Modus Operandi

Another one of my short stories. Well, enjoy...




I combed my hair meticulously. Slowly, I guide every strand in place.

Everything in its place and a place for everything, Mum always says. Well, she’s not actually my real Mum. I was told that my real mother died years ago when I was too little to know anything. Mum is my grandmother, actually. She raised me to be her perfect little boy.

I always do what she tells me. She knows what’s best for me. She always did. She loved me like no one else will ever do.

Ah, there. I scrutinized my reflection in the mirror.
I’m handsome. Smart. Successful. Rich. Well-mannered. I have everything I could ever want. I can buy anything and anyone I wanted. I’m real good at managing my company.
Mum raised me well. She taught me how to be proper, how not to be rude. She sent me to the best schools.

But I had no friends. Not that I didn’t want any. I just felt that I didn’t really need any, with Mum around, she was all the friend I need.
Until last year.

The doctor said she was just too old and she died a natural death. I don’t believe him. I know, I just couldn’t figure out why, but there was some reason Mum had to die.

And right after Mum’s funeral, I met her. Her name was Abby, she had said.
She followed me home and kept me company. She was the first friend I met. And I guess she’d be the only friend for me.

I like Abby. She was always with me. At home, when I go to the groceries, when I go to work, she’s always there quietly keeping me company.
I looked at my collar in the mirror. It has to be perfect. Mum would make sure I always looked presentable.

When I met Abby, it was the second year that I was president of Mum’s company, but I have spent all my life preparing to be one. Mum made sure of that.
Abby would keep me company in my office. She’d sit quietly behind me in all my meetings. She witnessed all my business transactions. She’d come with me in all of my business trips. She was the best friend I have ever had after Mum died. And she came at the perfect time, too.

I looked around at my casual jeans and shirt. I have to check all the creases and folds. My expensive jacket matches my jeans and shirt perfectly.
Ah, must keep every detail perfect.

One day Abby and I were talking in the veranda of my mansion. We were talking about just anything. That’s one of the things I like about Abby. We can talk all day just about anything we can think of. And that day the conversation led to marriage and women.

“Zoilo,” she started, “you should start thinking about settling down. You are not getting any younger, you know. And I’m sure if your Mum was here, she’d be telling you the same thing.”

“I know, Abby,” I acknowledged. Now Abby was a real good friend of mine but she wasn’t the kind that I would marry and we both knew that. She was more like a big sister to me. She was beautiful and smart, but she is one of those women who’d never settle for a very quiet and subdued man like me. Or for any man, for that matter. She had given me the impression that marriage and love was not in any of her interests and I have never brought it up with her. Hard to believe but I was never attracted to her either. Yes, she was attractive and amazingly smart, but what we had was a very platonic relationship.

“You should start thinking about heirs, Zoilo. Your riches and mansion will go nowhere if you stay single.”

I know, Abby, I thought. I certainly had no problem getting dates, I found that women are easy to come by when you have money and good looks. But I have never really considered any of the women that I have taken out to fancy dinners. I find most of them brainless beyond the casual chitchat. I could never discuss Darwin, or van Gogh, or Chopin with any of them. They were all interested in shallow things. Like make up. Stupid tagalog movies. Gossip. Such things I can nod and comment on but not with the same mental stimulation that discussions of da Vinci and Einstein give me.

I walked out to my shiny, spotless Mercedes.
Abby has been encouraging me to go to the bars at night that I might find myself some one worthy of my time. Since I do not have friends and only very few acquaintances, none of the women I’ve known in the social circles I moved around in went beyond first dates.

“Why don’t you take them home when you feel like there is a connection, Zoilo”, Abby suggested, “Maybe they can feel more comfortable when you have them in your sitting room with a few drinks.”

“I’ll give that a try, Abby.”
“You can even show them your Mum’s rose garden. They’re lovely in the moonlight.”
“Good idea, Abby.”

I gunned the car’s engine and prepared to drive out. I opened the remote-controlled gates to let myself out and closed them behind me. The chef, laundry woman, gardener, and house keeper leaves by 8pm after all the chores are done. And they come back at eight in the morning. I like my privacy, so I did not hire stay-in servants. And I believe it gives a master more responsibilities if he allows his servants to sleep in his mansion. I do not like that. And I prefer to be left alone in the evenings when I watch television or do my hobbies.

I drove for about 20 minutes and reached the city’s nightlife district. I never really liked the night life but Abby was right about the bars being a good place to meet women. And alcohol-intoxicated women were easy to impress.

I’ve brought home a lot of women already, and none were worthy of my time. Although Abby was right about them getting comfortable in my living room. They also enjoy the rose garden. Although when I start discussing about anatomy, they get a little nervous. But not until I give them another drink and caress their bodies.

