143 Robert's Death

Jun drove away as soon as he left the greenhouse. His anger exploded, and he shouted in his car.

Jun Lino Peralta was his real name. Robert Castillon worked under him as an insurance agent and as his close buddy. Robert casually called him Lino but Diane had not known this.

He was a good man but had slowly been addicted to gambling in the casino ever since he won the jackpot once. Gallante had been eyeing him from then on and planned to exploit this weakness. Lino frequently went to gamble with the aim of winning back his losses. Instead, his debts grew higher by the day and his wife and children abandoned him in the end.

In Lino's desperate times, Gallante took advantage and approached him. He promised to pay Lino's debts with more benefits if he became a partner of their scheme, fraud insurance claims. Lino's conscience dictated otherwise. He thought of his family. What if he died and they would lose that life-line intended for them?

He called Gallante and declined. Unfortunately, Gallante would never let him go easily for Lino already knew Gallante's identity and could be a potential witness in court if he used someone else to accomplish the task. Thus, Gallante waited for the right moment and then let the man fall into a pit of his own creation to be manacled for life.

The casino seized Lino's house but it was not enough to pay the interest, they said. In the depths of despair, Lino received a call from Gallante again. This time, he offered Lino a 'menial task' with easy pay and another promise of clearing his debts. Lino met Gallante in the warehouse.

"Deliver the goods and get the pay from these people. Do this for a year and we'll pay the rest of your debts." Gallante said as he gave him a handwritten list of names and addresses.

"What goods?" Lino asked.

"Do you want the money or not?" said Gallante, unperturbed.

"What are these goods?" Lino insisted.

"Wonderful candies," Gallante said, as he spread his arms wide and smiled eerily, giving Lino goosebumps. ??It was mixed with illegal drugs??. "You can leave if you're not interested. I assumed you are capable of paying your debts in your own way."

The last sentence hit Lino hard.

"I'll do it." He would only be an errand boy anyway.

Lino hated Gallante and he understood this job was far more dangerous than he was told, but for him, he saw no other path to take.

Later, he learned Robert bought a van for his flower deliveries, and Lino hitched a ride. On the way to Lino's delivery site, Robert asked what kind of products Lino was selling.

"Fruit candies," Lino said with a smile.

Robert could not believe the salesman of the year to focus on selling candies than finding potential insurance buyers, but he didn't ask more. Lino might be earning pretty well, he thought. Until such time Lino forgot the list in Robert's van.

Robert's curiosity grew more when he saw Lino holding a bundle of cash after a delivery. It was like a magnet pulling him in, increasing the desire to see the contents of those packages.

One time, when Lino was about to deliver another parcel, they stopped by at a gasoline station. Lino got off and ran for the bathroom. While Lino was out, Robert cut an inch off the package seam. He plunged his fingers and felt plastic straws. He pulled one, a yellow lollipop came out.

Robert thought of tasting but instead threw the lollipop to a lying dog. The dog saw it and began eating it. When there was none left, the dog lay down again. Robert looked at the package and thought it might really be tasty. Before he could decide to take one, he heard growlings beside him. He turned and saw the dog's blazing red eyes. The hairs at its back were standing on end. The dog's fangs glared at him as it jumped on the car door. He swiftly closed the window. He was scared stiff, looking at the mad dog.

A security guy saw the dog and seized a long-handled floor mop hitting the dog hard and shoving it off the van. The dog's attention transferred to him, scaring out the guard's wits. He thought it would attack him, but unexpectedly its feet wobbled and it dropped on the ground.

Robert and the rest couldn't believe what they saw. Everyone began to ask what happened and wondered why the dog went crazy and dropped dead. The guard questioned Robert but he denied knowing the cause. Robert stared at the package in fear.

Lino stayed longer in the toilet. This gave Robert enough time to loosen his rigid nerves and muscles after inhaling and exhaling. After a while, he covered the slit with packaging tape and waited for Lino. He drummed his fingers on the dashboard.

