WHATʼS THE RESULT?
Paalis na sana si Vahn nang tawagin siya muli ng kaniyang mga kasamahan. He stopped for a moment inside the headquarters habang hindi pa siya nakalalabas. “Pumunta ka lang dito para lang pakinggan ang statement ng mga kawatan na iyon?” tanong nito, kaya naman hindi nag-alinlangang tumango si Vahn.
“I have to take action. We have been unable to solve the case we are handling for more than three years, and we have yet to find any information,” sabi niya.
“Sir Vahn, hindi baʼt may nabanggit ka sa akin na may babaeng muntikan ka nang masagasaan?” tanong naman ng kaniyang co-agent na nagngangalang Lloyd. “Nasa puder mo pa rin ba siya ngayon?”
Vahn still hesitated whether to tell them about Ms. Luther so that they could have a thorough examination of the case they were handling.
He didnʼt do anything, but just nodded again and was ready to reveal the girl he was with now. “Sa totoo niyan, si Ms. Luther ang kasama ko, pero hindi ko muna ito ipinaalam sa iba,” sabi niya. “Look, everyone knows that she is missing and canʼt be found, pero nasa puder ko na siya ngayon. She herself told me not to tell others.”
Nagkatinginan ang dalawang kaniyang co-agents. “Damn! Vahn, seryoso ka ba? Aba, dapat nga lumabas na siya sa public para hindi na mag-abala pa ang mga pulis sa paghahanap sa kaniya,” komento naman ni Cyruz.
“Ano bang kalagayan niya ngayon? Ayos lang ba si Ms. Luther? Ano raw ang nangyari sa kaniya at kung bakit siyang nawala?” tanong ni Lloyd.
“Iyon nga, nakuha ko na ang mga statements niya, pero hindi siya sigurado kung ang serial killer ba ang may gawa niyon sa kaniya.” He approached the two, and he looked around to avoid those who would hear that confidential matter.
“Noong nakaraang linggo lang siya nawala, at ayon sa statement na sinabi ng dalawang lalaki kanina, kinuha lang nila ang gamit ni Ms. Luther, pero wala silang kinalaman sa bigla nitong pagkawala.
“Ayon pa sa statement na sinabi sa akin ni Ms. Luther, nagising na lang siya na nasa ilalim ng hukay, at noong araw na iyon, doon ko lamang siyang naabutan at muntik ko nang masagasaan sa liblib na lugar. Maaaring sa abandonadong sementeryo ang kaniyang tinutukoy,” pagpapatuloy niya.
“Then what happened to her in two days, if she disappeared that week?” pagtatakang tanong ni Cyruz.
Napailing siya. “Thatʼs the question; even she doesnʼt know it either, as if she had amnesia. Wala siyang maalala maliban noong linggong iyon na nawala siya, dahil pagkatapos daw umatake ang riding-in-tandem na iyon at kinuha ang kaniyang mga gamit, hindi niya na alam kung anong nangyari.”
“There may be such a case. If you donʼt remember anything about the past few days, it could be that someoneʼs brain has been affected, or maybe sheʼs been hit,” sabi nito, at itinuon ni Vahn ang kaniyang atensyon sa co-agent. “That could be the reason why she lost her memory.”
“But not everyone is like that. Vahn, does she have bruises on her body? Did you see any possibilities that he might have been tortured or what?” tanong naman ni Lloyd.
Alam ni Vahn na ginamot niya ang mga pasa at sugat ni Rhian, pero hindi naman ganoon kalala ang kaniyang sitwasyon, at dahil sa ganoon lamang ang napala ni Rhian ay hindi na ito nagpadala sa hospital. “May mga pasa at sugat lang siya, pero hindi naman ganoon kalala; hindi tulad ng mga bangkay na nakikita natin sa crime scene, bugbog-sarado,” tugon niya.
“She may have just been kidnapped, but I canʼt say that the serial killer did it either,” pagpapatuloy ni Lloyd. “Kung hindi naman ang sinabi kanina ni Cyruz, may possibilities na... ginamitan siya ng tranquilizer.”
Napakunot naman ng bahagya ang noo ni Vahn, napailing sa sinabi ni Lloyd, pero hindi siya nagsalita at gumawa ng kahit anong anomalya tungkol sa bagay na iyon. “Ayon sa autopsy result ng mga bangkay na nabiktima ng serial killer, may mga lumabas na dahil sa nag-malfunction ang katawan ng mga ito dahil sa itinurok na tranquilizer sa kanila,
“At sa nakuha ng forensic investigator, mayroong green, violet, and black liquid na halo ang dugo sa loob ng katawan ng mga bangkay. The director was supposed to declare a meeting with us earlier; the only thing is, it didnʼt go ahead because it needed confirmation that the laboratory result was true.”
Hindi na nagkaroon ng side comment si Vahn ukol sa resultang iyon. If there is such a case, Rhian may have been injected with a tranquilizer, and he is worried that maybe in Rhianʼs current situation, she will only get worse, not because of the serial killer but because of its effect on her body.
Vahn quickly returned to the rest house. He was starting to worry about Rhian when he found out that the serial killer was using a tranquilizer to kill people, and when he got inside, he found no one in the living area.
He thought it was just inside the room, so he walked upstairs and immediately knocked inside the guest room. “Ms. Luther?” Not long after, the door opened, but he knew it was open; he just didnʼt touch the doorknob.
“Kamusta ang lakad?” tanong sa kaniya ng dalaga.
“I found out something,” Vahn said, and he led Rhian to a room where there was nothing but a large space.
There they laid out the planning and execution of the conversation about what they were going to investigate. That will serve as their slaughterhouse for the things and cases that theyʼre going to investigate and gather information about.
