>>Clio
I blinked in confusion
"What?" I looked at him in confusion, "It's not?" I then looked at the detective, "It's not?" Harou and Matthew continued to exchange glances then the detective let out a sigh
"Yes," He replied, "It's not,"
Matthew bent down and removed the watch from the girl's wrist, "It's another victim." He said, "The detective seems to have too much free time on his hands considering he pulled something so stupid."
"You really are smart." Harou said, "This girl and Rameen are so closely similar, I thought anyone would get fooled."
Well, I certainly was. I mean, how are you supposed to tell it's not her if the head isn't there?
"Just because you gave her Rameen's watch doesn't make her Rameen." Matthew clenched the watch in his hand and glared at Harou, "Don't pull stupid things," His voice carried a hint of anger, "Where is she?"
I turned to look at the detective.
Why the hell is he doing this? Why would he show us another body? Was it to annoy Matthew or something? There seems to be some beef between them and it's mostly from Harou's side.
It's like he deliberately pulls something to get on his nerves.
"Did you even find the body?" I asked as I stared at him in confusion, "Why do this?" I shook my head at him.
"We did," He nodded and stepped back, then looked at the doctor, "Pull her out."
The doctor came and pushed the body back into the morgue, then moved to another cabinet number to pull another one out.
The moment I saw the headless body, I felt nauseous again even though I had just seen a similar sight.
It was a brutal case. Something I couldn't get used to.
Matthew frowned when he looked at the body and I glanced at Harou, only to find him staring at the boss.
"How can you tell it's her?" He asked and Matthew glanced at the detective.
"Are you serious right now?" Matthew knitted his eyebrows in annoyance, "I can recognize her scent anywhere."
Wait, What?
What the hell did he just say?
"Ah~" Harou rolled his eyes, "Right,"
Huh?
Doesn't Harou think that Matthew's statement was a bit weird? He said he could smell her! What the hell! What kind of statement is that? It sounds so weird!!!
"Why?" Matthew held the hand of the corpse, "Do you think I would know because I would recognize her last appearance or something." His black eyes seared into his, "Are you suspecting me, detective?"
My heart skipped a beat at his words and I shot my head at Harou.
"My gut feeling is never wrong," The detective said, "But it doesn't mean my guts give me proper answers either." Harou glared back, "I will get to the bottom of this."
"Where did you find the body?" Matthew asked.
"It was near the Canal."
"Near the Canal? But that's so far away from the office!" I exclaimed, "How did the head get there? Wait, so where did the murder happen?"
"Obviously it was put there separately," Harou said, "For what purpose, I don't know." He seemed to be getting lost in thoughts but still answered, "And the murdered happened near the canal, there is no sign of the body being moved."
"Just the head?" I asked, "Why not move the body?"
"We'll find out," Harou and Matthew were having a staring contest for some reason. I guess they don't get along at all. I wanted to ask more questions but it looked like it was better if I didn't say anything here.
"Give me the body," Another person's voice made us all look back at the entrance.
"Chris!" I exclaimed as I looked at her pale face. She stood there in the same clothes she wore yesterday with staggering legs.
"Sir," A police officer was next to her, "She keeps demanding she wants to cremate her daughter." I could see he was trying to stop her but couldn't exactly lay his hands on her and she made it this far.
"..."
All of us stared at her and she spoke again.
"I want my daughter." She demanded.
"Do you want to bury her?" Matthew asked.
"Cremate," Chris answered with eyes devoid of any emotion. Her face had a blank expression too.
"Hmmm," Harou looked at the mother, then nodded, "It's fine," He said, "We've already performed the autopsy. Give her the body."
Matthew glared at Harou, "When did you find the body?"
He glanced back at him, "Yesterday evening." His answer made the boss mad but Matthew didn't let his anger out and let it slide.
He was probably angry that he wasn't told immediately but then again, he's not his family.
Matthew looked to the side and calmed himself down, then looked at Chris, "When are you going to do it?"
Chris looked back at him, "Right away,"
!!???
