His Conundrums

Chapter 41

Who To Blame?

The police went to the Lampt’s mansion to confirm the shoe they found at the riverbank. Echoed with grief, the place was filled with sadness.

“My poor daughter,” Tyra, Venice’s mother, cried.

“Our poor daughter, Leo,” she wailed.

“She’s not dead yet, is she?” she pulled Alex’s coat.

He remained quiet, but if Venice went missing for four days and suddenly found her shoe on the riverbank where she might slip, he knows it is possible.

“Tyra,” he called his wife.

“I’m sorry, Alex. Thank you for doing your job.” His voice has power, but Alex heard it cracked.

A father must stay strong for his family even if he’s broken.

He pulled his wife and carried her to her room. The police left the mansion and continued their search. The shoe was customized as a gift for her last year in high school. Nobody knows it would also be her last pair of shoes before she went missing.

-0-0-0-

Sirius and Joe went on the river where many police were gathered, searching for a young lady’s body. Joe pointed out where she found the shoe, and the tracks she left was still there. Sirius looked at the river finding something.

“If she slipped in here, she might be able to help herself stand up.” Sirius took off his shoes and pulled up his pants.

“Hey, where are you going,” Joe tried to stop him, but he didn’t listen.

“She left a messy track. Maybe she struggled from slipping first before…” Sirius was scanning the tracks she left behind.

“…she went directly to the river. If she’s 168 cm tall…” he measured the distance from the river bank and the shallow part of the water, but he slipped and fell off the water.

“What are you trying to do? Are you stupid or something?” Joe asked him while having his hands on his waist.

He ignored him and tried to stand up while making his hands support his weight when he touched something beneath the water. He felt something hard and realized it was a big rock.

“There’s a rock in here,” he said.

“So?” Joe asked him but gasped when he realized something.

“She might get her head bumped on that rock and lost consciousness.”

“Exactly,” Sirius told him while stepping out from the water, but it was too slippery and asked Joe for support.

“Now you’re all soaked and muddy,” Joe said.

-0-0-0-

Alex went to the scene brought Sirius some clothes to change. He sighed when he saw Sirius.

“You look like a kid who went out swimming on the river without his mom knowing,” he said, and Joe burst out laughing.

“Here, change to this. I already told my men to widen their scope as long as they see the river,” he added.

“I found a rock not too deep in the area where she might have slipped. Her head must have bumped in that rock, causing her to lose her consciousness,” Sirius said.

“If she’s really dead, given that it’s been four days, her body might have floated on the surface,” Sirius added.

“I know. Now get changed,” Alex told him.

He left Alex and Joe and went searching for a place where he can change his clothes. Alex remembered the Lampt’s face when he brought with him the shoe they found.

Sirius went back not too long after when one of the policemen hurriedly went over to Alex holding a walkie-talkie in his hand.

“Sir, we found her body,” he said.

They moved immediately after hearing that.

“Call Audrey to meet us there,” Alex ordered one of his men.

-0-0-0-

“Dad!” Audrey called Alex when she saw him walking with Sirius and Joe.

“What’s the current status?” he asked his daughter.

“We found a bruise and a cut on the back of her head. Sirius was right. She bumped on a rock, causing her to drown and die,” she said.

“At the back?” Sirius asked her.

“So she slipped, drowned, and died?” Joe also asked her.

“No,“ she said.

“She was stabbed twice. One on her lower back, and the other is on her abdomen. But she’s been on the water for days, and the DNA was already destroyed,” she added.

“We don’t have any clue of who did this to her,” Audrey reported.

Sirius ran towards the body and inspected it himself. They heard another car stopped at the crime scene. The news traveled so fast that the Lampt’s were able to see their daughter in that state.

“Venice!” Tyra cried.

Leo and some officers stopped her from going near the body. Their eldest son went there with them and immediately went somewhere from his dead sister crying. This is something they couldn’t emotionally handle.

“Sir! We found something on her jacket,” a police officer called Alex’s attention.

It was a wooden keychain that was engraved with a symbol called epsilon.

-0-0-0-

A girl was trembling in fear. She couldn’t sleep for four days. She was alone in her room, but she felt like she’s not. She cried and cried until she decided to call someone. She searched for his number and dialed it. It rang twice before someone answered.

“I’m afraid,” she said.

“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said on the other line.

“I can’t sleep again,” she cried.

“You’re not taking the sleeping pills I bought you?”

“I did, but how long should I let it do the favor?”

“We’re going to get caught if you continue to act like that,” he said.

“Can we meet?” she asked.

He didn’t speak for a few seconds.

“Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow at the library,” he said.

“You’re not afraid?” she asked again.

“Why would I?” he said.

That made her think if she’s doing the right thing. She’s the reason why Venice Lampt died that night, and she made him do it. Hearing why he’s not bothered by what had happened made her asked herself if he is really someone she can rely on or if he will turn against her.

“You wouldn’t let me take the blame, are you?” she asked.

She heard him laugh on the other line.

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked.

He’s not someone to be trusted with in the first place.