A/N: HO-HO-HO-HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS WITH YOUR LOVED ONES!
LORELEI
WORDS COULDN'T express how disappointed Loki was with our new role as executive committee members. He was just cutting the crepe paper into random sizes! Habang sinisiguro naming maayos ang pagkakagupit ng mga papel, naghihimutok niyang inilalagay sa makeshift box ang mga nagupit niya. He's obviously not in a good mood. Thanks, Maggie.
"I pretended to be so interested in starting our job as their new lapdogs to impress Maggie in the hopes that she would give us better cases in the future," Loki ranted after ripping a crepe paper into two. "And this is what we get? A menial, mind-numbing task?! We are the freaking QED Club, the legends of Clark High! How the mighty have fallen! Did we do something in our previous lives to deserve this treatment?"
And his blabbering mouth did not stop there. Naikwento niya pa ang ilan sa mga kasong s-in-olve namin kung saan nagmamakaawa pa raw na humingi ng tulong ang execom. In regular days, he usually shuts his mouth and observes how the scenarios play out. But in situations that did not sit well with him, he's all talk, talk, talk.
"How's your first day back in school, Alistair?" Loki asked. Pinaglaruan niya ang gunting sa ere na parang Pac-Man na may hinahabol na dots. "Are you enjoying this Case of the Mysterious Papers? Are we even close to solving it?"
"Not what I expected on my first day, but I'm enjoying the moments of peace," Al answered. He was so good with scissor that all his cut pieces of confetti had exactly the same size. He's taking his job seriously. I expected nothing less of him, anyway.
Jamie, on the other side of the table, was also enjoying the task. Kinorte nga niyang puso ang mga confetti kahit hindi dapat. She's also creative in her own way. Remember, she managed to trick me with her creative cover story a few weeks ago.
Kahit na nakaka-bore ang task sa amin, we still managed to find ways to enjoy it... except Loki who kept on ranting. I would have worn earmuffs or plugged my ears para hindi ko na marinig ang pagtatalak niya.
A not-in-the-mood Loki was dangerous. He might turn this boring execom office into a crime scene. I managed to trick him to get that pair of scissors off his hand. Inutusan ko siyang bilangin ang mga confetti, under the pretense that Maggie might ask him kung ilan ang nagupit namin. Hindi naman siya umangal kaya hinayaan kong doon niya ibuhos ang kanyang init ng ulo.
"Two thousand and one-hundred thirteen," Loki declared after I put the last piece of confetti. "We are missing at least one. Our count cannot end in an odd number. It should be even."
"No one will care if we're missing one confetti," I argued, putting down the scissors. Binukas-sara ko ang aking mga kamay para matanggal ang fatigue. "Will one piece matter to the crowd?"
"To the people, it won't. To Maggie, it will," he insisted, his eyes roaming around the office. Talagang seryoso siyang hanapin ang nawawalang confetti. This has really become a Case of the Mysterious Papers. "If she asks me about it, what should I tell her? That we lost one piece during the cutting process?"
"You can lie about it, Loki dear!" Jamie suggested, stretching her arms. Oh, why wasn't I surprised to hear that life-saving piece of advice from her? Nevermind. "Hindi naman niya siguro bibilangin ulit 'yan para ma-confirm kung talagang sakto ang number na binigay mo."
"And she'll be already satisfied once she sees that huge pile of confetti," Al motioned to the box on the table. Sobra-sobra pa nga yata ang mga nagupit namin. "I bet she'll give us a thumbs up kapag nakita niya ang effort natin. Not bad for our first day as execom members."
"You don't know Maggie as much as I do," Loki hissed, wary that someone might be eavesdropping outside. "She won't let an opportunity to insult me slip her grasp. You heard what she called me early this morning. Fat Loki. You also noticed how she established her authority in this office. I could have fired back brutally and burned her to the point she'd need to put aloe vera, but I chose not to. I want us to be in her good graces."
