L U C A

The biggest challenge was finding Nancy's home address, but nothing was impossible when it came to the five boys.

    The next day, after their classes came to an end in the afternoon, Isaac and Arthur went up to the library as they had planned. Using their badges as the university's official newspaper editors and journalists, they managed to convince the librarian to give them access to the students' files. All they had to do was lie about how the Scriptores newspaper was going to do a study on which cities did the students at the university come from.

    After finding Nancy's old files in the archives and writing down her address, the two boys left the library and walked down to the copy room to join the others in their parlor. To their luck, Nancy's house wasn't too far from the university.

    "We should go now," said Shawn, immediately getting up to his feet and already prepared to leave. "There's no use in waiting."

    "Actually..." Nicholas began nervously. "I was thinking that maybe only Luca and I should go."

    "Why?" Arthur asked casually, cleaning the inside of his pipe. Although it looked as if Shawn had taken it personally, his dark eyebrows furrowed.

    "Because Nancy's mother might freak out if she sees five strangers coming at her door in the middle of the night, asking about her dead daughter," said Nicholas, now looking directly at Shawn to make him see reason. "Besides, you're incapable of thinking before speaking, Isaac gets too nervous around new people, and Arthur hates talking to new people."

    "Fair enough," said Arthur, observing the city's map which they had laid on the table to search for the exact whereabouts of Nancy's house.

    "Then why does Luca get to come with you?" Shawn raised a brow at Nicholas.

    "Because Luca was the only one of us who was actually friends with Nancy and knew her. It makes sense," Arthur answered instead, and Nicholas nodded in agreement.

    "Fine." Shawn grumbled, dropping him back down on the armchair and lighting his pipe for the second time.

    Luca wished he could tell Shawn how much he wanted him to come along with them, but he swallowed the words and locked them in the chest of his heart. A part of him felt offended, however, that Shawn didn't think Luca was capable enough to go on this quest.

    "Okay, that settles it, then." Nicholas clapped his hands together in a deciding manner. "If things go well and Mrs. Green collaborates, we'll meet you here before ten o'clock to tell you everything."

    "And if things don't go well?" Arthur asked. "What then?"

    Nicholas pursed his lips together. "I haven't really thought that far."

***

Nancy's old home was somewhere out of town, far away from any sign of streets or other houses. Therefore, knowing that they couldn't find a cab on their way back, Nicholas and Luca rented two bicycles from a store near Berrington and hit the road at twilight.

    The night was misty and the sky was slowly wavering to black. Riding their way out of town, Luca could feel his nose freezing as the harsh wind gushed across his face, and his fingertips had gone completely numb with cold.

    Along their way, they had to stop twice to ask for directions, but after a certain point, there were no more humans in sight, no more stores or houses, and no more streets; just an uneven dirt road, soaked by last night's rain.

   "This must be it," Nicholas said as he slowed his bike to a halt.

    Luca stopped beside him, looking around. They were in the middle of a wide moor, with no end or beginning in sight. And there, in the distance, he saw a small house, almost hidden amidst the fog that had latched upon the moor.

    "C'mon. Let's get closer," Nicholas said in a small whisper, as though afraid that something sinister could hear him. 

    His heart starting to beat faster and faster by each passing second, Luca followed Nicholas with his bike, only stopping when they had reached the house. It began to look more bloodcurdling the closer they got, as though it had been abandoned for years, haunted by nothing but the souls of their broken family.

    "Are we even sure her mother still lives here?" Luca whispered, parking his bike a few feet away from the house with Nicholas.

    "There's only one way to find out," Nicholas said gravely, his eyes fixed on the house as he advanced forward.

    The little courage Luca once possessed had left him now, but he forced his feet to keep taking one step after another, following Nicholas closer to the house.

    When they reached the old door, the two boys shared a look in silence, and then Nicholas finally raised his arm and knocked, but nobody answered.

    Luca waited anxiously, watching as his breath evaporated into mist in the cold and frosty air. Every bit of him was filled with remorse and regret for coming here.

    Nicholas knocked again. Luca was just about to tell him that maybe they should leave, but his heart sank in his chest when the next moment a woman's voice came from the other side of the door.

   "Who are you? What do you want?" The voice was as sharp as a whip, demanding and threatening.

    "Good evening, Mrs. Green," Nicholas began, as politely as he could manage. "I'm Nicholas, and I'm here with my friend, Luca."

    "Tell me what you want and get the hell out of here!"

    "We were your daughter's friends." Nicholas paused for a second, taking in a breath. "We — we wanted to talk to you about her."

    There was a short moment when silence followed. Nicholas smiled to himself in triumph once they finally heard the woman unlocking the door. But when the door opened and the woman came to sight, all the breath was knocked out of Luca's chest when he saw the huge rifle in the woman's hands, pointed directly at them.

    Nicholas threw his hands up automatically, but Luca was unable to move, as though he had been rooted to the earth.

    "How dare you speak such lies!" the woman bellowed, her eyes blazing fire; big blue eyes that resembled Nancy's. "You think you're the first reporters knocking at this door, claiming to be a friend of my daughter's? Only to make up a bunch of lies about her in your paper?"

    "We're not reporters," Nicholas said breathlessly, hands still up.

