Aila's POV

6:50

Drip Drip Drop
I recognized the person who's calling. I took a deep breath and answered the call.

"Hello?"
"Young Miss!!!" I flinched at the voice on the other end. It was Lila, the part time care giver of Lala Mamay.

"What happened, Young Miss? Where are you? Are you safe? How about the Madam?" Lila bombarded me with her questions which is full of concern and worry.

"I'm sorry, Lila. I don't really know what happened myself. Lala Mamay suddenly went missing and the house was a mess when I got home. There was a strange blooded message left behind on the wall too." I said while rubbing my temples

"Nothing was out of the ordinary when I left the Madam yesterday, Young Miss. She was asleep when I clocked out and went home. This morning, I was surprised to see the house under investigation so I called you." Lila explained and I remembered she did message me yesterday about going home earlier because of circumstances

"So, where are you staying right now, Young Miss?" Lila asked and I don't know how should I answer this. Will she worry even more if I tell her about Herbert?

"At a friend's place." I answered, well I'm not wrong. Herbert is my friend despite only knowing him yesterday. Then there's silence on the phone. Wait, did Lila hung up on me?

"Hello? Lila?" I called out

"Young Miss." Lila said with a serious tone that made me worry for a second

"Yes?"

"You don't have any friends. I've known you for years but there was never a person near you I can call your 'friend'" Lila said, sheesh.

"Well now, I do. Anyways, you might have time off on work considering the circumstances. Take care, Lila."

"Wait, Young Miss-" I ended the call abruptly. I don't want Herbert to keep on waiting for me. As I walked out of the room, I noticed the big painting Herbert mentioned last night. At the lower right corner of the painting, I noticed the same 'R' signature that I saw in his red handkerchief he lent me. I still can't get used to this place. Every shade of red in everything I see as I went to the dining table. I can just smell the breakfast Herbert cooked. A simple sunny-side up and toast

"Done with the phone call?" Herbert asked as he sat across me in the table

"Yes, just a quick call. Thanks for the breakfast."

"No worries, don't you have work today?" Herbert asked worriedly

"I do, although not until much later. I'm still thinking if I could have a day off or not. I'm not really in a right mindset to work considering my only family went missing. How about you?" I said as I took a bite of the toast

"What about me?" Herbert asked as I raised one eyebrow at him

"I mean, what do you even do for a living? The only thing I know about you is that we have a common dislike about the rain." With that, Herbert chuckled as he sips on his morning coffee

"I'm pretty much the person you can call Jack of all trades. I do all sorts of stuff. But if you do need an answer to that, I'm a painter." And that confirms my guess on the big painting near my room

Drip Drip Drop

7:30
"Want me to pick you up from work?" Herbert offered while I'm getting ready to go to work

"No need, your place isn't really complicated to find." I declined as I was about to go outside

"Thanks for the offer but I'll manage. See you!" with that, I set out to work despite the rain

Meanwhile...

Stephen Jones's POV

While investigating Ms. Aila's house,

Hmm...based on the DNA results of the blooded message, it doesn't match the grandma but it's the blood of someone else.

'May the dance of the stars guide you' – this message right here is the biggest clue yet difficult one to decipher

This is going to be a long case. I lit up a cigarette when someone tugged my shirt. It was some random street kid and gave me a piece of folded paper then ran off quickly.

I opened the paper and read its content,

'Stay out of the way.'

I crumpled the piece of paper and looked for the kid but there's no any trace of him anymore. Just disappeared out of the blue.

...---...

Everything will be back to normal, it has to be.