Behind The Walls

Don Apartment is famous, not because the apartment is nice or clean but because it is famous for always having crimes. And murder cases are common here in this apartment. Before, I was handling a murder case here where a woman was raped and murdered. I've determined who killed the woman but I haven't yet determined where he is, even now we don't know if he's still alive or dead. That case was three years ago and completely forgotten by all.

Now, I have another case to handle at Don Apartment again. It was about two corpses and five human bones found on the wall.

"Good morning. I'm Officer Mohaimin Fermin and he's Officer Carlo Melida. We are glad to work with you, Prosecutor De Leon," he said politely before sitting down on the sofa.

"Good morning, officers. Based on the files given to me, you two discovered the secret behind the wall. So please kindly explain to me, how you discovered this?" I asked and I put the news paper on the table.

"There was a woman who called us, she was complaining about the rotten smell in her room, she also mentioned to me that she was having nightmares that someone choked her and the person who choked her was from the wall. At first we didn't believe her but my partner Carlo noticed that the cement on the wall was still fresh," Mohaimin said.

I looked at Carlo and smiled at him. "You're interesting, Officer Carlo."

"Yeah, but you will be more interested in it. Here, this is the identity of two corpses and five human bones," Carlo answered and he placed the papers in front of me.

I read it and my eyes widened at what I saw.

"This is the murderer I am looking for, a former case I handled three years ago. So is this case related to the case three years ago?" I asked.

"Exactly, based on our investigation, one of them may be the culprit," Carlo answered and he handed me another papers.

I immediately accepted the papers and looked at its contents.

SUSPECT 1

Conseolo Don

Age: 56

Sex: F

SUSPECT 2

Ciara Maneja

Age: 21

Sex: F

SUSPECT 3

Cherry Pesucan

Age: 47

Sex: F

SUSPECT 4

Lieraw Sanchez

Age: 18

Sex: M

"The first suspicion was Conseolo Don, she was an old businesswoman who also owned Don Apartment. You remember the case three years ago? The woman killed and raped was her dauther Alle Don. And also timing that the suspect in the murder of her dauther was included in the corpse placed inside the wall. Also surprisingly, before we discovered the corpses and human bones inside of the wall we heard Mrs. Conseolo scolded Ms. Ciara for calling the police. If she had nothing to hide, why was she angry when Ms. Ciara complained to the police?" Mohaimin explained to me and he put another piece of paper on my desk containing the case from three years ago.

"Second suspicion was Ciara Maneja, she's the complainant. Before we discovered the skeletons and corpses inside the wall, she told us there was a ghost choking her from the wall and she also mentioned to us that there were corpses inside the wall. She looked doubtful, how did she know there was a darkest secret inside the wall? When i saw the broken glass when i asked her she said, it was broken before she rented the apartment but it was suspicious because i saw the wounds on her fist. Based on my investigation, I found out she has multiple personality disorder. It is possible that she's guilty, it is also possible that she's not," Carlo explained to me and he placed on my desk the papers proving that Ciara had multiple personality disorder.

"Third suspicion was Cherry Pasucan. She stayed in the apartment where Ciara also lived, three years ago. After the murder of Conseolo's dauther, she took over and remained in the apartment. But she only stayed a week in the Don Apartment, when

she faced charges of physical injury and attempted murder of her neighbor after she stabbed her neighbor's husband. I also discovered that she is an ex-convict because of multiple homicide, she killed her own husband and her husbands friends ten years ago. Surprisingly the neighbor's husband she stabbed was among the skeletons found inside the wall. So I also have a hunch that she might be the culprit," Mohaimin said while pointing to Cherry's photo.

"Fourth suspicion was Lieraw Sanchez. He's the author of horror, mystery and thriller novels. He was the last tenant in the apartment before Ciara. He was suspicious, he didn’t stay long in the apartment but before he left, he released a new novel titled BEHIND THE WALLS whose story genre is mystery, thriller and psychological. I interviewed his readers and they said that Lieraw had not finished this story and they added that the story was good, it’s about a murderer who puts the corpses of his victims on the wall. Is it possible that his works are not fictional but inspired by

real life?" Carlo's serious explanation to me.

I wrote down all the names they mentioned to me and I slowly stared at it. All the names they mentioned to me were possibly guilty, it was easier for me to identify the culprit if one of them was the real murderer.

