Entry #26: Clues

"Are you sure he saw it?" Nick asked for the nth time.

I groaned and exhaled my frustration. "He did!"

"What was his reaction? Did it look suspicious? Or was he startled?"

I tried to remember Sir Aresso's reaction when he handed the diary to me.

"Nothing notable, but he could be faking it."

"What if he's not S.T.?" Rox posed the possibility.

I stared at the fake diary. "If nothing happens to this diary, then he is not S.T. But if this goes missing, he's the killer."

The four of us walked together toward the school gate. While they logged out of the biometrics, I curiously looked around.

"Shh!"

I jumped in surprise when I heard someone hushing. I thought it came from the guard house.

"Ate! Let's go!"

I ignored it, but it came again.

"Shh!"

What glued me to the ground was the creepy sound that followed it. My knees wobbled at the teeth-grinding noise. I looked back at the guard house. I was certain it came from there!

"Ate, where are you going?"

I ignored Rox. I rushed to the guard house and knocked loudly.

"Who's there?" My heart was pounding so hard. I clamored at the door. "Open the door! Who's there?"

The door opened, and the scary-looking guard frowned.

"Do you need anything?" His voice was deep and guttural.

I looked at the tiny guard house, but no one else was there. I looked up at the guard.

Was it from him?

"Do you grind your teeth, guard?"

His eyebrows met in the middle. "What are you talking about?"

"Tell me. Do you grind your teeth as a habit?"

"Who grind their teeth as a habit?" He groaned and narrowed his eyes at me. "Why are you trying to knock down the door?"

Before I could say anything more, someone dragged me away from there.

"What the heck are you doing?"

I shoved Nick away.

"I heard him. Again!"

"Heard what? Heard who?"

I looked at my confused sister. Then to Simon, who was staring back at me with knowing eyes.

I walked away and exited the campus ahead of everyone. The next second, Nick was already walking beside me.

"I would really appreciate it if you could stop being reckless and endangering yourself wherever you go."

I stopped my pace and faced him. I opened my mouth to explain but closed it again.

Where should I even begin? If I told him my assumptions about my father's death, he would think I had gone crazy.

"And I would really appreciate it if you and Simon would stop having exclusive secrets. We're a team, right?"

I had reasons why I didn't tell them about it. I was going to tell Nick, but only after I had persuasive material to back my assumption. Otherwise, he wouldn't believe me.

And Rox, I chose not to tell her. She would only tell me I was making up these things.

"You know what, I'm tired, Nick. I wanna go home."

End of discussion.

**

I came to school the next day earlier than usual. The guard assigned to the morning shift was already there, so I befriended him. My goal was to take a look once again inside the guard house. Luckily, befriending him was easy.

"Can anyone get inside the guard house?"

"No."

"Is it possible to get inside there without using the door?"

He looked like he didn’t understand my question.

"You mean if there's another way to get inside aside from that door?" He pointed to the door of the guard house.

"Yes, exactly."

"There's a back door that leads directly to the tech building, but we rarely use it. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just curious."

'Someone must have snuck into the guard house yesterday. Why did the killer do that? To let me hear?'

I bid farewell to the guard whom I befriended to extract information. That wasn't so nice of me, but honestly, who cared?

Far ahead, I spotted Sir Aresso. We were going to cross paths!

I pulled out the diary from my bag quickly. I should drop it as naturally as possible. Make it look like a complete accident.

I felt my heart go up to my throat with every step we took toward each other. When he came close enough, I dropped the diary near him.

Did it look natural?

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. I, unfortunately, overdid it, so I hope he didn't take the hint.

He picked it up. I keenly observed his facial expression for any changes. He took a moment to stare at it, especially the name engraved on the cover.

Why? Why would he stare at Angel's name like that?

“Sir?”

He snapped back to his senses and uneasily looked at me.

“Sorry… I suddenly remembered something.”

Did it remind him of the crime scene? How he brutally murdered Angel?

“What did you remember, Sir?"

He showed his unwillingness to share by shaking his head. "Is this yours?"

He handed the diary to me.

"I have–" he paused then corrected his tense, "I 'had' a student who had the same diary. And funny that her name's engraved here too. This couldn't be hers, right?"

I didn't even try to explain why I had the same diary.

"We were pretty close." He sounded like he was fondly looking back at his memories with Angel. "She was a pretty girl too."

He watered the seed of speculation in my mind about him. I couldn't wait to meet the team and discuss this encounter with them. With a thrill-fueled mind, I waited for the morning classes to end.

"Guys! Guys! I have news." Rox came running to us, and we all shushed her.

She only realized how loud she had been when he heard the warning bell from the librarian's table. She covered her mouth with her hands and smiled apologetically.

"I happened to read the new announcement. Talking about Angel is officially banned."

"What?" I was in disbelief.

"Suddenly? But why?" Simon couldn't believe it either.

None of us knew the answer.

"Because they banned it," Nick said, "it just confirmed that something fishy is going on, and the school is trying to cover it up."

The team gathered in the library to discuss. I thought Nick and I would be awkward around each other. He deliberately forgot about yesterday, so I figured I should too.

I told them about my encounter with Sir Aresso that morning.

"Oh my gosh!" Rox exclaimed. "If he isn't S.T., then who is?"

"How do remembering Angel and Angel's diary confirm he is S.T.? Aren't you being biased?" Simon disproved.

"How does that make us biased, Kuya?" Rox asked.

Simon pursed his lips together before explaining. "It's like… like you're not looking for S.T. anymore. Instead, it's like you're trying to find clues to confirm Sir Aresso is S.T. They're two different things. We are fixated on proving he is S.T."

"Right…" Nick seconded. "And that without having solid evidence and just speculations. At this point, we're jerks for trying to blame someone."

"We are not!" I retorted.

Simon clapped back. "If we have no evidence, then we are."

Why couldn't I win a single argument with these guys?!

Simon continued, "If we want to find the killer, let's find him without a suspect in mind. Let's only trust the clues."

"I did. And the clues led us to Sir Aresso!" I was on the verge of getting mad.

"What are you talking about?"

We all froze and got glued to our seats. It was a voice not owned by the team. It was a wake-up call.

Dreadful and fearful, we all turned our heads to the one who had spoken.

And simultaneously, we exclaimed, “SIR!”