The Benefits of Lucas Montemayor

004

Irene's Point of View

“f**k,” Lucas cursed because of the sound coming from the lighting director's phone.

“Remove the phone off your body!” I freaked out while saying it. I don't want this to happen again like what happened in my dressing room.

He just laughed “Manipulator X will always win, Lucas Montemayor. Please let me die, save yourself and tell my family that I abandoned them,” he said. Lucas hurriedly took the phone off from his body and threw it away that shocked everyone. They all looked at us. We thought that we could save him, but his mouth bubbled.

“We can't do anything, call the ambulance!” Lucas shouted. Our director quickly called for an ambulance. This is the second one and Manipulator X is always the reason.

What's happening? I'm sure that as long as the show is not postponed, Manipulator X will not stop.

Since my father died, I've been suffering for days. I'm starting to get used to threats and crimes. Especially now that I'm with Lucas, a detective.

“Looks like he doesn't want your show to be successful,” a man said. When I looked at him, I saw Johnny. How did he come here?

“Well, I know that you're going here and you didn't even tell me,” Johnny said and pouted. When his eyes went to the corpse, he became serious. “Another victim of Manipulator X?” he asked. I nodded. Lucas was thinking deeply.

“Let's go, Irene. We have to go. Johnny, call Larry and make him examine the corpse,” he ordered. Johnny only nodded.

“I just got here and you're leaving?” he asked, but Lucas only glared at him. Johnny sighed. “Fine.”

Lucas dragged me out of there while holding my wrist. I was just silent while we're walking when he stopped in front of my school.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, but he just walked to the police there.

I almost forgot that today is the day that we're going to say that the case is not suicide, but murder.

Lauren was already there talking to the police who were laughing at her. “Are you serious? Your deduction is kid-like,” the police said when they saw us.

“Mr. Lucas Montemayor, nice to meet you again. Why are you here?” a police politely asked. My mouth gaped. Wow, that was quick.

I elbowed him when he looked at me. “Well, I solved Solomon's case a month ago,” he said. Oh, that was the case where they had a hard time finding the killer, but it was only his child who killed him. That was the saddest case I've ever heard. He's really good at this.

“The case was indeed a murder. The one who made that setup is the co-teacher, Melinda. The evidence is this letter and you can ask Larry about the autopsy. You can see the hair of the suspect on the victim's finger. If you want to know what happened, ask Samantha Drew,” Lucas said. The police looked around to find Samantha Drew.

I was shocked when Lauren took off her wig as a disguise. Is that really Samantha Drew, the famous detective in Japan?

She's so beautiful in person. I don't know, but I asked her if I could hug her. She nodded. “Sure. Don't worry, Lucas. Irene is not my type,” he assured Lucas that made me laugh. Nothing is going on between us for him to be jealous. But is there really nothing?

I thought she already forgot about this case.

A smile escaped from my lips. Lucas looked at me and I just smiled at him and asked, “How did you get the files from Larry? Did he let you borrow it?”

“Obviously not. I hacked his phone and read the case file that you were saying,” he said. My mouth went wide. He was not only good at deducting but in hacking, too.

Well, that's rare.

Samantha started to explain what happened. I listened to her. Her show was one of my favorites because true crime scenes were being aired and solved by her.

“Let's go. We shouldn't waste a lot of time,” Lucas said. I stopped him and pleaded if I can watch Samantha Drew state her deduction.

The police were holding the suspect and Samantha started to state her deduction.

“You killed her because you're holding a grudge on her. Oh, let's say you're avenging someone.”

“I will not speak any word!” the suspect shouted while trying to escape from the police's grip.

“Because you're thinking that she killed your daughter five years ago. You even changed your status to get revenge on her.”

Minutes passed and more students were looking at us. That's why I dragged Lucas away from there.

“You tried to make her confess, but she denied the allegation. She's right, though, she's innocent about what happened to your daughter. Because who really pushed her was herself.”

“Shut up! You know nothing!”

“You can't accept that your daughter committed suicide because she knew that she's not your true daughter. Am I right?”

“That's not true!”

“Her true mother was your co-teacher you mercilessly poisoned and framed it as suicide. But sadly, the authorities found this hair. When you're hurting her, she accidentally grabbed your hair. She also had bruises on her neck and you're the one who did those.”

“That's not true, shut up! You don't know what you're saying!”

“Her true mother was the teacher you killed. There's an incident before where while they were on the road, they bumped onto a kid. The kid was your child. Your husband left you because of it. But you got angry when you saw that she's pregnant. Now that you got your revenge for what she did to your child, the question is, is it her fault?”

“That woman deserves to die! Because of their irresponsibility, my child died. When I felt like I'm going to have a child again, it was taken away. I will not point at anyone but her. I paid the doctor to kill their child. He failed and gave the child to me. That time, I felt like a mother again. It's that feeling they took away from me!” she angrily shouted. Her eyes were burning with anger. The police handcuffed her.

“Wait, read this letter your daughter wrote before you leave.”

Samantha gave it to her. Maybe that was the evidence Lucas was holding earlier. When Melinda read it, she sat on the ground.

“This is not true . . . no,” she said while crying. I wiped my tears. What happened was painful. She killed someone because she wanted revenge.

I hope that Teacher Jean and her daughter got along well before she died. Now, they're together in heaven.

We're heading home. I was so happy with the wig Samantha Drew gave me. She gave me this as a gift because I helped her solve the case, but to be honest, Lucas is the one who solved it, not me.

“Tch, how many hours do you plan on staring at that wig?” he asked. I laughed. Is he jealous?

“Lucas, you know,” I started. I was shocked when someone grabbed us, they covered our nose and the last thing I knew is we were kidn*pped by someone.

When I opened my eyes, I saw myself lying on the bed. I looked around and the room was just white.

This is too big, like a queen's lair. I stood up when I saw myself in the mirror. My clothes were different now. This is a nightdress. Where am I and who changed my clothes? Where's Lucas?

I was alarmed when someone knocked on the door. I don't know what to do when it opened.

“Ma'am, my boss called you,” she said. I poked her and asked.

“Where's Lucas?” I asked.

“Lucas who? There's no Lucas here,” she said. It's obvious that she's not lying.

I nodded and followed her. What I should think about is who changed my clothes. Where is Lucas and where am I?

The only thing I can remember was someone kidn*pped us, but I can't remember who. After stepping on the last step of the stair, I saw a vintage door. The maid knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a voice said. The maid bowed and I saw two, familiar men. Wait, they're the ones who told me to go to Starbucks. What are they doing here?

“Ms. Irene,” Sebastian greeted and kissed my palm. Jack walked to me and greeted me, too.

“Can you tell me why I'm here?” I asked them. They looked at each other and smiled.

“Well, let's say that our boss wants to talk to you, that's why we kidn*pped you,” he said. The last time I remember, they said that I should give the paper to Lucas so he would accept my case, but he didn't accept it even though he knew who gave me the letter.

“Who is your boss?”