For a moment, everything fell silent.
But the silence soon shattered when Srikandi spoke again.
“So the two of you suspect and accuse me of being the person responsible for Ari and Andra’s disappearance?” Srikandi said, fixing a sharp look on both Pio and Syafir, who stood before her.
“That’s not what I meant. We’re not accusing you of that,” Pio protested.
“What you said clearly pointed in that direction. I know you’re accusing me because I love golek and the color purple. Besides, I always carry the Arjuna golek and the Srikandi golek wherever I go. And according to the rumors, those two golek are a pair of demon golek!” Srikandi said, raising her voice slightly. Then she stormed away from Pio and Syafir, consumed by anger, leaving them in the campus garden.
“Looks like she’s mad at us,” Syafir said at last.
“That means we’re getting closer to the truth. Srikandi and her beloved pair of golek are the ones behind everything that’s happened,” Pio declared, making his own assumption.
“But I still doubt that Srikandi is the culprit,” Syafir objected, beginning to have second thoughts again.
“Looks like you’re starting to listen to your heart about Srikandi again, huh?” Pio guessed, a little sarcastically.
“That’s not it,” Syafir dismissed.
“Then what?” Pio asked, his tone pressing.
“I just can’t understand how Srikandi could kill all of them in such a brutal way,” Syafir said, thinking hard.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. Or could it be that Srikandi is the one being influenced by those demon golek?” Pio speculated.
“Maybe that’s what happened. So what do we do now?” Syafir asked, confusion in his voice.
“We have to find Sandy and ask him the truth. We need to know whether he really plans to go to Srikandi’s house tonight,” Pio replied, then started walking off to look for Sandy around campus.
“All right, Detective Pio Sanjaya Pratama,” Syafir said, following behind him.
After walking for quite a while, they finally found Sandy in their campus parking lot. He was sitting on his racing motorcycle and seemed ready to leave campus. Sandy was stylishly dressed, with a square face and a mohawk haircut.
But before Sandy could do so, Pio stopped him.
Pio moved to Sandy’s side and immediately spoke to him.
“Looks like Bro Sandy’s pretty happy today. I’ve been watching you grin to yourself for a while now. What’s going on?” Pio asked casually.
“Bro Pio really pays attention to me. You even noticed something this small,” Sandy replied lightly.
“That’s because we’re classmates. Come on, Bro Sandy, tell me. What happened to make you this happy?” Pio asked again, pretending not to know what had put Sandy in such a good mood.
“All right, since Bro Pio seems so eager to know, I’ll tell you. Tonight, after I get home from partying, I’m going to Srikandi’s house,” Sandy replied honestly.
“You know where Srikandi lives?” Pio asked, probing eagerly, hoping Sandy would tell him right away.
“Don’t call yourself Sandy if you don’t know the address of the girl you’re after,” Sandy replied arrogantly.
“Can you tell me where Srikandi’s house is?” Pio prompted.
“Oh, so you’re into Srikandi too?” Sandy countered, and Pio quickly denied it.
“No, I’m not into Srikandi.”
“Definitely not ... Well, I’m heading home,” Sandy said as he started his racing motorcycle.
“Believe me, I’m not into Srikandi at all. I just want to know where she lives,” Pio insisted, continuing to pressure Sandy to tell him Srikandi’s address.
“Too bad I don’t believe you. Now move aside. I’m leaving ...” Pio and Syafir stepped away from Sandy’s motorcycle. It immediately sped off, leaving the two of them behind.
“So what do we do now?” Syafir asked. He had been silent the entire time and hadn’t joined the conversation because he didn’t know Sandy very well.
“Sleep ...” Pio replied. Then he left the campus parking lot, with Syafir walking beside him.
“Weren’t we going to investigate this?” Syafir asked, thoroughly confused by what Pio had just said.
“That’s why we need to sleep—to save our stamina for the investigation later,” Pio explained.
“Do you even know where Srikandi lives?” Syafir asked, probing.
“Not yet,” Pio replied casually.
“Then who are we going to investigate?”
“Srikandi, of course. But Sandy is how we’ll find out where Srikandi lives,” Pio explained, laying out his plan.
“So we have to wait for Sandy to get back from that club?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“But do you know where Sandy usually goes clubbing?” Syafir asked again.
“Of course I do. Sandy invited me clubbing once. Now you should stop asking so many questions. You’d better come to my house so we can organize this investigation properly,” Pio said.
“All right, if that’s what you want,” Syafir replied bluntly.
They kept walking until they finally reached the area outside their campus, heading toward the Transjakarta bus stop and then on to Pio’s house to plan their investigation into Srikandi—to investigate the terror carried out by the demon golek.