A Serial Murder

The CCTV footage caught a person who seemed— judging by the body build— to be around their early thirties carrying a massive suitcase around 2 AM last night. That person is wearing a black hooded jacket, jeans, and a creepy-looking mask, covering that person's entire face. It first appeared around the field and then the senior high department, where the upper limbs got dumped in two separate men's restrooms, then left the torso in front of the school's main building.

I'm only looking at the scenes through the monitor, but the moment when the culprit turned its head to look straight at the security camera, I felt shivers down my spine.

It raised its right hand and gestured 'Hello' in sign language, then brushed its palms together before bumping its fists against each other with its index fingers raised. When the culprit pointed at the camera, I interpreted the message as,

"Nice to meet you,"

Officer Gavia looked at me when I mouthed the words while staring at the monitor.

I watched the culprit as it walked back to where it first appeared, carrying the— perhaps— empty suitcase with them before disappearing for good.

"You know sign language?"

My eyes then darted to Officer Gavia before I nodded slowly. "Not that much. I learned the basics while working as a math tutor for a deaf elementary kid last year,"

"I see," was his only response before tapping me on the arm and walking past me. "Go back to your class for now. Let's talk again later."

My eyebrows furrowed. This is odd. I noticed an hour ago that he's getting more and more relaxed. After I told him that there's a possibility that the culprit used the back gate to get in and out after dumping the body since that is the only part with a malfunctioning CCTV, he suddenly spaced out for some time, and now it's like he just lost interest. Why is officer Gavia acting as if he had already solved this case when they can barely put together all the useless pieces of evidence they have collected so far?

The CCTV footage confirmed my conclusion. But still, there weren't many clues since the crime was perfectly executed, and only the CCTV footage and the initials B.D. are there to be the lead. Can the police really get to the bottom of this?

I let out a breath before taking a step to leave the room and go to my class. All, including Miss Stacey's eyes, welcomed me when I entered the room. I spaced out due to confusion for, I think, five seconds before realizing that they all had their English books open above their desks.

Wait...

"You're late, Miss Nase," Miss Stacey's gentle yet authoritative voice dragged me back to my senses. "Go to your seat and take your book. Standing there and interrupting the class is a waste of time."

Confused as I still am, I walked to my seat and sat there while looking at everyone. The class... Isn't it supposed to be canceled?

"So, let's get back to the topic..."

I kept my thoughts to myself when Miss Stacey started the class again while I flipped the pages to catch up with the discussion. It is about structures and effective ways of writing an essay. Usually, I am interested but as weird as it sounds, the classes of class 10-A continued despite the ongoing campus lockdown and investigation.

The class continued for the next 45 minutes, but we were given a bunch of activities until 11:30 AM.

The authorities and the school cafeteria joined hands to deliver packed lunches to each class to avoid interruption with the investigation. A little over a few hundred students had been cleared and granted permission to go home, mostly grade 7.

Of course, those kids are only around 13 years old, they couldn't do such a thing or at least had something to do with such a perfect crime. Wait... aren't the culprit on the CCTV footage a grown-up? There's no way high school kids could be that person!

I stood up, and my sudden movement caused my chair to create noises, making everyone in the classroom who was busy eating their lunch look at me.

"Miss Nase, is there a problem?" Miss Stacey asked, but before I could even tell her what my conclusions are, we heard officer Gavia's voice on the speaker connected to the school's broadcast station.

Everyone winced at the high-pitched sound, so I covered my ears in defense. I guess officer Gavia knew nothing about operating any of the stuff there. Understandable.

"Attention, students. I want to apologize for the inconvenience, but I am happy to announce that everyone can now go home and rest. Please rest assured that we will do our best to solve this case as soon as possible. Your parents are already waiting outside the school's main gate. Thank you for your cooperation."

Right. There's no way the police wouldn't notice that. I'm glad they are not as dumb as I had expected.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Kate shouted together with the rest of the class as they all hurried to finish their lunches so they could go home, but my eyes shifted to Miss Stacey when she stood up and said,

"Clean up before leaving, class. I'm off," then exited the room.

I watched her through the window as she walked with poise along the empty hallway, making her long silky hair gracefully move as she took one step after another. I've known her for a long time. She's a person I truly admire; she was once my hero.

"Faye," a gentle voice then blew my thoughts away, and when I turned to look at the person standing beside me, I saw Jyo looking at me with his signature blank face. "It's blooming."

He stared at my face for a few more seconds before turning his back to go back to his seat and picking up his food and things. He walked to the trash bin and tossed the container before leaving the room.

My lips curved up for a smile as I sat back in my seat. It's blooming...

There was a crowd of worried parents outside the school gate waiting for their children. It's quite a scene, but when I saw Mr. Dinglasan, Mary's Dad, I concluded that it wasn't the best scene to watch. I don't hate him, though. I just don't like him.

"Oh, God. I'm glad you guys are safe," Mr. Dinglasan said as he walked towards Jyo and Mary with widely open arms and teary eyes, hugging them. Mary rolled her eyes while Jyo remained standing there without a word.

"Aren't you leaving?"

I didn't have to look at him to know that it was officer Gavia, so immediately I answered, "I am, but there's something I that I wanted to ask,"

I turned around to face him and saw him smiling while standing two feet away from me.

Officer Gavia is too relaxed. I wonder how much of the puzzle they have figured out already.

"You knew from the start that the killer is not here, right?"

"Wrong!" he immediately replied. His smile grew wider as he looked in the direction of Mr. Dinglasan and his kids and then added. "If there is one thing that makes sense about this case, that would be the conclusion that the culprit is definitely someone who works or attends Elton High School."

I didn't know how I should interpret that, but I felt my heart throbbing with what he said. Could it be...

"You seemed confident, officer,"

I couldn't take my eyes off of him as I commented, so when he turned to face me again, he met my eyes and said. "Thanks. You helped a lot in pointing out the initials. If you didn't tell me what you noticed, it is more likely that more crime would take place without getting detected."

Is it just I or his words were too vague to understand. "I don't get it," I said.

"Herbert is the third victim, Miss Nase. There had been a serial murder happening in this town without anyone noticing, and you just helped me figure that out. You're indeed worthy of your title, Captain."