If She Knew

Chapter-12

I had a pretty decent sleep that night although I woke up quite a few times, credits to my nightmares. Well, at least I didn't have to stay prepared with a knife whole night long this time. Thanks to Bruno's barks that I didn't get to oversleep and got up right on time. It was 6 am. I rummaged through my backpack to find an outfit that would suit the risky mission we were setting out for. Even though the weather was not that cold, I decided on a black hoodie as it would do its best task in hiding my identity.

Jonas was already waiting for me outside my room when I got there with Bruno.

Wait, he was also wearing a black hoodie!

"High Fiveeee!" we both exclaimed in unison as we threw our hands forward for a high five, but missed it by a few inches. We both giggled together at that.

Jonas informed that Xaviers had already left. We both stuffed a slice of garlic bread in our mouths as we headed downstairs. We had decided to drop Bruno on the first floor in the pet-lover lady's house. Although cats and dogs didn't share that much of a good relation, I hoped that Bruno finds some good company with them.

It would be too risky to take the car to the Valdez Mansion now, so Jonas took out a motorbike from a corner of the parking lot which had a kind of sidecar attached to it. Damn, I had never seen a motorbike with a sidecar before. I thought those had gone extinct long back.

"Unique, isn't it?" Jonas asked with a broad smile spread across his face.

"It surely is," I replied.

"Perks of being a detective, we still get to use it even though it's really rare these days."

Jonas settled on the main bike while I buckled myself up in the sidecar. We both put our helmets on, mainly with the intention to hide our faces rather than safety purposes. The journey was quick this time, unlike the last time when we nearly had a tour around the whole of Rome to get here from the Valdez Mansion. Jonas stopped the bike a few blocks away from our destination and parked it there. We decided to take the rest of the path on foot for safety precautions.

We made our way towards the wrought iron gate that led to the back entrance of the mansion, making sure there was no other human apart from the two of us.

"The key's not working," Jonas mumbled in a worried tone after trying his key in the lock which he had used the previous time to open it.

"They must have changed the lock," I guessed, sensing danger.

Jonas surveyed the gate and then the brick wall around it before finally looking at me with an expression that said everything that was going on in his mind.

"No June! I have never done it before," I exclaimed.

"Well, there's no other option."

I accepted the fact and nodded, although a dilemma was still racing in my mind of whether we should just go back.

"First, tell me which side of the brick wall is surrounded by the most bushes and trees."

I pondered upon the map of our massive mansion in my head before replying, "The corner of the right side wall."

As we reached the spot, the leaves of a gargantuan willow tree swayed gently in the chilly autumn wind.

"Perfect!"

He unzipped a secret chamber in his hoodie and procured out a dynamic rope- wait what kind of hoodie was that?

Well, I didn't bother to ask about it because I supposed I already knew the answer: 'just detective stuff'.

He examined the willow tree carefully before asking, "How strong is it?"

"It's our ancestral tree. Your rope might tear, but there won't be a single scratch to the tree's bark," I responded proudly.

He giggled a little before swirling the rope in a way I had seen in movies and threw one end towards the widest bark of the tree.

The rope will now twist around the bark, I thought. I waited in exhilaration, but well, seemed like I was too quick in assuming it. It turned out nothing like the films; instead, the rope simply fell down to the ground. Epic fail.

"Uh never mind," he said with the same 'grinning face with cold sweat' emoji expression from the phone.

"I'm not great at this. I wish Xav Bro was here, he's excellent."

After five unsuccessful attempts, he finally managed to twist the rope around the bark and tightened it.

"If I break my neck and die, tell Alyssa that I loved her," he joked before starting his climb.

This guy is never changing.

When he had settled in a pretty decent position at the top of the brick wall, he called me out to do the same. I gulped as I looked at the height he was calling me out from. I stiffened my grip on the rope, preparing myself for the risky task. I was shaking.

I closed my eyes, thought about my mission, and then began. It took me way longer than it took Jonas, mostly because I slipped quite a few times at the start. When I almost reached the top, Jonas pulled me up by one hand, and I carefully settled down beside him. The willow tree did its best in obscuring us from view. There was 'waterdrop silence' in the sense that the only note of sound that resonated in the surrounding silence was the melody of the soft gurgling of clear water from the delicate marble fountain that stood in front of the threshold of the house. There was no hint of any human movement except-

"June, I think someone's watching us," I muttered as I sensed another danger upcoming.

"Where?"

"There-" I pointed diagonally, but the figure was already gone. I couldn't make out the face due to the great height, or else I could have recognized who it was.

"Chill, there's no one. You ready?"

Wait, ready for what? I looked down below us to realize that we still had to get down. A chill of horror ran down my spine as I thought about that. No, I was not ready.

But before I could say it, Jonas had already started his countdown.

"Don't scream or else they'll hear us," he warned.

"In 3, 2, 1, and there we go!"

It was already happening even before I realized it was. I was going to kill June for pulling me down with him.

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