The sound of an engine car broke the peaceful ambience of Mahkota Street. Madam Dayang, Zara, Mifzal, Sultan Muzzammil V and Inspector Hassan tried to find the source of the sound. Until they saw a car moving so fast towards them. Inspector Hassan was holding the Sultan's wrist to save him away from any unwanted danger.

But the car stopped, not so far from them. It was stopped very abruptly. The tires of the car were screeching on the tar road. The car's driver seat's door opened. A 40-year-old woman came out from the car, wearing all full black. Her black hijab was very long, covering down until her stomach. She was in a full black dress, made of lycra.

She slammed her car door strongly, like she wanted to destroy her own car. Her face looked pure. Clear, white skin. With no makeup. No lipstick. No foundation whatsoever. But her eyes were puffy and red. Her corneas were red. It looked moist. As if she had just been crying for a long time.

She looked so devastated, sorrowful, and heartbroken. And then she screamed, "NOOOOOOO!"

She ran towards the group of five people, but not to meet them, but to pass through them, so she could reach the body bag at the top of the trolley, behind the ambulance.

She embraced the body bag. And then she released it. She was eyeing her surroundings like a crazy woman. The paramedics were actually behind her, but they were too scared to approach her. The woman turned to her back and demanded to the paramedics, "Open this bag!"

The paramedics were rigid, like a statue. "OPEN THIS BAG! I COMMAND YOU!" she yelled. Her face was so choleric.

She looked back at the black body bag. Her face transformed again from being angry to woeful. "Clarissa," she weeped. "Wake up darling, wake up!"

She touched the body bag, which seems that maybe she touched Clarissa's dead shoulder. "Clarissa, wake up," she said again. Shaking her shoulder gently. And then she shook her hard. "Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP! NOOOOOO! DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR BELOVED HEADMISTRESS!"

Mifzal slowly turned his head to Madam Dayang and Zara. "Is she..."

"Yup," gulped Madam Dayang. "She's SMK Mary of Teck's headmistress, Madam Siti Haliza Tajuddin."

Madam Siti kept shaking Clarissa's body. "Wake up, Clarissa! Wake up!" Madam Siti's expression was so mournful, but a creepy, half-dead smile suddenly formed on her lips.

"You're joking, right? This is part of an improv? A practice for your English drama?" Madam Siti started to laugh creepily. A sense of wail sound was still wrapping the sound of her blasting laugh.

One of the paramedics approached Madam Siti by holding her shoulder. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" yelped Madam Siti. She turned to her back and pushed the paramedic down to the floor. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME WITH YOUR FILTHY HANDS!"

A few other paramedics walked quickly to the trolley and the body bag, in an attempt to bring it inside the ambulance. But, Madam Siti extended her arms to her side, covering the trolley at her back.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE HER AWAY! DON'T YOU DARE! SHE IS STILL ALIVE! CLARISSA, PLEASE WAKE UP DARLING! THE CHOIR TEAM NEEDS YOU!"

Far from the scene, Mifzal walked closely to Zara and whispered to her, "She's being crazy like that just because... her choir conductor is... dea... no longer with us?"

"Why are you standing so close to me?" asked Zara annoyingly.

"Errr, am I not allowed to do that?" puzzled Danial.

"No, you're not! Shooo!" Zara pushed him away with a backward wave signal with her hand. Mifzal nodded and looked to the ground. He held his own fingers profusely and moved a few steps away from Zara horizontally.

Another car slid into the road of Mahkota Street. Another lady came out from the car.

In contrast with Madam Siti's fully black attire, this lady wore full pink. From her hijab. To her baju kurung, her handbag, and her high heels. All pink. She ran towards the howling Madam Siti.

"Oh God, Siti, calm down!" exclaimed the pink lady, who was standing opposite her alongside the paramedics.

"Ella!" cried Madam Siti. "Clarissa is not waking up!" More tears started to roll on her eyes.

This lady named Ella extended her arms to the front and embraced Madam Siti. Her handbag dangling on her elbow. She said calmly, "Clarissa is not waking up, Siti." Ella shook her head a few times. Her expression was also sorrowful.

"Aaaaaargghhh..... huaaaarggghhhh!"

The whole area of the quiet exterior of Mahkota Puri Palace was broken by Madam Siti's howling. She cried in agony. Her crying was so loud, her howling's voice started to sound spookily raspy. Ella hugged Madam Siti. She started to cry as well.

