His Conundrums

Chapter 42

Way Back

Sirius asked Joe to go to the school campus for further investigation while he’s out waiting for the autopsy report and studying the crime scene.

Joe looked around the campus. He saw it changed a lot. New and more facilities have been built, making it more comfortable and conducive to learning for the students. He saw some old rooms rebuilt, and some were enhanced. He enjoyed walking around but felt sad at the same time. The campus was changed, but he is still the boy from before.

He decided to go to the library where Xyra Dollis was. He saw her doing some home works instead of helping out shelving books.

“You’re on a break?” he asked.

The girl faced him and nodded her head.

“Mind if I sit?”

Xyra let him do whatever he wanted. He sat across her and picked some books stacked on her side. He remembered answering the older version of that book before. He opened it and saw the content was slightly changed, but some questions were still there. He took a glance at Xyra’s paper and saw a number she got the answer wrong.

“The answer is 4 at number 8,” he said.

She looked at him.

“You forgot to divide it by two before narrowing it down,” he added.

She examined her answer and found where she got it wrong.

“Oh, right.” She changed her answer and solved it again.

“Thank you,” she said.

Joe stayed there reading some books. He asked Xyra if it’s okay to write something on it, and she agreed. He even borrowed her pencil.

“You’re not going to ask me?” Xyra asked him.

“Ask you what?” he asked.

“You’re not doing your investigation today?” she asked him.

“Nah, maybe later, I don’t know. I just want to chill here at the moment,” he said.

“You’re good. You got that right,” she said when she saw him solving some comprehensive problems in her book.

“Well, I learned it before, so I guess I still remember it,” he said.

“You’re a student here before?” she asked him.

“Yep.”

“Are you an honor student or something? I think you’re familiar,” she said.

“Well, not really. I was granted a scholarship just like you,” he said.

“How do you know I’m a scholar?” she asked.

“Are you not? You look like a student doing some extra studying so you could maintain your grades.”

She just stared at him.

“You can tell? Just by looking?” she asked.

Joe realized it’s weird. It’s just the second time they’d talk, and he honestly didn’t know if that was just a guess or he’s getting what Sirius has, an eye that can look through things. He didn’t know what to say.

“I think working with a detective can make you detective itself,” he said.

“How long have you been on that field?” she asked.

“Not that long ago.”

“What did you do before that?”

“You don’t want to know. Wait, why am I the one being interrogated?”

She laughed.

“You want to become a detective, too?” he asked.

“No, but I find them cool,” she said.

They stayed there until her break was over. They talked about a lot of things and solved a lot of problems in her book.

Joe decided to stay at the cafeteria while drinking a coffee he got from a vending machine. He felt like it was just yesterday when he has fun going to school. It was his safe place, a place where he can’t be touch by anyone. He ruled this place before, before something happened that made him who he was before meeting Sirius.

“You look kind of deep, are you okay?” someone asked him from behind.

He faced it and saw it was Kirstie. She was holding a hazelnut cold coffee in a can. She remembered Lori buying the same thing before. He guessed maybe it’s a sister thing. She smiled at him.

“Hey,” he said.

“Mind if I sit?” she asked.

He felt like this happened not too long ago, but it was him asking.

“Sure,” he said.

“You’re doing your investigation?” she asked.

“Kind of. I was also looking around. It’s been so long since I last stepped my foot here,” he told her, and it was something they didn’t want to look back into.

“Yeah,” she said.

Remembering the past made an awkward silence between them. Nobody wants to talk first. They’re afraid they might say something to make things more uncomfortable as it is.

Joe tried to think of something to kill the atmosphere, and she did the same.

“How’s your work?”

“How about lunch?”

They said in unison.

“I’m doing better,” she said.

“Lunch is a great idea,” he said.

They laughed, talked, and waited until it was lunch break.

-0-0-0-

Sirius went back to the river where they saw the body. The police are busy with the case and feeding the media some information but only chose a few for the family's privacy. Sirius is also getting tired of waiting for the autopsy report and wanted to go around investigating further.

He saw a man fishing not too far from where he stood. He was wearing his boots and a hat while sitting on a chair he bought with him. He’s not too old, maybe around Sirius's age. He went near him to ask him.

“Excuse me,” Sirius called him.

He didn’t flinch and seemed too busy waiting for the fish to catch his bait.

“Excuse me, can I ask--” Sirius stumbled on a rock and almost lost his balance.

“Sh*t,” he grunted.

He looked at the man hoping he caught his attention, but the man disappeared to his surprise. No man was fishing in that area. He walked immediately as soon as he can feel his foot. He went to where he exactly saw the man, but there were no trace of footprints nor the print from the chair he was sitting in. The ground was a bit muddy, but it was plain. He looked around, and there were no cars aside from his.

“Do I see things?” he asked himself.