The Truth Berries

XIII

       The footsteps of his partner Alex entering the room awakened him. He did not notice himself drifting away and he was not sure how long he’s been sleeping. He wanted to know the time but they took his wristwatch along with his badge and firearm. The interrogation room had no clock in it so he had no way of keeping track of the time. Of course, it was part of the procedure in breaking the mental state of every man questioned inside. Alex sat casually in front of him and eyed him.

       “I did not do it, Alex, you know it. I wouldn’t do such a thing to her.”

       Alex was still sitting quietly. He knew the entire room was bugged up to its last corner and every move they make was being watched by electronic eyes. If he was going to pull that one out, it had to be done perfectly so no one would ever suspect him.

       “What if I told you I believe you didn’t kill her?”

       “That’s good, buddy, because I really did not.”

       “Then the question is who did it?”

       “I can’t answer that one. What I think I know is why they did it.”

       “Then why?”

       Miguel looked into his piercing eyes.

       “No. Not in here. You have to let me go. And then we’ll talk about it on our way. Let me help you in the investigation just like before, buddy.”

       “Can’t do that, Romero. And this investigation is way beyond the ones we had before. I’m sorry.”

       “Face the truth, Alex. This is all about my wife’s death and nobody in this damn building gives a f**k about it. And no one else is capable of solving this s**t except for me,” Miguel hissed as he slammed his palms on the table.

Alex stood up slowly and leaned forward.

       “You want the truth? Here’s the truth. Nobody here gives a s**t about your wife’s death. Why? Because for the whole department and for every f*****g investigator here, this case is as good as closed. They already have their man and you, my dear friend, is as good as gone. Here’s another truth. The whole f*****g department is considering the good Alex Gonzalo who served them for years now a liability for them. So much thanks to you. They wanted to pull me out of this case because they’re afraid I’ve lost my sense of judgment and our connection might betray my rightful serving of justice. Plus, they even suspected me as your co-conspirator. Now, your good old friend Alex Gonzalo is in danger of being discharged of service with no retirement pay and monthly pension to boot. Isn’t that lovely, Romero? Now that’s the whole f*****g truth for you to take!”

       “Go f**k yourself, Alex.”, he said as if he didn’t care.

       Alex lost his patience. He got out of his seat and rushed Miguel with a punch. Miguel easily dodged his attack by c*****g his head to his right. The punch grazed his ear lightly and his body slammed into his. Miguel instantly grabbed the dangling keys on Alex’s belt and hid it in his clenched fist. Then he laughed hard as Alex was pulling away from him.

       “Is that your best shot, Sergeant? The legendary investigator Alex Gonzalo couldn’t land a good shot anymore”, he mocked.

       Alex tried again, a little faster this time. He had success that time and it hit Miguel on his right side of his cheek. His lower lip was cut. Alex was breathing heavily when he pulled back his fist. Miguel spitted blood on the white tiled floor. He laughed again just to insult him so Alex gave another shot, but that exactly was what Miguel was waiting for. Immediately, he bent backwards, making his punch hit the thin air. Then, Miguel aimed for Alex’s corner right eyebrow with a hard head-butt. Alex fell on the floor screaming in pain. Miguel started picking his handcuffs with the keys he stole while Alex was still writhing on the floor. When it was finally unlocked, he took Alex’s pistol and grabbed him on his shirt’s collar. Once he was standing, he pointed the pistol to his partner’s temple and urged him to open the door. Alex snickered shortly for he was still in great pain.

       “Look at you, Romero. Look at what you have become now. First, a wife-killer. Then, a hostage-taker. What’s next, huh? A fugitive? A vigilante? Tell me, Romero.”

       “Shut the f**k up and open the door, Alex.”

       “Or what, Mikey?”

       Miguel pressed the tip of the gun hard on his temple. Alex winced in pain for it was near his cut eyebrow.

       “Don’t test me, buddy. I’ve got nothing to lose now. You know what they say about men with nothing to lose?”

       “Yeah. They got no more wits to lose too.”

       “Just open the goddamn door, Alex.”

       Miguel pushed him forward and Alex faced him.

       “Don’t do this, Romero. Let me help you but not in this way.”

        Miguel looked at him and then at the doorknob. Then he looked back at him. Knowing he cannot talk him out of that, Alex opened the door slowly. Then, Miguel grabbed him by the collar again and hid himself behind his partner, the gun still pointed at his side. It was a little past midnight so the station was almost deserted. All the remaining personnel were already sound asleep. It‘s been like that for many years and the thought of seeing that unchanged made him sick at that moment. Justice doesn’t move at snail’s pace in his country. It doesn’t move at all. Thinking of that, he felt a strange feeling of contentment and redemption in what he has done. Justice for Nadia would be served for sure now that he himself was on it.

They made it to the front of the station. The policewoman on the Children and Women’s Desk looked at them with questioning eye and that was not a surprise at all for they were such sight to see. Alex had a bleeding eyebrow while Miguel had a broken lip. Alex felt a slight nudge from his side.

       “Chief called. He needs to be in the NBI holding cell first thing in the morning. Motherfucker tried to put up a fight, thus the lip and eyebrow cuts.”