Madam Dayang looked at Madam Siti and Ella embracing from afar and rolled her eyes, whispering to herself, "Such a plastic move."

Mifzal looked at her headmistress and asked, "Who's plastic?"

"Her!" Madam Dayang's head nudged to Ella hugging Madam Siti. "That woman, who pretended to be an old rotten Barbie. She's Madam Nur Ella Ammaruddin. Headmistress of SMK Margaret Snowdown."

Mifzal looked at Madam Ella, stroking Madam Siti's back to calm her. Her eyes were watery too from her own weep.

"I bet she put plenty of eye drops in her eyes to create that tears of her's," ridiculed Madam Dayang. "She's faking it. I bet she's happy that Clarissa's dead, so her school can get champion again in the Megaputra's choir competition, just like what had happened in 2008."

Zara turned her head slowly to Madam Dayang. "Madam Dayang," warned Zara breathily. "Are you alright?"

"I am absolutely alright," replied Madam Dayang fiercely. "You've seen the real Madam Dayang's words through her lips outside of SMK Tengku Simpulan Intan."

Zara and Mifzal displayed a frowned face towards their headmistress.

"You won't hear me saying something like this again, when we're back at school," Madam Dayang added.

The paramedics quickly grabbed the trolley and pushed it inside the ambulance, containing the body of Clarissa Ching, wrapped in the black body bag. Madam Siti and Madam Ella were still embracing. Madam Siti was roaring with tears. She then lowered down her body until she kneeled. Madam Ella followed suit, still hugging Madam Siti tightly.

Suddenly, Madam Siti stopped her wailing. Madam Ella released her embrace. She looked at Madam Siti's cheeks, swollen. Her puffy eyes were staring piercingly at Madam Ella's. Her voice was shaking, because she was holding her anger, "Clarissa has been murdered."

"Siti!" said Madam Ella worryingly, still kneeling on the ground. "Calm yourself and stop accusing anything without any proof. We do not know that."

"DON'T PATRONISE ME ELLA! YOU ARE JUST AS FILTHY AS HER!," screamed Madam Siti, but her index finger was pointing at her back, to Madam Dayang actually. "HUGGING ME LIKE YOU CARE. I BET YOU WILL THROW A PARTY AMONG YOUR CHOIR MEMBERS TO CELEBRATE THE DEATH OF MY CHOIR CONDUCTOR, YOU SINFUL WOMAN!"

Madam Ella stood up slowly and walked a few steps back. Her worried face changed. Her eyes squinted, looking deceitful at Madam Siti.

She then laughed hysterically. Zara, Mifzal, and Madam Dayang's jaws dropped. Even His Majesty Sultan Muzzammil V was taken aback by that.

Madam Ella slowly calmed her laugh into a giggle and squatted opposite to Madam Siti. She was looking straight at Madam Siti with her doe, innocent, but cunning eyes. She tilted her head and asked, "Did you see yourself in the mirror, Siti?"

Madam Siti blew her breath angrily through her big nostrils.

"You look pathetic, Siti," said Madam Ella deviously. "Begging your dead choir conductor to come back to life. It... won't... happen...!"

PANG!!!!!

Madam Siti slapped Madam Ella's cheek. Madam Ella's cheeks turned red. She wiped her cheek with a playful smile and giggled again, "Hehehehe." Madam Ella fixed the position of her hijab. "Slap me all you want. Clarissa is still dead even after bazillion times you try to... slap... me."

Madam Siti actually didn't register what Madam Ella had said to her. She was already not in the right state of mind. Her eyes were flashing everywhere around her. "Clarissa has been murdered. She has been murdered... murdered," she mumbled. "Someone is trying to kill my girl!"

"THIS IS A CONSPIRACY TO RUPTURE THE DIGNITY OF MARY OF TECK AS THE MOST RESPECTED CHOIR TEAM IN MEGAPUTRA!"

Everyone on Mahkota Street went silent, listening to Madam Siti's scream. The pink in colour Madam Ella stood up again and giggled frantically.

Madam Siti was no longer kneeling. She sat down on the ground. Her palms on the tar road. Her head nodded down. Her feelings were a mix of sadness and anger. Madam Siti's body started to shiver uncontrollably. Her body turned cold, because she did cry for a long time before she arrived at Mahkota Street. Her anger had not subsided.

And then, she raised her head to the sky dramatically. After that, slowly, she lowered her head. She could see Madam Ella's legs. She whispered, "You're a murderer."

