GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 37: Bait Victim

Singha turned to look at the kid beside him, who was intensely reading something on his phone. In just one more hour, they would reach Bangkok. He still couldn’t decide what to do with this kid.

“What are you reading?”

“Looking for a way to stop the ritual.”

“Just arrest those two, father and son, give them a good beating to ease the annoyance.”

“How can we get close to them if those two ghosts are still around?” Thup looked up from his phone to the person holding the steering wheel.

“And what will you do, transform into a shaman?”

“I’ve never studied this before. Never worshiped anything except for the holy monk, and I don’t even know what to do.” Thup spoke before sighing in frustration.

“So, what are you reading?” Thup showed his phone screen to the older man, “How to exorcize ghosts… from Google, really?”

“Well, I don’t know what else to do.” Thup complained before turning off his phone, “Phii, Singha.”

“Hmm.”

“Can I ask something?”

“About Mesa?” Thup was surprised the older man guessed correctly before nodding lightly. “I had a sister four years younger. One day at the temple, Mesa suddenly said she wanted to play with a friend, but when I looked, there was no one there. After that, Mesa started talking strangely, speaking to someone unseen. When Mom took her to the doctor, they found nothing wrong; the doctor thought it might be her imagination from when she was little, and that it would go away as she grew up. But a year passed, and she was still talking to someone unseen. At that time, our family had problems; my dad, a policeman, was fired because he kept showing up drunk at work. After that, our home turned into hell; Mom and I were yelled at and beaten every day.”

“So, when you said you just wanted to help Mom… it was because of this?”

“Uh-huh.” Singha acknowledged with a grunt before continuing, “One day, Dad came home drunk. He hit Mom for stupid reasons like the food wasn’t tasty. That day was the first time I stood up and threw a vase at him. From then on, there was nothing but madness in that house. Mesa came to pull me away and said a kid invited her to play. Do you know what I did?”

“What?” Thup asked in a softer voice.

“I yelled at my sister, called her nonsense, said whatever she saw wasn’t real, and told her she could go wherever she wanted.” Singha looked out at the street, as if reliving that day, “After I called the police to take Dad away, I thought life might get better. I tried to find Mesa to bring her back home, and then I found…”

“Phii Singha…”

“I found her drowned in the canal behind the house. The funny thing is, the villagers whispered that months before, another child had drowned there too.” Thup pressed his lips together tightly. If what Singha said was true, it was likely a spirit seeking a replacement. “Now, do you still think it’s not my fault?”

“Is that why you believe me, Phii?”

“Just thought I’d listen. I’ve already failed once by not listening to Mesa.” Singha turned to meet the eyes of the young man he had initially been skeptical towards. He had let anger and frustration replace his judgment because Thup reminded him of his sister’s ordeal, but seeing Thup suffer from something unseen made a part of him want to try believing, “I don’t want to make another mistake.”

The sun was directly overhead when both of them arrived at the hospital. Singha walked straight to the room of his close friend who had just been caught in the crossfire of this case.

“Hey.” a hoarse voice greeted as Singha entered the room.

“Hey.” The young inspector approached the bedside of the patient. From head, neck, arms, to legs, Say’s entire body was covered in wounds, making Singha sigh, “You okay?”

“Well… still not dead.” Say pointed to the bedside table as a signal. Singha reached out, opened the drawer, and found an opaque medicine bottle. On the side of the bottle, it was written that its owner was named Isur.

“I know now. Merk found out about the name change fifteen years ago. Those father and son changed their names to conduct transactions without issues. Every time they finished a crime, they’d find a scapegoat, or if not, they’d try to hide the bodies before moving locations, building a history, and gaining trust until they started another sacrificial ritual.” Singha explained further. He had just learned that Aisuan was now the abbot, currently named Anuphap, while the real Anuphap was Bom, who had taken his father’s name Aisuan. The room door opened, revealing an intelligence officer who hadn’t been in the field for a long time.

“Hey, hey, you bunch of troublemakers, Bom and all. Is this kid Thup?” Merk turned and pointed at Thup, who was standing quietly in the corner of the room.