       She shrugged her shoulders and nodded absent-mindedly. After that, they headed to the parking lot and stood before Miguel’s white Civic. Alex produced a set of keys from his pocket and offered them to Miguel. Miguel ignored it. Instead, he pulled him ten meters away to stand before his own black Toyota Corolla. Miguel asked for the keys

       “Seriously? So you’re adding carnapping to your list of offenses? Damn, you’re dragging the whole tactical team on your tail with this. When are you going to blow a public building to finally become a terrorist?”, Alex probed.

       “You will have to watch out for that one. Now, open the car and get behind the wheels. You’ll be my personal chauffeur tonight.”

Alex reluctantly got behind the steering wheel and held it firmly. Miguel chose to sit directly behind his driver. Alex adjusted his rearview mirror so that he could see his passenger behind him. He could see the gun pressed against the back of his seat, pointing straight to his upper left back. He swallowed hard.

       “Destination, sir?”, Alex sarcastically asked.

       “We’re going south. Take the South Luzon Expressway. You’ll know more once we get there. And please don’t try any stupid ideas you have in your mind right now. I’m not sure if you are wearing a bulletproof vest underneath your shirt now but I’m sure your car seat cover is not bulletproof. You wouldn’t want to clean the interior of this car on your day off, would you? Blood’s a messy b***h to clean, too”

       “Why don’t you just go to hell, Romero?”

       “Maybe someday, don’t worry. But I’ll make sure the bastard who killed Nadia will come with me.”, he said softly, as if he was talking to himself.

       Alex drove in complete silence for twenty minutes before reaching the tollgate. When they stopped at the ticket booth, Miguel lowered his gun and warned Alex about hinting the lady at the booth or openly sending a distress signal. Then, he pretended to be sleeping, resting his head on the car door’s window glass. Alex looked at him on the rearview mirror. He looked to be genuinely sleeping, but he knew his finger was on the pistol’s trigger so he just took the toll ticket without greeting the lady a good morning too. The toll gate barrier rose and they sped to join the fast early morning traffic. Alex continued driving without knowing where they were really headed but he didn’t feel like questioning. So he asked something that really bothered him since their interrogation room disaster.

       “Back in the interrogation room, you said you think you knew why they did that to her. Is that true?”

Miguel didn’t open his eyes. Alex patiently waited for his reply, constantly looking at the rearview mirror. Then he noticed a glistening streak on Miguel’s face before he spoke. He was silently crying. They were running at 60 kph, the minimum speed limit of the expressway.

       “I think it was all because of me.”

       “What do you mean? Someone with a grudge? Was he from our previous cases? Or from the most recent one?”

       “No, not that way. I think it has something to do with that thing that I received from the Yoel guy. Remember that golden chest that we thought was a bomb?”

      “Yeah, I remember. But . . . why?”

       “What do you mean why? That is more than enough reason to kill anybody, in my opinion. It is made of pure gold, I suppose, so the sight of such a thing is an open invitation for every greedy bastard out there. The fact that it was nowhere to be found anywhere in her house also justifies my suspicion.”

       “You mean it’s missing? I thought you had it in your possession?”

       “It was you who told me to give it to her as a gift, remember? I followed your advice. She liked it alright. But then, this happened. So I see no other reason for her death than that damn chest.”

       No one spoke for a full minute. Alex seemed to focus on his driving for they reached an unlighted stretch of the expressway. Miguel kept his eyes closed while still holding the gun against the back of Alex’s seat. Then he saw an illuminated sign telling that they were now leaving Metro Manila. Some fifty meters ahead, Miguel ordered him to pull the car off at the next lay-by and he did so. The road lay-by had no streetlights nearby and it was blanketed by the dark shadows of the large acacia trees planted by the road so the only source of illumination were from the headlights of their black Corolla and from the fast-running vehicles oblivious of them.

       “Get out of the car, Alex. Act naturally, like you are just stopping for a leak at one of those big trees. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.”

       Alex did so. They looked like two unusual couples; one escorting another as he takes a pee. He could have laughed if only they were not going further down the darker corners of the tree and there wasn’t a gun he knew was pointed at him. When Miguel was sure they couldn’t be easily seen by anyone anymore, he ordered Alex to spin around and face him.

       “I’m sorry, Alex, that you had to go through all of these but I need to know the truth behind everything. I can’t just let that man go away. But I can’t involve you either. So I had to do this. I hope you’ll understand.”

       “I know, buddy. I understand.”

       “I hope you forgive me with this one too.”

       Before Alex could react to his words, Miguel hit him with the pistol on his neck and he crumpled like a lifeless sack on the dewy grass. Miguel removed his wallet and opened it. It had three one-thousand pesos and a single five-hundred peso bill. He took all except for the five-hundred peso bill, he knew Alex needed that one when he wakes up. Then, he got back to the car and sped off, reaching the maximum speed limit in just twenty-five seconds, leaving his partner behind. He’s back on track and that was a good thing. He must focus on finding the man who killed her wife and he would do what he think was right. He must, no matter what. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice he exceeded the maximum speed limit.

       Or his partner Alex watching him sped away, with a sinister smile on his face.