Rhian helped clean that room, but as they were getting everything ready, Vahn was starting to speak to share the information he had obtained. “Sa palagay ko naman ay nagsasabi ng totoo ang dalawang lalaking iyon na riding-in-tandem. Wala silang kinalaman sa pagkawala mo,” sabi niya.
Natigilan si Rhian nang muli na namang nagbalik ang kaniyang alaala, noong na-encounter niya ang riding-in-tandem na iyon noong linggo. “Sigurado ka bang... pagkatapos nilang kunin ang mga gamit mo, umalis na agad sila?” tanong ni Vahn para ikumpirma kung totoo nga ang statement na iyon.
Rhian nodded without hesitation, because that was exactly what happened. They just fired shots to make him stop running, and they just pointed their guns at her so she couldnʼt fight back, and when they managed to get her handbag, the two men immediately left on a motorcycle.
She ran away, keeping up with the people who were running because they were afraid they had heard gunshots. She hid behind the wall, and for the first time, she felt so scared when a gun was pointed at her head.
Sheʼs not ready to die, especially since she still has many dreams in life, and another is that she wants to become a full-fledged film producer and director and continue her draft writings. She held her chest, and her heart was beating very fast because of so much nervousness and fear, and her hands were shaking.
She groped for her gun that was just under her clothes, and she didnʼt know where or when she could pull it out. She didnʼt have enough training and experience for such a thing.
She remembers that when she turned eighteen, her father only taught her once how to use a gun and how to aim at a target, but all that was just the beginning, at wala siyang interes na gawin ang mga bagay na iyon. But now she really wants to learn, experience, and, for all occasions, be prepared.
“May mga naaalala ako, pero... malabo pa rin. Noong linggo na iyon, iyon lang ang tanging naaalala ko, and the rest... hindi ko na alam,” sabi niya, pero agad naman siyang pinakalma ni Vahn, hinawakan niya ang braso ng dalaga.
“You donʼt have to force yourself to remember everything. Ang mas mabuti pa, i-relax mo lang ang pag-iisip mo, lalo na ngayon... sa susunod kong sasabihin sa iyo,” sabi ni Vahn. “You wonʼt believe it, but... you might have been injected with a tranquilizer.”
Bahagyang napakunot ang noo ni Rhian habang nakatingin lamang sa lalaki. “Tranquilizer?” pagtataka niya.
“Makinig kang mabuti; sa loob ng sampung taon, walang nakikitaang tama ng bala lahat ng biktima ng serial killer, pero kadalasan mga nakikita sa bangkay ay mga hiwa, pasa, at may buo-buong dugo,” simula ni Vhan na ipaliwanag ang mga nalaman niya kina Cyruz at Lloyd.
“As we discussed earlier at the restaurant, there is not even any symbol that can be seen there that the serial killer actually killed the victim, but it is immediately known when that serial killer is the same as in the case of killing the corpses we found.”
“What do you mean? Alam mo ba kung anong klaseng pagpatay ang ginagawa ng serial killer sa mga nabibiktima niya? At anong... tranquilizer?” nalilitong sabi ni Rhian.
“Yes, Cyruz and Lloyd, my colleagues in the office, told me that the forensic investigator has released the results of the corpses that were the last victims of the serial killer, and the same with the previous corpses; pare-pareho ng result, hindi nagkakalayo.”
“Quel est le résultat?” (Whatʼs the result?)
“They were injected with a poisonous tranquilizer, which can kill a person within a set number of seconds, minutes, or hours—I donʼt know—but when I talked to my co-agents, there was a green, violet, and black liquid mixed inside the bodies of the corpses.”
Napakunot ang noo ni Rhian at napapailing nang marinig niya iyon mismo kay Vahn, pero imbes na mag-react, she took out the notebook and the ballpoint pen to write them down para makadagdag sa plot twist at outline na sinasagawa nila.
“Walang kinalaman ang riding-in-tandem sa akin, then you found out about the forensic investigative results about the tranquilizer, even the mixed fluids in the bodies of the corpses...” She stopped when she couldnʼt follow what she was writing.
She returned her gaze to Vahn again, but she thought about the serial killerʼs murder; if the tranquilizer had been used, that thing might have been used to kill her as well. “All the corpses that were victims of a serial killer—is that murder? Gamit ang tranquilizer na sinasabi mo na may ibaʼt-ibang likido? Then... why isnʼt anything happening to me?”
She tried to feel her own body, and she couldnʼt feel anything but the wounds that still werenʼt healing, but she was looking for where she might have been injected with the tranquilizer. “Even I wonder, but there is a possibility that you may have been injected with a tranquilizer,” sabi ni Vahn.
“Это значит, что я умру,” (Eto znachit, chto ya umru,” means, “That means Iʼm going to die,”) sabi ni Rhian. “Ilang segundo na lang? Ilang minuto, oras, buwan?!” Agad namang napailing si Vahn, kaya naman agad niyang pinakalma ang dalaga.
“Ms. Luther, the only possibility that you were injected with a tranquilizer is that you may have had amnesia.” It was only then that Rhian was stunned, because amnesia is a temporary loss of memory, which was now happening to her.
“It may be that the tranquilizer that was injected into you is not fatal, but the temporary loss of your memory, kaya nahihirapan kang alalahanin ang mga nangyari sa iyo matapos ng mga nangyari,” pagpapatuloy ni Vahn.
“Es-tu sûr?” (Are you sure?) seryosong tanong ni Rhian.
“Hindi. Walang kasiguraduhan sa mga nabanggit ko, Ms. Luther. Theories pa lang namin iyon nina Cyruz and Lloyd tungkol sa kaso mo, pasensya na kung sinabi ko na sa kanila.”
Hindi na muling nagsalita si Rhian, ibinalik na lamang ang atensyon sa mga nakasulat sa notebook.