—————

Before we went to the police station to talk to the four suspects, we first went through the Don Apartment where the crime scene was.

As I looked around the room, a broken mirror caught my attention. It was as if a fist had broken it, even though there was no blood left I could still say that it was punched because of the shape of the broken mirror.

About a few hours of my observation I immediately decided to leave. As we descended the stairs, I saw a man cleaning the side of the stairs. I'm not mistaken but it looks like he's still about 28 years old but it's just not obvious because his half face is covered with scars.

"A-Are you Prosecutor De Leon?" he asked.

We stopped in our tracks when we heard his question. I immediately turned to him and bowed in response to respect.

"Yes I am, is there any problem?" I replied.

He picked up the rug and bucket with water and he left. But before he left, he left a words with me which caused me even more confusion.

"The time will come when the angel of death will voluntarily surrender" he uttered.

—————

We are here at the police station and in front of us are the four suspected culprits. The first suspicion was Conseolo Don, she sat down as she fanned herself. The second suspect was Ciara Maneja, she sat with mixed fear while she was with her psychiatrist. The third suspect was Cherry Pasucan, she was sitting on the couch while smoking as she stared at me arrogantly. And the last one is the writer Lieraw Sanchez, he's tall and good looking. He just sat reading a dictionary while holding a coffee.

"Good day, I'm Prosecutor De Leon, you probably already know why you’re here, so can I start asking questions?" I said politely.

"This is kind of your way of judging me. Because of my past, you included me in the possible culprit. That's bullshit," Cherry's sarcastic tone.

"That's why you're here to clear your name, ma'am Cherry. So go ahead can you tell us why you were charged with multiple homicide by killing your husband and your husband's friends?" I calmly asked her and I placed the papers in front of her containing her former case.

She exhaled the cigarette smoke and she took a deep breath. "Twenty-seven years ago, I was in my 20s when I killed my own husband and his friends. If you ask me if I have repented or felt guilty? No, I didn’t regret what I did, killing them was the best decision I ever made in my whole life. I got pregnant early so at the young age of seventeen I became a mother. When my dauther came out, I felt like I was the luckiest mother in the world but I didn’t think that would be the beginning of my bad luck. I never thought that the man I chose to be the father of my dauther was an abusive and heartless man. Three years later, I found out that his friends had raped our daughter and I also found out that he was the reason, because that bastard sold his dauther’s own body for his own happiness. I tried to seek help from the police just in case to get any justice for my child but I was wrong.. because the one who raped my child was also police. If I cannot get justice into the hands of the law, I'll take justice into my own hands. So I murdered them. I am just a mother," she said and smashed the cigarette on the table.

After hearing her story I could not help but marvel. But I put aside my amazement first to pursue my curiosity.

"After ten years of imprisonment, you rented the Don Apartment where you got the room where the corpses and skeletons were found. We also found out that you stabbed your neighbor’s husband and they charged you with attempted murder and physical injuries. It’s also surprising that the neighbor’s husband you stabbed was one of the skeletons found in the apartment you previously rented. Two years ago you previously rented the Don Apartment and based on the autopsy report the skeleton had been on the wall for almost three or two years. It can be used as evidence that you are guilty, so how can you defend yourself?" I uttered.

She chuckled and it was as if she had taken something from her bag. "I didn’t stay long in the apartment, I only stayed about a week and yes, I stabbed my neighbor’s husband but I have a reason. Because my female neighbor is always beaten by her husband. She asked me for help, so unfortunately I accidentally stabbed and beat her husband but that little ***** was insane, she was the one I helped but in the end she sided with her husband. After that incident, they filed a case against me but they withdrew the case and we had an agreement that I would not say how much he beat his wife in exchange for my freedom and I immediately agreed to the agreement because I still wanted to be with my dauther. I am just a mother who wants to be with my child. I haven’t shown up to him since I left the apartment, I’m just keeping our agreement, I don’t know what happened to him or what, I'm not ******* guilty," she said and she laid out the paper she had signed as proof that their agreement was true.

I just nodded at what she said and I turned my attention to Lieraw Sanchez, the writer who became one of the possible culprits.

He's smiled. "Good day, prosecutor. I canceled my autograph today, I didn’t expect I was one of the possible culprits. I will prove my innocence to you."

Carlo put the book written by Lieraw on the table and Lieraw immediately took it and smiled sweetly.

"So..this is the reason huh? Well.. I can easily clear my name," he said in a confident tone.

