INM 5 Part 2
by CherryI deliberately sipped my cup, savoring the refreshing flavors of green tea and chamomile, then stood up. Passing the glass table and my desk, I opened the door at the back of the office. There, on the bookshelf, was a box I had almost forgotten about. I had been too disgusted to touch it, but having someone to check the contents with made this ordinary beige box seem truly ordinary.
Closing the door behind me, I returned to the sofa and placed the box on the table. Under the watchful eyes of the two young men, I untied the string wrapped around the box and opened it.
“What’s this weird eyeball?”
“Matty. It’s a spell to seal the letter.”
Victor looked at me with the eyes of a 17th century monk in front of a heliocentric astronomer. His green eyes, which seemed ready to shout “Heretic!” at any moment, were drawn to the bundle of papers that followed the eyeball charm.
“These papers are pretty tattered. Is this what they call environmentally friendly?”
Ignoring Victor’s muttering, I turned the letter over. Even on second glance, the words were ominous.
The young men beside me, looking at the letter, visibly trembled. And in the next moment, they both let out cries of horror.
“Whoa!”
“Ouch, my ears!”
“What is this? Why are you ignoring it? Do you think this letter will just disappear if you hide it?”
“It’s handwritten! Why are the same words repeated? Did they not even know how to copy and paste?!”
“Seven pages… Did you inform Inspector Robinson of this? Answer me, Luke!”
“The culprit must be a child! It makes perfect sense compared to a primitive human!”
“Um, could you both calm down for a moment?”
“You should be more worried!”
“Don’t tell me to worry less when you’re practically brain-dead!”
“I’m sorry…”
Under the onslaught of the young men, I felt pressured, and they both softened their stern looks slightly.
“This is a very important matter.”
“The letter was in the mailbox the day after we visited you, right? You don’t know the exact time?”
“Oh, Megan, the concierge, noticed the letter in the mailbox. She said we could ask her for the exact time.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“She sounds very reliable.”
“So when exactly was it placed?”
I fell silent at Victor’s question. The atmosphere quickly became tense again.
“Luke. You didn’t ask, did you?”
“Well, considering I almost forgot about the letter altogether.”
At my words, the two young men abruptly stood up. I calmly covered my ears, anticipating their next move.
“Idiot!”
Their voices synchronized perfectly.
“How could you forget such a considerate suggestion?! It concerns your safety!”
“With a clue dangling in front of you, how can you continue as if it’s not there?! Don’t you want to solve the problem?”
“Well, uh, really, I’m sorry.”
“Let’s go ask right now.”
“Wait, wait, Megan’s probably not on duty yet.”
The young men looked down at me with a mixture of frustration and irritation. After standing still for a moment, they reluctantly sat back down on the sofa.
“Today, confirm the time and contact me. Understand?”
“Until you confirm the time, don’t expect a peaceful night.”
“Got it, already…”
Feigning nonchalance, I reflected on how I had pushed the young men to say so much. I had put off a problem that wasn’t going to solve itself unless I took action.
“Do you think this letter has anything to do with Alan?”
Noticing the hint of “proactivity” in my words, the irritation disappeared from Kasim and Victor’s faces, replaced by a serious look.
“I’m not sure. But it’s pretty likely, I think.”
“It’s hard to believe that this idiot was one of Alan’s acquaintances. But considering the timing, it’s quite likely.”
“What exactly does he not like about me?”
Victor answered my question immediately.
“Without realizing it, you hold the key to identifying the culprit. It’s a mystery novel theory.”
“You know, you actually like mysteries, don’t you?”
“Not particularly. So do you have any suspects?”
“If I did, I would have told the cops by now.”
“The last time you saw Alan, did he mention any plans after that?”
Kasim’s words sent another stab of pain through my temple. My last conversation with Alan. His plans after that. His voice echoed, “It’s a promise.”
“I probably didn’t ask. But I feel like I made some kind of promise to Alan back then.”
“A promise?”
“I don’t remember what the promise was. Truly.”
At my words, the two exchanged glances.
“All right. If you remember anything, please contact the police.”
“Stop being so passive. This is about Alan.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll do my best. Well, I have another appointment soon, can you go back to school? If you need to ask me anything else, just contact me.”
Victor immediately took out his device, his bright green eyes staring intently at me. It seemed that he was finally ready to communicate with me directly.
After exchanging contact information with the young men, I saw them off at the entrance. Just before closing the door, I suddenly called out to Kasim.
“Hey, do you have any pictures of Alan? High school ones will do.”
“Since we were in the same grade, I should have some if I look…”
Feeling a little guilty under the young man’s curious gaze, I didn’t explain that I suddenly couldn’t remember Alan’s face. Instead, I offered a similar excuse.
“It’s just that… I’m a little afraid that my memories of Alan might fade away like that.”
The young man’s slightly droopy eyes softened kindly at my apology.
“Got it. I’ll send it as soon as I find one.”
