9 Entry #9: Confirmation

NICK'S POV

On the way to the third floor, annoyingly, Jasmine decided to drag the issue longer.

"Why would you give information like that? He might've said something that excludes him from our list of suspects, but still, we can't be that sure! What if he lied?"

“He’s telling the truth." My voice was flat, and it exhibited how certain I was.

"How did you know?"

"It's true that he waited for Angel every day after the exam. I saw him."

She bit her lip, suggesting that she was thinking deeply.

"But it doesn't mean 'that part' is true everything else he said is true. We can't generalize based on a sample," she argued. "What if they met each other? And what if Angel rejected him? And what if he didn't take the rejection well? And what if that led him to kill her?"

I froze for a moment and stopped walking. It was hard to consider the possibilities.

She continued spitting her claims, unaware that I was glued to the last stair I took.

"Did you see him? He looks like someone who obsesses with things."

She noticed I wasn't following, so she stopped, turned around, and waited for me to say anything.

The idea that someone in the school was evil enough to kill a person was completely outrageous to me. And maybe, I didn’t want to entertain the possibility that my former classmate was murdered.

"If that is true, why would he wait for her every day?"

"Who knows?" She shrugged. "Maybe he was putting on a show. To avoid getting suspicion."

I placed my hands inside the pockets of my khaki pants and stared at her.

"Do you really believe someone from this university could murder a person?"

It was an important question to ponder. Jasmine had these compelling ideas, assumptions, and deductions that would lead you to think she was right. She was good at making connections and putting them together to make her ideas make sense.

But it was hard to believe her because everything she had was assumptions based on her gut feeling. We didn't have conclusive or even persuasive evidence that a murder took place.

"Nick, this isn't working," she said. "For us to do this investigation, you have to think like there is really a killer even if there is none. You have to have that assumption because why would we do this if there is nothing to find out?"

"Yeah, but--"

"Like you, I'm also praying that at the end of this whole thing, we’d be facing no one. And find out that it was a suicide case, as it should be. I mean, I don't know anymore which is less devastating, a murder or a suicide. They're both too grim."

This was what I was talking about. Not only did she have compelling ideas, but they were also highly convincing even without facts.

"I'm confident it's not the nerd." I stood my ground.

Before we could reach the classroom, the bell rang. We ran towards the room, placed our bags on our chairs, and ran back down again to attend the flag ceremony.

All students had to stand in a line by section, girls separated from boys. As an officer, I had to walk around and tell off students caught talking while the ceremony was going on.

The girls from our section lined up next to the boys' line from Simon's section. When the Philippine flag flapped gloriously on the flag pole, I saw Jasmine tug the guy next to her.

I walked closer to them, ready to give them a warning. However, when I heard their conversation, I stopped.

Miss Detective straight away asked, "You're in the same class as Simon Tejeros, right?"

The guy nodded his head.

"Do you know Angel?" she whispered in return.

“Yes. Who wouldn't?"

She still didn't realize how popular Angel was.

"I'm in the same club as her. She was our club president," the guy added.

"Have you seen Simon and Angel talking?"

I shook my head. She was restless. Anywhere, at any time, she couldn't put aside her curious mind.

"No. Simon is a timid person," the guy answered. "He liked Angel so much. He wouldn't be able to handle it if Angel's near him."

I wanted to silence them but decided not to.

"I heard he brought flowers for her that day when Angel went missing."

The guy tugged the other guy in front of him.

"Carlo, you went with Simon to talk to Angel, right? That day... during the exam..."

"Yeah, why?" the guy named Carlo asked in a low voice.

Jasmine leaned closer to the guy, which made it obvious they were having a conversation. "Did they meet each other?"

"Unfortunately, no. I had to throw the flowers away because Simon couldn't do it."

I saw Brita, our class president, approaching them. I immediately strode near them and gave Brita a hand gesture that I would take care of them.

"I'm warning you," came my belated warning.

They looked at me like thieves caught in the act. I had to stop them because if not, she would be on toilet duty for three consecutive days again.

"If I catch you talking with guys from the other section, I'll bring you to the guidance office."

She rolled her eyes. Clueless and ungrateful that I just saved her ass.

"Wow, how considerate of you, Mr. Vice President," sarcastically, she replied.

I frowned at her.

After the flag ceremony, we went together to our classroom. She carried her investigation notebook with her. She opened it and marked Simon's name x.

"Simon Tejeros is not it."

"Oh? Before the flag ceremony, you were insisting he might be lying." I feigned innocence. "What changed your mind?"

"I confirmed his alibi. If you didn't rudely interrupt my interviews earlier, I could've gotten more details."

"Were you investigating earlier?" I faked the surprise.

"What do you think? Did you think I just flirted with those guys?"

I avoided her eyes because if not, I would've laughed.

"Wait! Did you actually think I was flirting?"

She was so angry and so clueless.

"I thought we are already close to the truth," I told her with genuine concern.

"I thought so too. But I must say, I was a bit relieved Simon was innocent. If that cute nerd turned out to be a murderer, I would've lost hope. I'd probably think handsome guys were a big no-no."

I was incapable of suppressing my laugh. "You think that nerd is cute?"

She grimaced. "He is!"

"But don’t worry. There's a lot of handsome guys out there who are a big yes."

She looked unconvinced.

So then I added, "For example, me."

She straightened her face and looked at me with boredom. "Are you nuts?"

I shrugged.

I acted nonchalant, but deep inside, my ego was writhing in pain. She made me question my appeal to girls. Of all the girls I had met, Jasmine was a little different. Cause she appeared to have no interest in me at all.

"What convinced you he was not S.T.?"

I snickered. "I'm disappointed, Miss Detective-Wanna-Be."

She got irritated that I outsmarted her. "What? Don’t be so cocky."

"Show me S.T.'s letter."

She took it from her bag and handed it to me. I also took out Simon's letter and put the two beside each other.

"Can you see it?" I told her.

She tried to spot what I saw that she didn't.

Finally, her eyes circled. "The penmanship! They're different!"

"Bingo!"

She pouted. "Why didn't I see that?"