Romeo o' Romeo - Chapter 1

Foreword:

Before I proceed. I would like my dear readers to know that I initially intended to write this piece as an entry to an annual Literary contest rather than as separate parts of a blog post. But last year, as I was rushing to get this done to make it for the dead line, I realized that something was wrong. You see, whenever people write a piece of literature, it is not because they have to or they are forced to. It is because they WANT to.  The thing that makes writing wonderful is the subtle beauty and spontaneity of the ideas rushing through your mind in an unexplainable manner. Something that is killed when you are chasing dead lines and cut offs. So I decided to do this piece justice by not rushing myself and squeezing my mind for canned ideas. But I also do not want to hold it back and let the ideas rot in my notebook while I find time to finish it. So what I have come up with is to write a chapter every 2 weeks and post it here for public consumption. You see, one of the joys in writing is seeing people react to your work. May it be a compliment or criticism, nothing beats the feeling when you know that people are reading your work. So please keep in mind that this is not a finished work yet and uploading succeeding chapters on a 2 week basis will be purely best effort. I hope you understand that I also have a full-time job and other activities that require my undivided attention.  Thank you!

CHAPTER 1

Love, without question, is the strongest emotion a man can feel.  It is and has always been the key motivator of great deeds and actions. Furthermore, it is Love, for a person, object, or ideal that differs a Man from a Boy.  Yet, despite all the great fruits that Cupid’s arrow brought unto man, it is still undeniably the chief reason behind Man’s greatest failures.  How many dreams has it shattered? Lives taken and cities burned.  But what makes this hormonal reaction so deadly is not its nature. It is the way we yield to it.  What makes it so dangerous is how we let go of all moral restrictions just to fulfill its desire. That’s what makes it so dangerous…

I have investigated and solved countless murder and homicide cases in my career and just like Romeo’s case, most if not all of them have been perpetrated by Love.  

Love: an infinite affection for a person, object, experience or idea in the absence of reason and logic.  That is how I refer to it.  Every crime in this world was done out of Love.  Whether it was righteous or not is not for me to decide.  My job is to simply lay the stones on Lady Justice’s scale.

Romeo, a member of our proud league of She-men has been murdered in cold blood in his apartment last night.  His mother, who works overnight in a local club as a guest relations officer called the police when she saw her only son bathed in his own blood when she arrived at his house at 6 in the morning.  According to Ms. Rosales’ report, Romeo called her the night prior and asked her to drop by so they can talk and catch up with one another’s life.

“It’s been months since we last talked.  He moved out of our house as soon as he landed a job in a Call Center 6 months ago.  He said he just wanted to talk since he misses me so much.  Sadly I had to decline because I had to work at the bar that night.  Had I known that this would happen… I… I…”

She broke down in tears before she could finish giving me her complete statement.  So I decided to look around the crime scene hoping to find some clues that would point me towards the motive of the crime.  Romeo’s apartment was a small 25 square meter studio type room, on the 3^rd floor of an old building in Novaliches.  There were no windows except for a single one that serves as an exhaust in the comfort room, which was typical in low budget residences in the area.  I examined the doors to see if there were traces of forced entry and found none.  The furniture seemed to be intact and except for the few disarranged chairs and bloody knife laying on the floor, everything seemed to be in order.  In fact, even Romeo’s valuables were left untouched.  His laptop was still on the floor charging its batteries while his tablet and wallet lay on top of it.  This is what makes cases like this extremely difficult.  A crime without a definite motive is like looking for the culprit to ask him why he did what we “believe” he did, even before we establish that it is really him who has done it.

As I continued to examine the room, I caught a glimpse of Romeo lying on his back.  He looked surprisingly peaceful, his face did not bear any sign of struggle or pain. It’s as if dying brought him relief.  I walked over to Phil who was in charge to determine the approximate time of death and found out that he died around 1 in the morning, 5 hours before his mother found his body which was at that time in Rigor Mortis stage.

“That is odd Phil…” I gave him a look of twisted brows while puffing smoke from my cigar.

“People don’t bear the face of relief when they’re murdered in cold blood.  No matter how jolly as a person you may be, the mere sight of a knife piercing your chest is something that would make you grit your teeth. Not to mention the strain death puts on one’s face when the ‘tug-of-war’ begins and ends.”

“I don’t know man. That’s probably a question you have to ask yourself. If you’re questioning my calculations, then be my guest. “

He handed me his tickler and gestured me to see for myself.

I raised my hand and smiled to make sure that he wouldn’t be offended.

“You know I trust you man. I’m just puzzled with how serene this guy looks.”

“Well maybe he’s got issues. I mean, don’t they all have issues? That’s why they’re different in the first place aren’t they?”

“They’re…, no, ‘HE’ is not different Phil.  He is just a corpse just like all the others I’ve seen in my career.  A motionless chunk of flesh and skin that serves as a reminder of how frail and vulnerable we are. You sure nobody moved him?”

Phil lit a stick and started blow and puff like he was lighting a furnace.

“Nah.. man… ain’t anybody got here before us except good ‘ol mom there.”

“So he died facing up, arms wide spread, with the knife placed near his right hand as though he held it himself?”

“Yes Marcus. Nobody moved him because the door was locked when his mother came an hour after midnight.  According to her, she even had to call Romeo’s landlord for the keys to open his flat.”

“I see… Guess this will be a long day for me then.  I’ll just take a walk to check for any eye witnesses.”

I left the apartment and lit another stick of vice to fill my anxious lungs as I walked over the peeping neighbors in the building.

