His Conundrums

Chapter 25

Their Alibis

They went to the monitoring control and surveillance office of the condominium where Irvin stays. They watched the CCTV footage as the control officer replayed the video footage. They tried to hear Sirius's findings, and they're looking for facts.

"Sir, there were no other visitors 2 hours before they found his body," the officer said. Harold put his right hand under his chin while crossing his left arm to his right. His eyes narrowed, and his eyebrows greeted each other.

"How did you know this?" Harold faced Sirius.

"His door has two kinds of locks. It has a digital lock, which is mostly used these days through passcodes. But take note, even though an automated machine secured with a passcode is still not safe to use," he said while looking at Joe's direction, remembering how he used a device to open that door. "It also has a deadbolt lock, classic way, through keys on the outside and a lockable thumb-turn deadbolt on the inside. Of course, no one could enter that kind of security unless you have some infiltration devices." Sirius explained.

"You broke in?" Alex gasped.

"No, it's not. Thomas can't contact Irvin, and it's some kind of emergency since he never called back or replied..." Sirius tried to clear things, but it was Alex this time who cut him off.

"Sirius, you outdid yourself today," Alex told him.

"No! Alex, listen to me." Sirius tried to stop Alex from thinking the other way.

"Calm down Alex, if they didn't break-in, we couldn't have found the body as early as 2 hours," Harold said, which calmed Alex down. Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and his fist on his hips.

"Continue," Harold demanded.

"You have to destroy the locks before you get in. The lock seemed fine, and the deadbolt lock was locked from the inside, so we used another for that to get in," Sirius continued. Alex looked at him, showered him with daggers through his stares as he spoke.

"He can't also use the window since it's locked and we're on the 8th floor. If you don't mind, can we look at the footage from three days ago? Thomas said he's been absent for 3 days," Sirius requested.

Harold nodded, and the officer in charge of the CCTV's replayed the video from three days ago. There they saw only 3 people visited him. Mr. Thomas Flipper visited him on Friday night, March 11, 2022, Mr. Hiro Takishima the next morning, March 12, 2022, and Mr. Elmer Mordan on Sunday night, March 13, 2022. Their suspects' scope has narrowed down since Mr. Irvin Sting never left his room until Sunday Night with Elmer.

"Thanks, Sirius," Harold told him before they left to have a scheduled interview with those three people.

-0-0-0-

Sirius and Joe watched in a separate room from where those three people are being interrogated. The first one is Hiro Takishima, a Filipino-Japanese born outside the country but went to college in the Philippines to get his Bachelor's degree. He went to the same college as Flipper, Sting, Pavinsky, and Mordan, but he doesn't have the same interest as those four and decided to take over their family business.

"How are you related to Mr. Irvin Sting?" Harold asked him.

"We’re friends since college. We’re both a member of the music club and played violin," he answered.

"Can I ask you, where are you this 9:35 in the morning?" he asked him again. Hiro seemed to relax and didn't show any suspicious movements.

“That’s what makes it more suspicious,” Sirius mumbled.

"I was having a snack meeting with my employees at Ping Pong Restaurant. You can look through my i********: or my employees' f*******: account," he said.

"We saw you were visiting Mr. Sting on March 12, 11:13 am. Why you decided to visit him?" Harold asked him as he scanned through some papers.

"I heard he was sick, so I checked him up. We always do that," Hiro said. Harold asked him a couple of questions before he decided to let Hiro go.

"What is this?" Harold asked him, showing him a picture of Hiro outside Irvin's door holding a pot of some plant.

"It's a gift. He was unwell, so I gave him some medicine. Irvin likes herbal medicines and teas the most. Have you seen his kitchen? It's like a mini garden. Too bad no one's going to take care of it." He lowered his head-scratching his left eyebrow.

"What kind of plant you gave him?" Harold asked.

"It's a yarrow plant, the best use for fever, common colds, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and so on. He was having some fever and colds, so that's what I gave him. Someone gave it to me last year, and I found a way to reproduce it and gave some of it to my friends," he explained.

Harold looked at him for the last time before he let him off the hook. Elmer Mordan was the second to arrive, and he was asked the first minute he got there. Hiro and Elmer greeted each other as what other friends do and talked a little about losing one of their friends. Hiro said his goodbyes since it's Monday and he has some business matters to attend to. Elmer, on the other hand, entered the interrogation room.

"Hello, Mr. Mordan," Harold greeted him. He smiled and nodded his head as he sat down.

"You're in partnership with Mr. Irvin Sting as well as two others?" Harold asked him.

"Yes, we've been partners for 8 years," he agreed.

"So can I ask? Where are you this morning at 9:35?" Harold asked him.

"I was having a survey with Mr. Mudan Pavinsky," he answered.

"Any evidence to support your statement?"

"We had a record on Google map, and if you like, you can directly ask my partner Mr. Pavinsky," he replied.

"We saw you visiting Mr. Sting the night before he was killed, March 13 at 10:46 pm. Why?" Harold leaned forward, putting his arms on the table while the back of his hands supports his chin.

"I invited him to one of our colleague's birthday party. We drank, but after some shots, he said he's not feeling welling. So I decided to bring him back to his condo," Elmer explained.

"I heard he was sick," Harold commented.

"He was sick, I know, but he said he got better at that time. I tried to stop him from drinking, knowing he has a low alcohol tolerance, but he said it's okay," he said. Harold nodded his head silently, saying it's almost done. He fixed the papers scattered in front of him, but Elmer said something that stopped him for a second.

"Maybe this will help your investigation. I heard Thomas and Irvin fought these past few weeks," he said.

"Why?" Harold asked him.

"I don't know, but they seemed distant from each other. If it's about the company, then they should share it with us, but they never spoke a word," Elmer said.

On the other side of that room, Alex looked at Sirius with his I-knew-it face, and Sirius looked away.