Kill for Love

Chapter 34 - The Friend in Need

The investigation is still ongoing. The police couldn't find any lead or any potential suspects. The crime scene and even Cytherea's hotel room are spotless-- no fingerprints nor any form of DNA that is left that can be used to point out the perpetrator.

Ever since the call, Cytherea never received any flowers from Astilbe anymore. He suddenly disappeared from thin air. No notes, none of anything. She checked her Itube channel and there is also no trace of him. She even did a live stream yesterday and hoped that Astilbe would leave a comment, but he didn’t.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She is still staying in Gaus’ private room at the top of the hotel. She was able to get some of her things, but the entire fifth floor is still off-limits as well as the abandoned music room turned to storage.

“Come in,” Cytherea said. She was busy browsing on her computer. She’s trying to search for ways to make Astilbe reveal himself again. She’s planning to get his IP once he posted something in her channel. Gaus’ head programmer created a program that can grab a user's IP just by commenting on her channel or her page. That’s why she’s so grateful to Gaus for helping her out.

"Are you busy?" Gaus slipped his head behind the slightly opened door.

Cytherea looked up and saw Gaus walking towards her. She smiled and signaled him to come in. “Not really. I was just finding some ways how to get Astilbe’s attention. After that phone call, he didn’t try to communicate with me anymore. He didn’t comment on my posts anymore. I understand that he will not be able to send me flowers because you and some of your trusted staff are the only ones who know that I’m here. And if I received the same flowers, then only who knows that I’m here is the culprit.”

“That’s impressive thinking, Cy. Can I sit beside you?” Gaus asked while pointing at the space beside Cytherea. She smiled once again and tapped the space on the couch. She was in the living room, sitting on the couch. The laptop was on her lap.

Gaus bit his lips and excitedly sat beside her. “Did Athena contact you already?” he asked.

“No, she didn’t. I’ve been trying to reach her, but her phone always went straight to voicemail. This is the first time I was not able to contact her. No matter how busy she is, she always had time for me, but now she's totally getting different."

Gaus looked at Cytherea. Her eyebrows furrowed and she's biting her lips. He stared longer at her lips. It seemed like her lips have a hypnotic effect that he couldn't take his eyes off it. 

"Hey, are you listening?" Cytherea asked. Gaus was not responding and noticed that he was just dazing at her. 

"O-oh, yeah, yeah." He sounded like he just woke up in a deep sleep. He cleared his throat and blinked his eyes a couple of times. "I'm sorry. You're saying?" He cleared his throat again to hide his embarrassment.

Cytherea chuckled at Gaus’ reaction. He looked like a child who got caught doing something naughty. She shook her head.

"I said, I'm still not able to reach Athena, but I left tons of voice messages already and she didn’t even return any of those messages. I think it is very odd. She never did this to me before.”

“But didn’t you say that she was guilty about what had happened to Ares? Maybe she’s still guilty till now?”

Cytherea leaned her back on the couch and crossed her arms across her chest. She sighed. “You’re right, but I found it really odd, though. I mean, she’s my best friend and I trust her all my life and I’m afraid that something bad happened to her. That’s why she’s not returning any of my voice messages.”

“That’s really odd, though. Do you want to report her as missing?” He asked worriedly.

“Maybe that would be the best thing to do. I will leave her another voice mail message and inform her that if she does not return my call, then I will report her missing to the police.”

“That works. By the way, Lemnos called me, and he invited us to his mansion. He was asking if you are still staying in the hotel. I didn’t inform him that you are still here. I want to ask your permission first if it’s okay for me to disclose that to him.”

“Ummm…” Cytherea was hesitant. She doesn’t know Lemnos much, and she doesn’t know if she can be trusted.

Gaus noticed her hesitation and gave her a reassuring smile. “I know you don’t know him too well, but he is a good person. He can actually help you too. He owned several security agencies that do some private investigation or detective works that sometimes police couldn’t even figure out. We can have him investigate Astilbe.”

The excitement fills Cytherea’s eyes. “That would be great! I was planning to have someone investigate what had happened. The police are still clueless, and I’m getting desperate, too, most especially now that Athena is nowhere to be found. But…”

“What is it?” Gaus noticed that she was still hesitant. 

“Would it be okay though to have him involved? He doesn’t know me well and I don’t know if it’s okay with him. Most especially that I will be asking for a huge favor.” 

Gaus chuckled at Cytherea. “Nah, that’s fine. Besides, didn’t I tell you that he is the one offering to help you?”

“Thanks, Gaus. I will surely call him. I still have his card. I’m so grateful that a lot of people are trying to help me to get the justice that Ares deserves,” she emotionally said. A lone tear escapes from her right eye. 

She was so overwhelmed by all the help she received, and she is thankful that God gave her a friend like Gaus, who always there for her since day one. 

“So, are you good going to Lemnos’ mansion?”

“I have to find Athena first.”

“Okie dokie, no problem. I’ll let him know.”

Cytherea smiled and continued to browse in her laptop while Gaus just stared at her with longingness in his eyes...