A Chance For Love

  ***

  Stella's eyes widened at my drenched uniform. Sat on a bed, she prepared to administer my IV drip. "What happened to you? Were you attacked as well?"

  "No," I said. "I'm fine. The floor was watery, so I slipped."

  "Why did you visit the toilet?" she asked. "It's not like you don't know the sickbay has its own toilet. Is there something you're not telling me?"

  "We had to rush to the crime scene in search of evidence," Raheem said.

  Stella gestured me over and helped me out of my wet jacket. Undoing the first two buttons on my shirt, I slackened my tie and rolled up my sleeves. My eyes zeroed in on the syringe in her hand. Forcing my attention away from it, I lay supine on the bed.

  "I honestly wish I could be of help in this case," Stella said, her eyes roaming the length of my half-unclothed arm. "It's sick that someone attacks people in the name of my sister."

  Finding the administration site, she tightened the tourniquet around my arm. I shut my eyes and willed my mind away from the needle. Amidst the darkness in my mind, I scrambled for a worthwhile distraction. I trained my attention on my non-dominant arm and tricked myself into believing the needle would sting it and not the other. And to an extent, it worked. The needle bit into my skin and slipped into my vein with minimal pain.

  "I want the culprit to be brought to justice," Stella said.

  "I want that more than anything," I said.

  She advanced to the counter and picked up her tote bag. Digging into it, she said, "I don't see how this helps, but I found this on the floor after the first victim was brought here."

  She returned to me, her fist clenched over an object. Raheem walked over to us. His breath caught in his throat as Stella's fist unclenched, exposing the object.

  "Let me see," I said. Stella lowered her palm to my line of sight. On it sat a lone earring: Nengi's missing earring. Something didn't seem right. Raheem's pensive eyes confirmed this.

  Stella placed the earring in Raheem's demanding palm. "Whose is it?"

  "Did Nengi visit this place yesterday?" Raheem asked.

  "No," Stella said. Recollecting the details of the previous day, she added, "Vicky was my only patient, until Doreen came along. I'm sure no one else came in except you and the principal."

  "And the day before?" Raheem asked. "Did Nengi come?"

  "Some students have no idea what this place looks like," Stella said. "Nengi is one of such students. Until today's incident forced her here."

  "So how did it get here?" I asked.

  "Isn't it clear already?" Raheem asked. "Even a master serial killer makes one mistake that though seemingly insignificant, could lead to his downfall. How much more this amateur?"

  Without a doubt, we had discovered the culprit. Nengi had attacked Doreen. Doreen had tried to struggle, and so the earring fell off Nengi's ear and got stuck in Doreen's jacket. But why would Nengi try to kill her best friend?

  Unlike me, Raheem didn't seem stunned by this revelation. He seemed to have known this from the start.

  "Now that the culprit has been identified, what next?" I asked.

  "I like to toy with my playthings for a bit," Raheem said, giving me the impression he'd solved other cases in the past. "We will have her return to the crime scene on her own. And we will have her confess her crime voluntarily."

  "How?" Stella stole my question.

  "Here's the plan," Raheem said. "While I go speak to Nengi, Miss Brown will hide in one of the stalls, waiting for her to walk into the trap. Once we have her, it's all done."

  With a sigh, I looked up at the bag of fluid. "I'm confined to this bed."

  Moving to me, Stella paused the drip. She pulled out the needle and placed a cotton wool over where it had been. "Be back once it's done."

  I nodded. I made to stand, but memories of yesterday's vertigo drifted past my mind, forcing me to remain in the bed for a second too long. After a few moments, I slowly raised myself to stand. Standing still as a statue, I gauged my reaction. Everything seemed fine.

  "You ready?" Raheem asked.

  "Yeah," I said. Stella smiled at us as we walked out of the sickbay and toward our plan. "You seem so confident that she'll go to the restroom on her own."

  "Of course," Raheem said. After a moment, he explained, "It's simple. I only have to inform her of an earring the janitor came across in the restroom. Of course it's a pretty expensive piece and it would be a shame for the owner to lose it forever. And so I'll ask her to go check it out, and if it isn't hers, she could spread the word so the owner and the jewelry get united in the end."

  "That's brilliant," I said. "You really think she'll fall for it?"

  "Positive." He thought for a moment. "Trust me, she won't suspect a thing and will race here to retrieve the evidence ASAP. She is that stupid."

  Reaching into his pocket, he brought out Nengi's earring and placed it on my palm. "Drop it on the third sink and stay in position until she comes to retrieve it."

  Without another word, he walked away, leaving me to walk in the opposite direction.