Adventure in the World of Crimes

1.15 Surprise Call

"P-Principal..." Blake called in a complete surprise, the last thing he expected to call him out of nowhere was the principal, especially that they haven't talked before and their only moment was their odd eye-contact that the principal insisted.

"Miss Laura Simpson is with you Mister Foster, right?" He asked, voice deep and intimidating that they could imagine his expressionless face and dark aura. "I want to confirm. Let me hear her voice."

Laura made a confused look at first, why would the principal want to confirm she was with her? And how did he know her in the first place? The only time they saw each other was in orientation, was her face that recognizable or she looked interesting for him to know her?

She creased her forehead but then walked near the club president and sat beside him, she cleared her throat. "I'm here, old man." She replied. Blake amusingly looked at her by how she addressed the principal, because why not? It's the principal, but she just shrugged.

"Good. You two come here to the principal's office. I need to talk to you in private." He demanded. They heard a screeching sound of a chair so they assume he stood up.

The two looked at each other, talking through their eyes. Laura shook her head and mouthed the word 'Trap', so Blake slowly nodded. He cleared his throat and thought of what he will say.

"I could see a few sentinels lurking around the place principal. Is this a trap?" Blake said which made Laura looked at him in confusion, the room was underground, it has no windows and any holes to see what was happening outside, and if ever there was one, the Principal's office was far from their club room, so she was confused as to why he said that when he did not even see anything.

The principal's lips quirked upward, impressed by the club president. "Mister Foster if I only knew you were this good, I should've talked to you earlier and have my school back to its peacefulness like before."

"What do you mean, sir?" He curiously asked, "You are one of my suspects, you killed my late members, f****d them to kill themselves because they know something about you and now I'm busy to continue their unfinished business." The way he said it was not accusing, it was more like a kind and still respectful manner.

"Again, nice try, gumshoe." He complimented, "But you have baseless accusation so I must say you're being judgmental."

"No, sir. You are in a high position. You know something so you are most probably one of the suspects." He insisted, putting down the phone on the table as he crossed his arms and legs. Laura watched the interaction closely.

"Now, that's a generalization. On the second thought, I will just talk to you through this call." He sighed, they heard the sound of his every step with the sound of cane supporting him, followed by the screeching of a chair again, this time he seated. "Incidentally, have you found Earl Buenaventura's letters for his father?"

Laura took one note from the table, and read it. Every note is addressed to his father, Ernesto Buenaventura, telling him how sad he was that he was suffering for him, some were about how happy he was that he get to talk to him now even once and looking forward to more bond with him and some were about how sorry he was for disappointing him. She took another note while listening to Blake talk to the principal

"How'd you know that, principal?"

"Earl has come to me that he has something for his papa that I needed to deliver to him. But by the turn of events now, seems like I cannot do that anymore." He solemnly confessed that even Laura stared at the phone as if she was looking straight at him, she stopped reading and listen attentively, "They are also after me. I could see them now going here in my office."

Just as he said it, they heard a knock in the background, it was slow, three times, and feels very heavy each strike. Laura stood up abruptly, causing the chair to tumble, she leaned across the phone and yelled, "Lock the door, old man! Don't let them in and give me time to save you."

He didn't answer that, instead, continue with his sentiment. "I know you can bring back the old UE, Sleuth Club. I buried something at the back of my office, don't let them see you, particularly Coleen." They heard a faint voice calling his name. It was a woman's voice. "You were right, Foster. I am part of your suspects. I just watched how they change my precious school into a monster's den. Do not come here. Adieu."

"He-Hello? Principal Barker! Hello?" Laura desperately called but only the sound of the line being cut is all she had heard. She hastily put back the sticky notes in the box and looked at the guy who was not moving an inch on his seat. "Blake, let's go! We can still stop his death! Why are you not doing anything!?"

The club president shook his head, "We cannot, Miss Laura. He has decided to choose his tragic fate. He told us not to go there because saving his life means risking ours. All we could do for now is to continue with what we were doing and grant what he has asked us to do."

"How will I focus now when I know someone's dying at the moment!?" She wailed, picking up her chair, and slumped back down, disheartened by the president, as well as the principal's decision. "And why is he getting killed? He's a powerful man!"

"We don't know yet, but there might be an answer in the thing that he buried behind his office. For now, let's just find something helpful here." He walked to the sticky notes. "What do you know about his father before you enter the university?"

"Ernesto Buenaventura pleaded guilty to his crime of delivering a d**g earlier this year. Originally, our first target to find was his son, Earl, the very reason why I took medicine. Then a friend of these three, and lastly the sender which is you. I don't know if he knew about the imprisonment of his father and how would his father feel about his son's, then now his friend Principal Barker's, death."

"So they are friends." He mumbled to himself, he picked up one note and read it aloud, "Papa, It's been a week since I was separated from you. I miss you, Papa."

"Ernesto visited here before he got arrested, probably he wrote it a week past that time." Laura concluded, taking one note on the table, "Papa, I shouldn't have insisted on studying here. They made you do things you do not want to do."

Blake squinted his eyes and look at particularly nowhere, he put his hand on his chin and leaned back on his chair. "Could it be that Ernesto being a courier of drugs was only f****d by the school because his son is studying here?"

"So you mean to say, not only organ traffickers are in this school but also d**g dealers and worst of the worst is that they are using the parents of these scholars as couriers!?" Laura asked indignantly. she felt like throwing up, something was building inside her stomach up to her head and she knew it was the rage. Imagining how this school used not only the scholars but also their parents boiled her blood.

"My huge imagination plus the instincts said most likely that was what happened. Haven't you encountered a case like this before?"

"I haven't. I never met criminals as evil as the people behind these crimes." She grimly answered, she flouncingly picked another note in the box randomly. Her forehead creased when she found a drawing instead of a letter. "What's this?"

"Which?" He peeked on the paper but then took it in her hand and examined it, "A box with a colon in the side? What's this?"

"I won't ask if I know." Laura rolled her eyes, "Maybe it was just mistakenly placed there." She shrugged and started reading the notes again which Blake just put it aside and started reading silently as well.

"Oh!?" Blake exclaimed upon getting another note with the same drawing as earlier but the dots were in a main diagonal position. He raised it and showed to Laura, "Is this another mistake?"

"Maybe." Laura answered, "Maybe he used it in his studies and put those in as well in a hurry."

"I don't think so.." He muttered, staring at the two sticky notes. After a second, his eyes widen, and a thought crossed his mind.

"What are you doing!?" The agent asked in bewilderment, looking at the sticky notes he took out from the box that made a mess on the table. "It mixed on the ones we've finished reading!"

"No, Miss Laura. Help me find the sticky notes with this drawing!" He asserted, he found another one with the same drawing and put it aside. "This is the code!"

Though still puzzled, Laura helped him find those distinct notes. Some sticky papers ended up being on the floor but they found eight sticky notes with dots inside the box.

"What do these notes mean?" She asked in a daze, do not have any single idea why there were sticky notes like that in the box.

"Miss Laura, this is a code that we need to decipher."

"Really? How?"

Blake grinned and raised the sticky paper with the word 'DICE' inside the box. "Dice cipher."