CHAPTER 8: THE ANSWER TO A RIDDLE
“I suggest we give them protective custody.”
“No, I suggest not!”
After the long hours of interrogation and alibi confirmation, the remaining survivors of Lionel’s friends Gary, Jeremy and Nicholas were allowed to go home. The CSI team was in the recreational room discussing about the option of giving them protective custody. Rachel and Rebecca were for the motion and Judith and Elaine were against the motion. Justin was left in the background trying to pacify both sides. Only Jonathan was seated quietly at one end of the table listening to both sides bickering at each other.
“You gotta be crazy to let those kids go under protective custody!” Judith argued. “They are all suspects and we cannot just simply let them be reinstated to other homes. What if one of them decides to strike again and we have no idea who the target is next? We’re risking a life here!”
“Girls, there’s no need to fight…” Justin tried to calm the girls down.
“Well, if we don’t separate them and put them under protective custody, they might all end up being dead!” Rachel rebutted. “Our main priority is to protect the person that might be in danger of being the next target!”
“You can talk it out in a peaceful way…”
“But they are suspects, not next targets! At least I don’t believe they’re so!” Elaine argued.
“There’s always some truth in everything…”
“Well, what makes you think that they won’t be the next target? You tell me!” Rebecca said.
“Come on, you girls are friends…”
“SHUT UP, JUSTIN!!!” the girls yelled in unison at Justin who had been butting in their bickering since just now. Justin shrank away and out of the recreational room, quickening his pace towards the autopsy room. The girls glared venomously at Justin until he was completely out of sight before they continued on with their ‘debate’. Jonathan sighed at upon seeing this calamity and cleared his throat to get their attention.
“Girls, girls, girls, we are not going to go anywhere if we continue to argue like this,” Jonathan said as soon as he was sure that he had everyone’s attention. “There are humans’ lives at stake here and we’re not going to solve it just by bickering about protective custody.”
“Then what do you suggest we do, boss?” Elaine said sarcastically. “Are we in or out with this protective custody business? ‘Coz we got a psycho criminal out there to bust.”
“Well, Rach, Becka,” Jonathan turned to the girls who were for the motion, “I agree that the remaining friends of Lionel could be in danger and should be protected and all,” then turned to the girls against the motion, “but you, Jude and Elaine, have a point too, that they are all our suspects. Besides I, for one, think that it’s not only them being in danger of another murder, but the rest of the basketball team as well, judging by the interrogation and the statement from Nicholas. We can’t put all the team members under protective custody, and we sure cannot afford relocating our suspects and risk the other people too.”
“And your point is?” Judith asked with her hands on her hips.
“The point is,” Jonathan gave her an authoritative look, “we’ll keep on a lookout. We’ll put the protective custody on hold for a while and see what happens. We’ll request the department to deploy some men to watch over the suspects’/victims’ places and see if there is anything suspicious going on before we decide on the custody thing. We don’t want to do anything rash in these circumstances, got it?”
“Fine, whatever,” the girls, after staring at the head of the CSI skeptically, finally came to a reluctant agreement before they dispersed to do their other investigation on the case. Rebecca stayed behind for a moment to gather the mugs they have been drinking. She has a tendency for household cleanliness and she rarely let others do the work—not even the janitor who comes to clean the offices.
“You’re doing this for Jude, aren’t you?” Rebecca suddenly asked.
“What?” Jonathan turned to her with a surprised look on his face.
“Come on now, Jon, don’t play games with me. I know a person who is still sore about the past when I see one. Now, you’re doing this for Jude, aren’t you? You yourself think that those kids should get protective custody, don’t you? I know your mind is with us, but you’re trying to make Jude feel happy after the time in college…”
“Whatever my decision is, it has nothing to do with personal issues,” Jonathan replied as he glared venomously at Rebecca. “I’m the head of the crime lab and I call the shots, and I say we put the protective custody thing on hold for a while until the situation says otherwise.”
Rebecca stared back at Jonathan long and hard before she finally let out a sigh and shrugged, “OK, Jon. Like you said, you’re the boss. You call the shots.”
“Becka, what do you know about the backpack Gary brought to the concert that night?” Jonathan suddenly asked her after a momentary silence. Rebecca was about to leave the room when he asked that question.
“Only that it is the limited edition, most exclusive backpack of the century which has become the latest teen craze in the world!” Rebecca said enthusiastically. “I tell you, that backpack is absolutely fantastic and it is the latest creation by Polo Sports. The design and sewing and the textile to make this backpack is simply out of this world. Only 1000 items sold worldwide! My boyfriend was lucky to buy it in Vancouver and he got it just for me!”
“Do you have it with you?”
