Chapter 73: Marian’s Death
JADE:
Marian’s death was ruled as a suicide? That can’t be true!
“Captain Rigdon, you must be mistaken. How… Just how can that be suicide?”
I could still remember Marian’s bloody corpse and the way her eyes were flung open as if pleading. I could still remember the blood oozing out of her veins… How the hell can that be ruled as suicide?
“Read the news, Miss Sy. You’d know that I was not lying.”
I quickly pulled out my phone and checked out the news in the web.
The broadcast was just out today. Marian’s death was indeed pronounced as a suicide and was ruled out as part of the recent serial killings of the two other female students…
“Why,” I muttered. I read all the articles I could find about it, but each one of them said the same thing. She apparently killed herself.
“This isn’t true, captain! How can such a gory death be suicide?”
“Didn’t you read the articles, Miss Sy? Marian’s death was due to a major drug overdose. She most likely cut herself and bled from a self-inflicted wound.”
“That’s nonsense! Who would cut their own throats in such a fashion?”
“She did. A knife was discovered nearby on the scene of the crime. It only had her fingerprints on it. She had a suicide note tucked inside her things. She also kept a diary where she wrote that she wanted to end her life due to recurrent bouts of depression.”
Lies… These words against Marian – they were all lies!
“Captain Rigdon… Marian’s diary – I have it. Whatever diary is in your possession - it must be a fake. I have her diary!”
“Let me guess,” the captain said, putting his fist under his chin as if to intimidate me. “You got this so-called diary inside Marian’s locker, right?”
I froze. “H-How did you -?”
“The CCTV cameras at your school showed you went through Miss Rabelo’s locker. Good thing that her death wasn’t ruled out as murder, or you could have gone to jail with what you’ve done, Miss Sy.”
I lowered my head in embarrassment. Liam was looking at me, his eyes full of concern.
“Anyway, Miss Sy. Those diaries you came across were just one of the many diaries she kept, and some of those entries were unfortunately make-believe stories.”
“Wh-What? How did you arrive at that conclusion,” I said, in utter disbelief.
“Among many other illnesses, Miss Rabelo was suffering from schizophrenia. She had hallucinations and delusions on a regular basis. She also had major depression. Her mental illnesses compelled her to take various kinds of drugs that interfered with her blood composition. Because of that, her blood got thinner, resulting to her heavy bleeding even with minor cuts. That explains the bloody appearance of her corpse.”
Captain Rigdon continued. “She expressed intentions of hurting herself in her many diary entries. She did not have many friends or family members to rely on. She was often bullied and looked down by her peers at school and work. Thus, it was most likely that she had opted to take her own life.”
No… It can’t be…
“Captain, those are lies!” I did not realize how swept away I was with emotions until I heard myself shout at the police captain and his men.
Liam put his palm against my trembling hand on the table in an attempt to calm me down, but I was far from calming down.
“And what do you know that will disprove it, Miss Sy? Like you told me in the station, you never really saw the actual killer. You got chased by someone, but you can’t pinpoint whether he had anything to do with Marian’s death or not… For all we know, you could also be Miss Rabelo’s killer.”
I can’t believe it! I can’t believe what this police captain was saying!
“Captain, I don’t know what kind of investigation you ran while looking at her case, but I cannot accept that Marian had died on her own. She was more likely killed. Did you see the injuries in her body? Even if she was really mentally sick, she couldn’t have horribly done that on her own body!”
“And who are you to know about it, Miss Jade? Have you spoken to Marian herself? Do you know what actually goes on in that head of hers? If you could only see half the stuff she wrote in her diaries about werewolves, vampires, or ghosts, maybe you wouldn’t say such things.”
I braved myself not to utter back anything when Captain Rigdon mentioned werewolves.
They were real. Kix, his family, and those school bullies were real enough! If Marian believed in vampires and ghosts, who was he to say they weren’t real too!
“Besides, Miss Rabelo did not fit the mode of death of the first two victims. In addition, their killers took away trophies when they died, and that didn’t happen in her case…”
“The prior victims were missing something from their bodies, but none of those happened to Marian. The only thing that she seemed to have tied up to those victims was the color red. The rest were just products of her uncontrolled obsession and delusion,” Captain Rigdon continued.
By the end of his speech, I was already shaking violently in pure anger. Liam’s touches did nothing to appease the burning rage in my heart for the police officer before me.
“Now I see why Marian, or anyone remotely like her, won’t ever get justice... Because of people like you who judge others solely on their medical histories, her death won’t ever be truly known. It’s as if you have killed her yourself with your false beliefs, captain!”
“Then how about you, Miss Jade? Do you think running around like this will bring her justice? If you end up getting yourself killed, would you be happy,” the police said, also losing his cool towards me.
“With all due respect, at least I’m doing something to solve this case. It’s a shame you have to rely to mere hunches when you’re a police man!”
“How about you, Miss Sy, what are you relying on to solve this, huh? A feeling, a guess, or is it… a ghost?”
My eyes widened. Did he know of the apparition?
“Answer me, Miss Sy… Four years ago, did you or did you not seek the help of a psychiatrist? Weren’t you diagnosed to have developed some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?”
I rounded my hands into fists and pounded on the table. It shook hard.
“What does this have to do with Marian’s case?”
“Well, everything, Miss Sy… It has to do with everything about her case.”