“Hello.” Thup greeted.

“Yeah, yeah, this is the condition at the station, Singha.” Merk handed over a file from the crime scene investigation where the officer was attacked.

“Any leads on finding Darin and the others?”

“Not yet.”

“And clues about the perpetrators?”

“The temple’s janitor named Khuean and that brat named Bom. We’ve got the exact address of the old man now. Officers are preparing to surround and capture him. As for Bom, no information yet. The CCTV was off, communication tools didn’t work, everything crashed like it was hit by a virus. The IT department is working on it now.”

“No, I meant the abbot.”

“The abbot? Isn’t he supposed to be a scapegoat?”

“No.” Singha handed a picture frame he took from an abandoned house in Sisaket to Merk.

“Wow! He’s been a monk for fifteen years, but all this time he’s been killing people like they’re vegetables or fish, you know? Do the villagers know what they’re worshiping?”

“Get all the information on these father and son, I know they’ll strike tonight at the graveyard, but before that, we need to find those who have been taken.”

“Can’t we just surround them at the graveyard?”

The young inspector shook his head before standing up to his full height, “If we go to arrest them then, no one would survive.”

Singha, Say, and Merk were discussing business seriously until Thup excused himself to wait outside, feeling that his presence might hinder the police from talking freely. While waiting outside, Thup pondered what to do with those two ghosts. Simply banishing them would lead them to haunt others, possibly causing the same trouble again. He needed to not just chase them away but eradicate them completely, even if the chances were zero.

“What should I do?”

“Hey, Thup.” a voice called from behind, making Thup slightly jump. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it, Phii?” The young man noticed the serious expression on the older man’s face, indicating that what they were about to discuss wasn’t going to be simple.

“We need to find Darin and the others as soon as possible. They’ve been killing their victims before taking them to perform a ritual at the graveyard. We don’t have much time left.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Be the bait.”

Thup clenched his hands together. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered it, but he was still apprehensive. If Singha succeeded, they would find and save the other victims. But if he failed… everyone would die, including him.

“I trust you, Phii.” Thup said, reaching out to shake Singha’s hand with a smile. “You’re great; you’ll definitely be able to help everyone.”

“Don’t be too confident. We don’t know what those two bastards have planned.” Singha glanced at the kid beside him who seemed completely unfazed.

“I’ll help as much as I can.”

“Have you thought this through?”

“Yes.”

“Then go get ready. I’ll explain the whole plan to you.” Singha led Thup to a special adjacent room set aside as the operations prep room.

Clothes, weapons, and wireless communication devices, everything laid out in the room excited Thup. When they reached the bed, Singha stood and handed him a set of clothes along with a bugging device, a tracker, and a knife.

“Change, and listen while you do.” Thup nodded solemnly, took the clothes, and placed them beside him. The young man slowly took off his shirt, followed by unzipping his pants, but before he could pull them down, he looked up at his elder.

“Um… won’t you turn around, Phii?”

“Why should I turn?” Singha crossed his arms, leaning against the wall, looking at the kid in front of him. Although he was a bit skinny, his frame was large; not bad at all.

“Or should I undress you?”

“No… no need! I… I’ll do it myself.” Thup awkwardly removed his pants.

“They’re probably not far from where the first incident happened. I’ve instructed the remaining officers to search quietly. What you need to do is go to the graveyard. I believe one of them will be there waiting.

“Yes.”

“There will be two officers secretly following you, so don’t worry. As soon as they make a move on you, the officers will arrest them immediately.” Thup put on sleek black jeans, followed by an oversized black t-shirt and a matching hoodie.

“And what about you, Phii?”

“I’ll be giving orders from the van, not far away.” Singha said as he approached and took something out of his bag, “Take good care of yourself.”

The amulet necklace that almost fell into the hole that day was once again placed around Thup’s neck. His light brown eyes stared unwaveringly at his older brother. He didn’t know how this mission would go, whether he’d survive or not. So, he should seize the opportunity now, right?

“Phii Singh.”

