Chapter 37: The Killer [End]
"This is it..." The world as she saw it had changed. Everything had turned shades of black and white beside her body. The items around her faded into the background as she focused ahead.
Right before her eyes was a cluster of energies that did not mix, and their intensities were also different.
"Can you look into what happened here?"
"I can." Pressing her lips in a thin line, she churned more energy. The dark blue glow now soared through the cracks on her body and stretched into the air.
The sight before her eyes slowly changed. The world remained the same, but the energies started to move.
They started to morph and slowly take shapes. Shapes turned into three figures that stood in the room and looked around.
Although she could not see clear features of those figures, she could make sense out of their outlines.
’That is Officer Chen.’ She instantly recognized the familiar silhouette. she watched as the figures moved in an erratic pattern.
Instead of moving forward, they were moving backwards. Slowly, these three figures left the room.
"Do you see anything?" hearing Mr. Acosta’s muffled voice, she shook her head and gritted her teeth while pushing more energy through her body.
Her powers seemed to send subtle vibrations from her body into the air that somehow rewound the time.
Another energy moved from the cluster and took shape. This energy was a little bit more faded than the one before.
This energy is divided into two parts. one moved towards the window, and the other moved directly towards the corner, behind one of the cloaked pieces of furniture.
Once the two figures took form, Miss Angelia muttered in distaste through her gritted teeth. "He lied, that brat."
"Who?" Mr. Acosta’s distant voice sounded again. "The one we questioned."
Miss Angelia nodded; even though Jinn’s figure was barely recognizable since his body was so distorted, she managed to recognize him since his image was still fresh in her mind.
As she spoke, her gaze drifted in the direction where the other figure was hidden. "He was here, looking down at the dead body from the window. But he is not alone."
"Who is with him?"
Shaking her head, Miss Angelia willed the time to move forward, unlike before, when the figures walked in rewind. "How long was this man hiding? Maybe he can give us the answers."
She watched Jinn turning around to leave, only to pause. The other figure broke into a run out of the attic, and the boy chased after him.
"I need to go further back to see what really happened."
"No, you cannot!" Mr. Acosta’s voice was filled with strange sharpness and concern. "Any more than this will only hurt you."
"I have to..." as a drop of blood trailed down from the edge of her lips, Miss Angelia closed her eyes and took things up a notch. Everything around her seemed to move back in rewind.
The drop of blood continued to thicken. The cracks on her face started to bleed along with her five orifices. Despite the pain her body was suffering, she gritted through the ordeal until it finally happened.
She slowly opened hers and saw it.
Two figures, now only dark shadows, stood face to face, making it impossible for her to discern any details about them. One of them was short, while the other was tall.
"Argh!" Everything started to move at a normal pace once more before a sharp pain in her eyes made her flinch. Her vision blurred for a second before returning to normal.
"Angelia, stop it."
Despite her partner’s warning, she forced herself to watch. When her focus returned, she saw the other figure pushing the boy down the window.
"It was indeed a murder." She whispered with finality before she noticed that the figure she saw Jinn chasing before was still back in her vision, watching everything with his own eyes.
"It was the second victim, the janitor. He saw the murderer’s face, so he was silenced by that person."
Just when she pieced everything together, she saw something else move in her peripheral vision.
The figure who killed the child named Torus Moon moved. Instead of leaving through the main floor, it moved to another corner of the room.
"Why is that person going there?" before she could find the reason, her energy faded, and Miss Angelia almost fell to the ground.
Mr. Acosta moved on time and caught her.
"I was so close." She groaned in pain while opening her eyes. The world was back to normal. She forced herself to stand up and looked towards the last spot where she had seen the killer.
"Why there?" She muttered to herself before her eyes widened.
"Acosta, take me there. I think I know where the killer went."
Without uttering a word, the man helped her towards the corner of the room where she was looking.
There was nothing special about the area, besides the fact that there were only one or two pieces of furniture.
Thud!
There were only two paintings that looked almost identical. Angelia raised her hand and turned one of the paintings, and the wall magically flipped open inwardly.
"How?" Acosta asked with his flat voice, to which she replied in a similar tone.
"The painting was a little tilted."
After a brief look at her face, the man accepted her response with a subtle nod and stepped inside the secret room with her.
"A stairway?" There was nothing in the room but a spiral staircase.
After climbing down, they arrived in a boxed room with nowhere to go.
"Where to now?" The male investigator was still supporting his partner.
"Use your vision."
Following her suggestion, he activated his powers.
"There." Noticing a thick trail moving in a certain direction, he pushed against the wall, and it surprisingly moved smoothly.
A passage opened, and light flooded into the room. Even before exiting the secret room, they could see the familiar lavish room on the other side.
"I’ll be damned." Angelia whispered in disbelief. As they entered the other room, they noticed someone already standing there. The man slowly turned in their direction upon hearing the disturbance.
"Where have you been? And what happened to you?" officer Chen started throwing questions before he noticed the secret entrance behind them. "Woah, was there always a secret door here? Cool. I never knew someone that kind-looking matron would have a secret door in her office—wait, why do you look like you have seen a ghost?"