Chapter 2: Andrew

Manila Philippines -

“Officer, It’s been over a week now. Don’t you have any leads at all?”

“Mr. Black, we’re doing the best that we can to find Mr. Ransik but with little information that we’ve gathered from you since the last time you and his family saw him, our hands are a bit tied.”

“We're paying more for you to put extra effort in finding him so can you please pick up the pace?!

“Hi, Officer, I apologize for my friend’s attitude, he’s just very worried about our friend. Andy, let’s go! The officer has politely given us why they have. Let’s not push out luck with them”

“No Davin! It’s been 10 days since I’ve seen Vlad. His family is worried sick too!”

“Andrew, I’m with you. I’ve known him since we were five so I’m as worried as you and his family but as what the officer has told us. With little information that we’ve provided. It’s really not enough to help speed up finding him at all!”

It’s been over a week since Vlad disappeared. The last time we were together was horrible. That's why I’m partly guilty of losing him when all I had to do was stop him from leaving our house. We’ve been together since we were in college and we’re practically married. We bought a house together and adopted three dogs.

Both our families approve of us being together and we’re basically happy. The only night we had a horrible fight because of my jealousy was the last night I saw him.

We were at home when I saw a message from a guy named Nathan. I immediately accused him of entertaining another guy. He did tell me that the guy was an admirer but more of a stalker but I didn’t believe him. I felt my ego was crushed because I devoted my life to him and our future. It was around ten in the evening when he told me he’ll just get some air. Instead of asking him not to leave at that hour I decided to give him the cold shoulder and let him go but I never imagined not seeing him again after that night.

His phone died and nobody could reach him, we couldn’t trace his phone as well, he somehow got off everybody’s radar just like that. I know he couldn’t stand being away from his family, friends and me even just for a day so I know something must have gone wrong. I just don’t know why or how!

“Hey Andy!”

“Hey Davin, Victor”

“We’ve come bearing sustenance. Victor thought we should bring you lots of food. You might not be eating since Vlad disappeared”

“I’m fine”

“No you’re not Andy. Vic will just heat this up and we can have a bottle of wine or two to distress”

Vic heated and served the food they’ve brought and opened up a bottle of wine and poured it on three wine glasses.

“Hey Andy, I know we were together when the officer said they didn’t have any leads but don’t you really have any other form or leads that might help?”

“None Davin, It’s actually a bit weird that our security camera copies was just suddenly corrupted when the police downloaded off our cloud here but that was supposed to be our only lead”

“Bummer. I just really hope my best friend is safe, somewhere”

“Hey Davin, Andy. On our way here I noticed a few houses had security cameras. Wouldn’t that be a possible lead?”

“Wait, what? Andy, the police must have checked on that already right?”

“Actually, no.”

“What the hell are you talking about? So does this mean, they have a possible lead but they just didn’t investigate it on their own?”

“They attempted Davin and thanks for pointing that out Victor but this is where a new problem arose. They did attempt to ask help from the neighbors with security cameras but apparently, the leader of the homeowners' association discouraged the neighbors not to stain their private lives with this ongoing investigation as It might lead into a scandalous and invasion of privacy situation.”

“Well that’s too heartless of them! Don’t worry Andy. Vic and I will find a way to somehow retrieve at least one security footage.”

“Thanks Davin and Vic. The last time we checked, there are 10 houses with at least two cameras that might point us to the right direction and the best houses to retrieve them are from the Lopez’s at Block 14D and the Sterling’s at Block 14G. Their cameras have the clearest line of sight from our porch until our front gate.”

“Andy. Vic and I will do our best to make this investigation up and running”

Davin’s words were a bit comforting. I did try to make an effort to talk with our neighbors but whenever they saw me they immediately turned their backs on me like we were the worst neighbors in the village. Vlad was always the vocal and bubbly one whenever we walked our dogs.

He always wore a smile and greeted our neighbors but somehow the homeowners association leader was always a bit distant with us. I never recalled seeing Vlad and Philip share smiles during social events in our community so there might be a deep reason why he didn’t want to be involved with Vlad’s case but why would he influence our neighbors not to help us find Vlad?

I remember a time that we saw him a few blocks away from his house. His car broke down, Vlad asked me to stop and he got out of our car, looked at Philip’s car and worked on replacing his tires and went back in our car after fixing it and just asked to go home. Philip never thanked him for it as well. I’ve always thought that there was just a history between them, possibly an ex but we never ask about each other's past because we made a pact not to ask about each other’s past relationships but I think this time, we’re way past that.

After Davin and Victor left the house, I decided to pay Philip a visit. His house was just three houses after ours so I walked up to his house and rang the doorbell. Luckily, It was him who opened the gate.

“It’s you. What do you want?”

“Philip, I think you know why I’m here”

“It’s late Mr Black. You’re disturbing my privacy”

“Please Philip, I just really need your help with the neighbors’ security footages”

“Sad to say, I can’t help you with that Mr Black.”

“I beg you Philip, it’s been ten days”

Philip looked tense and I saw a bit of guilt on his face when I mentioned that Vlad’s been missing for ten days already. He just paused and after a while, he pointed at my pants pocket. I checked my pockets and grabbed my phone. He just sharply looked at my phone and closed the gate.

He left me hanging, he gave me a weird gesture and just shut that gate on me. So I decided to walk back home. When I got inside our house my phone rang, it was an unknown number, I answered it and I got the weirdest response!

“Phil… three AM… 004.170.330”

Then the caller just hangs up.

“What the hell was that all about?”

It’s already 1AM, a few hours since that weird phone call from an unknown number and I still couldn’t figure out what it meant. I wrote it down but I just stared at it for hours. I wanted to search for its meaning on the internet but the caller specifically mentioned a time. So it was best for me to just wait until 3AM.

It’s already 2:58AM and I was anxious. I've already entered the numbers on my internet browser and I was preparing to hit enter at exactly 3AM.

At the strike of 3AM, I hit enter. It was an IP address and somehow, I understood a bit about Vlad and Philip. I wrote down almost everything because I assumed that It’s going to be taken down in any minute and low and behold, It shut down at exactly 3:05AM.

I reviewed what I wrote. It explained that Vlad and Philip were actually half brothers but Philip’s mom was the third party and they were forbidden to help each other in any way in order for them to keep their money and properties which Vlad’s mom agreed to provide to him and his mom and that it was all put in to writing so any means of helping Vlad will risk them going homeless and they were even forbidden to speak with each other let alone look at each other as per Vlad’s Mom’s demands.

On the night of Vlad’s disappearance, Philip saw him and Vlad somehow ran towards him and gave him a hug asking for comfort but somehow, after that quick tight hug, Vlad ran back to our house when he was shoved in a black pickup truck with the plate number F1V33A6.

He really wants to help but he’s just looking out for his mother.

This in fact was a big help and a huge lead in solving Vlad’s disappearance but I have to keep Philip’s name out of this. I really don’t know how to puzzle things up but this definitely is a start!