“Use this knife only when necessary, don’t be reckless and cut yourself again.” Singha added, slipping the knife into the pocket of the kid in front of him, then he gently rubbed his ear and placed a headset for communication on Thup, “Check it, can you hear me?”

Singha put on his own headset and walked out of the room to test the effectiveness of both his and the kid’s headsets.

“Hey Thup, can you hear me?”

[…]

   “Thup”

[…]

   “The headset has a probl-”

[I like you, Phii.]

   Singha didn’t respond. From the trembling voice on the other end, it seemed like the kid mustered all his courage to say that.

“Is this what you wanted to test?”

[I don’t know if I’ll have another chance to say it So… yeah… don’t be mad, okay?]

   Laughing to oneself in the throat before opening the door to go back inside, when seeing the kid who just muttered something to himself now sitting with his face covered on the bed, the patient with blushing ears that couldn’t be fully hidden pretended to ask,

“What did you just say? I didn’t hear.”

“Uh… nothing.” made him feel affectionate to the point of wanting to…

“Oh, but it sounded like you said something.”

“No. I didn’t say anything.”

“Didn’t you say you liked me?” When Thup looked up from his hands and faced Singha, there was no sign of anger, but instead, he raised his eyebrows with a smirk, Thup felt a bit relieved.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, what?”

“I… I like you.”

“Since when?”

“Dunno.” Thup sighed before resting his forehead against the older man’s chest, “Realized it, and I already liked you.”

“Timing’s a bit off, huh?”

“Sorry.” Thup was about to pull away, but the strong, warm arms wrapped around his neck first.

“You’re safe now, Thup.”

“You too.”

“Hmm.” Singha softly acknowledged while gently patting the young man’s head in his embrace. No matter what, this plan had to succeed because they had no other options left.

After getting ready, Thup was led to a van heading directly to the site of the latest incident. Inside the van, there were four officers on duty, including Singha and Merk. They could only muster this many people because the others were either injured or currently surrounding the temple caretaker, Khuean. Moreover, Singha was worried that gathering more people might result in more injuries than there already were.

“Review the plan one more time: the officer will lead you into the forest before splitting up to hide and wait for the criminals to come for you. Make sure they don’t suspect anything. It’s crucial that they think you’re alone, understood?” Singha spoke with a serious tone.

“Understood.” Then let’s get started, synchronize the start of the mission for everyone.”

“Roger that.”

“Roger that.”

When the van stopped by the road, Thup and two officers got out. The young man turned to look at his older brother once more. No hesitation. No weakness. He wanted all this to end.

“Be careful.” Singha said as Thup’s back was turning away, his last words before looking down at his map.

Once the van door closed, Singha immediately changed into a new outfit and had the van move to hide in a dense thicket in the forest. Black jeans, a fitted black t-shirt were put on, holding a gun in one hand, with a hoody ready.

“Are you sure those two are briefed properly?” Singha asked while checking everything on him.

“Yeah.” Merk replied, sounding somewhat annoyed. “I hate your plan.”

“Me too.”

“Have you thought about what to do after they’re caught? Did you think about that, Singha?”

“We’ll think on our feet.”

“You said they’re waiting for that kid because he’s the Saturday target, but did you forget you were also born on a Saturday?”

“But he was an artist. As for me, I’m a cop, I won’t send a kid to die.” Singha said, putting on a black mask before covering it with his hood, his fierce eyes showing not a hint of worry.

“So, you’re going to be the bait yourself?”

“I think not.”

“Think?! You just think?! Singha! You bastard, you fool!”

“Instead of yelling, why don’t you ask the search team how far they’ve gotten?”

“Already checked ten places, eight more to go.” Merk looked up at the screen showing the search results of predicted areas, from abandoned warehouses, cemeteries, or any structures where a ritual as described by Singha could take place.

“Report back if you find anything. If the culprit acts first, find them before I die.”

“Such an ill-omened mouth!” Merk shouted loudly.

Singha looked out the window and sighed. He hoped the kid wouldn’t catch on that he wasn’t really the bait for the killer.

   But rather, it was him.

  

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