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Jiro awoke around midnight and sat up on the couch rubbing his face awake. He yawned and went into the bathroom to splash his face with cold water. Heading back out he grabbed the manila folder with Keven’s records and went downstairs. No matter how late it was Calvin had to be in and whether or not he was asleep Jiro would wake him up.

Knocking on the door a few minutes later Jiro waited in front of Calvin’s apartment. The door opened only moments later and Jiro was surprised to notice that Calvin had been awake all along. His long blue night robe and the coffee from his bedroom told him Calvin was working on his new novel.

He raised his eyebrow in surprise, “My, isn’t it a little late for you to be visiting me?”

“Let me in. I have something important to ask you.”

“Is it something regarding to the murder mystery questions last time?”

Jiro pushed the door and allowed himself in.

“I was going to invite you in anyway, but big deal. You’re just Jiro.” Calvin voiced out as he locked the door behind him. “So what is it do you want from an author like me? I guess I’m too much of a genius for you.”

Calvin crossed his arms as he stood over the table where Jiro was busy sorting some paper out. Without saying anything Calvin watched Jiro sort out some dates and placed sheets and sheets of his questions next to each other.

“Look.”

Calvin glanced at the papers slowly and guessed that they were the evidence Jiro had collected so far. For the first time in his life and for the first time since he’d met Jiro…he forgot how long ago they met…but this was the first time Jiro had shown him any real evidence of his investigations. There were a lot of papers and Calvin felt overwhelmed looking at his handwritings and all the printed documents. He didn’t know where to begin and where to end so Calvin just skimmed through each one slightly then turned to Jiro.

“Have you taken a shower?” Calvin asked.

Jiro glared.

Calvin scratched his head then pointed to all the paper, “What’s all this? I don’t know what you want me to find out by looking at these. I’m only a novelist not a D.A. I really want to thank you for allowing me a glance at these evidence but I don’t know what you want from me. Can you just ask a question or give some sort of order?”

“I just want you to look at the dates. Tell me if you find anything suspicious.”

“Like what? You don’t even explain anything to me, so how am I supposed to answer you?”

“The dates, the dates!” Jiro pointed impatiently to the dated records of offenses that belonged to Keven. “Read it thoroughly.”

Calvin frowned deeply at Jiro and had no choice to read every single word off the piece of paper.

“Well, you’ve already asked all the questions, so I’m not sure what you want me to say.” Calvin said biting a chip of the nail off his thumb.

“2007 January 1 Keven was speeding. Don’t you wonder why he was speeding? It was the same day that Hebe’s children were abducted. 2007 January 5 he bailed out Lu Wei Lian, doesn’t this show that they’re related somehow? They must be friends or they must owe each other something if Keven bailed him out. Then comes 2007 February 16. It’s been one month since the twins were missing and Keven does not have any children that I know of and with the aggressive personality of his I highly doubt he would have children. Then comes June 15, 3 months after the attempted burglary, Keven is found with suspicious activity at the graveyard. It’s been 5 months since the disappearance of the twins and as you know young children get sick easily, they could have gotten sick anytime between those months.”

“And you are saying…” Calvin waved his hand waiting for him to finish what he was saying.

Jiro became silent as if afraid of what he was going to hear from his own mouth then finally went on, “That the children are no longer here.”

“You’re assuming, am I correct?” questioned Calvin.

Jiro didn’t reply.

“If you find that graveyard activity suspicious just like that graveyard janitor found it strange then you should ask him for details. He might be able to provide you with what he really saw and not what the officer noted down.”      

“One more thing, I happened to see Keven at a wedding a few weeks back. Do you think he knows of anyone who could have told him about it?”

Calvin rubbed his chin for a moment then shrugged, “Well, information about the wedding might have been published in the newspaper. But seeing him at the wedding isn’t really important, is it?”

“Thanks Calv.” Jiro suddenly jammed all his paper into one pile and stuffed them into the folder then walked out leaving Calvin confused about what he’d just said.

Once morning arrived and the sun would be high up in the sky Jiro would be sure the make an appointment with that graveyard janitor.

||||||||

Hebe woke up earlier than she’d expected and drunk some coffee instead of tea that morning. She had a really disturbing feeling that had been haunting her all morning. Something was going to happen and she knew that she wouldn’t like it. Whatever it would be she hoped to get the day over with and just see Jiro again. She needed assurance now…that everything would be ok…whatever that everything was.

||||||||

Selina finally vomited that morning and noticed how weak her legs felt when she stood in the bathroom. What a sick feeling she had. The agony her body brought her was more than enough of a year’s pain. She rinsed her face with cold water minutes later and stared into the mirror. Those two women’s conversation played and played in her head till no end. She felt burdened. When she walked out of the bathroom she grabbed her phone and looked up Ella’s phone number and heard her voice on the other side of line. Just hearing her voice made Selina feel a bit more relieved.

