Chapter 12: The Suspicious Lawyer
Help came along.
A suited man walked down the underground passage. He is carrying a briefcase. He is a man with blonde hair and green eyes. He walks down the passage as if everything is all well. It cannot be denied that he is seeing the threat around us but he does not flinch or say anything. Next thing I know, he acts like a diplomat.
"Gentlemen, what is this all about?" the man says calmly.
"Step away, mister!" their leader says. "You have no business here."
"Yes, I do," he says. "I am a responsible citizen and I can easily report you for all of these. What are the charges that I see here?" He thinks slyly for a moment. "It appears that you are pointing several rifles at them. Also, is it even legal to possess a military grade rifle privately? How about stalking which appears you did?"
Their leader puts his rifle to his side and takes his threat off us. Well, that is one less gun to shoot us if we speak wrongly. Even though the leader put his gun off, the other eleven stayed in place with their threats against us.
"Mister, I suggest that you go up this passage and say nothing about this," the leader says. "We promise that you will be rewarded greatly for your actions."
"Oh, I do not care about money," the man says steadily. "I have a lot of that. I, however, do care about these two journalists that you have come to threaten. Now, I suggest you put the rifles down. There is a police officer within the 100-meter radius. I could easily call the station and the officer will be here. So, do you want to leave scot-free or stay behind bars for maybe five years or so?"
Wait. How did he know that we are journalists? Who is this man? I can tell that the leader was frightened into submission. With just a single nod from him, all the gunmen put their rifles down. I can finally breathe calmly. Before they leave, the leader gave a few words for us.
"Now, I want you to reconsider our offer once more," the leader says in a whisper. "We will come back for you and by that time, you must have all the evidence thrown and burned away. If not, you know what will happen."
He points to his gun and with a sly smile; he walks scot-free due to the man's threat against them. After they had left, I let out a sigh of relief and Mateo taps me on the shoulder as a means of congratulations on our valor and faith in our story.
"Sheesh," the man says. "Whatever you two must have found out, it must have been incriminating since you attracted the attention of a mafia gang."
"Mafia gang?" I say trying to feel this unusual phrase.
"Mafia gang," he says once more. "Anyway, fear not. They are not coming after you again."
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Mateo asks suspiciously on him.
"I am Attorney Nathan Guevarra," the man says proudly. "So, you two are journalists from Lucia City Times then. The Lucia City Times has been getting a lot of original and fresh stories lately. Mateo Macedo and Rosanna Aguinaldo will soon have a price on their heads if they keep getting incriminating intelligence against the elite."
"But we are Mateo Macedo and Rosanna Aguinaldo!" Mateo exclaims.
"Well, you certainly made yourself quite famous among the elite," the man called Atty. Guevarra says crossly. "Anyway, you ought to be careful."
"Attorney, thank you for what you did earlier, but we seriously have to go," I say as I try to escape this.
"Miss Aguinaldo, I am a lawyer that you would need, I can assure you that," the young lawyer says. "Might I ask, what is the story that you have that made you the target of that mafia?"
"The death of Rex de la Rama," I say plainly.
"Yes, it was quite the mystery," he says. "It only aired one breaking news about it and no one ever talked about it again. All traces of it ever happening had suddenly disappeared. It was as if everyone that saw it and talks about it had the 'Mandela effect'. I, too, was shocked when I saw the breaking news. Come on, let's go to my office. We'll talk."
I still do not trust this man. Though he saved us from death with his diplomatic words, I still cannot trust him since he just came to our rescue and suddenly becomes all this kind and helpful. Mateo and I followed him hesitantly out of the underground passage. As we go through the other side, we finally arrive at a small subtle lawyer's office. It does not appear that he is trying to attract attention from anyone at all.
"Forgive my small office," he says as he opens the door and lets us have a seat on the sofa set. It was quite a cramped office indeed, but it is decently furniture to suit his level in society.
"You might not trust me, I know," he says as he joins us. "But you have every reason to trust me. I am the lawyer of Rade Real Estates. The news came to me so suddenly that the CEO immediately called me to prepare to prosecute the murderer, but as suddenly as the CEO demanded that of me, as suddenly as he took it back. It was as if everyone had been forced into silence."
"How can we be so sure that you are indeed the lawyer of Rade Real Estates?" Mateo asks suspiciously from him.
