INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (48 page)

McRae without understanding what Ryan actually meant, he said ‘I did nothing’

‘People seldom visits this room if they does nothing’

‘I can’t say about the people, but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t do this. And by the way I feel fine, so I don’t think my mental problems are back yet’

‘That’s what every mental patients say actually’ said Ryan. ‘It’s getting real hard for us to believe what you say’

‘Then you can go to hell’

‘Oh so that’s how you behave with a cop?’ Kevin came forward and stopped.

‘And this is how you behave with an innocent citizen?’

‘Seriously, you call yourself innocent? I don’t think so. Neither will anyone here’

‘I have nothing more to say. You can continue questioning me, but you’ll hardly get any new answers other than what I have already told you all’ McRae sat back again, hands crossed.

‘Very well’ said Ryan. ‘Then one last question maybe?’

‘Just get it over with’

‘Where were you between 3 to 4 am Sunday night?’

McRae became alert this time, this was a new question for sure, and his eyes darted to the both sides, after a minute or so, he replied. ‘I don’t quite remember’

‘Last chance’ Ryan said again.

Again McRae took a minute to answer. But when he said the answer was short and more or less the same ‘No’

‘So you missed the last option which could have proved you not guilty’ said Ryan standing up.

‘I would like to see my lawyer now’ said McRae looking at the floor.

‘You sure do’ said Ryan and signalled Kevin to follow him out of the room.

THIRTY NINE

‘So that’s how it ended, huh?’ said Henderson, as he sat on the bench beside Alan sipping the coffee. It was still hot outside, coffee was always refreshing in any kind of climate.

In the front, Alicia was clearing the white board, as the investigation was over and there was no need to keep the pictures and the writings now. They needed to keep the board clear, because they would have to write everything again when they gets a new case. Alicia took a duster kind of thing and rubbed away all the description, clues and everything she wrote. Then she also tore away the pictures gently and kept it on the table for the time being with a paperweight on it.

‘Yes but I’m glad that we found the killer at last’ said Alicia as Alan was quiet and he was not willing to answer. He kept his eyes fixed on a newspaper. ‘It was a tough time for us, this few days’.

‘Yes that’s right’ said Henderson and gave a yawn. ‘You guys can relax for some time now. Take a few days off’

‘Right, I thought about that’

‘So where are Ryan and Kevin?’

‘Not sure. Went somewhere’

‘Did they tell you where they’re going?’

‘They said they need to check on something they got’ said Alicia as she finished clearing the board. The board again looked more or less like a new one.

‘So what are you gonna do now Mr. Henderson?’ said Alicia. ‘You also look tired to me’

‘Head home probably’ said Henderson and ushered Alicia to ask something to Alan.

‘And what about you Alan?’ she asked.

Alan looked up with a dull face and asked. ‘What?’

‘Now that the case is done, what are you gonna do now?’

‘Just what I’m doing. Finish reading the paper’

‘Will you not take a day off or something?’

‘No’

‘Okay’ Alicia thought it would be better not to disturb him anymore.

Dr. Taylor also entered the room with a bag and sat down between Henderson and Alan.

‘Would you mind bringing me a cup of coffee Alicia?’ he asked.

‘Sure’ Alicia went out.

‘Seems like you also had a tough day’ said Alan.

‘Yeah, good guess. Finished with the two stiffs that were left. Then handed the rest of the work to a junior. I am done for today’

‘That sounds good’

‘Who is doing the night shift today?’ asked Henderson for some reason.

‘Stephen, he will handle the rest. Maybe he will keep up the night too. I was sure I couldn’t have handled the night shift today. I’m beyond tired .But I also don’t trust Stephen completely. His work is mostly pathetic’

‘That’s sound pathetic too’

‘I know I know. That’s how life is. Pathetic’ said Dr. Taylor and he remembered something to say. ‘So tell me how’s the case going on?’ he asked to Alan.