And that explains his submissive attitude earlier. I found it odd that he would go "yes, ma'am" to Maggie. Loki could hard-headed. He wasn't the man who would kneel before any king or queen.
"At this rate, we will not only deal with Augustus Moran, but also with the Honorable Margarette Fernandez," Loki sighed, slouching in his chair. Sinubukan niyang iabante ito, pero nakalimutan niya yatang hindi na swivel chair ang inuupuan niya. "She rejected our proposal to audit the Clarion. Why was she so afraid of the repercussions?"
"I understand her side," Al said, gently touching his chin. "She doesn't want to pit the student council and the execom against the student publication. Gusto niyang iwasan ang gulo. You can't fault her for taking a peaceful approach."
"But we are dealing with someone who's potentially misusing the funds that came from our pockets," Loki retorted. "They must be leading the crusade against corruption in student organizations! Ang gusto ni Maggie'y ipinikit ang mga mata nila at hayaan si Augustus na gawin ang gusto niya. She's afraid of the collision, fearing the collateral damage. We need to change that mindset."
I don't want to praise Augustus, but I have to hand it to him. He managed to weaponize the Clarion against anyone he deemed his enemies. Sure, the student council has the most power in Clark High, but Augustus and his editorial board could sway opinion to the direction they want. Kaya naiintindihan ko rin ang punto ni Maggie kanina. If they mess with the Clarion, Augustus might try to turn public opinion against them. And who's going to suffer? The popularity of the student council.
"And how will you do that?" I asked curiously. "Kahit anong pakiusap mo sa kanya, I doubt that she would listen to you."
"One of us needs to befriend Maggie and become besties with her." Loki lowered his voice again, glancing behind him. "Whoever that person is, they're going to plant the idea that we need to audit the Clarion."
"That may not work," Al disagreed, folding his arms. "Maggie seems to have already made up her mind. Mahirap nang buksan at baguhin ang isip na nakasara na. Her position is to avoid any conflict at all cost. And based on my observation of her, that's non-negotiable."
"Oh, there's a way to turn a non-negotiable into a negotiable matter," Loki assured. "Though we might require employing some tricks."
"And what trick is that?"
Loki's eyes tore their gaze from me and looked at Jamie. I knew it. "We need the right person to execute the plan. Alistair may be good with ladies but I highly doubt his charm will work on Maggie. I can ask Lorelei, but Maggie might think that you are my loyalist and suspect that you are onto something—"
My eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not your loyalis—"
"That's why I'm nominating Jamie for the task." Loki raised his voice to drown out my protest. "We can take advantage of Jamie's resemblance to Maggie's late friend. Did you see how she looked at you when we entered this hallowed room? Reminiscing. Nostalgic. If we play that card right, we might easily influence Maggie's decision-making and even make her open up to you. Know her secrets, her weaknesses."
"I'm ok with the task but..." Jamie's voice trailed off. She'd do anything for Loki anyway. So what's with the hesitation?
"But?"
"You are targeting Margarette's weakness, aren't you?" Al's eyes narrowed, tossing Loki a scrutinizing gaze. "Her love for her late friend, obviously. You believe that Jamie's resemblance might loosen her up. Pero.... parang hindi yata tama na paglaruan natin ang nararamdaman ng isang tao para makuha ang gusto natin?"
"Paglaruan ang nararamdaman?" Loki echoed, arching an eyebrow. "We will only ask Jamie to be more acquainted with our boss. They can eat lunch together, play volleyball together and review their lessons together. I don't see any attempt of manipulation of feelings in those actions."
Napabuntong-hininga na lamang ako at napatakip ng mukha. May mga bagay talagang hindi naiintindihan ang lalaking 'to. What he thought was ingenious could be perceived as insensitive by some. I bet he already used this tactic before, the first time Jamie and I went to the execom office.
"You don't really understand, do you?" Al asked with a serious face. To be frank, I would be surprised if he does.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Loki said. "If you have any other suggestions, I'd like to hear them."
"I do!"
