Finding 'x'

•Really see me•

"We should focus on searching for the real culprit behind these murders." With that, he pushed the key into its ignition and made to turn it, but I placed my hand over his to stop the action.

"What do you mean by 'teenage infatuation and misinformation'?" I asked after steeling myself to stare into his eyes. He avoided my eyes. 

"Misinformation of what?" I pressed further with dread spreading over my insides. Hot cop only replied with a small sigh and withdrew his right hand from under my palm. 

I knew whatever was about to come next wasn't going to be particularly pleasant. 

"We searched Mr. Saheed and Corper Jide's private quarters. While we found nothing that could explain Jide's involvement in that incident, we found a numerous incriminating evidence against Saheed–" 

And I wast wrong.

"Saheed is everyone's plug for weed and shit," I interrupted fiercely, to Hot cop's apparent surprise. "Saheed won't hurt a fly even if you're willing to pay him millions to do so. It is Jide you should blame for all that happened that night, it is–" 

"Yes, Jide had a score to settle with you! The bastard won't accept that a teenager beat him at his own game and definitely refused to be bullied by a private investigator to fuck off after his recovery. Yes, he was ready to kill you! But have you stopped to wonder what Saheed had to do with all that? Or how it was very  easy to bury the second victim's body without much fuss and that too, in less than twenty-four hours?" 

Angry flames flashed through his eyes when he finally looked towards me. He looked like he expected me to have already figured out the reason behind that attack even though I had next to no information whatsoever. 

He looked disappointed and I as much as I tried my possible best to not give a fuck, I was disturbed.

"Your school is for the elite, do you think a child of any patron would be murdered in that way and they would agree to a low key burial without suing the management?!" 

As if on cue, the words Saheed had saluted me with on that nightcame back to me in the same bitter tone he'd initially said it with;

I should have killed you when I had the chance. 

Saheed and I used to be cool, he liked me even, he'd even made advances at me in the previous years and it didn't mar our friendship that I'd declined. However the way he'd looked at me that night… the way his bloodshot eyes stared at me with such emptiness… 

Realisation settled on me like dew on grass. 

"Saheed claims to have gotten a letter from you gloating about how much you enjoyed taking away what he valued the most and how you'd do it again and again if he didn't stop ruining every students' life with his heightened greed and get rich quick schemes..."

My blood ran cold.

"Saheed confessed to only you knowing about his humble background and numerous secrets; how the girl he calls his sister was actually his kid and how he did what he did because he wanted the best for his daughter. He said you incessantly threatened to trend his iniquities with your vlog if he tried marketing his wares to clean students. We saw the letter indeed and compared the writings, it was a perfect match with yours…"

Slowly, but surely, the voice of Hot cop began to reduce in volume as my head started overheating at Saheed's claims. My mind went back to how mutilated the girl's body had been found and the fact that someone believed I could be messed up enough to do that to a fellow female made me want to retch my guts. 

The enclosed space of the car, that was getting even more stuffy by the ticking second, wasn't helping matters either. 

I was snatching open the car door and bolting towards the river before my reasoning could catch up with my actions. The fresh air that hit my lungs, due to the action, was enough to calm down my nausea, but the sickening imagery Saheed's mind had painted of me stuck to my mind like a bad tattoo.