Chapter 86 Case closed
Clio
"The Head Hunter is awaiting her sentence from court." Cherelle was reporting Live as she stood outside the court in broad daylight, "It came as a shock to everyone to find out that the serial killer was never a man like everyone had believed but a woman."
I watched the News on their channel from my phone.
NLN's NewsChannel got the exclusive reporting of the Head Hunter case. It was uploaded on their YouTube channel as well which got over a million views within a week. I made the whole thing in a hurry but I added in the video of the initial arrest and the police finding the heads buried under the exotic plants, in the garden of Chris's house.
The garden Chris loved tending to
I recalled how the police, along with the detective and I made our way to Chris's house.
"Matthew also put the head away because no one knew where the heads were disappearing to." I recorded the video as the police did their job
"Right... No one could even think it was Chris who killed her own daughter. So no one would ever know where she was keeping the heads."
I was shocked that Harou's guess was so accurate. He asked for a search warrant beforehand so that the exotic plants that are illegal to destroy can be uprooted.
"Matthew has been in that house a number of times, but he never knew about the heads. Him placing the head in the office and appearing in the CCTV footage coming from the direction of Chris's house was all on purpose." He smirked, "It was to make sure, I got the hints." Harou was overseeing everything, "That's why I made a tour of her house, I wanted to see the potential places they could have been."
"What made you doubt Chris though? Just the footage of the man in black coming from this direction can't be it."
"It was when Dave and Lily came in for questioning again. And they told me Chris was always the one attending the meeting in their stead. That's when things started to add up."
AH!
"But, wait," I paused, "Do you have any proof it was Matthew who put the head there."
He let out a sigh, "I don't have any proof. Nothing to present. I just know it was him. Because there's no one else who fits in that category." He let out a chuckle, "My suspicion of Chris being the killer was confirmed when I revealed your gender to her and Matthew threw me in the mirror. I knew that he knew that Chris was the killer then. And that he wanted me to look around in her house."
"But how did you know this?" I was filming the garden, "What pointed it out?"
"First, Rameen's urn color was different."
!!!
Okay? I didn't notice the color was different. I never even knew what the original color was. But Harou did ask about the Urn color when we visited!
"She would have gotten away with it, but using exotic plants to cover up the crime was a little too obvious."
...
I spared him a glance.
Too obvious?
I never would have thought that the heads were put under the plants! I didn't even know they were illegal to destroy. I guess there's a reason why he climbed the ranks so fast.
He's really intelligent.
The forensics and the officers were pulling the plants out and I couldn't help but feel the goosebumps erupt on my body when they pulled out a skull from the plant.
The eerie part was how the roots of the plant had made their way into the skulls that were filled with soil.
"That's an old one," Harou said, "Might even be her first kill." He was focused, his eyes scanning everything around the area, "Keep digging," He told his team, "Take every single plant out."
The night was chilly, but thankfully it had stopped raining. I looked at the sky. The whole night was a rollercoaster. And soon it's going to be dawn
I looked down and focused on my phone again. That's when someone pulled out the olive tree plant.
"Detective!!" He looked back at us, "There's no head here."
Harou nodded, "I'm sure there isn't," He replied, "We already took the head so she had no choice but to put something else there."
"What?" I asked as I shot my head at him.
And he passed me a sad smile, "She said that place was special," He spared me a glance, "What do you think is there?" I raised my brows at him, "Olive trees grow fast and can live up to a thousand years. What would she bury under there, so as to leave an everlasting thing?"
I got a bad feeling about it and I shot my head back at the officer that took out something awfully familiar.
An Urn
"Rameen's urn... The real one..." My skin stood up as shivers ran down my spine. My eyes watered, "How could she..." It still baffled me that she killed her own daughter.
"Psychopaths are different from normal humans," Harou said, "Don't think too much about it." He sighed, "For all I can say, she might have had a child only for the purpose of appearing normal. Yet still, she chose a special spot for Rameen." He let out a sarcastic smile, "Well, it was her flesh and blood, so she decided something special for her."
A tear rolled down my cheek and my hands began to tremble. It was too hard for me to fathom.
Harou placed his hands over mine to stabilize the camera, "Film nicely, you have a job to do" He said the words made me feel confident.
Right,
I have a job to do and a debt to repay.
I steeled myself and continued to film. As my hands stopped shaking, he let go and walked over to the garden to help the others.