Ah, women. People say they’re way different than men, that they are more sensitive. I don’t think so. They’re all just the same, women and men. They all fall for the same traps, the same shallowness, the same weaknesses. But it doesn’t matter to me. I am just curious about them, their bodies, their brains, their insides.

I was a very avid student of human physiology. If I didn’t have to study business for the sake of Mum’s leather manufacturing company, I would have been a surgeon. But that’s ok, Mum needs me to run the company.

I entered the bar, welcomed by the scent of alcohol in the air and swirling smoke of cigarettes. The air was heavy with different scents, a mixture of sweat, alcohol, and cigarettes, along with the loud music of the live band. I walked towards the bar, aware of some approving looks directed my way. Mostly from women.

I ordered a drink.

“New around here?” the bartender smiled as he prepared my drink.

“Yeah, actually,” I lied, “just trying out the local night scene.”

“You came to the right place,” he served my drink.

“Thank you.”

I turned my back to him and looked around to survey the bar. All the bartenders in town seem to think their bar is “the right place”.

I spied a group of young patrons in one table, rather rowdy and hooting at the band. Over at another table was a couple talking and smiling at each other. I thought they were rather comical, looking into each other’s eyes. I imagined they were counting each other’s eyelids and mentally comparing the size of each other’s facial pores.

And then, as I sipped my drink, out of the corner of my eye, a woman was sitting at the far corner of the bar. I turned in her direction slightly so I can survey her more without appearing to stare. She was pretty. Her dark hair tied in a pony tail.

And she was alone. I figured she wasn’t from around town.

She looked my way and I gave her a slight nod and a shy smile. She smiled back. That was my cue. I walked over to her.

“Hi. You’re not from around here, are you?”

She smiled, “Actually, yes.”

“Do you mind if I join you?”

“No, not at all.”

I introduced myself. I’ve always been honest with the women I meet. She said she was Mae and that she had just moved in town and still looking for a job, hoping for a brand new start. We talked all night and enjoyed each other’s company until she decided it was time for her to leave. Finally. So I asked for her number before she said goodbye and walked out.

I counted mentally.

One...

Two…

Three…

I got up, paid for my drink, and left a tip for the bartender.

I reached the parking lot just in time to see Mae try to hail a cab.

“Hey!” I called to her, “No luck?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged and smiled.

“Want a ride? I could drop you off, I’m on my way to my mom’s.”

She hesitated for a while and after another failed attempt at hailing a cab finally considered my offer.

Just like any well-trained gentleman, I opened the door for her. I asked her where I could drop her off.

Perfect.

Her address was a little beyond the road that leads up to my house. As with all other newcomers in town. There happens to be a new apartment complex built on the road to the next block. That’s where almost all newbies in town live.

“Uhm… I hope you don’t mind. Could we maybe drop by my mom’s place before I drop you off? I’m really worried about her…” I looked over to her apologetically.

She looked back at me with an uncertain expression on her face.

I composed myself and gave her the best puppy-eyes and worried look, “I’m sorry…nevermind – I’ll drop you off first. I’m just so worried… mom’s on her own and she was feeling a little under the weather and she didn’t sound so good when she called me a while ago – I’m sorry, I’m rambling. It’s just that –“

“It’s okey”, her expression changed and she tried to comfort me, “You know what, it’s ok. Let’s go over to your mom’s first.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I could drive you home first. I really shouldn’t drag you into this –“

“It’s okey, really. I don’t mind”, she smiled and squeezed my arm.

“Alright. Thanks. I’m really sorry I had to drag you into this. But don’t worry, it’s just around the corner.”

We drove in silence until we reached my mansion.

“Here we are”, good thing I left the lights on in my room, “That’s mom’s room up there with the lights on. I’ll just be a minute; you can wait by the porch. Thanks again, Mae. I really appreciate this.”

I climbed down and ran to her side to open the door for her. I then led her to the front porch.

< Breaking news: an undisclosed number of bodies were found buried in the backyard of the mansion of one of the city’s richest young bachelor. The bodies were discovered after a series of disappearances of young ladies was reported. The victims were all new transfers in the city. Authorities had taken at least 3 months before getting a lead on the suspect, when one of the witnesses, a taxi driver, reported seeing the suspect, Zoilo Hernandez, president and CEO of Leather Emporium, with the last victim Mae dela Cruz. The driver said he had overheard Hernandez offering dela Cruz a ride home. The suspect is now in police custody. Authorities have not yet disclosed the case to be filed against the suspect, who was reportedly assessed by police psychiatrist to be schizophrenic. The manner in which the victims’ bodies’ conditions were found was very disturbing, which included decapitation, dissection, skinning, and scalping. Injection marks were found, which indicated experimentation, too. This so far has been the most obscene and sensational crime in the city… >