***First POV***
At first I didn't pay attention to his words. It was the look on his face that worried me. He looked at me somehow so sharply, so sternly and so seriously than ever before. As if he sensed something. I tried to smile at him. This was my brother, I had known him since he was born, and now I suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
“P'First, can we talk? Can you do something for me?”
“Is something bothering you?”
“Yes, very much so. It's about Gun's daughter. Please take care of her. You and Dr. Khaotung will be great parents, I truly believe that”.
“What? Why do you say this? Didn't Gun ask you and Gem to do this?”
“Yes, but...”
He fell silent and I could only stare at him. He was as serious as ever. He also looked sad, but resigned to his fate. This is what bothered me the most.
You're probably surprised that it's me, First Kanaphan, sometimes called Kan by my boss, the brother of Fourth, Gun and LiMing, who is writing a fragment of Gem's autobiography? There is a good reason for this, but one by one. To understand everything, we need to go back in time to last year's race in Singapore. That's when I met Dr. Khaotung. I don't think I will ever forget that day. Dr. Khaotung and his friends Pond, Phuwin and Joong were among the honored guests in our garage. And here I must add that such a privilege must be truly earned. I was hoping to meet my friend, the Dunk Natachai Tangsakyuen, but I was sorely disappointed. My friend couldn't come with Phuwin and the others.
Doctor Khaotung is not and never was my type, I preferred someone taller, with better muscles and preferably a bad-boy look, I didn't care if he was a good person or a playboy, all that mattered was whether he was good in bed and knew how to satisfy my needs. Doc didn't look like that. A typical, not very tall nerd with glasses in a perfectly ironed shirt and elegant light jeans. Totally not my type. But something tempted me and I accosted him.
I didn't believe in fate. Nor in magic. Everything that happened in my life was always thought out and planned. I was an athlete, I loved adrenaline, I loved the moment when the red lights went out and we got the signal to fight. On the Formula 1 track, I always gave my all, there was always only one thing that mattered: winning. For each of us, because everyone wanted to win.
Except I couldn't win. Not my fault. Our car was hopeless, it may have been fast, but it ate up the tires so quickly that we could forget about good results. I knew Alex was putting on a good face for a bad game, but I had had enough. And the doctor also raised my blood pressure. It seemed to me as if I had completely lost my mind that day and was driving blindly forward. I don't remember much of it. I ended up crashing the car into the wall in such a catastrophic way that I spent the next weekend on the bench as punishment, watching with despair and longing as Alex scored two very important points for us. I was furious and blamed the doctor for it.
He's the reason I came back to Thailand. I wanted him to pay me for the damage I caused. It wasn't hard to find him, but that bastard was avoiding me. I used every trick in my power to lure him into my trap, but he was stubborn beyond belief.
One time I visited my little brother, Fourth. I learned about an investigation involving a boy who looked a lot like Fourth, which my brother was conducting with his work partner, Gemini. This interested me. I have always loved mysteries and riddles. I wanted to find out more, so I started digging through old police case files. The crime was committed in America, so that's where I went to take advantage of Formula 1's winter break.
Here I was met with bitter disappointment.
Someone classified all case files. All. It was as if they were trying to hide something.
I tried the other way around. I checked their medical records at the hospital where LiMing was admitted when he fell ill. It turned out to be a harmless but dramatic infection that scared LiMing's boyfriend, Heart, who forced him to see a doctor. There, the two found out that LiMing had become a father. They had only been in the United States for three months.
I checked on the baby's mother. It turned out to be a girl from Thailand. Her name sounded strangely familiar, but it took me a long time to remember where I knew it from. I still don't know.
When I discovered this, I wanted to immediately share this knowledge with my brother and his friends, but an unexpected event thwarted my plans.
The new Formula 1 season was fast approaching, and I was increasingly skipping training and simulator sessions, which were essential if I wanted to start in good shape. Our boss called me and said that due to my ignorance and lack of involvement in the development of the team and the car, he was terminating the contract with me with immediate effect.
