I supposed you were asked to wear red, so why just the shoes?”

“It was because of me. I didn’t want her to wear red,” Liam said.

I squeezed the hand he had wrapped on my shoulder. Despite what we have heard so far, he was still very protective of me.

“Listen, Miss Sy. I asked you before not to act recklessly by yourself, and you too, Mr. Cruz. Weren’t you also interviewed and briefed about this by my partner? So, why are the two of you here? Why did you attempt to gamble your safety like this?”

I gulped down. Captain Rigdon reminded me of a strict school principal. It really felt like I was at fault today.

“Don’t you know you could be jailed for hindering police operations like this,” Captain Rigdon said, his eyes becoming hard again.

Liam was about to protest, but I patted his hand and cut in.

“Please don’t blame Liam, sir,” I blurted out. “It was all me. I asked him to do this. He didn’t want to, but I asked him to tag along.”

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

“B-Because of Marian,” I said breathlessly. “I… I wanted to get her the justice she deserved.”

“Miss Sy, did you not hear the news this evening?”

“News?”

“Marian Rabelo’s death isn’t part of the serial killings. Her death was ruled as a suicide.”