My shoulders jerked when the door of the office swung inward. Margarette's silhouette emerged from the doorway and entered what she called "her castle" earlier. Her black-framed glasses gleamed due to the light outside.
The tension in the room dispersed and we went back to the status quo.
"Kumusta ang Case of the Mysterious Papers?" she asked, walking across the room. "Have you solved it yet? Oh, you did? Magaling, Loki. Tumutupad ka talaga sa usapan."
"Well..." Loki sighed, following Maggie intently with his gaze. "If we, the former QED Club, can solve the most intricate of cases in Clark High within a day, there's no way we can't accomplish this worthwhile and life-changing task before sunset."
"How many confetti are in here?" Maggie asked, her eyes glued to the box.
Uh-oh. I never thought that she would actually ask about it! Nagkatinginan tuloy kaming apat, mentally asking one another, "Talagang tinanong niya?"
"Two thousand and one-hundred... fourteen," Loki's answer started out with confidence but ended with slight hesitation. I could see Jamie smiling. "Our confetti count ends in even number so that means it is correct."
Ipinasok ni Maggie ang kanyang kamay sa loob ng box at kumuha ng ilang confetti. "Wrong! This is just two thousand and one-hundred thirteen pieces of confetti. I can't believe that the legendary Loki Mendez would make a simple mistake in the simplest task of counting. Have you forgotten your math?"
"There's no way you can recount all of that in just one effortless gesture," Loki said, his brows knitting. "Unless..."
Iginala niya ang kanyang mga mata sa palibot ng office. Tumingala pa siya na parang naghahanap ng naka-install na security camera sa kisame. Well, there was none.
"And what about that aloe vera thing?" Maggie sat at the edge of the table, smiling. She seemed to be enjoying the confusion on Loki's face. "You said you had the chance to burn me earlier but you chose not to."
This was getting weird. Imposibleng malaman niya ang actual confetti count pati na ang sinabi ni Loki tungkol sa aloe vera. Either she was eavesdropping earlier or...
"You bugged this room, didn't you?" Al asked, jerking his thumb at the gap between the cabinet and the shelf. "Since we got here, I noticed a curious little box in there. Nakikita ko rito mula sa upuan ko. 'Yon malamang ang listening device."
Loki shot him with a "why-did-not-you-tell-me" glare.
"We should have swept the room for bugs," Jamie commented, sighing.
I doubt that Al unintentionally forgot to tell Loki about it. Baka nga sinadya niyang hindi sabihin para marinig ni Maggie o kung sinumang nakikinig sa feed ang komplikadong plano ng kasama namin. In that way, Loki's plan to use Jamie could be foiled and no trickery would be committed.
"Ano ba kayo? This is the execom office, the second highest student organization!" Maggie answered, stretching out both arms. "Inakala n'yo bang hindi kami maglalagay ng secret surveillance devices? Shame, it's no longer a secret since I already told you."
"Narinig mo rin ba 'yong..." Nag-fade ang boses ko nang marahang tumango ang bago naming boss. She no doubt heard about Loki's plan of asking Jamie to befriend her. All his efforts to remain in Maggie's good graces were thrown out the window.
The bespectacled lady turned to our club president. "Loki, you sly spawn of the devil. How dare you exploit my weakness just to make things go your way?"
"Sly spawn of the devil, huh?" Loki repeated. "I may be a sly fox, but definitely not a spawn. But those words perfectly describe my brother that you faithfully serve. Except that he's not a spawn of the devil. He's the devil himself."
I slapped my face with my palm. Nananahimik sa kabilang office ang kuya niya tapos bigla niyang idadamay rito? Wait, did I hear a sneeze nearby? That must be Luthor.
"That won't work against me anyway," Maggie scoffed. "Do you expect me to share lunch with Jamie and spill my secrets to her just because she looks like my dear old friend who had the misfortune of meeting you? Oh, please!"