It was like a stab in the back.
That evening I was already in Thailand, wanting to further test what I had already learned in the USA. I begged my boss for a long time not to do this to me, to give me another chance.
“You don't give your all to our team. It's obvious you don't care anymore. Come back to us when you find the will to compete and fight”, he told me.
“But boss, you know I'm doing my best!”
“Oh my, really? You haven't had a single simulator session in two weeks. You also failed all the tests. Not to mention visiting the gym. Is that what you call commitment?”
“Boss, I swear that from now on I will really give 300%, I will train day and night. My boss, you may even reduce my salary, but please don't fire me”.
“I'm sorry, Kan, we can't afford to keep someone on our team who isn't 100% committed to us. I know you're a policeman. I've been told that you're wandering around the US and sticking your nose into things that don't belong to you. There's nothing more I can do for you. I'm sorry. Stop by to pick up your documents when you're in the area”..
I listed all my contributions to the team in vain, my boss was adamant. I figured someone must have been behind it. I looked at the shelf of photos and immediately knew who it was: P'Mile.
But how did he know? And if he really found out about our investigation, I had to warn the guys. They were in great danger.
That's what I wanted to do when P'Singto called me.
P'Singto Prachaya Ruangroj is my immediate superior in the criminal department to which I belong. He asked me to come to his place and as soon as I sat down, he handed me a briefcase. I opened it and saw something I didn't expect.
These were photos from a camera at the Tokyo airport. You could clearly see a boy handing the man across from him a black suitcase with a large GNT inscription. GNT was an abbreviation of Gemini Norawit Tangsakyuen. There would be nothing strange about it, if it weren't for the fact that the boy in the photo was clearly my brother, Fourth, and the man across from him was identified by the plane crew as the murderer of the pilots. The suitcase was also found. It was empty except for one twenty-dollar bill. Traces of blood were also found inside, and DNA test results indicated that the blood belonged to Fourth.
I fainted.
I don't know how it happened, but I fainted.
My little brother is a serial killer? No, that wasn't possible.
It seemed to me that the amount of misfortune that befell our family was truly cosmic.
P'Singto somehow moved me to the dark green couch in his office and woke me up.
“Commissioner Singto, tell me, did I sleep long?”
“You didn't sleep. You fainted.” He corrected me and handed me a glass of water, which I gratefully accepted. He looked concerned and worried.
“I had a nightmare where I dreamed that my brother was responsible for hijacking a plane”. I said and took a small sip of water.
“It wasn't a dream”.
I immediately got up from the couch and I must have done it too quickly because I felt dizzy. I plopped back on the couch and my supervisor sat down next to me and, placing his hand on my knee, said in a gentle voice.
“I know this is hard for you to accept, but these are the facts. All evidence points to your brother planning the hijacking of the plane. We don't know for what purpose yet, but it seems that something went wrong and, fortunately, no major tragedy occurred”.
No major tragedy?
Despite how bleak and hopeless the whole situation was, I wanted to laugh. I poured some water into my hand and wiped my face with my wet hand. This refreshed me a bit. I felt my boss's careful gaze on me. I hated it when he did that. Then I could always be sure that he read me like an open book. It pissed me off, but there was nothing I could do about it. Seeing my silence, P'Singto suddenly sighed, squeezed my knee tighter, and began to explain his plan.
“Don't worry, I don't believe it's one of your brothers either, but we don't have any other evidence yet. I've had the opportunity to observe your brother a bit over the last week, and my intuition tells me that he actually has nothing to do with the plane hijacking. I think someone is setting him up. And if I want to find out who it is, I have to pretend to believe the official story. I think you understand me?”
I shook my head. I couldn't follow my boss's train of thought, and he smiled at me with obvious superiority.