    Luca could tell that it was taking him everything to speak calmly, but not even Nicholas could keep his voice from shaking at gunpoint; he knew he had to choose his next words wise, otherwise they would be the last ones he'd ever say.

    "We were in her music class," Luca finally dared to speak up. It was only half-a-lie, but it was necessary to convince the woman that they had known Nancy. "She was a gifted girl. No one could play the cello as good as her in the class."

    The woman's eyes were still fixed on them, as if trying to search across their complexion for any sign of a lie. Luca finally let out his breath in relief when she lowered the rifle, but she was still tense and on her guards. This was the face of a woman who had lost everything, and yet clutching to the little things she had left.

    "Then how come Nancy never mentioned either of you?" Her demanding tone never faltered.

    "I — I honestly don't know," Nicholas said sincerely, slowly lowering his hands as he kept eye contact with her, as if silently telling her that she could trust him. "We didn't know her well enough. She was very private. But now I wish that I had gotten to know her better. Which is why we're here. We want to know what caused her death."

    Luca held his breath, staring ahead at the blonde, middle-aged woman. He was afraid that those words would trigger her anger once again, and she would pull the trigger on them. To his great relief, however, her expression remained the same.

    "She fell from her window," was all she said, her voice flat and her face blank.

    Fell, she had said. Not jumped. Luca noted that she was still trying to escape the reality of what had happened, or simply couldn't bring herself to believe it.

    But Luca and Nicholas knew better. Not fell. Not jumped. But pushed. Thrown. Killed.

    Now which reality would it be harder for her to face?

    "But... what if..." Nicholas was almost stuttering as he spoke. "What if someone had something to do with it?"

    The woman's eyebrows were now knitted together. Luca slowly moved closer to Nicholas and tucked at his sleeve, trying to wordlessly tell him to take things slower.

    "All I'm saying that — that..." Nicholas tried to continue. "Did your daughter have any close relations with anyone? Did she ever speak about having problems with someone at the university? Maybe someone called John Carter? Or maybe David Wilson?"

    Before Luca could react, the woman had raised the rifle again, her face more ferocious than ever before. And then, she pointed the rifle upward and pulled the trigger, shooting skyward.

    This was just a warning.

    "If I hear you mention that man's name one more time, I will make you regret it!" she cried out, and Luca clutched onto Nicholas's arm, trying to pull him away. "Now leave, or my next bullet will be aimed at you! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT!"

    The two boys ran without looking behind them even once, getting on the bikes and riding away back through the misty lane as quickly as their strength allowed them.

***

It was only nine o'clock when they arrived back at the university and gave their rental bicycles back to the store. They were too out of breath to even speak as they walked inside the campus, their minds muddled and their hearts still racing.

    "She was insane," Nicholas said breathlessly. "That woman was insane!"

    "She has recently lost her daughter, and her husband disappeared years ago. Anyone would go mad," Luca managed to form the words with difficulty. He felt as though his heartbeat would never slow down until the day he died.

    Nicholas shook his head. "Let's forget that for a second. Did you realize that she knew John Carter? She had heard of him before."

    "How do you know it was him and not Wilson? She didn't mention which name."

    "Dunno. I guess because she said 'if I hear you mention that man's name again'. She would've said boy if she had been referring to Wilson. Don't you think?" Nicholas asked with doubt.

    "I honestly don't know what to think anymore." Luca sighed. "I still can't get over the fact that we were nearly killed tonight."

    Nicholas shuddered, still too bewildered. "Listen, could you come up with me to my dorm before we meet the others at the copy room's parlor? I want to fetch my notebook."

    "Sure." Luca nodded. "But why do you need it now?"

    "I've been making notes in it recently. I write down every new information and detail we find out about Nancy's case, no matter how small and worthless they are," Nicholas explained.

    "None of it is worthless," Luca said earnestly. "Sometimes the smallest details turn out to have the most importance."

***

The walk to the West Residency Hall didn't take too long, and Luca welcomed the feeling of warmth when they entered the building. He could no longer feel his nose or his fingers.

    Once they got to the dorm, Nicholas picked up his notebook. But Luca realized that he was still searching for something else.

    "What are you looking for?" Luca mused, watching as Nicholas emptied his desk drawer.

    "I can't find my favorite pen. I only use that one for my notebook."

    "Isn't that the one you lent to Shawn last week in class?"

    Nicholas stopped searching the drawer and finally stood up straight. "Yes, you're right. I did lend it to him. He never gave it back."

    Luca grinned. "And that's why I never let Shawn borrow anything of mine."

   "And I should've known better." Nicholas chuckled, moving toward Shawn's trunk and sitting in front of it on the floor. When Nicholas opened the trunk, he grimaced in disgust. "Look at this mess! I bet he hasn't even cleaned this even once since last year!"

   Luca laughed in amusement as Nicholas struggled to search through the trunk. But not a minute had passed that he saw a look of shock appearing on Nicholas's face.

  "What is it?" Luca asked with a frown. "Is something wrong?"

   Nicholas didn't answer, too dumbstruck to utter a single word. Instead, he only dug into the trunk and took out what seemed to be a red envelope, with Shawn's name on it.