Her last few words were spat like poison. That piercing glare, that clenched jaw and those balled fists? Damang-dama ko ang panggigigil niya. Loki pressed her trigger button again and she's trying her best to not show it. Bakit ba kasi naisipan niyang i-take advantage ang resemblance nina Jamie at Rhea? That's foul.
"Speaking of secrets, there's something that I must tell all of you." Maggie took off her glasses and wiped the lenses with one sleeve. "I lied earlier when I told you that your proposal was denied."
We exchanged glances with one another. "The proposal to audit the untouchable Clarion?"
Maggie nodded. "Dumaan ako kanina kay Sir Jim at ini-raise ko sa kanya ang ini-relay n'yo sa akin kanina. This is going to be a risky move on our part. It might create a friction between us and the paper. But our adviser said that if Augustus has nothing to hide, he would welcome the audit. So congratulations! You will get what you want."
Parang nabunutan kami ng tinik sa lalamunan. Now that our proposal was granted, there was no need for Loki's elaborate plan of Jamie befriending Maggie to try to change her mind on the issue.
"We will draft a letter to the Accounting and Finance Office requesting the financial reports of Clarion for the past two years," Maggie went on. "Sir Jim told me to be discreet about this audit until we acquire the necessary documents. If Augustus hears about our plan—and he's guilty—they might try to do something. You know what I mean."
Of course, we do. Hindi hahayaan ng grupo ni Moriarty na mabuko ang kanilang scheme. They might try to install a virus in the school's network to destroy the digital files or worse, burn down the accounting office. They carried out murders before. Arson would be a piece of cake.
"Absolutely," Loki agreed. "Wala munang pwedeng makaalam na i-o-audit natin sila. But if in one way or another, they find out about our move, there are only a few who we can suspect of leaking the info."
"Only the four of you, Sir Jim, me and—"
There was a knock on the door, followed by a slow creaking noise. On the doorway emerged a young man whose left eye was almost covered by his bangs. He was biting a lollipop stick and he was carrying a set of folders in his arms. His royal blue coat was draped on his back like a cape.
"Rye," Maggie called as the newcomer shut the door. "Only the seven of us know about the request. It's going to be a closely guarded secret. Nakuha mo ba ang mga file na ini-request ni Sir Jim?"
Rye Rubio... I last saw him in the hospital, when they visited Alistair who was in a coma back then. Who would have thought that the person whom I believed was my stalker was going to be our ally in this chase?
Inilapag ni Rye sa mesa ang mga folder na dala-dala niya. These files must be so important, the word "confidential" had to be printed across the front cover. I could sense that the contents must be related to the Moriarty case.
"Habang hinihintay natin ang financial reports, baka pwede nating libangin ang mga sarili natin sa mga dokumentong 'to?" tanong ni Maggie, kinuha ang isang folder at iwinagayway sa harapan namin.
"Is that a real case?" Loki asked skeptically. Nadala na siya kanina sa Case of the Mysterious Papers kaya may pagdududa na ang tono niya. "Are you going to ask us to make a paper plane out of those folders?"
"No more tricks now," Maggie answered, putting the folder on her lap. "Do you know what these folders contain, Lorelei?"
"I don't know what's exactly in those folders, pero malakas ang kutob kong may kinalaman ang mga laman niyan kay Moriarty," I replied. That's the best guess that I could think of. I doubt they would put something totally unrelated inside.
"Tama," tumango siya. "Back in Alistair's room, when we visited him in the hospital, you asked if we had already looked into the cases of Moriarty's suspected first set of victims."
My face lit up as I recalled myself asking about that. Nabanggit ko nga noon kay Sir Jim na baka may detalye sa mga nasabing kaso na makapagbibigay-linaw sa Moriarty case. I don't know exactly what it was, but my instinct was telling me that there might be something.
"Sir Jim formally asked the police to furnish us with files of suspicious cases that happened around two years ago," Maggie explained, opening one of the folders and flipping the pages. "We can't definitely say that Moriarty was behind these incidents because they were either suicide cases or accidents, unlike in recent months na lantarang konektado ang mga kaso sa kanya. But they happened around the time that your Moriarty prime suspect Stein Alberts transfered in Clark High."