"You rented Don Apartment but you didn't stay as long like Cherry. You look suspicious,

before you left the apartment you released your new novel titled “BEHIND THE WALLS” where the point of view of the story is the murderer. Maybe the stories you write are not fiction, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Sanchez," I spoke directly and stared him in the eye.

He laughed. "My novels are only fictional but the details are not. As you said, I didn't stay long in the apartment, in fact I didn't even sleep there once. You know why? Because the apartment stinks, I can't stand it. The apartment smelled rotten, so when I left I thought of writing a new novel about the murderer he puts on the wall he kills. I never thought that the details I got in the apartment would come true. And besides, I complained to the land lady that my room smelled rotten but she just told me that she would take care of it as long as I didn't call the police," he explained to me.

Because of what he said my attention turned to Conseolo, the landlady.

"We also have evidence that the landlady is preventing us from calling the police."

I turned my attention to the psychiatrist after I heard what she said.

"This is the video proving that Ciara complained to landlady Conseolo. I put a hidden camera on Ciara’s earrings just in case what she would do. It also proved Ciara’s innocence, here are all the videos taken since she rented the apartment," she said and she turned her laptop over to us.

I immediately looked at it and saw the video of Ciara's screaming and she punched the wall causing her fist to have a wound. I see..

she was not the cause of the broken mirror, then who?

I looked closely at Consuelo. "Whenever there are crimes, riots or anything going on in your apartment why would you stop them from calling the police? Are you hiding something and what are you hiding are the skeletons and corpses behind the wall of your apartment? Nor would I be surprised that you were the culprit, since the one who killed your dauther was among the skeletons found on the wall," I uttered.

She laughed."Let’s just say I’m just a businesswoman and I don’t want to ruin my business. Besides, I don't know what happened to my apartment as long as I can make money. And do you think my daughter would want to get justice for her by violence? The Don Apartment is very important to me because it is the only remaining memory I hold, happy memories with my dauther. I don't want the apartment to be closed because that apartment is my dauther's dream business. I am just a mother fulfilling the dream of her long -dead dauther," She said in the sad tone.

—————

After I talked to them we went back again to the apartment where the skeletons and corpses were found. I admit I am confused to identify who the culprit is, maybe one of them is lying and they may all be telling the truth.

As we stepped up the stairs, I met again the man with the scar on his face and he was carrying a hammer. But I ignored him.

When we got to the room, I surveyed the entire room and caught my attention in the broken mirror again.

I touched the broken mirror and I was suddenly stunned. I just now realize why the mirror was broken. The mirror was broken, probably because the killer had a defect in his face.

And no one else here has a facial defect but the man with the scar on his face I met before.

He's the culprit....

I would have told Carlo and Mohaiman but I was stunned by the voice I heard. And when I looked back at him, he was the man with the scar on his face.

"I told you, the angel of death will voluntarily surrender," he said as he held a hammer.

Carlo and Mohaimin quickly aimed their guns at him. But instead of being scared of guns, he started telling stories.

"Everyone was afraid of me because of my face so I hated my own face but everything changed when I met Alle Don. She is the only woman who has been kind to me and always reminds me that true beauty is inside. She's my everything. She's my world but five men ruined my world. They killed my world. So I have broken myself as well. Not just one man raped her but five. One was identified while four were free to commit crimes. I can't stand it, so that's I killed them and buried them in this wall because this wall is a witness to all our happy memories until it became a nightmare. The two corpses, I killed them because they intended to rape Ms. Ciara. All I killed were bad people but why do I feel guilty? It’s not what I dreamed of life, it’s not what Alle and I dreamed of..." he cried as his tears flowed.

He sat on the floor. "People don't like my face. People hate me even though I don't do anything to them. I don't understand! Those people... monsters..they were laughing when I was the one being hit..but why were they so terrified when I was doing the hitting?" he cried and he put the hammer on the floor.

Mohaimin called for backup as I stared at the man in front of me. I could see the anger, hatred, sadness, conscience and pain in his every sob.

But instead of being afraid of him, I slowly approached and hugged him tightly. I heard Carlo's shouts but I didn't listen to them.

"I'm sorry..." he sobbed and I stroked his hair.

I understand him.

Maybe he's a murderer but he's not a monster. But we are in reality, whatever the reason may be, murder is always wrong.

—————

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are with the product of my imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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