"Right away!?" I was baffled, "But don't you want anyone here for the funeral??"
"No," She said softly, "Bring me the body." She said and the police officer came to get the body for her, "The head?" She stared at Harou
"I'll have someone deliver it."
???!!
I looked at Matthew, he didn't speak up but he looked somewhat mad.
No one else was speaking up so I couldn't either but wasn't this whole thing running too fast?
***
A message was sent to the office group chat and surprisingly within the hour, all the people close to Chris gathered at the cremation site. Chris didn't want anyone there but since Harou had to send the head, it was enough time to get the message to everyone.
There were two cremations done.
One for the body that Chris had immediately burned and a separate one for the head that came later when everyone had reached.
While we all quietly stood in the wall, watching the body burn from the heat-resistant window, the sound of crying came from the back.
Those were gentle sobs, but they still caught my attention and I turned to look at who it was,
Peon was there, standing at the end by Bizy's side, crying his eyes out with his lips pursed.
Poor boy
I looked straight again
I guess it wasn't just a simple crush for him if he's crying like that.
I glanced to the side.
Dave was back, he quietly stood at the wall without an expression, without a word. Lily was standing by his side and they exchanged a glance with each other.
Lily nodded at him but Dave shook his head and looked down and I got the feeling that they exchanged some important information there.
My heart felt queasy.
There was no sign of the killer getting caught. No one had the slightest idea who it could be. All we could do was bury or cremate the victims.
I closed my eyes in misery.
But would they ever get justice? No one knew
***
As everyone left the place, I walked out of the building and noticed Matthew talking to Harou.
Hmmm?
They seemed to be having a serious conversation and I couldn't help but get curious so I walked over to them but didn't disrupt them.
"You have a list of suspects?" The boss asked
"I told you it's someone from the office,"
"So?"
"I'm still on it,"
Matthew sighed, "Useless piece of ****" He mumbled under his breath before speaking out loud, "You haven't gone through the CCTV?"
"I have," He replied and moved to the side as some people came in to get Rameen's body out and cremated, "Through the Office CCTV,"
"And you still have nothing?" Matthew seemed disappointed.
"I said I'm working on it." There was something in Harou's eyes. A suspicion, like he was onto something but was missing something at the same time, "I'm going to have a talk with a number of your employees."
"Go ahead." Matthew replied, "I'll have them all work remotely so you can call them in for questions whenever you want."
Harou let out a sly smile, "How generous of you." He then glanced at me, "Be careful intern,"
!!!
"Y-yes?" Matthew turned to look at me as Harou began to walk away, "About that?"
"I suspect the killer is someone very near you."
***
The rest of the Sunday passed by in a haze.
Nolan didn't call me again for some reason and that bothered me. He was so persistent till Saturday night and he suddenly went AWOL.
I went back to our texts but didn't see anything out of the ordinary except that I had apparently already seen the last of his texts that said;
'Where are you?'
'Why aren't you answering my calls?'
'Clio?'
'Is something wrong?'
I don't remember seeing them but considering how my mind just started to blur last night, I might have done it in the middle of the night subconsciously
OR
I took a deep breath
I wonder if someone else saw those messages…
>>Cherelle
I thought this might happen.
That day Nolan went to City D, I got an anonymous call asking for a Cherlelle Zima who was at the party at Lux.
I can't expose our employees. I know Nolan sent Clio to the party but did he have to book it under my name?
I stared at the picture in front of me
No matter how I look at it, that's Clio,
But rather than being surprised to see him in a female disguise, I'm more astonished that he looks so good in it.
How the hell did he get that curvy body? If I didn't know his face so thoroughly, I wouldn't be able to tell that it was him. It's only because I saw him a lot when he worked here.
I sighed,
What did he do there? The people after him look like some scary ass personas. My guess is that the man who came looking for Clio might have something to do with the Chinese Mafia…
I stared at my phone
Will this land me in trouble? He used my name…
I don't want to end up in trouble with the Chinese Mafia. They're well known for their brutality.
I gulped
I have to think about myself first.