His Conundrums

Chapter 26

Finding The Missing Piece

He never felt so wrong before. Did he miss something? He was restless, thinking about what can go wrong in this case. They only have the letter as the clue, and now one of Mr. Flipper's business partners and a friend died. The room felt so small, and he felt trapped. His mind slowly looking for its form, like a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces, finding the piece he wanted to use as his starting point.

People stared at the person who just entered the room. Sirius could feel his throat getting dry. He gulped in a way that no one could notice. As if they would notice. Mr. Flipper sat across Harold and prepared himself.

"How are you, Mr. Thomas Flipper?" Harold greeted him just like he did to the other two.

"I'm not good, knowing my friend just died," he replied.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but anyway, congratulations on your marriage," Harold told him.

He blinked twice, and his face glowed for a second, but then he wore a sad smile. "Thank you," he said.

"So enough now, where are you this morning around 9:35 am?" Harold asked him.

"I'm still at home with my wife. We're still trying to adjust to married life, you know. I was kinda embarrassed going to my office on Monday morning having that as an excuse for being late." He let out a small laugh, and his cheeks went red when he started talking about being married. "Sirius saw me at the lobby of our building around 10:45 am," he continued.

"I guess it was hard for you. You got married on Saturday but have to work on Monday. Did you even have a honeymoon?" Harold knew how to scope a little bit of gossip, and Thomas went red as a dash of chili pepper. How can a businessman with such a built and charm look so innocent about those kinds of topics?

"Can't we talk about why I'm here?" he asked Harold, letting out an awkward laugh.

"Okay." Harold smiled. He turned another page of the paper he was holding and continued asking Thomas some questions. "The CCTV of this building saw you were visiting Mr. Sting on Friday, what for?" he asked Thomas.

"I was there to invite him to my wedding. He said he couldn't come and he was absent that day, so I asked him personally," he said.

"I heard you two fought, but you still invited him to your wedding? He was sick, haven't you noticed?" Harold asked him.

"Yes, we fought, but it's not like some huge fight or anything, and we're friends, so we already settled that one. And yes, he was suffering from a gastrointestinal disorder," he said.

Another man came in, but he went to the other room where Alex and Sirius were. He's wearing another suit paired with a tie in a boring pattern, as bored as his face who's tired of working like this for 5 years. He was holding a brown envelope and everyone knew what it was. He handed it to Alex and disappeared in an instant as Alex went through the autopsy report.

Something went clearer in Sirius's mind. He saw another piece of a jigsaw puzzle and placed it right. He looked at Alex, who's now watching Thomas being interrogated. His eyes looked for any movement he found wrong.

"You can't find anything wrong when you know yourself everything is right," he told Alex and left the room. Joe followed him outside and asked him a question. "Do you know who the culprit is?"

"I do. Do you want to bet?" He smiled sheepishly. Joe saw another side of Sirius, which makes him feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Sure. It's Hiro, isn't it?" Sirius smiled even wider as he looked at Joe. "We need to go back to the crime scene," he said. He called a cab, and they went off the place.

-0-0-0-

"Oh!" Joe blurted out in disgusts, covering his nose. "How many weeks did he left his laundry unattended?" The place still reeks with the same stinky smell. The place is now surrounded by yellow tape, and the body was already moved.

"Based on the autopsy report, it was digoxin poisoning. Digoxin is used to treat heart failure, but Irvin never had a history of heart failure medication. Thomas said he was having some gastrointestinal disorders such as constipation, diarrhea, etcetera. Who could ever use these steps between those three?" He started stating his findings. Joe was busy going through Irvin's things, and then he found a magazine on Irvin's magazine rack.

"Takashima is an heir to Takashima Pharmaceuticals. He may be the culprit giving Irvin Sting a medicine that could slowly put an end to his life," Joe said, ready to bet whatever he has to prove his conclusion.

Sirius can feel something deep inside of him changed. This is what he needed. The feeling this work could give him... satisfaction. He can feel the excitement as he put his pieces bit by bit, solving each riddle like a child, drowned himself into the sea of questions finding for answers.

"Hiro," he mumbled. He closed his eyes, visualizing the man he saw a while ago, putting him on the crime scene. "You were here to visit a friend. He was sick, and of course, you could bring him some medicines." He went back to the time where Hiro visited Irvin. He started talking to him like he was there.

“What’s your true intention?” He asked Hiro. Hiro smiled at him like a guy who smiles every time he sees his friends, sweet and calm.

“Smile… smile means a lot of things. Amusement, happiness, a gesture to say hello,” Sirius said as he walked towards Hiro’s ghost.

“But the sweetest smile can hide the darkest secret.” Joe finished his sentence.