Arabella Academy: Perfectly Imperfect

45. Surveillance Here, Surveillance There, Surveillance Everywhere

The sound of the bathroom door opening was never sweeter to Marcus' ears than at that moment. He jumped from his seat, surprising his parents.

"Just at the movies," he shouted as he dashed to the guest room, leaving Stewart and Jane shocked.

Jeff was shocked to see Marcus burst into the room as if he was being chased and close the door hurriedly. He threw stares at Marcus, who was now leaning over the door, panting.

"Next time a knock would be appropriate before bursting into a naked man!" Jeff exclaimed as he hurriedly put on his pants.

Marcus shot a glare at him.

"Seriously? You were the one with Michelle the whole afternoon. Why involve me?" Marcus cried out.

"What did you want me to say? Oh Miss Jane! Your son has gone to look for a man who probably killed Sheila and I don't know, WENT TO A FUCKING DEATH TRAP!'

Marcus dropped himself on one of the beds, sighing.

"How was it? Did you manage to talk to the dude," Jeff asked.

"We didn't. He was already dead," Marcus replied. "Or at least that is what he made us think."

"What do you mean?" Jeff went and sat beside him.

"This Joel man literally killed another guy and dumped him inside the motel room," Marcus threw his hands up.

"Shit! What's with people dying all of a sudden?" Jeff shook his head.

"I don't know, but we found something else."

"What is it?"

"We found a picture. It was of Luis' grandmother and two other people, one who could possibly be the daughter of the Expiravit of Middlewood," Marcus spoke.

Jeff was taken aback.

"Luis' grandmother?! In the same picture with the daughter of an alleged ghost?!"

Marcus nodded.

"Dang. It just keeps getting more interesting,"

"Yeah, it does," Marcus replied, staring at the wall, his mind far away. Jeff noticed the look in his eyes.

"Marcus. There was something else, wasn't there?"

"There was a lot of something else," Marcus answered.

"Then tell me," Jeff begged.

"First of all was why this Joel would kill someone and then specifically leave that picture there. It was as if he knew that Luis and I were coming," Marcus spoke out his concerns.

"Or maybe it was just sheer coincidence," Jeff responded.

"Yeah, but there was something else. It's just that Luis has taken the picture; I would have shown you, but that boy in the picture. He looked so familiar. I'm sure I've seen him somewhere. If only that picture wasn't kind of blurry,"

"Are you sure Marcus?" Jeff asked, but Marcus wasn't done yet.

"And that handwriting," Marcus continued. "I've also seen it somewhere, but I don't know why my brain forgets things when I need it the most."

"Maybe I'll help you remember once I see the picture tomorrow," Jeff told him.

"Yeah. By the way, we're going to see Luis' grandmother tomorrow, so we'll have to cook up an excuse to my mother."

"Right, I'll get to it," Jeff answered.

"And please do not say that we're going out with Michelle, I just can't get enough of my parents' adolescent stares," Marcus warned him.

Jeff looked in silence at his best friend.

"Do you think that this Joel probably killed Sheila?" he asked.

Marcus turned to face him.

"I'm certain. All evidence points to him. But one thing's for sure—our future of unmasking Sheila's killer heavily depends on whether Luis' grandmother will speak or not."

Stewart looked around Marcus' room. Jane had given him the room to change into something else after soiling his clothes with soup. Stewart had already changed and was now roaming across the room, checking Marcus' things. He was just about to leave the room when his phone rang. It was Rocco.

"Hello, I hope everything's fine," Stewart began.

"Everything's absolutely perfect boss. We've fitted the security cameras into the school. Arabella Academy is now being monitored by the finest surveillance from Miller Technologies," Rocco answered from the other end of the line.

"Good," Stewart spoke. "That old man William was starting to give me a headache about them."

He kept quiet for a moment.

"Speaking of surveillance. Are you sure that there was no footage from our hidden cameras showing who really murdered the girl?" he asked.

"No, there isn't," Rocco responded. "That man was a clever one, sir, he managed to escape our secret surveillance, but I also took care of that. Right now there is no angle of that school without a camera."

"Good. You know how important Arabella Academy is to our project, right? I don't want any mishaps when it finally begins," Stewart replied.

"Yes boss," Rocco spoke.

"Okay then Rocco. Have a good night."

"You too boss," Rocco answered and hang up the call. He sighed as he placed his phone on his office desk, staring at his computer.

He then pressed continue on the video.

The video that showed Sheila being killed.