Deception

Chapter 3

    The man in front of her was Gabe Villaflor. The two first met each other at the hospital, him being a registered nurse and her as an RND. Unknown to them, they lived in the same floor and their apartments were beside each other. When they finally learned that they were neighbors, they became good acquaintances. However, their relationship had always been in arm’s length because of Lee’s friendship with Eli. Eli and Gabe’s brother, Jairus, had a terrible break-up which somehow messed up Jairus’ life. Therefore, Gabe had nothing to do with her and Eli but civil.

    “You scared me,” she exclaimed.

    “I think it’s the other way around. You’re the one holding a knife,” Gabe pointed out.

    She immediately set the knife aside and said, “I’ve just been on the edge lately. Sorry.”

    “Yeah, I’m sorry, too. I heard about Eli’s passing. It’s a wonder how you’re coping. You too were close,” he said as he made himself comfortable on one of the chairs. Lee thought that he might have been from a recently ended shift at the hospital because of his somewhat tired aura. His jet black hair was tousled and the shirt hugging his ripped abdomen was wrinkled.

    Before she stared too much into his blue eyes, she said, “I’m coping fine. Thank you. You want some coffee?”

    “That would be nice, thank you,” he said. He was concerned when he noted Lee’s messy brown hair and pale skin. “What were you doing with the knife?”

    “I was,” she was about to tell him when she remembered the disarranged mail. She spun around and asked skeptically, “How did you get in?”

    “Your door was slightly opened. I called several times but you didn’t answer. I didn’t mean to intrude, I was just worried so entered to check up on you,” he explained.

    “I was in the bathroom. Just checking the vicinity,” she said casually and scolded herself because she recalled that she hadn’t closed the door since her attention was drawn to the mails.

    Lee set the coffee on the center table when Gabe asked her again, “Why were you checking your apartment with that knife?”

    “I just felt like someone went through my things,” she answered.

    “Well, are there anything missing? I’ll help you report this if you need to,” he offered as he was suddenly on guard.

    “No need to involve the police. I was just having a really bad week and then Eli happened. It’s taking a toll on my senses. I think I’m starting to imagine things,” she said hoping that the eerie feeling from the car and now this, were not really real but a product of her fatigued brain.

    “Would you mind if I order food? I can keep you company at dinner,” he said, hoping that Lee would agree. He didn’t want to leave Lee alone in this condition.

    “Cool,” she responded. They had been casually greeting each other and sometimes had small talks when they meet at work or at the apartment building. They also had been at some parties, but other than that, this would be the first time that they would dine together, alone.

    After the simple dinner, she tried to sleep her tiredness away. Somehow she succumbed into slumber but was awoken again after merely two hours. Like last night, she could not fall back into sleep again.

    At the hospital, her co-workers offered their condolences. She was appreciative but she wanted to go to work to temporarily forget what happened to Eli. She also wanted to ease her mind from the troubles on thinking that her apartment was unsafe.

    “Ma’am you're off the clock, why are you still here? Go home,” Trina demanded.

    “Ahh.. I really thought I was your boss here,” she teased.

    Trina blushed, clearly embarrassed, and said, “I didn’t mean for it to come out as an order. It’s just that you have worked overtime for more than three hours. You might need some sleep.”

    She checked her wrist watch and confirmed that it was indeed late. “Yeah, I’ll rest later. I need to go to Eli’s viewing.” And with that she left the hospital. She looked around the parking lot just for caution’s sake. When she found no one suspicious, she was off to the funeral homes ten minutes away from the hospital.

    She was greeted by Kris with her usual light tone. “Did I say that you look like s**t yesterday? Well now, you look like something worse than s**t and I don’t even know what that is.” 

    “Ha-ha,” she replied drily as she was ushered deeper in the crowd. She scanned the floor and saw some people seated on the benches while others were chatting while standing. She smiled when she saw Eliza’s mother among the crowd.

    “My condolences, Megan,” she offered.

    Megan Curtis was a tall and curvy woman in her fifties. Lee felt nostalgic as she stared at Megan because her facial features were similar to Eli’s gray eyes and blonde hair. She pretty much looked like the older version of Eli.

    “Thank you, Lee and Kris. I’m happy that my baby had you two,” she said as she squeezed both their hands. The gesture left Lee emotional because Eli’s mother was showing so much strength, understanding that she wasn’t the only one who was bereaved.

    “We were also lucky to have her,” Kris replied, clearly holding back her tears.

    To somehow ease the ambiance, Lee decided to change the topic. “How’s your flight by the way? And has James arrived?” Lee asked Megan while they continued to walk towards the room where Eli’s casket was placed.

    “My flight was comfortable enough. But unluckily, James didn’t have the same. His flight was cancelled because of the weather in Hawaii. He’d arrive sometime tomorrow,” she answered. “At least he’d be coming. We still hadn’t made contact with Elaine. A representative from her company said that we caught them at a bad time because Elaine had just left for an immersion,” Megan added.

    Kris further explained that during Elaine’s immersions, she was usually hard to contact via call or chat. So, Megan asked Elaine’s co-workers from the base company to send word about Eli.

    The three of them continued to talk when Lee noticed that in place of the casket was just a huge printed picture of Eli. It was surrounded by Eli’s favorite flowers, lilies.

    “Her body hasn’t been ready for transfer?” she inquired Megan.

    Megan sighed and shook her head. “It was. But then James called me and asked if we could have the body autopsied.”

    “What, why?” Lee asked then suddenly looked at Kris questioningly. Judging from Kris’ expression, Lee noted that Kris already knew about this. Lee’s curiosity spiked because as far as she knew, there was a suicide note, on Eli’s handwriting, taped on the bathroom mirror.

    “I even asked myself why I would agree to James’ ridiculous proposition to cut my baby open,” Megan said.

    “Yes, there was a suicide note bidding us goodbye,” she whispered in agreement.

    “That’s what I told James! If that’s how Eliza would want to leave the world, I should respect that, right? How could I take that away from her?” she cried. “I have a lot of ‘What if’s’. What if I had known about this and accompanied Eliza to seek for help? But it won’t change anything now,” she regretted.

    Then she continued, “But James wasn’t having any of it. He was unconvinced. I also want to know…if…” she sniffed and can barely continue.

    Kris added for her. “James thinks that maybe there’s some foul play involved.”

    Lee’s hands started to shake as earlier events echoed on her mind. “Are you saying that Eli might be… murdered?”