Then, suddenly, the young lawyer stands up and pulls a binder of files that had been filed against the company and the files that the company filed against someone else.
"Is that enough proof, Mister Macedo?" Atty. Guevarra says smugly. "I should like to be your lawyer as well. As far as I'm concerned, your meddling with the elite has let you become vulnerable to these threats."
"But why are you cooperating and joining sides with us?" I ask.
"We share the same goals, Miss Aguinaldo," he says ambiguously. "Now, I won't say what it is, but I want you to think about it well."
I think about it, and then, I thought we might indeed share the same goal on Mr. de la Rama. We all want justice for his death and this sudden silence made it unfair. We want justice to prevail and we want the truth to come out. Unfortunately, it was as if everyone has been paid to say nothing and know nothing. Maybe, we share that same goal.
"Alright," I say. "I understand."
"Good," he says calmly. "Who do you think is the mastermind of this plot?"
"I don't know," I say. "I don't think Mr. de la Rama hardly had enemies, did he?"
"It has something to do with the elite," he says grimly. "Anyway, it seems that you found something important. What is it? May I read the notepad?"
Hesitantly, Mateo gives his reporter's notebook then the lawyer reads everything Mateo and I had gathered.
"So, this is what came to be," the lawyer says after he read the statement. "Do you really believe everyone had been forced into silence by bribes?"
"It's either that or the same threat we had earlier," Mateo explains coolly.
"My dear journalists, if you are going to find more information about this matter, I suggest you keep silent about it for now," the lawyer says. "Do not appear as if you are searching, or better yet, do not attempt to investigate this matter for a week. This should lead the mafia on to believe that you have become disinterested in the search."
A knock on the door was heard. Atty. Guevarra suddenly looks at the visitor through a peephole and he opens the door for a lovely lady with black hair and blue eyes. This would most likely be his girlfriend or wife. Honestly, she is beautiful and they look like a lovely pair together, until, this happened.
"Sister," the lawyer greets the beautiful lady kindly.
"Brother," the lady says as she gets in.
Well, that was a bummer. I honestly thought that they are a couple, but it turns out that the lady is his sister. They look nothing like each other except the shared slender nose and rosy lips. Apart from that, they seem to be a lovely couple.
"So, new clients, huh?" the lady asks as she puts down a pack of food for her brother on his table.
"Yes," Atty. Guevarra says. "This is Julietta Guevarra, my sister. Do not mind her. She always visits here."
"A pleasure to meet you," the lady called Julietta says kindly. "I better go. I'll be late for the church. Will you join me there?"
"I'll attend church on Sunday," Atty. Guevarra says flatly as he opens the door out for his sister.
Atty. Guevarra, once again, joins us with our talk. Somehow, things are going oddly for me. I have two mysteries to solve. One needs to be done within a month's time and one must be done so that justice will be served. Personally, finding the man behind Emma's poem is a bit of a struggle for me to find. Somehow, I just trust that I might run into a man named Jonathan soon enough. I need to find the family enemy of Emma's family who can face enormous foes and a kindred spirit to Emma. Where am I going to find that?
"Forgive that," the lawyer says. "My sister can be too kind to drop off some food to me before she goes to serve at the church. Anyway, I shall see you again next time. Good day."
Mateo and I walked into our office as the sun takes its beauty rest. It had been a long day. We found so many yet we still hardly knew anything.
"So, what do you think will become of this?" I ask him. "We are suddenly investigators altogether. Do you think this is better than being desk-bound as editors?"
"Searching for the truth is better than anything," Mateo says reassuringly.
Suddenly, I heard my phone rang. It's quite odd. It was an unknown number. I answered it hesitantly.
"Hello, good evening," I say kindly.
"Miss Aguinaldo, I believe you have seen our men quite the intimidating, didn't you?" the lady says cunningly.
"Miss, just give me a moment, please," I say. "Please hold."
I set the call on hold for a while and then, I turned to face Mateo.
"Do you have any connections with the police?" I ask instantly.
"What?" he asks. "Why do you ask? Rosanna, what's going on?"
"Just answer the question!" I exclaim impatiently.
"Of course, I have," he says. "My grandfather was a general in his military days and – "
"Can you contact one of them to trace this call and find this woman?" I ask bluntly.
"Oh, uh, I can ask," he says hesitantly. "Rose, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you when it's over."
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