His Conundrums

Chapter 23

Yet Tragic

The night was cold and dark, hugging the city tight. It was like they were surrounded by dark creatures awake at night, waiting for their prey, hiding at a corner, ready to pounce on their target with bloody eyes and sharp teeth. A night of terror suddenly visits Sirius in his dreams again. The moonlight touched his face. Cold sweat, heart slowly burning and turns into ashes, he woke up terrified, catching his breath. He thought it was gone, yet he was haunted. His nightmare brought him pain again. He curled up on his bed hugging his knees, waiting for his tragedy to end at least.

-0-0-0-

It was 9 o'clock in the morning when Joe decided to call Sirius to wake him up. It was half an hour later when Joe suddenly knocked at his doorstep, completely shook off his morning.

"What are you up to?" he asked Joe as soon as he opened the door.

"Oh, man! You think I can sit still knowing the police took everything from us?" Joe went in uninvited and sat comfortably on his sofa.

"Alex said he's going to give us another case and let this handled by someone else instead, just let him," he said, closing the door and walked straight to his kitchen.

"Give YOU another case. To be clear, I'm not one of you guys, and ironically speaking, I'm a thief... who helps a detective solving his cases. I'm cool with it though, I like it, BUT we're one step closer to solving that case. And besides, Mr. Flipper personally went for our help." Joe was hyped early in the morning emphasizing some of his words.

"I know, it was a waste, but what can we do?" he said while facing Joe with a cup of coffee in his hands. He was about to sip his coffee when Joe showed him a meaningful smile.

-0-0-0-

They were in front of a building where Mr. Thomas Flipper works. They were waiting for him. It's 10:38 in the morning, and he's late. They decided to go on with this case as what they planned an hour ago.

A couple of minutes had passed, and a familiar car passed through them. Their feet automatically moved on their own and went straight to the building's lobby. They saw Mr. Flipper went out of his car and handed over his keys to their valet.

"Hello, Mr. Flipper! What a coincidence?" Joe greeted him in surprise though it's not purely coincidence.

"How's your case?" Sirius asked him.

"How was my case? I thought you were investigating it," he answered and walked through the company's entrance.

"Nah~," Joe said, waving his hand following their lead.

"Police don't trust us this time. They keep asking us how the hell we knew about the cake. We also arrived at the perfect time, which they thought was suspicious enough, given that we only have the letter as our clue. Thanks for my friend's smart ass." He laughed at the end of his statement as the elevator opened. They looked at him with a straight face before they entered, and Thomas pressed his floor number.

"They retrieve the letter from us. They thought it would help them solve the case by looking for the culprit's fingerprint. He's not that dumb to leave his tracks behind," Sirius said, ignoring Joe for a second.

His secretary was waiting for him outside the elevator and immediately handed out a letter. Joe and Sirius quickly looked at each other while Mr. Flipper signed a document. He walked straight into his office while opening his mail.

"Is it some sort of a death threat again?" Joe asked him.

"No, it's remittance advice," Mr. Flipper said, putting aside the letter he received.

"Wait. Where did you receive the letter before?" Sirius asked him. Mr. Flipper, on the other hand, tried to remember where he received the letter 2 days ago.

"Here in my office," he simply answered. 'Why here?' Sirius thought.

"The letter was solely addressed to you?" Joe asked him this time.

"Nope, it was addressed in our company," he answered.

"How did the culprit surely assure that you will be the one receiving the letter? Do you know who the postman is at that time?" Sirius was on his pace asking his former client some questions.

"Yes. He was assigned to deliver our daily emails," he said. 'It's not the postman.' Sirius thought, processing all the information he gathered.

"Why would he address it in your company? If that's the case, it might be received by one of your co-partners. If you are his target, he could send it directly to you." It was Sirius this time who talks a lot making Joe shut his mouth but of course, he needs to listen.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence. It just happened that you were the one who received the letter," Sirius added. He walked around, trying to think of something else.

"Then why is that? The culprit knows about his allergies and would react if he touched that letter," Joe asked.

"By the way, how did you know about my allergies?" Mr. Flipper asked them.

"I saw how you covered your hands with gloves the time you gave us the letter. You didn't wear gloves daily, aren't you?" Sirius told him, pointing out his bare hands.

"Did any of your partners have the same allergies as you, like berries or perfume?" Joe asked Mr. Flipper.

"Well yeah, Mudan and I have the same allergies with berries while Irvin and Elmer are allergic to perfume with a strong scent, but... only a few knew about this." He feared. Made Sirius and Joe went even deeper with this case.

"Where are they? You have to warn them. I think the culprit wants to kill anyone who receives the letter," he said. Mr. Flipper moved immediately to warn his partners while Sirius and Joe made a conversation.

"I thought this was just a simple case," Joe said.

"No case is simple, Joe," Sirius told him.

"Especially when the culprit is wise, that's what makes every case interesting," he added.

"I can't reach Irvin." Mr. Flipper started to panic as he put down his phone.

"Where is he by this time?" Sirius asked him.

"I don't know. The last time we met was in his apartment. It was the day before my wedding. I invited him, but he never showed up. He's absent for 3 days now and he didn't even sign for a leave," Mr. Flipper explained.

"Can you give us his address?" Joe asked him. He was searching in his drawer and found a piece of paper. He wrote off Irvin's address and gave it to them. They said their thanks before they left Mr. Flipper's office. 'Irvin Sting' Sirius read his name.

"He might be the culprit. That's why we never saw anyone suspicious at his wedding because he never showed up," Joe said while they were walking.

"Or maybe the next victim, walk faster Joe before it's too late. It's getting more interesting," he told them.

"W-what?" Joe asked puzzled.