DAYMARE 17: The Witness is in Distress part 2

“How are you, Lewin? Did you receive the food Riegel sent you?” Sir Remy spoke again.

“I’m doing good, Sir. Yes, it was great. Thank you for the food. By the way, I thought your son was in another province?”

“Didn't your mother or sister tell you? My son came home recently to visit me, and he will stay here for a few days. And He visits us every week.”

Mama and Vea know Riegel. I didn’t even know about that until now.

"I see. Where is he?”

I don’t have to waste any more time. I must settle this promptly.

"Riegel, son!" Sir Remy calls him.

I don’t know why but I feel a little nervous.

Soon, Riegel came out of the eatery. He was wearing a white T-shirt, marron shorts and white flipflops.

He was the dude I saw before who sent us the food

“Lewin is looking for you. Didn’t know you knew each other.” Sir Remy told him.

He watched me from head to toe with a blank facial expression.

Sir Remy has gone back to the kitchen and continues to take care of his customers.

I took a deep breath before-

"What do you need?" Riegel asked me. His face was still expressionless.

"H-Hi.” I stuttered. “I’m Lewin. Your father is the one who fixes our plumbing. Thanks for the food you delivered last time!” He looked at me with a bored face. “Anyway,” I scanned around. “I think we should talk in a more private place, shall we?"

There are a lot of people here in the eatery and we need privacy to talk about this case.

"Why?”

“Uhm, there’ this thing I would like to ask you.”

“Can’t you ask me here instead?”

What a total snob this dude is!

He doesn't seem to be available on a sudden yet simple request. I have left with no choice but to tell him my sole purpose.

I approached him and whispered, “What is your relationship with Hestral?”

I moved my stance after saying that. I saw the expression on his face changed. He stared at me as if what I had said was wrong.

Bull’s eye! He has a connection to Hestral.

"What do you mean?" he asked seriously.

“Don’t deny that you have a connection with Hestral Gern, do you? If you want to continue this conversation, we should leave here first; this isn’t the right place to talk about this topic.

I walked away, assuming he would follow me.

Obviously, he’s hiding something from me and I’m not going to let him hide ‘em!

"Stop," he called at me.

"Hey, Riegel. You-ve grown a lot." A customer talked to him.

He forced a smile. "Yes, haha," he said to the old man.

He walked towards me. “Follow Me”

He gave in. That was a good trick of mine.

We walked for 15 minutes where there were no people surround us, just the plants, trees, and soil. Enough space that no one will hear or witness us.

"What is your business with me, huh?" he asked.

“I want to know what your connection is with Hestral.”

He was silent for a moment. “And why do you want to know that? What do I have to do with you? Who are you?" he asked, interrogating me with his consecutive questions. I should be the one doing that to him, that’s why I’m here.

He’s confused as I am.

"I am a former student of Clairene Academy who also moved here like Hestral. Honestly, I shouldn't delve into this issue, but she was my schoolmate in both schools. My family and I live in her house here. My friends' brother and sister were involved with her death. And lately, I worked with Hestral's friend from the Metro to dig deeper about her case.”

Hopefully, with these answers I can convince him to discuss things with him.

"Hmp,” he scoffed. “You came from that academy too. Why did you think I was involved with that girl?"

"I have evidence."

My evidence is Hestral's document where Riegel's name was mentioned once.

"You’re that desparate to know the truth?"

“Answer my question. What is your relationship with Hestral?”

“I was her classmate in grade 10. I was the student council president the year before Hestral enrolled. I worked with her because she was the muse. Occasionally, we talk about school activities as part of our school duties as officers. That's all. No more no less.”

“H-Huh? That's all?"

I was not satisfied with what he said.

“Why? What do you want to hear? That I killed her?”

My eyes widened at what he said. I didn’t even think of the possibility of that, but he asked that as if I was suspecting him of murder.

Why does he have so much self-confidence to say that?

“What are you talking about?”

"Don’t tell me that it wasn't what you think of me."

Not that I think he’s Hestral’s murderer, but now I can’t get that possibility out of my mind since he asked me a question like that!

"I didn’t say anything like that. All I want is clarity because my mind’s a mess.”

"If you're in a mess, isn't it time for you to stop digging closed cases and think about your own life?" he asked sarcastically.

He slowly walked away from me.

“Hey, I’m not done yet,”

I chased after him and grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him from walking away from me.

*boogsh*

“Argh,” I groaned.

"I told you everything you want to get from me. Don’t you dare follow me or else, I’ll call the police.."

What’s wrong with this dude?! There’s really something off with him!

I slowly sat up when he pushed me. I still need to talk to him.

Maybe I should go back tomorrow. He’s in a bad mood.

What happened next was a bit uncalled for. A boy man approached Riegel as he walked away from me. I was shocked when that boy suddenly punched Riegel and threatened him at the same time, shouting furiously.

Ugh, Jethro.

I walked quickly and saw the two of them glaring at each other.

This is bad.

"Jethro," I called him.

“I followed you here because I heard that you were looking for someone named Riegel. And finally, he is here.”

Jethro probably knew the place because he had heard I asked the two girls at school about Riegel earlier.

“Who are you?! What do you want from me?” Riegel asked angrily while wiping the blood off the side of his lip.

“Riegel, right? I know that you are involved with Hestral Gern and are responsible for her death. If you don’t want further damage to your face, kindly cooperate with us,” he said calmly, but I could hear a threat in his tone that you shouldn’t say no to what he wants you to do.

"What do you know about her death?" Riegel asked.

“She mentioned your name once in a document, which is her journal. It was a subtle description about you, so we came here in person to clear an issue.”

"You’re suspecting me, don't you?"

“Of course. Would you please explain your innocence?”

Riegel was obviously frustrated. I didn't know that Jethro had this gangster side of him. He might look cool and calm, but he won’t hesitate to punch you if you wrong him.

I couldn’t say all the information I knew about Hestral earlier because I can’t trust Riegel yet.

Riegel composed himself.

"A phantom killed her."

Huh?

“What?” Jethro furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief from what we heard from Rigel.

“Unbelievable, isn't it? Believe it or not, Hestral can sense phantoms. Because of that, she went insane. And one night, she was killed and died out of the blue.”

"We're not kidding here, Riegel. Tell us the truth!" I threatened Riegel to stop his nonsense and stop wasting our time. No one would believe his bluff, anyway.

"What’s your proof of your claim?" Jethro asked.

Eh? Jethro isn’t supposed to believe him.

"My proof is that you don’t have proof that it was done by a human being.”

I got chills down my spine from what he revealed.

“How many times have you investigated and come up with the correct reasoning that connects the dots? How many people have uncovered the truth? None, right? All of your efforts were in vain because you denied the most illogical answer you could think of. What’s worse is that it is actually the truth you’re denying."