Chapter 42

42. I don’t do it on purpose.

Gerald, of course, pales when I tell him about the nurse’s observation.

“Well,” he mutters, “I cannot say that the thought did not occur to me. You being your father’s son...it will not come as a surprise that people would make the connection between you and your father and come after you in order to get to your father.”

“Oh, god,” I drawl, rubbing my hands on my face. “it’s way too early to be having these revelations. Seriously, why on earth did I think it was a good idea to come back here? I should’ve known that something like this would happen. I should’ve taken my chance with the bullies and stayed.”

“Come now, Jace,” Gerald pats my back soothingly as I hunch over in the backseat of the car, “it might not be true. You may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time I mean, there could be nobody targeting you specifically, but only Zelt Tech employees Or maybe they are not targeting anyone at all. You’re not the only person who had been shot at in the past few weeks.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? People are getting injured and dying, Gerald. This is serious.”

“I am well aware it is, young master. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider all the facts.”

I sigh, knowing that there is merit to what he is saying, “well, let’s go to the police station and see if they have any good news then.”

“Certainly, Jace.”

Before we can leave, however, a knock comes from the window of the vehicle, and I scroll the window down. Nurse Clara stands next to the car, blushing a beat red. In her hand is a clutched piece of paper.

“I forgot to give you this,” she hands me over the piece of paper without really meeting my voice, “I was serious about what I said. Have a good day.”

With that, she leaves before I can get a word out. I turn the paper in my hand and realize that it’s her personal number with her name.

“Jace?” Gerald questions.

“Yes?”

“Why did Nurse Clara Grace, the same nurse who got you thrown out of the hospital last night, give you her personal number?”

“Trust me, it’s not what you think,” I huff out a peal of surprised laughter, “but I think this is Nurse Clara’s way of saying sorry. But it’s cool. We now got an ally in the medical field.”

Gerald gapes at me for a moment before laughingly shaking his head.

“Only you Jace can make friends in circumstances like this. First Coraline, now Clara.”

“Hey, it’s not like I do it on purpose.”

“And that’s the beauty of it.”

“Mr. Greyson,” Detective Blanco greets me as soon as Gerald and I enter her office, looking up from the paperwork on her desk, “And Mr. Manson, of course,” she checks the time on her watch, “good morning. What brings you here?”

“We hoped that you would have some good news for us.” I reply. Also, wow, is it still the morning?

The Detective’s face falls a bit, and she says, “well I’m afraid I don’t really have all the news you seek but please, take a seat. I do have something to run by you.”

We follow her instruction, and the detective peruses a folder of photos before finding what she was looking for.

“Does this ring any bells for you?” she holds up a photograph, and I squint at it, feeling a moment of confusion before recognizing it.

“The graffiti on the wall,” I answer, my voice grave, “that was right behind us when Coraline got shot.”

“Yes, it was. The sentence in the graffiti reads ‘I will turn her virtue into pitch,” states the detective. “It is a quote, from Shakespeare’s Othello. Took us some time to figure that out.”

Now I remember. It was indeed a quote I read from the play a long time ago for a school assignment.

“If my memory is correct,” I muse, “the full quote is, ‘So will I turn her virtue into pitch, And out of her own. goodness make the net, That shall enmesh them all.”

“Indeed. Whoever wrote it got the first part wrong. Seemed like they did not have the quote perfectly in memory, unlike you.”

“It’s that character Lago who says this stuff, right?” I question, dragging my finger over the letters in the photo, the memory of the shooting flashing in my mind, “he’s talking about making Desdemona a bad person or something in order to exact his revenge on Othello.”

“Indeed. It’s part of his evil plan against Othello.” The detective clarifies.

“What is the meaning of it, and why is it important?” Gerald asks, his eyes moving from the photo in my hands to her.

“Well, we found that it was rather peculiar to have such an ominous quote right next to where a woman. was shot,” the detective states, “the moment we saw it, we got this strange feeling that the quote might have something to do with the shooting. It was just a hunch, but we asked around about it. Particularly the restaurant owners, to whom this specific wall belongs to.”

Detective Blanco smiles. “To say they were pissed about the graffiti was an understatement. Apparently, it was quite new. In fact, it had been painted just the last night and was found out by the restaurant workers the very next morning. Now, I know that graffiti artists normally work at night, especially at famous areas like this. But considering what you told us about Coraline Granger’s ex-boyfriend and his conduct regarding her breaking up with him, as well as the meaning of this quote, and how conveniently it is placed right next to where she got shot at...well, doesn’t it paint some kind of a cohesive picture?”

I nod mutely. “More so than we would like.”

“The graffiti could’ve been painted by anyone. We’re still in the process of acquiring a warrant in order to go through the security tapes from the store right in front of the store to see who drew the graffiti. But personally, my suspicions are starting to tune in on one specific person,” the detective looks straight at me, “one specific person who we still haven’t managed to come in contact with.”