“Are you free right now?” Selina questioned in a calm voice.

“I’m actually out of the city right now.” Ella replied. “Is something up?”

Selina paused for a bit debating whether or not she should confide to Ella about her thoughts, but at the end Selina backed out.

“It’s nothing. Have a safe trip.” Selina hung up the phone and stared into space.

If Ella wasn’t in town then….Hebe would the only one left on the list that Selina could turn to, but that would have to wait until after work. Hopefully, she would be able to meet up with her then.

||||||||

The shy guy had helped Jiro locate the graveyard janitor. Apparently, he was off duty during the day and was probably dozing off at his home. However, Jiro had made a call to his home and had an appointment to meet with him late that afternoon. He had decided to relax a bit and call Hebe but she was at work unable to answer her phone. With that he turned the TV on and watched it until it was about time for his appointment. He’d already decided all the questions he wanted to ask.

The graveyard janitor lived in a small luxurious house. It looked like a happy place to live. Gold railings that sided the stairs up to the white house. The green trees and bushes made the house unbelievably eye catching. When Jiro knocked on the door he was stunned to see a man in his 40’s standing before him. Jiro had expected to see a man in his 50’s for some reason.

“It’s a good day isn’t it investigator?” the janitor greeted. “Come in.”

Jiro thanked him and glanced around at the clean walls. A family picture hung to the right of the wall in a simple black frame and fresh new flowers sat on the middle of the kitchen table. The window above the kitchen sink gave a really nice view of the yard they had. The kind of home Jiro felt he would like to retreat to when he would be getting older.

“Would you like a little bit of tea to drink?” asked the janitor.

“No thanks.” Jiro finally noticed that the man was superbly tall. He seemed a bit over 6 feet. “Does your family live here?” Jiro questioned when he sat down at the kitchen table.

“Just my wife and I. The children are all on their own right now.” the janitor took a seat. “That call from you was a bit sudden yesterday, but I had been thinking about reporting it to the police anyway.”

“In the report it said that you reported a man trying to dig something up. What do you mean by that?”

“I have a really good memory, investigator. I want to let you know I wouldn’t make anything up because what I told that other guy, he just laughed it off.”

“I won’t laugh it off. This is very important to me.”

The janitor nodded going on, “I was patrolling at night that day. It was nearly 1:00 in the morning when I finally came across the cemetery where we bury children. It's a little beyond the graveyard where we bury veterans so even if a dog moved around in the area you wouldn't even notice it because it's so far back. When I finally finished my rotation around the other part of the cemetary and neared the children's cemetary I saw a man at the back moving quietly, but it seemed like he didn’t know I was there. I called the cops then, but that cop took my words as bogus. However, after I went to take a look at what the man had been doing I found a hole. Not just a normal hole, but one that would be big enough for a baby to be buried in. It gives me a bad feeling, investigator.”

“The children’s cemetery?” Jiro repeated.

Keven had been trying to dig up an area deep enough for a baby to fit into. If he had more time he would have made two-and he would have made them big enough for toddlers.

“Did you notice if he brought anything with him?” Jiro asked. “Bodies or anything?”

The janitor thought for a moment, “The scene was clear.”

“I’m wondering if it’d be alright if I go there.” Jiro questioned.

“I’ve already put the soil back into the ground. I don’t know if there’s anything left over for you to observe.”

“I’m going to go anyway. You said at the back of the cemetery, right?”

||||||||

Selina found herself rushing to the bathroom more than a dozen times that day. She was beginning to sweat and feel a fever coming on. Maybe she really was getting sick.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder which startled her so much that she jumped. It was only one of the female employees she worked with.

“Are you not feeling well?” she questioned. “Aaron seems overly worried. Do you want to go home?”

Selina turned the sink faucet off and turned to look at herself in the mirror. Maybe she did want to go home after all.

“Yea, I want to go home. Can you help me ask?” Selina questioned.

The female employee nodded and quickly walked out.

When Selina got back to her apartment she felt so weak she thought trying to eat would help, but in the end just looking at the food made her feel sick. Giving up Selina went to lay down and fell into a light slumber. She awoke later to find that it was evening already. Getting up she thought maybe she should drop in on Hebe about right now. And she would do just that.