"Sorry, what did you say?" asked Madam Ella. She was no longer giggling. She gritted her teeth. "I told you, stop accusing anything without any proof."

Madam Siti didn't reply to Madam Ella's connotation. Instead, she turned her head to her back. Towards Madam Dayang. Madam Siti stood up slowly and she raised her index finger directly at her. Her eyes were directly archered to Madam Dayang.

Madam Siti then sprinted towards Madam Dayang, like a flying ghost beneath her baggy black dress. She shrieked, "YOU'RE A MURDERER, DAYANG SHEILA! YOU KILLED CLARISSA!"

Madam Dayang rolled her eyes, trying to duck, but Madam Siti was speedy. When Madam Siti arrived in front of Madam Dayang in a split second, she ripped Madam Dayang's brooch from her baju kurung, and tossed it away to the ground. She slapped her cheek, punched her mouth, and pushed her shoulder. Madam Dayang fell to the ground, but she was still sitting straight. Madam Siti kneeled, and squeezed Madam Dayang's head. Madam Dayang's neat ponytail was no longer neat. It went messy. Madam Siti pulled her hair vigorously, like she wanted to rip it off her scalp.

"HOW COULD YOU KILL MY CLARISSA, DAYANG SHEILA? HOW COULD YOU?" screamed Madam Siti.

Madam Dayang didn't do anything to respond back to Madam Siti trying to rip her head off. Mifzal rushed towards her headmistress and held Madam Siti's wrist to release her grip from Madam Dayang's head. A few women police came to them and pulled Madam Siti away.

"Let go of me! Let go of me!" cried Madam Siti. "It's not me you should take. It's her! The foul headmistress of Tengku Simpulan Intan. She murdered my student! She murdered Clarissa Ching! SHE MURDERED THE BEST CHOIR CONDUCTOR IN THE DISTRICT OF MEGAPUTRA! SHE WANTED MARY OF TECK TO LOSE IN THE CHOIR COMPETITION THIS YEAR! ARREST HER!"

The women police dragged Madam Siti away. Madam Dayang was still sitting on the ground, unmoved. Strands of her hair were messy, covering her forehead a bit. Her lips looked swollen, with a small dot of red liquid. It was blood.

Zara ran towards her headmistress and kneeled, "Oh, my God! Madam Dayang, you're bleeding." Madam Dayang didn't respond. She was in a state of shock. She looked at Zara, looking exhausted, and then she was looking at Mifzal, who was still kneeling too, since the women police took Madam Siti away.

Madam Dayang extended her right hand to Mifzal, signalling Mifzal to bring her up on her feet. Mifzal understood the signal and held his headmistress' hand, pulling her up. Madam Dayang stood. She still managed to sculpt a smile on her lips. She looked at Sultan Muzzammil V.

"I apologise that you need to witness that, Your Majesty," croaked Madam Dayang. "That's not a sight a Sultan should see."

"Don't worry about me, I've seen worse in my life," replied the Sultan. "There's no time for the hospital. I can bring you to my palace's clinic to fix your lips."

Sultan Muzzammil raised his hands, and out of nowhere, a few bodyguards came to him. "Please bring Madam Dayang to the palace's clinic for her to see the doctor."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Madam Dayang. With her body feeling unstable, she was still able to curtsy. "Oh, but before that." Madam Dayang turned to Inspector Hassan. "What will happen to Madam Siti?"

"She has committed an assault," answered Inspector Hasan. "We'll bring her to the police station. Call her closest family member. Maybe call a psychiatrist too."

"Please don't press any charges on her," begged Madam Dayang. "I am not pressing anything. She has been famous for having a bad temper. Unfortunately, it has gone an extra mile today. But, no harm done. Let her go later."

"We'll see," responded Inspector Hassan. "Bad temper or not, she should not have done what she did."

"I'm not surprised," supported Madam Dayang. "After all, she's Mary of Teck's headmistress. She has been dubbed as..."

Zara, Mifzal, Inspector Hassan, and Sultan Muzzammil waited for Madam Dayang to finish her sentence.

"... Bloody Mary. Well, you know, headmistress of Mary of Teck. She has a bad temper. Bloody Mary."

"Oh, I see," Inspector Hassan replied simply.

"Luckily, she hasn't known yet that Clarissa Ching planned to move to my school," informed Madam Dayang.

"Wait, what?" asked Inspector Hassan, surprised.

