The Killers of Ruth Bago

Chapter 3: Ruth's Father

Johanne's voice was still talking on the recording tape while Evan was listening intently. It might be a grave mistake not to admit he was affected by the tales of dela Vega's fantasies but he must stop drifting away from reality.

Johanne started to talk about his alibis and slowly laughed during the recording...

Johanne

Johanne laughed as he spoke to the recorder. "Oh, how could I ever forget about Ruth's body? She was a little gift from his good-for-nothing father. The old man owed me a million before I decided to threaten his life. It was from the casino we both played in, and to that, he had to borrow big chunks from me. I'm not that kind to people, but I thought of using Robert Bago for some silly things like mobs or some troubles.

"I asked him if he had anything that would please me. At that time, I didn't know he was Ruth's father. He was such an asshole to confidently suggest I must take his daughter as a bargain." He laughed again. "That f*****g piece of rat had the nerve to bargain. But I obliged since I thought of his offer to be tempting. I needed to release some hots. He has a f*****g good-looking face and I bet a billion he has a daughter like him, too. f*****g sexy and wild."

****

Johanne was shocked and was half-amused as he saw the old guy dragging a lady. The lady cried and screamed at his father to stop.

"They will f*****g kill me if you don't come with them!" the guy said.

"Please, dad. Please... I can't. I can't. This is not right..." Ruth was slapped hard on her face and shouted in agony. She crawled on the floor after she was thrashed there by her father.

Suddenly, Johanne's orgasm exploded in an instant as soon as he looked at Ruth's face. It was as if her bewildered face was the most effective aphrodisiac to him, seeing Ruth in pain. It made him balled his fist and closed his eyes.

He heard his men close the door outside while leaving him and Ruth inside his room.

He looked back at her and saw the girl stopped whimpering and eyed him angrily.

"Why are you doing this?"

"It's been two years since I last saw you, Ruth. I'm glad I've seen you like this!" He smiled. He was wearing his usual dark silky robe while approaching Ruth.

"Stop!" she shouted. "Don't come any closer, you hear me? I'm not going to do this."

He stopped for a minute but advanced slowly afterward. The shock in Ruth's eyes became evident as he delved into the inches left between them.

She had nothing to step back on as she was trapped on the door while he pushed her right there. He had seen her stern face eager not to cry again and showed him her bravery and anger at the same time.

He smiled at her while feeling another milk coming out of his shaft again. "My f*****g nuts milked again while you stare like that," he informed her while whispering. He brushed the back of his hand on her delicate skin. He felt her tremble a little as she looked away. "I've been waiting for this day to come. Since the day I saw you, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't stop dreaming about you. I wanted this to happen so badly..." he whispered while kissing her earlobe.

Ruth tried to push him away but to no avail. He heard her whimpered again but he didn't mind. He continued his act and started to cup one of her breasts. He massaged it while looking at her.

She harshly closed her eyes while biting her lower lip, stopping herself from suppressing her cries. Instead of feeling pity, Johanne was glad of her expression. He liked her crying while begging for help while he did his thing.

He started to take off all of her clothes and kissed almost all the parts of her body while she cried silently.

It was almost five hours when Johanne finally decided to stop petting, kissing, and f*****g her. But he ordered her to keep m**********g his shaft until he cums the ninth time.

He was just moaning and shouting while he made Ruth eat him. He felt her tears and sobs but he didn't mind and started to slap her when she stopped...

Evan stopped the recording and frustratingly grunted as he tossed the walkman on his desk. He felt tired of listening to the recording. He felt it's not important to the investigation. All the detailed statements were unbelievable to him. It was like Johanne was just playing around as if he was totally glad that Ruth is dead.

The following week came and another cross-examination was made. Evan had a chance to stand up and lay the evidence that needed to be tackled at that moment.

There was Ruth's father, Robert Bago sitting in the cubicle while listening to his voice.

"Was it true that you were indebted to Mr. Johanne dela Vega?"

"Y-yes..." the old man answered nervously while looking at Mika sitting in front of him.

"Then is this conversation true?" Evan placed the recorder on the center wooden table and played the tape.

"Please, spare me, boss! I'd do anything. J-just don't kill me!" It was Robert's voice in the recorder.

The people inside the courtroom were shocked and started whispering.

"You f*****g pleading again? What's your f*****g plan now? What would be your option aside from killing you?" Johanne asked in the recorder.

It was a minute of silence before Robert finally spoke. "I-I have a daughter, boss. She's charming. You can have her. J-just let me pay you through her. P-please..." Robert suggested.

Johanne sighed. "You're f*****g asshole. Is she good?"

"I just know she's intelligent and a kind kid. B-but I have to do this. Oh, God... I'm so sorry. I have no choice."

Johanne laughed at the recording. "You look good-looking. I bet she is. What's her name?"

"R-Ruth. Ruth Bago."

