The Narrator
In the confines of the station, Felipe and Alejandro were filing some reports that they had to file about Basilio Armada's death, amid the sound of the rain outside. It was a lot of paperwork that they had to do. While they were doing paperwork, Enrique was in the interrogation room, busy with interrogating the other two boys: Alfredo Sanchez and Valiente De Las Playas.
Early morning that day, Felipe had interrogated Diego Alonso (the boy who peed in his pants when Felipe questioned him). The sketch he made the sketch artist do was ready. When Felipe and Alejandro saw the completed sketch earlier that night, they understood who the suspect was: Scapoli Gutiérrez.
Scapoli Gutiérrez was wanted by the Police for two years. His pictures were circulated throughout the police network in the country. They were circulated so much that the Police knew him, his face, and what he did, by heart. He was wanted for the crime of assaulting his father when he discovered Scapoli's attempt to rob money from his father's safe. When he tried to confront Scapoli, Scapoli beat him up in such a way that the old man was left dying after he escaped from the crime scene. The old man, however, was found wounded and bleeding the day after, by a neighbor. It was a miracle that the old man was discovered because, if the neighbor did not find him, he would have died. Neither Felipe nor Alejandro knew the name of the father though. Scapoli was a master at escaping. Two years have passed and the Police don't know where to find Scapoli. Felipe had a gut feeling that arresting Scapoli would be the answer to many crimes. A son who could do the despicable act of beating up his father could do any worse thing. Felipe was determined to catch Scapoli.
Just when Felipe sighed in relief as he completed the paperwork, Enrique came to the door.
Whenever a criminal didn't spit out the answers that the Police needed, the person to go to was Felipe. Felipe looked very intimidating. His face and extremely well-built body made him look that way. And Felipe was definitely not the person who would try to sweet-talk a suspect into giving the answers. He gets straight into business and makes the suspect blurt out confessions.
If one never knew Felipe well, they would think of him as a rude person because he is quite stern in his behavior, especially when he deals with criminals. People often think the same about Police officers and soldiers in general. The reason why both police officers and soldiers look rude is that they deal with so many criminals who do brutal crimes that they become tough because of encountering such criminals.
"What's up, Enrique?" Felipe asked.
"Sir, I first interrogated Valiente about why he did the crime. His account of why he did the crime differed from the account that you extracted from Diego this morning. When I confronted him with the account that Diego gave about why he did the crime, Valiente said Diego's was a lie. So I asked Alfredo about the reasons for the crime. When I listened to Alfredo's account, it matched with Valiente's."
As Alejandro heard what Enrique said, he leaned back against his chair, holding his palms together.
"I thought so," Alejandro began.
"What do you mean?" asked Felipe.
"I had an intuition that what Diego said today morning wasn't entirely true, if not completely false," said Alejandro moving his chair a bit forward.
Felipe looked at Alejandro as if Alejandro must be more clear.
Understanding what Felipe's look meant, Alejandro began, "You see Enrique told me about what happened that night when you went to rescue Armada. He told me that Diego was laughing when he was about to stab the old man."
Felipe thought about where Alejandro was going with his words, as he listened to him speak.
"Someone who kills in desperation to save their family doesn't laugh when he's doing the deed. He would be showing some reluctance, some remorse."
Felipe got the gist of what Alejandro was saying but continued to listen after noticing that Alejandro didn't finish what he was saying.
"But Diego was laughing. He could be laughing because of two reasons. Either he could be laughing because he was committing an act of revenge or he could be laughing because was thinking about the thought of gaining something because of committing the murder."
"Hmmm," said Felipe.
Felipe began to recollect what he heard while climbing up the stairs before charging into the room and confronting the boys. The slur "old trashbag" said by Diego and the laughter of the boys was remembered by Felipe, as he began recollecting what happened on the day he rescued the old man.
Felipe knew what to do. He looked at the clock. The clock struck midnight. The fifth day since the beginning of the storm had begun. "Let's meet the boys," Felipe told Enrique, as he got up from his chair.
Avanthi and Shifaly were still awake, even though it was 1:00 a.m. It was raining and the sound of thunder could be heard outside their cabin, but it wasn't windy that day.
Avanthi was teasing Shifaly to death about the fact that Theshana confessed his crush for Shifaly in front of the whole class, the previous day's afternoon.
"Hahaha, you should have seen how red you were!" said Avanthi laughing like a monster.
"Shut up Avanthi!" said Shifaly, throwing a pillow at Avanthi.
Avanthi, as she was madly laughing, caught the pillow, and began quoting some words Theshana said in his confession, "Shifaly. I've always loved you. When I see you in class, you always distract me that instead of focussing on Miss. Dayani's face, I focus on your beautiful face".
