Euclid Shellingford (Volume 2)

CHAPTER 33: Last Two Victims

"The perpetrator is..."

I picked the perpetrator's photo and showed it to them. "It's her. She killed her brother."

"What? Clara killed her brother?" gulat na tanong ni Nico.

"Yes. It can only be her."

"B-Bakit? I mean, of all the suspects siya talaga ang pinaghihinalaan mo?" Napakunot naman ang noo ko sa naging reaksyon niya.

"Why would I not consider her as the primary suspect? Dahil ba kapatid siya ng biktima? You know that it's not an excuse to make her innocent."

"But she was injured, remember? Paano naman niya magagawang sakalin ang kapatid niya kung injured siya?"

"Right, she won't be able to pull her crime through if the victim only shows any struggle to fight for his life," mas lalo pang kumunot ang noo nito. "The victim does not show any signs of struggle and it was a fact that he was attacked from behind. Ibig sabihin, when the victim came and sat inside his car, he already knew that he will be killed by his sister."

"What the—" hindi makapaniwalang reaksyon nito. "But she was so angelic..."

Napapikit naman ako sa naging komento nito. So that's the reason why he was so hyped to defend the girl. "Any girl with angelic face can turn into devil in a split second, you know?"

"So paano naman niya pinlanong patayin ang kapatid niya?" tanong naman ni Uncle Dy.

"Hindi ba nakakapagtakang nakalabas ng tinutuluyan nila si Oscar nang hindi man lang namamalayan ni Gino na siyang may kaconference call ng mga oras na iyon sa living room?"

"Come to think of it, napag-usapan nga din namin yan during the interrogation. It looks like Oscar went through the back door para lumabas. Pero ang tanong ay, bakit?"

"Baka dahil ayaw niyang malaman ni Gino na lalabas siya nang dis-oras ng gabi para katagpuin ang girlfriend nito."

"What?"

"Suspetsa ko, may relasyon si Oscar at Maine and Clara was aware of it. Kaya habang naliligo nang mga oras na iyon si Maine, pumasok siya sa loob ng kwarto nito at tinext ang kuya niya gamit ang phone ni Maine. Pumasok din ito sa loob ng kwarto ni Jammy para kumuha ng spray paint na gagamitin niya para mag-iwan ng note. The latter was a heavy sleeper kaya hindi niya namalayan ang pagpasok ni Clara sa kwarto niya."

"Why did she have to act up to such length?"

"Para mas malayo sa kanya ang suspetsa namin," sabat naman ni Uncle. "The spray paint and the text message lead us in a trap, a false investigation. At mas lalo pa yung nagulo dahil sa iniwang message na 'And then there were None.'"

"Pero hindi naman siya nagmatch sa handwriting ni Clara, di ba?" Nico asked.

"Yes. According to the forensic handwriting experts, hindi matched sa sulat ng limang suspek ang sulat ng nasa windshield ng kotse. Paano mo ipapaliwanag iyon, Euclid?" baling sa'kin ni uncle.

"I found the answer to that question... here," ipinakita ko sa kanila ang dalawang pictures ni Clara habang nasa crime scene. The first one, she was holding an umbrella with her right hand. On the second picture, she was wiping her tears with her left hand. "I believe she's ambidextrous."

"Aren't you just assuming things based on these pictures?" Nico defended.

"I tried to think of possible scenarios that might probably be the answer to this case but, this is the best solution I could think of." Nico gave a sigh of defeat. "Jammy is a painter while Jakeem, Gino and Maine used their hands too in doing computer works. If the culprit did not leave the 'And then there were none' note, pwede pa sana nating sabihin na lahat sila ay pwedeng suspek sa pagkamatay ni Mr. Regidor. But since none of them matched the handwriting analysis and there is no chance that the killer was an outsider, iisa lang ang pwedeng sagot. One of them must be an ambidextrous. Since playing the piano demands more skill than any other instrument, the tendency to be right or left-handed has to be overcome. Clara's hands as a pianist, needs to be equally active kaya siya lang ang posibleng killer sa kasong 'to."