Serial Codes

The Bullet Code: Digits through the Signal

"Funny," George tried to suppress his laugh and sat on the desk between the officer and I, "Very funny, Inspector. No wonder the Director will be impressed by how this system works. You assign your work to a low-rank officer who doesn't know anything except to jail anyone his eyes see while you enjoy a cup of coffee and power nap in your room."

George crossed his arms in front of his clean white long sleeved polo after a single pause, "When the truth becomes clear to some people, you incriminate the person who did the dirty work for you. How convenient to abandon him, Inspector because you didn't work at all. You can't be blamed for a corpse you didn't touch, right?"

By giving a proper metaphor, a silent tension in the station becomes evident.

The Director scrutinized through the silence. He broke it by giving a command to his son, "George, remove your butt from that desk. This is not the time for a child to interrupt an adult conversation even though you have the right."

"I want to hear the opinion first, old man." he satisfied himself with a smirk.

His father doesn't seem to like his son's way of denomination but appears to expect this from George for he didn't scold further. Instead, the former provides a formed judgement, "This situation surely exhaust the police. I will inform my team then, to investigate the case instead of the local police. Send the details to me and my team will do the inspection."

"But Sir-"

Director cuts the Inspector, "Don't worry. Your group will take the credits. My team will look over the case again, perform a search and ask questions, that's it. If we formed an idea for who's responsible on the work even if it is a minor, I hope you will cooperate on taking the necessary action."

"Hindi niyo naman ho kailangang gawin ito Sir. Pakiusap po." the officer begged him.

He remained resolute to his words, "I'm not doing this only for the sake of the kid. This is also for the local police. Alam kong mas marami kayong trabaho kaysa sa akin. Binabawasan ko lang ang pawis ninyo."

As if this sarcasm wasn't enough, George stood and smile in a contemptuous manner, "Alright, then. Dad's squad here will do the action so if you do not mind, we will bring the minor with us now, in order for this case to be put on halt as soon as possible."

They froze but they give in after some time. Pumirma ako sa logbook ng station bago tanggalin ang posas ko at ipinalit sa posas ng Director. Some of the officers assist me to the Director's blue sedan and I sat on the back seat. The Director put the siren on the car's roof before he drove, with George sitting on the passenger seat.

I was lucky to have such significant coincidence. What matters now is my statement. If I can't persuade the team that I'm not the killer, maybe I could with George who is the son of the Director.

The three of us rode the highway with an unbearable silence.

I found myself staring at the moving sidewalks with streetlights and minimal passers-by. Some are selling their goods but most of the times, people ignore what's going on. Their life moves swiftly without knowing that a young man was murdered at the middle of the night and a friend of his was accused for it.

Dain and I have been friends for a long time. I can't accept the fact yet that he disappeared in an unknown reason. Who knows if he was assassinated because of revenge or he was randomly picked or an entertainment for the slayer to watch. The only thing I know for sure is the homicide was planned.

Instead of mourning for his loss, I want to extract the justice for his death especially that I'm a first-hand witness. If I become an instrument to know who's responsible, then there I could say that I brought justice and acted as a friend. I won't stand on his tomb to cry. I will explore solution.