"And their most prominent victim was Jaime Santiago, the late student council president," Rye added, taking out the lollipop in his mouth.
Sandali akong napatingin kay Jamie na tahimik lamang na nakikinig. Kumuyom ang mga kamao niya at nagawi sa ilalim ang tingin. I know how much she loved her brother. She went as far as joining the organization of her brother's killer in the hopes of exacting revenge and bringing it down.
Sa pagkakatanda ko, tinik sa lalamunan ni Moriarty noon ang kaniyang kuya dahil nag-utos siya na imbestigahan ang mga misteryosong kaso ng suicide at accident. The mastermind, fearing that he might be exposed, supposedly ordered a hit on her brother. Jaime Santiago got into a car accident and he was goine.
Nang mawala na ang kuya ni Jamie, doon na raw mas naging lantaran ang mga pagpatay sa Clark High. Without someone who had a strong sense of justice like the late president, the mastermind felt no longer restrained in carrying out his schemes.
Months later, Loki entered the scene. And the chase dragged on.
"Maliban sa mga case file, naghanap din kami ng mga news report tungkol sa mga kasong nakapaloob sa folder," paliwanag ni Rye. Kumuha siya ng isang folder at inihagis sa direksyon ko. Thanks to my reflexes, I caught it just in time. "There was not that much local media coverage about these incidents. But Clark Clarion, being the chronicler of our school's history, published some."
"And guess what we found while poring over the Clarion issues from two years ago?" Binigyan din ni Maggie ng kopya ang iba pa naming kasama sa office.
As I opened the folder, my eyes were greeted by newspaper cutouts. The following news headlines were printed in bold:
SC prexy dies in car crash
'Guilty' bully hangs self in room, leaves note
ChemSoc VP dies of 'accidental' mercury poisoning
Lead found in facial powder that killed Grade 10 stude
At first glance, mukhang walang kahina-hinala sa mga pagkamatay nila. Jaime Santiago's car brake did not work. A school bully felt guilty after bullying students and decided to kill himself. A student died after inhaling evaporated liquid mercury in their clubroom. A facial powder company admitted that there was lead in some of their products.
But reading these reports with the suspicion that there might be a foul play gave me another perspective.
Someone possibly messed with Jaime Santiago's car so its brakes wouldn't work.
Someone possibly hanged the bully and forged the suicide note.
Someone possibly tazed the Chemistry Society vice president in their clubroom, dropped a vial of liquid mercury and let the poor victim inhale the vapor.
Someone possibly took advantage of the facial powder company's blunder and put lead in the victim's facial powder container.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to think that Moriarty, who was more discreet two years ago, had something to do with their deaths.
"Check the byline," Loki said.
I don't usually read the bylines because I care more about the content than who wrote it, but since he pointed it out, I reviewed the newspaper articles. My eyes widened as I recognized the name.
SC prexy dies in car crash
by Augustus Moran
'Guilty' bully hangs self in room, leaves note
by Augustus Moran
ChemSoc VP dies of 'accidental' mercury poisoning
by Augustus Moran
Lead found in facial powder that killed Grade 10 stude
by Augustus Moran
I don't find it strange that Augustus has been writing for the Clarion since two years ago. What I found strange was the articles about cases that might be related to Moriarty were all written by him. Was it just a coincidence or was it...
"Two years ago, he was a news correspondent," Maggie said, showing a copy of the Clarion's old masthead. "The next year, he was promoted news editor. Today, he's the editor-in-chief."
If memory serves right, Luthor was only recruited by Stein months before the student council elections. That was just around this year! But Augustus? If he's already one of them by the time he started writing for the Clarion, that makes him more senior than Loki's brother in the organization.
Is that what makes Augustus an important piece in the Moriarty puzzle?
q.e.d.