She then added, "Heheheeheeee! Oh! you should have seen Miss Dayani's expression when she heard that part."
Avanthi she fell on her back, laughing very hard.
Blushing, Shifaly narrowed her eyes at Avanthi who was in a fit of laughter.
Shifaly said, "Avanthi, I have a feeling that if you ever die, you will die because of me".
Avanthi laughed and continued to brutally tease poor Shifaly.
"When Avanthi laughs," Shifaly thought, "she laughs like a monster like Ravana from the Hindu myth Ramayana."
That afternoon she rejected Theshana's confession and sent him straight back to the acquaintance-zone that he tried to escape from.
As Shifaly began thinking about Theshana's confession, Avanthi began singing:
"♪ Shifaly and Theshana sitting on a tree ♪,
♪ K-I-S-S-I-N-G ♪
♪ First comes love, then comes marriage ♪,
♪Then comes Theshana with a baby carriage ♪."
Having had enough of Avanthi teasing her, Shifaly took another pillow and chased her around the room.
Avanthi laughed as she tried to escape red-faced Shifaly's blows.
Poor Theshana was brutally mocked by his classmates since the previous day's afternoon. Whenever he would pass by the other boys, they would give him the 'friend-zone' salute.
"So tell me why did you do the crime?" asked Felipe. It was 4:30 am, and it was the fifth day since the rainstorm had begun. Felipe was sitting directly across the two boys at the table in the interrogation room.
The two boys were intimidated by the way Felipe was looking at them. Valiente timidly began, "Sir, we come from poor families and the pocket money we have doesn't allow us to buy drugs. That's when Diego came to us telling us that there's an old man that Jorge wanted us to steal from. Diego promised us that Jorge will give us about 40% of the loot if we steal from the old man".
There was a brief silence as Felipe was thinking some things through. He sneezed and then continued to think. The boys stared at him as the continued to think about something.
"If Jorge wanted you to steal money from the old man, then why did you try to kill him?"
In a dry voice, Alfredo began, "Sir, Jorge told us that we must never leave any trace of evidence when we steal from the old man. He gave us a revolver and a switchblade, telling us to kill the old man if necessary"
Felipe asked, "So you met this Jorge then? You said, 'Jorge told us'. So you must have met him, right?"
"Yes," stammered Valiente.
There was some silence until Felipe broke the silence.
"Gomez, bring it here, please," said Felipe to one of the officers standing beside Enrique in the interrogation room.
Gomez brought a piece of paper and handed it to Felipe, in a way that the boys couldn't see what it was when they tried to look at it.
Felipe inspected the piece of paper and then showed it to the boys. It was the sketch that Felipe had received from the sketch-artist last night at 10:15 pm.
"Is this Jorge?" asked Felipe.
The boys' eyes widened on seeing the sketch as if they recognized the person who was sketched.
"Yes, sir", the boys said in unison.
After a few additional questions, the interrogation was done.
"How are you going to confront Diego?" asked Alejandro as Felipe was drinking a cup of water after the interrogation.
"I have a plan," said Felipe. Just when he said that Gomez and his colleague were escorting the two boys out of the room.
"Enrique," called Felipe.
"Yes, Teniente," answered Enrique.
"I want you to tell Gomez to lock these two somewhere very far from Diego," instructed Felipe.
"Yes sir," said Enrique after saluting Felipe.
"Alejandro, do you know any good English teacher around here?" asked Felipe.
"There's this lady called Thelma Herrero who lives not very far from the station. She used to teach at the American School of La Paz," suggested Alejandro.
"I want you to contact her. Tell her it is Police business. We are in need of her essay-editing services," said Felipe.
"Santiago," said Felipe, calling another officer.
"I want you to find out who the father of this Scapoli Gutiérrez is," said Felipe. "Go to physical archives in the Police Archives Building in Calle Central, and look for the information in the physical archives, because the servers of our electronic archives are down because of the power outage. I couldn't use them to find information about Scapoli," he added.
"Yes, sir," Santiago said, going to fulfill the command of his superior.
Felipe smiled as he drummed the table near the water-can, thinking about his plan.
10:30 a.m.
Diego was surprised why Felipe called him to his office. It was the fourth day since his arrest. It was also the fifth day since the day when the storm began. Diego was escorted by Gomez, as he made his way to Felipe's office.
Felipe was happy about the weather that day. The Meteorological Department of Bolivia said that the storm had moved away from Western Bolivia entirely. However, the storm was still plaguing Northern Bolivia (where Shifaly and her classmates were) and Eastern and South-Eastern Bolivia (where the Wolfgang kids were). Felipe also was happy because work was under progress to restore the drainage system of the entire city. Once that system was restored, the water levels would continue to go down until there was no flood in the city. As Felipe sipped his coffee, looking at the window in his office, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," said Felipe.