The recorder stopped and Evan looked at Robert once again. The old guy started to evade his gaze and started to stare at his hands.

"Mr. Robert Bago, I'll ask you the question again, is the conversation true?" Evan demanded.

"Objection, your honor! He's misleading this case. My client has nothing to do with Ruth's death," Mika shouted.

Evan looked at her while she stood there with her teary eyes.

The gavel was hit on the pad again and Judge Frederico spoke, "Sustained! You may continue, Prosecutor Tan."

Evan just stared at Mika for a moment and then looked at Robert again.

Robert whimpered in front of us. He wiped his tears before speaking. "Y-yes. The conversation is true. I sold my own daughter to my boss. I sold her. It's all my fault!" he shouted as he continued to cry.

The commotion in the courtroom tripled as Ruth's biological mother collapsed. The girls began to help her while the gavel was hit again endlessly.

Mika's disappointed look at Evan was all he could remember after that.

After the cross-examination, he called his team for a brief meeting. Oscar Conception was one of his best detectives who looked into Ruth's contacts.

Oscar approached him with a coffee. "Bad morning? Was it because of the recording?"

He tilted his head as an answer. "Hell yeah. The bastard has nothing important to say. What do you think?"

"You haven't finished the tape yet?" Oscar asked, suddenly.

"Nah. Haven't yet. I was looking at something though. Do you remember the pictures from the police department?"

"Yeah. All clean, oddly."

"There was something else. Did Yohanne ever visit Ruth at their house?"

Oscar creased his forehead and stopped for a second. "I'll look unto that, sir."

"Also... please track the records and transactions of Mr. Robert Bago. I wanted to reconfirm Johanne's alibi about the debts," Evan ordered him. .

When Oscar finally left the room, Mika suddenly barged in. His team members were silent as he looked at the upset expression of his ex-girlfriend. .

"Why did you do that? Why?" Mika started to shout at him. .

He was dazzled and let his mouth open in disbelief. Since the first day of the prosecution, Mika was so engrossed with the case that she became attached to the family. Evan never had the chance to interview one of the family members since he heard half of Johanne's recorded statement. He was not interested in them except in Robert's alibi. .

The first statement Ruth's father had written was that he wasn't getting in touch with his daughter for the whole year and that one of his daughters just told her about it. .

It was now proved upon hearing Johanne's alibi that somehow Robert was responsible for his daughter's death. He was the one to sold his own daughter to a multi-millionaire as a s*x slave. .

"I was just doing my job," was all Evan could say to Mika. .

Mika gasped in disbelief. "You know that my client is innocent!" .

"I didn't say he's the murderer either." He stood up and looked up to Mika's eyes. "Don't show up here with this attitude. We're only doing our job." .

"You know how important it is to me to win a case." .

"Are you losing it, Mika?" .

Mika shut her mouth after Evan said those words. None of them spoke any further, so he decided to walk away instead of making her. .

During the afternoon, Evan continued to dig up the evidence laid for Ruth's case. Now that he's done with proving Robert's fault, what now? .

Johanne's alibi was still vague to him. The way he remembered the intimate scenes with Ruth only left Evan questioning the statement. At some point, it can be a good alibi to determine the culprit's intent of the murder. But Johanne was still not saying his intention yet. It was as if he enjoyed the part that he can share his lunatic side of him in the court. .

Evan's phone suddenly rang as he sat on the chair inside a convenience store. He ordered some snacks after he walked out of his office. .

He looked at the screen and saw Mika's name registered there. For a minute, he hesitated but afterward, he decided to take the call. .

"Hey..." .

"Hey... Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I was just..." Mika spoke on the other line. She sighed, tiredness evident in her voice. "It's just so personal. Ruth's family was very close to my mom, that's why..." .

Evan was silent and started to nod. "I understand. I had nothing against you. It was just because I have to ask that question to prove Johanne's alibi, that's all." .

Mika laughed wryly. "I know. It's my childish thing again. So... you free tonight?" .

****

The theater was an old school thing Evan and Mika enjoyed since their College days. Although both of them are tired, they managed to watch a movie while eating some popcorn and chocolates.

"I remembered the first movie we saw together. Do you remember?" Mika asked as soon as they left the theater room.

Evan nodded and smiled at the memory. "It was a crime movie that we tried to watch because it was required. I couldn't believe you hated them." .

Mika laughed. "Well, I was embarrassed because I screamed a lot that time and you were just laughing at me and ended up not remembering any scenes in the movie."

"Nah, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the laugh," he smirked. .

Mika suddenly halted and faced him. "Look, I just wanted to say sorry about everything..." she suddenly said. .

They were staring at each other for a few minutes when suddenly Evan was the first to lower his gaze.

"I-I understand--" Evan was cut off from his sentence as Mika stepped closer to reach for his lips.

She kissed him there in the middle of the street while people passed by as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, memories started to come back to him. Some painful memories from her sweet lips.

-to be continued-