Sunday, November 30, 2008

an unsolved mystery

Two weeks ago, I received an unexpected call from S, my business partner.

"My driver is missing!" she blurted out. "Around 5pm, I asked him to drop me off at Santi's Deli in Rockwell. He was supposed to park the car at the nearby mall and buy me meds for my headache. But when I called and texted him – countless times – to ask him to pick me up, he never answered. To think that I told him I wouldn't take long! After waiting for two hours, I decided to take a cab home. Should I call the police?"

My mind raced. Was her driver's phone on silent mode? Why didn't he check it for messages? Did he fall asleep in the drivers' lounge? Did he meet an accident? Or was the car hijacked in the basement parking area of the mall? (The car was a high-end SUV, a vehicle on the police's list of cars-most-likely-to-be-carnapped. )

"We must be very sure before we report the matter to the police," I replied, "I think they issue shoot-to-kill orders on drivers of stolen vehicles."

"Then I should go back to the mall and find out if the car is still parked there," she said, sounding worried.

"That may be dangerous. You want my driver to come with you? He can be your bodyguard."

"I'll go alone."

At 7:30pm, I called her on her mobile phone.

After three rings, the call pushed through but no one said 'Hello'. There was a sound of rustling like someone was fumbling for the phone. Then I heard a very loud and shrill scream! What the hell was going on?!

She finally spoke, "Hi, I'm on my way to the mall."

"Are you okay? I heard a scream–" I asked.

"Those were my brakes screeching." Then she put the phone down.


At 8:30pm, she called and said, "The security guards found my car in Basement Parking Level One but my driver's nowhere to be found. They've paged him already."

"Ask the guards to check inside the car – maybe kidnappers tied him up in there, and are waiting for you," I spoke slowly, horrified at the thought.

At 9:30pm, my phone rang. "Found him. Said his phone got busted. He didn't hear any ring or any text message beep."

"But he got the messages?" I was so perplexed.

"Yup, they were in his phone inbox," was her exasperated reply.

"What an excuse!" I exclaimed to S. Then I thought to myself, "What a lie!"

Consider the facts: (1.) He knew that S would only take a short while at Santis Deli. (2.) Four and a half hours had passed since he dropped her off. (3.) All the text messages telling him to fetch her were in his phone.

Was he lying or not? What do you think really happened?

For me, the mystery was far from over.

(Top) This rare 'secret' bear with a big '?' on its forehead is the Series 3 Artist Be@rbrick by famous Japanese DJ-turned-streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara. The "HTM" logo on its chest is from his spring 2002 streetwear line for Nike.

Click here to check out his blog / artworks.

6 comments:

Socky said...

Enjoyed this post! Ha! Ha! But you know, it was not until you told me not to approach the SUV by myself (the driver could be hogtied inside and goons were just waiting to pounce on me) that I realized the possible danger of looking for missing drivers. My driver has rather been "off" lately - too many things on his mind, maybe a woman? Family troubles? Too many loans? Hay naku!

bearbricklove.com said...

I tell you, Socky, this was a real-life suspense thriller for me. :-D

Watergirl said...

OOO, now I want to know the answer to the mystery! I love mysteries, at least the fictional kind. I don't know if I could deal with a real life one. Socky, be careful approaching cars at night. I still have a thing for checking underneat the car and also checking the back seat because you never know what ghouls and goblins (or maladjusted individuals) could be waiting for you.

bearbricklove.com said...

Haha! Mila, I've told Socky that there are only two reasons why a man will behave irrationally – money and women. :-)

Joao said...

Can you help me in how to access the fourxthree site? I only get the start page and a login without the ability to register. Any help would be great. And congrats on a great blog

bearbricklove.com said...

Sorry, Joao, but the fourxthree site seems to be undergoing reconstruction or site maintenance.

Thanks for your compliment. :-)