Mr. and Mrs. Reed

Six

Ronnie's POV

The darkness were starting to swallow every light there is in the sky, but leaving a speckle of dust.

This day was tiring, I can say.

I massaged the bridge of my nose as I took my coat off and put all the clues I have gathered this day on my table, even the note from the first day is here.

I sighed. No matter how many times I read it or stare at it, it still doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense on whatever is hidden here, or if there is any. Or maybe I'm just complicating things. I mean it's like a poem, and besides that, I guess there's nothing else.

I took the notebook out from my coat which I almost forgot about so that I can check it. I haven't had the chance to do so earlier. To my confusion, the pages were empty. One by one, I checked, but there was nothing. I decided to just jump to the last page and as weird as it is, the last page was missing. It was like it has been ripped off in purpose.

Is that it? Is that all the information I could get from here?

I sighed out of frustration and threw the notebook up in the air. And all of the sudden, a paper started flying out of nowhere and landed on my face.

An old letter.

'My love, my world, my other half,

I had loved you for quite some time now. All the things that we've been through, I cherished those and still holding on to it. I will always love you from the bottom of my heart. Even if we're apart, I will always do.'

- K.

Here's this letter again. The letter K. So the one in the frame wasn't a mistake or something, it was there in purpose.

But what K? Who's K?

I clipped the letter along with the note and stared at it for a second trying to understand each letters and words.

I mean Steffany starts with S, obviously. What about--I slapped my forehead for not knowing the exact name of her husband. Or maybe I couldn't just remember, like always.

I suck at remembering people's names.

I shook my head and dialled Wrights' number. It took me a few rings before he answered.

"Is this Wrights?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me Lewis? You're the one that called. Who else would it be? Are you thinking you're in a wrong number or you were about to dial one of your girls?" I heard Wrights response from the other line.

"No, no. Just making sure." I paused. "Look, the notebook you gave me earlier was empty."

"Oh, was it? My bad, I didn't check it before I gave it to you."

"That's fine. I mean the notes were empty but there was a letter inside."

"Really? What was it about?"

"I'll send you a picture of it."

"Okay, okay."

"Oh by the way, I will have a word to the thief tomorrow. The one Raine mentioned about. Are you gonna come?"

He cleared his throat. "Oh, I have something else to do tomorrow. My bad."

I slowly nodded forgetting the fact that Wrights couldn't see me. Pathetic. "I see--"

My words were suddenly cut off when there was a sudden sound of a broken glass coming from Wrights' line.

"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yes, yes. Something just fell." he shortly replied.

"Okay, then." I said then hang up.

I closed my eyes and sighed as I let myself drown in the depths of my own thoughts. There are all sorts of questions flying around my mind. Like, where is Mr. Reed? He's the biggest missing piece here, the one that will connect everything. Or for my opinion.

This ain't like the other cases I've encountered before. Back then, everything was already there and you just have to connect the dots.

Now, what will I even connect if I have none? I couldn't even tell if all of these was planned or an accident. Because just like Raine said, the body was found by a thief, so there could be a lot of possibilities.

Tomorrow came fast as I didn't notice that I fell asleep last night while sorting my thoughts out. I didn't even move to my bedroom, I woke up drooling all over my table.

Well, my plans are set this day. I contacted Raine for some informations that I will need later, like his name. Took a couple of minutes before she answered, "How would I know?"

I rolled my eyes while shaking my head. Right, how would she know?

I drove my way to the only prison cell here in our village. I wouldn't have to ask on this one though. As I was driving, I couldn't help but to think about everything.

And I was so caught up with my thoughts that I didn't even notice that I already passed my destination to be.

As soon as I got out the car, I approached the prison officer that's about 5'4 tall, all fat and squishy with his uniform suffocating. And told him about the details of the guy I wanted to see.

"Oh, you mean Mr. Prashant?"

I nodded even though I wasn't really sure if he's the one I'm looking for. Well, there's only one way to find out.

"This way, sir."

He guided me to the waiting area on where I should be. Took him a few minutes before coming back along with a man that's about 6 foot tall with a tanned skin and a mustache.

"Oh, another police. What do you want from me? Came here to get rid of me?" he blurted out.

"Wait, sir. I don't know what you are talking about, I'm a detecti--"

"Quit your yapping, you good for nothing police," he paused and pointed the prison officer that took him here. "Including you! Such a waste of money and license. Accusing someone who didn't even do anything!"

"Sir--"

"Now my daughter's dead because of your selfishness! You have no heart, you guys think you know everything." he yelled, making everyone look.

I was taken aback. What does he mean by that?

"Sir, please calm down. I'm not an enemy." I tried to calm him down but my efforts were no avail.

"What? You want to help? You want me to laugh or something with your stupid joke? I ain't stupid like you! You guys just have the privilege and money, while people like us, what do we get? Shame." he shook his head while laughing like a lunatic.

"All of your words doesn't make sense." I firmly replied.

"Ofcourse, it doesn't! You guys have no brains!"

He turned his back away from us and started marching away. I called him before he could even get far.

"Please sir, I'm here to ask something from you, if only you'll give me the chance to do so. I'm here to help you get out of here, to clear your name."

"Out?" he paused to giggle. "No. I have no one out there anymore. My daughter is the only person I have left and you guys took her away from me."

"Sir--" My words were cut off when he suddenly ran towards me and pulled my coat very tight.

"You have no idea how much I love my daughter, she was very sick. I had to do everything to give her what she needed. I'm not a thief, I'm a father.." he said as his lips started shaking and his eyes were starting to water.

"Sir.."

"I just needed help, I didn't think it'd be like that." he mumbled as he's slowly slipping down.

"Sir, what do you mean?"

"There was this guy that told me to go to that house, and take something there in return of money. He said it was his'. The next thing I knew there were cops all over, there's a dead body, and I'm already here. I was so confused, I was desperate.."

"Sir." I cleared my throat before continuing my words. "Do you recognize his face?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't, I was full of tears. I thought someone with a good heart is trying to help me. I was filled with joy."

I sighed as I stared to the man that's crying right now, down in his knees, all shaking.

"Sir, how'd you know that your daughter is dead?"

"They told me the other day. I didn't even have the chance to tell her that I love her so much. They just told me that they burried her already."

I looked away as I felt my chest tightened. This is too much. As I was about to say something, the guy spoke again cutting my thoughts.

"You know that guy smelled sweet. He smelled like chocolate."