The person outside opened the door.
"Diego, what a surprise!" said Felipe as he saw Diego at the door with Gomez by his side.
"Come, take a seat!" invited Diego.
Diego sat on the seat that Felipe asked him to sit on.
"First tell me. Would you like to have some coffee? some juice? or some ice cream?" asked Felipe.
"I'd like to have some mango juice," said Diego after gathering courage.
"Okay," said Felipe as he phoned the peon and asked him to bring a glass of mango juice.
"Tell me, where you used to live with your family, Diego?" inquired Felipe, seemingly interested.
"Oh, we lived in Calle Georgington in La Paz," said Diego.
"Oh, Calle Georgington," said Felipe repeating what Diego said. When Diego wasn't looking, Felipe and Gomez exchanged smiles.
"Yeah. We had a big bungalow," said Diego.
When he said that, the peon brought a glass of juice and placed it on the table.
Diego greedily gulped down the juice, without even using the straw that was put into the glass.
Diego burped after he was done drinking the juice.
"Do you like mango juice?" asked Felipe.
"Yes," said Diego.
"Would you like to eat something? How about Nachos with melted cheese?" asked Felipe.
"Of course," said Diego.
Felipe called the peon and asked him to bring some nachos with melted cheese.
"Until the meal arrives, Diego. I want you to do something for me," said Felipe.
"What is it, Sir?" asked Diego.
Felipe took out four A4 sheets and a pen and put in front of Diego, on the table.
Diego looked at the papers and the pen in surprise.
"So, tell me you were preparing for the SATs right?" asked Felipe.
"Yes, sir," Diego said.
"My son prepares for them too. I heard it's very hard. I also heard English is a very important part of the exam," said Felipe.
"Yes, sir," said Diego.
The peon brought some nachos and cheese.
"So Diego, I want you to write an essay about the Impact of Americanization in Bolivia, in English, using not less than 1,500 words," said Felipe.
Diego was startled.
"Why should I write now, sir?" asked Diego.
"Who knows, Diego, maybe if you write a very good essay, we can show it to my seniors and perhaps lessen your sentence because of your academic promise," said Felipe.
"Go ahead," said Felipe after seeing that Diego was just looking at him for a while.
After Diego was done writing, he was taken back to his cell.
Felipe then called Alejandro on his phone and said, "Alejandro, our good old teacher needs some correction work to do."
Five days had passed since the day Sergio left and didn't return. The Wolfgang kids were worried. They hoped as every day passed, that Sergio would return soon.
It was still raining heavily outside there.
The students kept themselves occupied during the wait by talking with each other.
Rhett and AnnSophia were talking with each other since morning. AnnSophia was laughing at the funny lines Rhett was telling her. She was also laughing at the funny names of endearment that he was calling her with.
Everyone was busy talking to each other through the opened doors of their capsules when Rhett and AnnSophia were in the lobby (the public area with chairs) of the girls' deck. That's how they entertained each other during the wait for Sergio: by just talking.
Everybody's chatter was so loud that no one, except Alice, could hear what AnnSophia and Rhett were saying to each other.
As they were sitting together in the lobby of the girls' deck (the area with chairs), Rhett asked, "AnnSophia, are you French?"
AnnSophia laughed and said, "Of course I'm not, Rhett. Why did you ask that?"
Rhett looked at her, trying in vain to look serious, and said, "Because, Eiffel for you".
AnnSophia and Rhett giggled together.
Then, AnnSophia gently punched Rhett on his shoulder, as she was blushing.
She then said (with a smile), "That's not such a unique line, Rhett."
"Well, I have another. Quite a strong line actually," said Rhett.
"What?" asked AnnSophia as she smiled.
"You know Sophia…", he began.
AnnSophia became attentive, wanting to hear what Rhett had to say.
"My love for you is so like diarrhea, that I can't keep it in," said Rhett, with a smile.
AnnSophia burst into laughter as she never expected that.
"It's everything like diarrhea, except the smell," said Rhett as he laughed along.
Alice, who could hear them, started laughing. Alice turned red, as she listened to them talk to each other. If she would have had access to Instagram, she would have definitely posted a picture of the two tagging it #Rhopia.
"I love you baby boo," said Rhett.
"I love you, Rhett," said AnnSophia.
"Wake up, boy," said Gomez as he came to Diego's cell once again at 8:30 pm.
"What is it?" Diego asked Gomez.