No other news channel had what I had filmed, so that video was the most viewed video in the country.
The video alone earned 20000 dollars for Nolan.
And I knew he and I were permanently done. I had paid my part. The video was bound to earn more for him through advertisement and views that would come later.
I hope I never have to see him again.
I'll continue my internship here. It's good to get an experience letter. I can earn and pay for my last college semester too. I'll need to do a little more to pay for Mom's medical fees. But I'll manage.
For now, I'm just glad I got away from the debt I owed Nolan. He had paid for many things for Mom and I. I would do my best to get my bills paid but wherever I lacked, he paid up.
But I still need to talk to Matthew. A week passed by and I didn't get to talk to him.
Actually, I didn't go back to his house.
I've been staying with Imani and she's been very nice and hospitable.
I don't know how to face Matthew. I was so shocked initially but the shock has settled down now but Matthew seemed to have disappeared.
I asked Harou and he said he knew nothing about it and it was not his place to say anything more either.
Werewolves...
It's still hard to believe... Werewolves?
"Oh wait," Cherelle got frantic and I looked down at my phone again, "She's being taken out! We'll hear from the court soon." She ran towards the entrance like all the other reporters, "But for now let's hear what she has to say."
I watched on my phone as she approached him but she couldn't get ahead of the other reporters who surrounded the officer escorting Chris out in handcuffs. The officers made Chris wear a black hat to try and hide her but that was a useless attempt they somehow often make.
"Why did you do it?"
"What were your motives behind the murders?"
"Did you kill your own daughter to avoid suspicion?"
"Why go after a boy?" A reporter asked and Chris stopped, "There was a certain pattern to your killings, and it was always women, why go after a boy this time?"
Oh no...
My heart dropped.
Who the hell told him about a boy!??
Chris was right next to the van she was about to be shoved into, but she still turned around and looked up. Her gray eyes were clear and wide as she stared back at the reporter who asked the question, "A boy?" My heart dropped, "I never chased a boy."
"Wait, so that victim who got away wasn't a boy?"
"No," Chris passed a triumphant smirk
The officer then shoved her into the car while the reporters got frantic.
Cherelle was shocked and she moved away from the crowd, "So, um," She tried to compose herself and looked back at the camera, "We're not sure what happened there but there was a rumor that her last victim was a boy..." She paused as it dawned upon her.
Other people don't know this, and neither did I mention it in the video that was uploaded on the channel that I was a boy.
The only thing mentioned was that 'The last victim got the video of The Head Hunter's arrest.' I never named myself or exposed myself in the video or told my gender.
But I guess the word got out from the police station. Because many officers saw me there. Or maybe it was the hospital?
I placed my hand on my mouth in fear.
It's alright.
Don't panic.
No one knows it's me. No one...
No one but the people from NLN!!! Since I gave them that video!!!!
GOD!!!
My heartbeat got wilder.
"And it was quite a mystery as to why the killer would go after a boy all of the sudden." Cherelle got a fire in her eyes and I got a bad feeling about it, "But apparently that boy, named Clio Pane, was never a boy to begin with but rather a girl in disguise."
Oh... NO
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Why did she name me?!?!? Because of Nolan?!?! She was always annoyed whenever I was near him. And he always gave me more importance.
That must have triggered her and she named me.
I threw my phone away in fear.
But that darned bitch doesn't know how much trouble it's going to cause me!!
I grabbed my head with my hands.
SHIT!!!
>>Murim
"And it was quite a mystery as to why the killer would go after a boy all of the sudden." Cherelle, the news reporter was Live, "But apparently that boy, named Clio Pane, was never a boy to begin with but rather a girl in disguise."
Placing my drink on the table, I stood up from the stool in front of the house bar and walked towards my uncle, Silas, who sat in his penthouse lounge, watching the News on TV.
The couch had a straight view of the LED TV mounted on the wall and the bar was behind it.
We had both heard the announcement made by the reporter.
"You were right," Uncle said as I approached him, "I shouldn't have stopped just because the father died too." He turned to look at me as I came and stood by the side of the single-seater couch he was sitting on. I noticed he wasn't wearing his lens that hides his defective eye, "We were lied to,"
"I always said so," I replied, "I told you Clio was suspicious."
He let out a sigh, "It feels like I've been made fun of,"
I kept my hands tied behind my back, "Would you like to continue then?"
He smirked, "I should never have stopped."
Volume 2 - End