It is of no surprise to me that a handful of people living in the building would be up and standing by the police lines to get a glimpse of what happened. I guess it is just basic human nature to be over zealous at finding out what is happening around you. Furthermore, I guess it is our way of asserting dominance over our territory. I walked over to an elderly man who identified himself as Landlord of the said building. He was a thin and grumpy looking man who was holding a cup of coffee on one hand and a piece of bread in another.

“Mr. Santos, good morning. I am inspector Gavin from the NBI. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?”

“Sure thing son. Although I doubt I will be much of a help. You see, there are only two types of old people. One who needs very little sleep and would be woken up by an ant’s sneeze, and one who gives their families a shock every other day because their sleep resemble that of man’s final one. Sadly I am the latter.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and choke on the smoke making its exit through my wind pipes.

“I bet you are Mr. Santos. The way you hold your coffee makes me think it’s the only thing that’s keeping you awake right now.  Anyways, I just have a couple of questions, and it would be perfectly fine by me if you’d straight up answer ‘I don’t know’. Would that be ok Sir?”

“Well, go ahead son.”

“Where were you around 12 in the midnight up to 1 in the morning?”

“I was in my PJs snoring the life out of me.”

“Where exactly were you sleeping Mr. Santos?”

“In my unit, Ground floor Unit 1. Right in front of the Stairs.”

“I know you’ve been asleep, but some people retain a certain level of consciousness during sleep. Did you by any chance, hear or observe any noise or disturbing sounds around that time?”

“No Son. The only thing disturbing me during the night are mosquitoes. Sadly they decided to take a hiatus last night.”

“Are the units beside and under Romeo’s unit taken? Anyone I can perhaps get a statement from?”

“Well the one beside his unit is Ms. Chan’s, she already left for work. She should be back here around 8 in the evening. As for the unit in the 2^nd floor, it’s been vacant since last month. So I guess your only option would be Ms. Chan.”

“I see. Who else aside from the tenants have access to the buildings? I walked in and didn’t see any locks or gates at the Building entrance. Does that mean it’s free for all?”

“Well, everyone inside the compound can freely walk inside the buildings. But whoever it was, he must first get past the guards who are on duty on both the North and South Gates.”

“So entrance to the premises is being monitored by the guards?”

“Well why don’t you see for yourself?”

I was about to turn my head to face the direction he was pointing to when my phone suddenly vibrated from inside my pocket.

“Could you excuse me sir?” Holding up the phone like I would hold up my badge to get an easy pass.

“Marcus here. Good morning.”

“Updates inspector Gavin?”

“Wow. It’s pretty early for that type of urgency sir. I’ve barely been an hour here at the scene.”

“I know but you have to give me something to feed these sharks or otherwise they’ll bite off a chunk of me.”

“Sharks? Since when did politicians become Salt water fishes? And since when did they take interest in a low profile slay case?”

“Not the politicians inspector. The media! Not to mention the group of LGBT activists piling up outside the office.”

“God. This early? Look, the person died at 1 am, his mother found him around 6 am and it is just 7:30 right now. For God’s sake, they probably aren’t even on payroll clock yet. And activists? An hour and a half after discovery is way too early. What do they have now? A hive mind?”

“Stop being witty and give me facts. Something I can shove up their a-holes to make it look like we are putting this on top of our priority. You can’t blame them for their rage. This is the 8^th slay case related to the 3^rd sex this year. 2 suspects behind bars and are up for trial, one got away through foreign defense agreements and the rest is unsolved. Can you blame them if they get the feeling like they need to fire up our asses to get them justice served?”

I never had anything against the 3^rd sex. I was always as tolerant to them as they are to me and I have never had any reason to regret it. But what the chief said is just something that I, out of some sense of self-righteous advocacy for equality just couldn’t let pass.

“Listen sir. Yes there has been 8 slay cases involving the 3^rd sex. But we’ve also got a total of 195 slay cases this year. 70% of which are women and 30% men. Now if you want to further split it down and add your 3^rd gender category and site the relevance on why they weigh more than the others, then be my guest.  More than anyone out there, we should know better that this is not about serving justice swiftly, but making sure that justice is served to the right people by means of a factual, thorough and unbiased investigation.”

Silence filled the airwaves as I hear the Chief puff out what it seems like a pound of air.

“Sir, as of now we don’t have anything, the crime scene is clean. No personal belongings taken, no forced entry and no sign of heavy struggle. The only thing I have is a serene looking corpse and a bloody knife beside its right hand.”

“Oh God. How about CCTV footage and eye witnesses?”

“With all due respect sir. This is a place where you can rent a unit for two and a half grands. I think that pretty much gives them an excuse to not have even the most primitive types of surveillance systems. Also, this isn’t exactly the place where a quiet night fits in. People here are used to arguments and curses echoing down the hallway. I’m sorry, I need more time to work this out. Get some more evidence and get the facts straight. Only then can I give you something that we will not regret down the line. But for now I need you to hold them at bay.”

“Ok sounds fair. But don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. They will come for us Marcus. They will come for you and me. And they will find every little thing to throw at us and show the world how little we care for them.”

“Thanks for the reminder sir. Don’t worry, I will find out who did this. And when I do, I will serve him in a silver platter for you.”

I ended the call and drew out another stick to release the tension. I don’t even know why I’m here this early, I should be at the breakfast table, eating slightly cooked instant noodles while reading the morning papers.  I was walking away from the crowd while I was talking with the chief and didn’t notice that I already wandered past the building entrance when sudden flashes of light started to blind me. Then there was a rush of loud inaudible noise coming from all directions. Some too fast and too loud for me to even understand. When the flash of light subsided and I regained vision, I finally understood what the Chief meant…

The media has come… and they did so in a very early and disturbing fashion.