"Today was supposed to be the first day for Clarissa Ching to report as my student in my school. Today was supposed to be her first day as an SMK Tengku Simpulan Intan student," explained Madam Dayang. "This is the reason I'm here, to get details from you on what happened, Inspector Hassan. She was no longer a Mary of Teck student. She was a Tengku Simpulan Intan student. I need to know what happened to my student."

Inspector Hassan's expression looked uneasy. "Well," he looked at Zara, Mifzal, and Madam Dayang interchangeably. "This is definitely news to me."

Sultan Muzzammil V raised his hand shyly. His elbow was still attached to his abdomen. It was quite odd to see a royal monarch to be shy like that. "Sorry to interrupt, Madam Dayang. I have a question."

"Oh, Your Majesty!" Madam Dayang curtsied again. "Anything for you, sir!"

"How come Madam Siti didn't know Clarissa was leaving Mary of Teck? She was the most important student in that school."

"She had help from a teacher at Mary of Teck to transfer her to Tengku Simpulan Intan," answered Madam Dayang without hesitation. "I know the teacher."

"And why suddenly Clarissa wanted to move to Tengku Simpulan Intan?" asked Sultan Muzzammil again.

"You've seen how she is today, sir. She ripped the brooch from my baju kurung. It was my late husband's family heirloom. Wait a minute, where is that brooch?"

Mifzal was looking around the ground and found the sparkling brooch. He picked it up and gave it to Madam Dayang.

"Thank you, Mifzal," thanked Madam Dayang. She continued speaking to Sultan Muzzammil. "If she has displayed psychopath behaviour just now towards me and Clarissa Ching's body, God knows what she has done behind the closed doors of Mary of Teck. I spoke to Clarissa and her mother during the school holidays last month. Clarissa was burned out with the school activities she was doing at Mary of Teck. She was pressured. Because she was the best choir conductor in Megaputra. Also, the best actress in Megaputra's English drama competition. She needed to win again this year for Mary of Teck for both competitions. She couldn't take it anymore, the pressure."

"Is Clarissa Ching going to be Tengku Simpulan Intan's choir conductor?"

"That was the initial plan, with less pressure from me."

Sultan Muzzammil looked at Madam Dayang, like he was examining her honesty. And then he put his hands behind his back. He smiled like a comedian. "Just curious. That's why I ask."

Madam Dayang also stared at Sultan Muzzammil, thoughts ran through her mind, "Why suddenly this Sultan is interested to know the affair of her school's extracurricular activities?"

"I asked because she was found dead outside of my palace," said Sultan Muzzammil, as if he could read Madam Dayang's mind. "I feel obligated to know the outcome of the investigation, you copy that, Inspector Hassan?" Sultan Muzzammil turned his head to the inspector.

"I'll give you a weekly update, sir," said Inspector Hassan while bowing. And then, he spoke to Madam Dayang. "Could I follow you to the clinic, Madam Dayang. I have further questions to ask."

"Sure. If His Majesty is okay with that?" asked Madam Dayang while looking at the Sultan.

"Absolutely," said the Sultan.

Madam Dayang took her car key out from her handbag and raised it to Zara. Zara blinked her eyes a few times.

"You didn't expect yourself to follow me to the palace right, Zara?" asked Madam Dayang. "I know you have a class at 10 am. Same for Mifzal. It's his first day, he needs to be in his class."

Zara hesitated, "You want me to drive alone? With him?"

Madam Dayang flashed a grim warning expression towards Zara. Zara flinched. She took the car keys quietly from Madam Dayang's hand and said, "Yes ma'am." She nodded down.

"Good," said Madam Dayang. "Use this opportunity to talk among each other. Fix whatever feud both of you have. Iron things out. Let bygones be bygones. I expect progress, when I'm back."

Madam Dayang started to walk together with Sultan Muzzammil's bodyguards, for them to bring her to the palace. Her side eye saw Madam Ella was walking happily towards her own car back and drove away. "What a crazy pink Barbie woman," thought Madam Dayang.

Madam Dayang was walking slowly, until she realised something, and paused. "Oh, Inspector Hassan! You said earlier that our existence comes to be a convenience?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot," said Inspector Hassan. "The car that Clarissa Ching was in." He looked at the car, which was still being inspected by a few policemen.

"It belongs to Victor Law," added Inspector Hassan

Zara frowned. Mifzal did the same, because he thought that name rang a bell. Madam Dayang was slightly shocked, but she didn't show it explicitly. And then she said, "You're saying that the car, where Clarissa Ching was found dead, belongs to the father of my school's head prefect?"