“Yes, of course,” Rebecca replied, then noticed the look on Jonathan’s face before she continued, “I reckon you want me to bring it to you so that you can have a look-see?”
“Absolutely.”
A few minutes later, Rebecca came back into the recreational room with a backpack held in her hand. She handed it to Jonathan and gave him a don’t-ruin-it warning look. Jonathan nodded and inspected the backpack. It was a rich canvas colour with a few dark brown here and there, especially on the straps and on the bottom of the backpack. He opened the backpack and took a look inside. He could see some of Rebecca’s personal things in there with some files and a whole lot of paper.
“Well, I can see that it looks more or less a normal backpack,” Jonathan said as he finished inspecting the backpack and handed it to Rebecca. “Nothing much special in here.”
“Wait,” Rebecca said as she emptied her backpack of its contents. “This is the cool part.”
As Jonathan watched, she reached down towards the bottom of her backpack and pulled something. Jonathan thought he heard a sound of a zip opening and peered into the backpack. Rebecca beamed as she showed him the bottom of the backpack opened to reveal more empty space in it. Jonathan looked back at Rebecca questioningly.
“I didn’t know that there’s extra space in the bottom of this backpack.”
“Ah, now that’s the beauty of it,” Rebecca said as she demonstrated the way she slipped the excess opening flap into an invisible pouch on the back of the backpack. “You see, the designers made the back of the backpack a wee bit thicker so that they can fit the pouch in to keep this excess flap, and the colour makes the pouch invisible so that those who are very appearance-conscious won’t have to worry about the ugly pouch protruding and stuff. In fact, the design made it not protruding. And the wonderful thing is, the sewing of this extra space of the backpack is done so perfectly and so professionally from the outside that you wouldn’t even notice that there is this extra space existing on this backpack…”
Her words were stopped short when Jonathan held up his hand abruptly. He took the backpack and looked into it real carefully. He felt for the pouch and slowly pulled out the excess flap. He fingered the zip that was in the bottom of the backpack and eyed at the sewing and the handy work. When he looked up at Rebecca, her face showed that she had more or less figured out what he was trying to do.
“I think,” Jonathan rubbed his chin thoughtfully as his lips slowly creased into a small grin, “we need to issue a search warrant.”
While the CSI team carried on with their late hours at the office, the whole housing estate of Taman Sungai where Gary lived was silent as everyone has tucked in quietly into their beds and slipping into their peaceful slumber. Only some houses were still lit in the dead of the night, and that includes Gary’s room.
Inside Gary’s room, his radio was on, playing the song ‘Numb’ by Linkin Park. He had just come home from clubbing with a few of his long-time-no-see primary school friends and he smelt seriously of cigarette smoke and alcohol. He took a whiff of himself and wrinkled his nose.
“Phew! I seriously need a shower, or Mom’s gonna kick my ass for this,” Gary muttered to himself as he moved towards the bathroom. He turned on the water faucet and let the water run while he undressed himself off his dirty, smelly clothes.
He was so engrossed in doing his own thing and listening to the music that he didn’t hear a small creak coming from behind him. He didn’t hear someone creeping from behind him and he didn’t even hear the perpetrator taking his table lamp from his table. Only when he turned around wanting to prepare a clean set of clothing he saw something blurry coming towards his face and knocking him out cold…
Gary groaned and slowly stirred. His aching head throbbed as he tried to recall where he was and what just happened. Everything had happened way too fast—he remembered something hitting his head but couldn’t remember who aimed that thing on his head. He looked around and found himself in the bathroom. How long had he been out? How long had he been unconscious? Judging by the light streaming into his bathroom through the window, he reckoned that it could have been a very long time.
That’s when he realized that his whole body was popping goose bumps and he was feeling extremely cold. He looked down and saw that he was in the bath tub filled with ice. He took one absentmindedly and stared at it for a while, realizing that it was real ice cubes. He wasn’t dreaming; he was actually in a tub filled with ice cubes and he was completely naked. What happened? He was about to take a shower last night and found himself like this. What was going on?
As he slowly tried to get up, he felt a really sharp pain in his abdomen. It was as if he was being stabbed or somewhat. He crawled painfully out of the bath tub and moved slowly towards the cordless phone he had on his bed. The pain was increasing and getting unbearable and he felt as if he wanted to throw up. He had to get a doctor and quick. He couldn’t stand the pain. When he was getting closer towards the phone, his mother came in unannounced, her face looking quite displeased.
“Young man, you’re getting late for school! Now get your butt off bed and—”
Her angry words were immediately cut short and a bloodcurdling scream escaped her lips.
She was staring at her son bleeding with a half-opened bloody back that exposed his spinal cord.
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