DECODE

CHAPTER 12; Perfect Weapon [Part 2]

ASHER

I was frozen upon the realisation of the note left here. How could that be?! If it's true, then the victim did not die by accident and he was murdered. By who? Who could be the murderer?

Could it be the poison was triggered and ingested by Raymark through the food he had? If that's the case, then there would be some traces of it left in the food or in its container. I wonder where that container is at the moment. I just hope Inspector Mar have it in their possession.

I immediately took out my phone and dialed the hotline of Inspector Mar's precinct. After a few rings, a constable answered. I asked for Inspector Mar and after a short while the inspector is on the line.

"Asher, why did you call? Anything happened again?" he asked over the phone.

"Inspector, I found something that seems so relevant to the case. I am on my way there. I will show you what I found." I said as I walk towards the gate of the school.

"What did you find? Are there still something unusual in what happened to the victim?"

"Yes. And this very piece of paper told me everything. It's arsenic." I said and finished the call. I called for a cab and tell the driver my destination.

Within a few minutes, I arrived to my destination. After giving my fare to the driver, I immediately enter the precinct. It seems the inspector readied for me for a constable immediately guided me to his office. I just found myself in front of the inspector after a short span of time.

"Inspector, I found this note on the crime scene. It seems it was left there on purpose." I said. I handed him the note that I found in the crime scene. He took it and started examining it.

"Earlier, I ponder about the case for it was odd one. Before the victim died, I'm sure, we all tried to help him. We gave him water, and I'm sure he had some of it. But still, he died in choking which is odd for normally after drinking water, the food  blocking his throat will flow smoothly already. But it did not happen. So I went back to the crime scene and found that note there. I'm sure, that note isn't there when the body was still there. That means that note was put there after the cleanup of the crime scene.

"Notice those elements were marked. They're not in order, but somehow, when you arrange them all, you will find yourself looking at the word 'ArSeNIC'. And we all know that arsenic is a kind of poison and was really a fatal one, too. That's why I appealed to you immediately." I explained.

"You are right. If you arrange these elements, it would make up the word arsenic. But, we have a big problem." Inspector Mar said. My brows knitted upon hearing his words.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's that, we don't found any trace in the food the victim ate. Nothing is strange on that food. Nothing unusual. It's just pasta." he said. What could that mean? That the poison was triggered somewhere else? But where?

"Are you sure about that, inspector?"

"We are sure about that. We conducted more examinations on those foods and we are certain on our findings. We found no trace of anything unusual in it." I fell in deep thought upon hearing that piece of information. If that's the case, there should be another portal of transmission for the poison.

"If the poison is not in the food, then where? Where was the poison put?" I asked more to myself than to the inspector. I saw him fell in deep thought also upon acknowledging that point.

"Don't you have any recollection of anything that might be the portal of the poison for the victim?" he asked. I tried to think of anything that can be a portal for that poison. What are the possible portal for the poison to be ingested by the victim? Something that is not suspicious and will be easily ingested by the victim given that situation. What is it? Think, Asher, think!

Wait, what if–! I froze upon realising a certain thing that might be connected to the poisoning of the victim. That thing can really be the portal of the poison! But, that requires precision. The victim might have also that thing that can destroy his plan of using it. So how did he pull the trick?

"Inspector, what did you found in the food the victim ate?" I asked the inspector. He took out an envelope and read it to me.

"Some spices. Well, a great number of it honestly. And mostly were on the last portions of the food. Why?" he asked. I smirked upon having the answer to my questions.

"I knew it! I knew where the poison came from and how did the culprit pulled his trick!" I said with a triumphant smile to him. He just look at me in confusion.

"What do you mean? Do enlighten me about the situation so that I can follow your line of thinking." he said. I immediately relayed to him my theory about the case.

"Look here inspector. The victim was killed by arsenic based on that note left in the crime scene. And if so, we need to retrace every steps we had about the case earlier, following now the assumption that the victim was killed by poison and through the other facts we have right now. Now, doing that, we'll go back to the start where the victim ate the spaghetti. Let's say the victim is peacefully eating the spaghetti earlier until he ate the portion full of spices, it will really caught him off guard and will cause him to choke.

"And applying the fact that there's no poison present in the food, then there must be other portal for it. And that can be explained by the next impulses of the victim. Being choked, he will surely ask for water. And whatever water given to him, he will surely drink it. And that's where the poison came from. It was transmitted through the water drunk by the victim. That theory covered everything we have in front of us, and I believe, that might be what really happened earlier." I narrated. Inspector Mar just listened to me. After a few while, he spoke.

"If that's true, then, someone will be a suspect. And that suspect is the person who immediately gave him water. And that must be his friend, Anthony." he said. And my mind fell to the friend of the victim who gave him the water to drink.

"Well, he's just one of the most probable suspect." I said. I saw confusion and surprise upon his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"As far as I remember, everyone was there concerned and trying to help Raymark. If so, then no one can watch each other for everyone was focused on Raymark. And the real culprit might put the water at the nearest place where he knew it can be taken by impulse. So, it is not necessarily the friend of the victim. About the spaghetti, the real culprit might sneak and put those spices in the spaghetti. So to sum it up, everyone in our class is suspect in this case."

×××××

After that meeting with Inspector Mar, I resolved myself to think about the case again inside my room. The best course of action for now is to question the one who gave the water bottle to the victim. And that is the victim's friend, Anthony Andover. But I agreed that Inspector Mar would be the one doing the interrogation to him in the precinct so that whoever is behind that murder will not get a single hint that we're on his trail. Well except if the culprit is Anthony himself. But for now, the best thing I can do is to try to narrow down the number of possible suspects in this case.