Lino came out and wondered what the hubbub was all about. As soon as he settled back in the van, Robert stepped on the gas and sent the vehicle flying. Lino held tight on the seat screaming.

When they reached a park, Robert stepped on the brake and shut down the engine. He seriously faced his friend.

"What is inside this package? Tell me the truth," He shouted as he pointed a finger on the parcel.

Lino checked the package in a haste and saw the packaging tape. He sighed. He didn't deny the lollipops were drugged but had no idea on the type of drug mixed in it.

"Stop this. This drug is evil. The dog went mad because of it," said Robert.

"You shouldn't have touched it. How am I going to cover this cut? They'll kill us for this." Lino felt a huge rock fell on him. He imagined Gallante lashing his anger on him. One candy was worth half a thousand.

"Throw it away and stop this now before it's too late," Robert said in exasperation.

"I can't throw this and get away from them easily," said Lino, frightened with what Robert suggested.

Lino thought of his debts, his family, and his shameful life. "It's too late to stop now," Lino said, his shoulders slumped. He painfully decided to leave his friend and left with the parcel with sweaty hands. They separated ways with heavy hearts.

After Gallante heard of the opened parcel, he took away the list from Lino and coerced him to work on the fraud insurance claims again, with a threat of harming his family if he would not cooperate this time.

In his room, Lino yelled bitterly, throwing everything he saw. He even smashed the lone chair he had. Gallante totally ensnared him. He had no way out.

Lino lay on his back on the floor. He wished he had someone to confide with and remembered Robert. This friend had always listened to him before but to his dismay, Robert refused to talk to him. His calls were rejected. No replies from his messages. He attempted to commit suicide but fear crashed him when he tried.

As he lay there in despair for days, he gave up. There was nothing worth living.

His family had abandoned him and out of fear for their safety, he had to cast any moral sense out of him and plan the death of the innocents. Then when he thought he still had his close friend by his side, Robert abandoned him as well, amplifying the numbing pain. No family. No friend. Nothing left. Even his self-pride was already gone. Gallante's unbearable pressures totally expunged his humanity. All that was left was nothing but a cold heart and a numbed spirit. He sank into the dark abyss of no return.

From there, he fearlessly talked to his other insurance agents to join him. All disagreed, as expected.

Lino told Gallante of their refusal with a dead man's heart. Suddenly, each one died in an unsophisticated fashion. One died of a heart attack while having a drinking spree with his friends. Then three more men died either while having lunch or while drinking beer.

Inside the insurance company, Lino manipulated the papers for the fake claimants and gave Gallante the list of people to target.

To cover Lino's manipulation, Gallante sent false claimants who underwent a make-over or wore life-like masks to impersonate the real beneficiaries. So when the actual persons came and decided to sue the company, the camera footages would be enough as evidence.

The last person Lino contacted was Robert. As the latter replied negatively, Lino let go of their past friendship and gave Robert's name to Gallante.

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Ever since Robert opened the package, he already had a premonition that he was in danger. He even feared they would touch his family. So he prayerfully prepared his heart and recorded a voice message on his phone.

In his message he told Diane to hand over the list to the proper authorities she could trust and let God seek justice for them. Then he slipped the phone under Diane's closet, hoping Diane would see the phone and inspect it in the event of his death. He did this several days before he died.

Minutes before his death, he was on his way to meet a friend in the National Bureau of Investigation because he decided to become a witness against Lino, but he did not bring a copy of the list. He was cautious after he saw Lino's coldness of their friends' deaths. It never crossed his mind that this would be his last.

As he crossed the road from his shop, an unavoidable rushing car hit him and drove away. His body flew fifty meters away and fell head first on the cemented road. He died instantly.

At present, what Lino said to Gallante was a bluff but he had faith in his instincts. The day he took the list back from Robert, the latter didn't ask a thing. Hence, he was certain Robert saw it and possibly made a copy. He could write his own list somehow but it would not be as believable.

Right at this very night, Lino was on his way to Diane's house. Hoping to find the copy for it was written by Gallante's own hand. He believed with this, he could nail Gallante and get his money.