“You see, that's why I'm the commissioner and your leader, and you're just my subordinate. In short: I have a plan. We're arresting Fourth, although not officially. I have a few suspects I'd like to check out and I think Fourth would be an excellent bait”..
“Gemini won't agree to this”.
“That's why he won't know anything”.
“But boss...” I wanted to protest when I suddenly remembered that my boss knew nothing about our own private investigation into the deaths of two teenagers in the US, Heart and LiMing. There was something wrong with all this, but again I didn't know what. Some element, a tiny detail that I must have missed.
“Nong First, let's talk honestly. Just don't hide anything from me. I know you hacked into our database and looked through the case files of a man named LiMing. I also know that this is why you moved to the United States and left Formula 1. Tell me, is it so important? More important than your biggest dream? Do you know what you can lose or have already lost?”
I looked him boldly in the eyes.
“I know, boss. I knew the risks from the beginning, but this is about my family. I need to know the truth”..
“Even if the truth turns out to be completely different than you expect? And if he hurts you?”
“It's hard, although I have to take this risk”.
“Excellent. I'm glad you know your priorities. Now tell me about your investigation. Whose idea was this and why are you doing this? How did you find out about this?”
I hesitated.
I couldn't tell him about Heart's ghost visiting Gemini and asking for his help. However, I could admit that Gemini received a mysterious box containing a rainbow LGBT+ pride flag and photos of LiMing and Heart's bodies. I left out all the paranormal parts of the story, considering them less important. Besides, I didn't want to lose even more in the eyes of my superior.
“I think LiMing might be our brother”. I finally finished the story.
“That would explain a lot,” P'Singto admitted thoughtfully, playing with a pencil that he then tucked behind his ear. “Listen to me carefully, nong First, we will do this:...”
And here he introduced me to his entire plan. I had no choice but to trust him. The problem came when Gemini didn't want to talk to me. I tried in vain to explain our plan to him, Gemini rejected my calls and didn't return to his apartment, at whose door I waited until late at night.
I had only one option left: to talk to my secret informant, who had been operating for years under the guise of a professor at the university Gemini attended. I called P'Zee Pruk and arranged to meet him at our secret police base. He came, as usual, in disguise, with funny glasses on his face, a fake beard and washable tattoos on his forearms.
“Hello, Professor Zee” I greeted him, extending my hand to him in a greeting gesture. He shaked it vigorously, and then we sat down at the table.
“Hello nong First. Long time no see”.
“I was really busy. You know how it is, professor, Formula 1 is a demanding sport”.
“I guess. But you don't race anymore, do you?”
I looked away. Even the slightest memory of it hurt like a knife stuck in my back, soaked in some acid. I would love to be on the race track right now, getting ready for another GP weekend and racing, feeling that same thrill again that I loved so much. But I couldn't do it. I've already made up my mind. The truth was more important than anything.
“Don't worry, I'm sure you'll come back to it next season, but that's not why you called me here to talk about your sport, is it?”
“No, not for that”.
“Then enlighten me: what is the real reason why you dragged me out of bed a minute after midnight?”
I took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from my pocket. I put the filter of one cigarette in my mouth, lit it, and inhaled the smoke. I no longer had to rush anywhere. Fourth was in custody, Gemini didn't want to talk to me, his friends also avoided me like the plague. All we had to do was wait for the opponent's move. And that's what I hated most about this job: idle waiting. That's why I contacted Professor Zee.
Looking at the smoke around us, I casually uttered one word.
“Annabelle”.
I saw Zee suddenly stiffen.
So I hit the nail on the head. I smiled maliciously. My gut told me that Annabelle was behind the plane hijacking. And, although I had no evidence of this, I felt that Annabelle also had some connection with Heart and LiMing's deaths. What? That's what I wanted to find out.
“Nong First, please leave him out of this”.
“But, Professor, I'm not involving him in anything. I just want to know. I heard that you two have become very close recently”.
I really wanted to know and I was sure the professor had the answers for me. The question is, will he be willing to share them with me?