[Fiction] III

3. WHERE THE LOST REMAINS UNFOUND

>Golden Café and Resto Bar<

“Where do you think we would start?”

“Think like a parent, if you’re in the president’s situation, where could you possibly find your lost daughter?”

Gus scoffs. “Obviously the Orphanage”

I took a piece of tissue from its holder and took a pen out, I wrote all the locations Gus memorizes me. “From all of these locations, only these two are the places we need to look for her.” I say encircling the 123 Duckling St. and the Gaitlin High.

Gus twitches his eyes for not understanding. “This street is the only street where we could find an orphanage in this city. And second, Gaitlin High is the only school where they accept orphaned kids who wants to study. So it would probably mean that the President already knew this kid but haven’t taken her yet because we killed him.”

Gus snaps his finger as if having an idea. “Speaking of which, I found adoption papers by the study table, they were the only papers out before I rummage at the drawers.”

“Are there anything written there?”

Gus frowned. “Unfortunately, there is only a single letter.”

“And the letter is?”

“A”

Hmmm… A… roughly at the age of 14 to 19, could possibly be found in an orphanage house. And if she is lost then, they must have the kid’s birth certificate.

I stood up too quickly that my chair screeched, giving a lot of attention to me, I looked at the people then sat back down. “We have to get back to the house.”

Gus frowns. “Great idea, when every one of the crew members of that fucked up corporation is in that house for the investigation.” He hisses at me.

Which reminds me… “Have you ever thrown that detective ID?” I say grinning at him.

…

>President’s House<

“About time!” The old man with an oily bald spot exasperated his arms as he approaches us.

“Sorry for the delay.” I tilt my hat down.

“Dr. Wheisson.” The old man extended his arms.

“Lives,” I extended my arms and shook his. “Detective Lives, and this is my partner, Walters.” I gestured to Gus.

“Please to meet you, Walters.” Dr. Wheisson extended his arms.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Gus shook his hand.

“Now, what seems to be the problem here?” I ask.

“We would like you to investigate, who could possibly be the one who killed our president, and I need you to find some documents of a certain girl.”

I glance at Gus for a moment but drifted away.

“A girl?”

“Not their little girl, this girl is quite older than her.”

“Right. How old?”

“Possibly 20 to 21.”

“Do you know the name?”

Dr. Wheisson opened his mouth to say something but his brows suddenly knits together as if trying to remember the name. The doctor shook his head in dismay. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name, but if you could rummage through the papers and the vaults, possibly you could find this girl easily.”

I nod trying to let him know that I’m on their side.

“Wait, did you just say vaults?”

 “The president told me that he hides his important documents in the vaults.”

“Do you happen to know the password?”

“It’s the name of their daughter.”

“Which daughter?”

Dr. Wheisson shook his head. “That I don’t know.”

“Dr. Wheisson, we need you here!” One of his coworkers say at the second floor waving his arms.

“Anyway, the information is enough. I’d better go. Just call out my name if you found some things.” He say and left.

“Fuck.” I curse. “Do you remember the little girl’s name?”

“I believe it’s Lilian.”

I took a heavy sigh. “Alright. Let’s find the fucking vaults.”

We have to ask some crewmembers if they ever found any vaults but they don’t know where it is. We’ve been looking for Dr. Wheisson as well but we couldn’t find him. We stood at the same place where we killed the president and it’s wife, the outlined of their body’s position is outlined with a chalk.

“Where do rich people hide their most precious treasures?”

Gus shrugs. “I’m not that rich, Sev.”

“Then where do you think Ms. Red Lady hides her precious treasures?”

“In her room? Basement? Attic? Or the Backyard?”

A hand touched my shoulder, making me instinctively held my gun under my jacket and turn my head.

It was only Dr. Wheisson.

“Find any clues?”

“Do you happen to know where the vaults might be hidden?”

“It might be in some of their rooms.”

We were given a xerox copy of the architect’s drawing of the President’s house. We lay them before the sala at the dining area, took a pencil from my jacket and encircle each of the bedrooms, the master’s bedroom, their daughter’s bedrooms, two guest rooms and three bedrooms at the ground floor for the maids and the chef’s. I cross out the three bedrooms at the ground floor.

“These three bedrooms doesn’t have any significance to the president since they just work for him and he’s taking them for granted.” I pointed each of the family’s bedrooms. “These makes a great significance to the president.”

Gus pointed out to the two guest’s bedrooms. “How about these two. Surely they rarely have guest’s here who would stay overnight. If there is, one must be occupied while the other is not, one is mostly used while the other wasn’t never used at all.”

I pointed my pencil to the lost daughter’s bedroom. “This was never used by anyone aside from the lost daughter for what? 20 to 21 years? Hypothetically speaking. If so, the family is the only one who can access the lost daughter’s bedroom, say that you lost your mother, would you let others look into her bedroom? Even if they still had asked you a permission?”

Gus frowned. “Of course not. Unless, she died there with an unexplainable scenes.”

“Exactly. And because, the girl is just lost then only the family members are able to enter the room. They don’t want others to know what happened.”

“How would you know they don’t want others to know?”

“Because, if you could recall, the headlines for the news papers were ‘the lost daughter’ or whatnot, but the article never states what’s the story behind the disappearance of their daughter.”

“Alright. So we check the lost daughter’s room.” Gus says.

“We could also check the unused guest bedroom.”

We nod at once and went to look for Dr. Wheisson. We found him at the backyard were they have that metal detector thing, finding for some treasure, I guess.

Dr. Wheisson found us and he smiles, revealing wrinkles and creases in his face. “Anything I could do for you, detectives?”

“Are every rooms in this house open?” I ask.

Dr. Wheisson frowned. “Unfortunately, no.”

“Then, is there a master’s key in this house?”

“Of course.” He says and took something out from his lab coat. “Here” He says giving me the key with a silver sort of stick as a key chain.

I took it from his hands and thanked him before we left.

“You seem too nice today.” Gus mutters.

“Just to show of those imbeciles.”

We went upstairs. Finding the master’s bedroom and Lilian’s were open. I turn to find, little Lilian’s body was gone but her blood stained the pillow, her blanket and her bed sheet.

“Make me go to sleep, mister.” She murmurs. “I want to see my parents.”

My mind couldn’t seem to get rid of Lilian’s last words. It was as if she already knew that her parents died and just played innocent.

Just next to Lilian’s bedroom is her older sister’s bedroom. We stood there for a while, and use the key and turn. Slowly, I open the door, finding her room with too much light. The sun soaked the pink room with soft light, lights that could warm up your body. And I was right, the lost daughter is lost. There is still that faint smell of baby powder after all these years. Her bed untouched, no creases or whatnot.

I took my black gloves from my jacket and wore them.

I’ve touched some things, open some drawers and looked under her bed.

“Maybe it’s hidden from those stuff toys.” Gus pointed out.

From a corner near the window, there is an area there where it is covered in play mats, wide enough for a baby to play, a small yellow beanie bag, 2 big toddler sized teddy bears, and surrounded by those bears are the small ones. But the formation of the small teddy bears are odd. It was as if the 2 teddy bears are hiding something and the small ones covered it’s obvious spots. Quickly, I took off all of the bears until I found a small vault, almost the sized of a small fridge.

“Great thinking, Gus.” I grin.