“That would be helpful.”
“By the way, may I ask a favor in return?”
My relieved face tensed at Kasim’s words.
Anticipating a troublesome request, I braced myself as he continued.
“I want you to take me to the place where you met Alan.”
Kasim’s request filled me with even more guilt. I had actually met Alan at Alexandra’s shop, but I had told Kasim it was a gastropub.
“All right, I’ll think about it.”
He seemed somewhat satisfied with my vague answer. With a smile and a “Thank you”, Kasim quickly walked over to the impatient looking Victor.
“July 13th. The time was 9:38 p.m.”
Our ever-reliable concierge, Megan Bilpure, had immediately guessed my reason for coming. She effortlessly gave me the date and time the letter was mailed, while at the same time nudging me, “Isn’t it a little late to be asking about this now?” I sent the date and time to the two students and thanked Megan sincerely.
If Megan says so, there’s no doubt about the date and time. The problem was my memory. Even when I heard the date, I couldn’t remember what happened that day. I think it was around the time I met the students for the first time. For the past year or two, I had meticulously managed all my appointments electronically. So when I was away from my devices, I was forced to remember my forgetful nature.
Back in the office, the first thing I did was pour hot water over a Ceylon tea bag. I needed to organize the information chronologically. I rolled five pieces of dark chocolate with dried strawberries onto a colorful Spanish plate, popped one in my mouth, and took the cup back to my desk. I launched my calendar app and project management tool, realized the tasks I had overlooked, hurriedly created an estimate, made several design proposals, and sent them to the clients. In about two hours, I had passed all the balls I had received back to my work partners. Riding on this momentum, I printed out the calendar from the week I last saw Alan to this week and spread it out on my desk.
First, I wrote “9:38 PM – Letter mailed” on July 13.
In the same way, I started writing on the calendar with my favorite cheap pen about things related to Alan and my main schedule for those days, while checking the apps. It was surprising how events I thought happened on different days were actually on the same day, and things I thought were on close days were more than a week apart, highlighting the unreliability of human memory.
As I worked through it manually, I slowly recalled each event one by one. The cops told me about Alan’s death the day after I learned about Grandma’s death. Only now did it occur to me that the anniversaries of their deaths were on the same day.
Thinking of them, I closed my eyes and gripped the pen tightly. Working right after I found out about Grandma’s death was incredibly hard. I thought the long process of reviewing at work was what caused me pain, but looking back, that review only took about two hours. Normally I wouldn’t find it a burden to verify the spaces created with my colleagues. It’s strange that I hadn’t realized until now how much my heart had weakened by then.
I took another piece of chocolate and continued.
The dates that caught my eye in the written timeline were the 10th, 11th, and 13th, when the letter was mailed. On the 10th, right after lunch with Alan, I had a final work confirmation task, then went to Fairfield’s dining bar as planned. There, after barely drinking, I lost my memory and someone, probably a man wearing leather shoes, escorted me back to my bedroom.
The very next day, I was informed of Grandma’s death, and without time to ponder the strangeness of the previous night, I rushed to my hometown.
Gently tapping the calendar with my pen-holding index finger, I pondered. The anniversary of my grandmother’s death and the day of my last job confirmation were the same, I realized after organizing things. I had vaguely canceled a job right after I learned of her death. I couldn’t remember what I did the next morning, as if there was a blank space. I had a blurry memory of the afternoon… arguing with Kirk, going to Alexandra’s shop in that moment, meeting Leo, and then falling into a pit on the way back.
Remembering my actions back then, I scratched my head with a wry smile. I was completely manic at the time. Looking back, it’s understandable.
The memories are vivid. I saw Brian again on the 12th, and on the 13th, the cops, Maria, and four students each barged into my office. I noted on the calendar the times they visited my office and when I went to Alexandra’s shop with Brian. Then I tapped with my pen on the words “9:38 PM – Letter mailed” just below it.
This meant that the letter was mailed twenty minutes after Brian and I returned home from enjoying the night view of Mount Coot-tha.
Having organized everything up to this point, I finally muttered “I see”, and leaned back in my chair. I understood why the cops wanted information about the university students and why Kasim was so insistent on confirming whether this letter had been reported to the them. I had been too close to the case. Worse, I had been passive about everything, which was why I hadn’t seen anything clearly.
Now I also understood why Brian had urged me to be careful with the man that night. It’s about the drugs. Alan and I, personally connected, were both given something to drink by someone in this very city of Brisbane. If my memories noted on this calendar are correct, it was the 10th for both of us. Alan and I got something to drink on the same day.
I couldn’t believe it was a coincidence, not even for a second. Back then, I didn’t have such a bad impression of the man from that night. But now, my first impression of him had completely disappeared. Now, the unrecognized malice frightened me, and more than that, a deep anger against the man burned in my stomach. When the call from reception came after a while, I couldn’t get up, still staring at the calendar.