Gomez didn't say anything. He took Diego from his cell, forcefully.
It was the first night when it was not raining outside in La Paz.
Felipe was in the interrogation room, waiting for Diego. Felipe looked at the paper which he had in hand. The paper had some red ink markings on it. After 10 minutes, Diego was brought there by Gomez.
"Sit down, Diego," said Sergio with a smile.
Diego was relieved and thought that the conversation in the interrogation room would go on like the conversation at Felipe's office.
"Can I have some juice?" Diego asked.
"Of course, Diego," Felipe said. "After this conversation, we can have juice," said Felipe.
"Take a seat, Diego," Felipe said.
Diego sat down at the table.
"So we had a conversation with your friends Valiente and Alfredo," said Felipe.
"So Alfredo was the one who is responsible for inciting you, am I correct?" asked Felipe.
"Yes, sir," said Diego.
"And this Jorge was threatening to kill your family?"
"Yes, sir," answered Diego.
"And Diego, you were preparing for your SATs?" asked Felipe.
"Yes, sir," answered Diego.
"Your family lived in Calle Georgington in La Paz, right?" asked Felipe.
"You're right, sir," answered Diego.
"How would you rate your English proficiency?" asked Felipe.
"Nearly native, sir," answered Diego.
There was a silence as Felipe thought for a while.
"Diego, this conversation is going to be a light conversation, so feel at ease," said Felipe. breaking the silence.
Diego felt quite suspiciously uneasy when Felipe said that it was going to be a "light conversation".
Enrique brought a box that looked like a box of pizza and placed it in front of Felipe.
"Have some Pizza, first," Felipe said as he pushed the box towards Diego.
When Diego opened the box, he was shocked to see what was inside.
There were maggots on the pizza and it was smelly.
There was some fungus growing on the pizza and it was decaying.
"It's stale!" said Diego, in disgust.
Felipe got up. Diego began feeling uneasy.
"This is what liars deserve!" yelled Felipe.
Diego was shocked at Felipe's sudden change of behavior.
"You were promised money by Jorge that if you loot the old man's house you will get a share of the loot," said Felipe as he began pacing around the chair Diego was sitting on.
"That's a lie!" yelled Diego.
"Really?" said Felipe as he looked towards the door of the interrogation room. Diego looked back and saw what Felipe was looking at.
Gomez had brought Alfredo and Valiente to the room.
"You're telling me that both of their accounts are wrong?" Felipe asked
Diego was shocked.
"They're lying. They're liars!" shouted Diego, pointing his finger at Alfredo and Valiente.
Alfredo looked at Valiente in shock that Diego was calling them both liars.
"Shut up!" said Felipe.
Diego became quite.
"Look at me!" commanded Felipe.
Enrique took away the box of stale pizza.
"I have many proofs that you are the liar, Diego," said Felipe. "It's a matter of where to start," he added.
There was some silence. Diego was shocked.
"Your English proficiency is worse than that of a beginner," said Felipe as he threw the essay that Diego wrote that afternoon in front of him. "I had it graded by Thelma Herrero who was a former English teacher at the American School of La Paz," added Felipe.
Diego saw the essay that he wrote was filled with red marks. The grade F was given to it.
"You won't even get into the worst of the Universities with this horrible English proficiency," Felipe said.
Diego didn't say a word.
Felipe tried to look at him in the eye, but Diego tried to avoid Felipe's stern eyes.
"You said your parents lived in Calle Georgington, in a big bungalow," said Felipe. "Let me tell you, I sent my men all over La Paz today, in search of this Calle Georgington, and they told me that such a place never existed. I even got that confirmed by the Postal Department," he added.
Felipe put a letter, which was written by a senior officer of the Postal Department, in front of Diego.
In that letter, the senior official of the Postal Department wrote that there was no street called Calle Georgington in La Paz.
Diego kept being silent.
"You are a liar, Diego!" said Felipe.
When Felipe said that close to Diego's face, Diego just spat on Felipe.
Not being able to tolerate disrespect towards his senior, Enrique suddenly pushed Diego onto the floor, holding Diego's face tightly against the floor.
"Enrique, no!" said Felipe, wiping the saliva from his face.
Enrique let go of Diego who was shocked by Enrique's reaction that he started screaming like a dying chicken.
Diego couldn't get up, because his hands were cuffed.
Felipe bent down and told Diego, "If you don't confess, you are just going to increase your sentence exponentially."
Diego stammered, "I'll confess. I'll confess. I lied. They're telling the truth. Jorge told us that he would pay us if we steal from the old man."
Felipe asked, "So the Harvard thing and the story of Jorge threatening your family was a lie?"
Diego said, "Yes!"