As I remember the case earlier, almost everyone is around the victim. So the murderer can easily blend in with the crowd. But of all those people around, I can narrow down the number of suspects based on the area where the water came from. And it was on our side.

Following that assumption, then the possible suspects would be narrowed down to seven people. It would be me, Ariel, Anthony, Jose, Kevin, Silver and Baron. I'm sure that it is not me who did the crime. So the suspects would be those six people left. I doubt Silver for I saw him that time, and initially, he's far from the crime scene. Then we would have five suspects left. All of them were not caught by my eyes before the time of the incident except Anthony. So there's a big probability that one of them gave the poisoned bottle of water to succeed in his plan.

But the question is who? Who handed the poisoned bottle of water to the hands of the victim?

I tried to reconstruct the scene earlier in our classroom but I'm stuck only on what I've seen. I can't go any further from that. And it irritates me.

I took out my phone and dialed the number of Zay. I'm sure she's home now for an hour has paased already after our dismissal. I think I could ask her if she notice something strange about the incident earlier.

"Hello. Do you have time for a cup of coffee? I want to ask about some things." I asked when she answered my call.

"Yes. About what?" she asked.

"Just meet me at the cafe near your place. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." I said and hung up the phone. I immediately changed clothes and readied myself before going out of our house. Maybe Zay saw something I didn't saw earlier. And it would be a great help if she could enlighten some more dark spots of this case.

I took a cab and immediately asked the driver to drive me for the cafe I told Zay. And after some minutes, probably thirteen minutes, we are already there. From the outside, I already saw Zay sitting at the corner spot of the cafe. I paid my fare and went in.

"Hi." Zay said as she saw me walking up to her.

"You already ordered?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes. I already ordered your favorite coffee, too. Now tell me. What is this all about?" she asked. I sat across her and showed her the note I got from the crime scene. It is the same note I showed to Inspector Mar.

"I found that earlier in the crime scene when I go back there. Notice those encircled elements. When you rearrange them to make sensible meaning out of them, you can only have one thing. And it is arsenic." I told her. She looked at the note and did what I told. And I saw the surprised look upon her face upon realising that I am right.

"You are right. But what does this paper mean?"

"Easy. The fact that it was left there after the crime seemed to tell us something about it."

"You mean that this word, arsenic, is connected to the incident that happened earlier?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yes." I said. Our orders came and I waited for the waiter to leave before I continued my statement.

"You are right. I believe that this word is connected to what happened to Raymark earlier. And if that's the case, it would not be a natural death caused by choking, but a murder instead." I said. I saw the surprised look upon her eyes again.

"How did you come up to that theory?" she asked.

"Honestly, I'm convinced at first that it was an accident. But when I tried to recollect the scene earlier, I started noticing some odd points in it. And the most odd of all is the fact that we let him drink water and yet he still died being choked. I found it strange. So I went back to the crime scene and found that note. And from there, I reconstructed my theory, making sure that it also fits that piece of evidence. Also, Inspector Mar gave another piece of information about the food the victim ate. It seemed that the last portion of it have many spices.

"The most sensible explanation of the case I have so far is that the victim was enduced to eat the food. And knowing that the last portion of the food has many spices, it would choke him. And the impulse of giving him water will be normal. But the thing is, no poison was found in the food the victim ate."

"Meaning that the poison was triggered somewhere else. And the most probable place is the water induced by the victim." she said. I nodded.

"Exactly. And I'm here to ask you if you noticed someone who gave the water before it was handed to the victim?" I asked.

"Let me think." I took a sip from my ordered coffee while waiting for her answer.

"Well, nothing of the sort. But I'm sure the water came on your side. And, probably, from the person behind you." she said. My mind started to reconstruct the incident earlier. Who was that person behind me?

"I can't remember who was the person behind me! Screw it!" I grunted as I tried to ponder who was the guy behind me.

"Asher, I know who's the guy behind you. And I'm pretty sure it was from him where the bottle of water came." Zay said in a deep tone. My gaze fell to her. I saw her blank face, as if she's in conflict with herself.

"Then, who? Who was it? Who's our guy?!" I asked her, hyped up by her held information. I want to crack this case. I want to solve this one for I can say that it will lead us closer to the real person we're chasing, the Spider.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it was him. But I can't believe it." she said frantically. I wonder why she's acting like that.

"Who was it? Just spill it already." I said sternly, eager to hear the name she's withholding.

"Ready yourself. It was someone who's very close to us. It was Silver, Asher. It was him to whom I saw the bottle of water came from." she said. I froze upon hearing the name he gave me. Silver? It was Silver?

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, still trying to digest what she had said.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure about that. You know my memory. You know how retentive it is." she said. Yes, she's right. It may sound arrogant, but what she's telling about her memory is true. But, how? And if so, then Silver is our man? Is that really possible?

I was surprised when I felt a vibration upon my pocket. I took out the phone inside and found out that someone's calling but it is an unknown number. I answered it anyway.

"Hello, who is this?" I asked. There's a brief silence at first, but then someone spoke. A familiar voice.

"Asher, how's the investigation going?" it was Silver. I glanced at Zay to tell her that the man on the line was Silver himself.

"How did you know?" I asked. I was surprised when he suddenly chuckled.

"Easy. It was because it was I who put that piece of note on the crime scene. And it was I who gave the bottle of water." I froze upon hearing those words from him.

"And guess what, I am the Spider."