‘Well it’s finished actually’ answered Alan without any excitement.

‘Done?’

‘Yeah’

‘So you got the killer, huh?’

Henderson finished the last drop of coffee as Alicia came with the coffee cup that was for Dr. Taylor.

‘Yes’ said Alicia this time. ‘Turns out the killer is a mental patient, suffering from schizophrenia’

‘A mental patient. I see’ said Dr. Taylor. ‘Yes, I know this disease. It can cause serious harm to their body who is suffering from it, both mentally and physically’

‘Even kill anyone else’ Alicia added.

‘Yes, that’s also probable. Because they’re completely out of their mind when they suffer from this’

‘That’s what the people of the asylum said’ Alan said.

‘Yeah, most of the doctors will say the same thing’ he said then again it seemed like he remembered something. ‘Oh another thing. My tests on Mr. Brown’s body are all complete. So I will soon release the body. But if there’s no one there to take care of the body then I will keep it for some more days in the storage chambers as it is in our rules’

‘No problem with that. Do whatever you need to do’

‘Hey I’m just curious’ said Alicia. ‘You said a mental disease can affect both mentally and physically’

‘Yes I said it’ Dr. Taylor nodded.

‘So how does it affect physically?’

‘It does. For example, say someone is suffering from insomnia. He will mainly have lack of sleep. If you can’t sleep at night you feel like sleeping in the morning. Still you will not be able to find sleep. So you will be tired all the time, and will have problems trying to fall asleep. You will not be able to work and everything, so you see these kinds of disease affects the social life too and of course the physical one. Surely schizophrenia is a lot serious than insomnia. Even people doesn’t quite say that insomnia is a mental disease’

‘I see’ Alicia found this thing interesting.

Suddenly Ryan and Kevin came out from the elevator and interrupted them.

‘Got some new information’ said Ryan looking at them.

‘What?’ asked Alicia. ‘What information is there left for us?’

‘There is. And quite a flummoxing one’ Ryan didn’t want to smile. This was serious, he thought.

‘Go ahead then’

This time Kevin answered. ‘Just like Alan had instructed us, we did some research and we got some information about McRae’

‘Yeah, what about him?’

‘As it turns out McRae was at a local pub Sunday night’

‘What?’

‘Yes, we sent some uniforms do get some information about McRae. But we got it all ourselves. He went to the Beekman at 12 am and he was there all night. And between 3 to 4 am McRae was still in the pub, the bartender confirms that. So does another 25 or more people who were also there that night and had seen him and can identify him. He was there till 5 in the morning, after which someone decided to drive him home’

‘But how’s that possible?’ Alicia just couldn’t digest this new piece of information so easily. ‘If he was at the pub for the whole night then how did he kill Jade Carter?’

‘We will have to assume that he didn’t’ Ryan nodded calmly.

‘But when you’ Alicia pointed at Kevin. ‘Asked him where he was that night, why didn’t he say this himself?’

‘Of course he was not in the condition to remember anything’ Ryan said. ‘If you know what I mean’

‘So then you are telling me that he’s not the killer?’

‘He can’t be the killer’ said Kevin. ‘His alibi is solid as hell’

‘What if he came out for sometime in the middle killed the man and then went back to the pub? He will get enough time to do so right?’

‘We thought about that. But that’s also not possible too’ said Kevin. ‘He chatted nonsense with the bartender the whole time he was there. There is no way he could have gone out in the middle. Everyone there will ascertain to that fact.’

‘Ok then if he’s not the killer then who is the killer?’ Henderson asked hoping anyone would give an answer.

‘That’s what we will have to find out’ said Ryan weekly.

‘So ostensibly, we are back to square one, huh?’ Alicia was becoming frustrated.

‘Pretty much’

‘So what should we do now?’

‘No idea, except that we will have to release McRae right away’

‘Are we ever going to crack this case?’

‘Right, well no, doesn’t seem so’ Ryan always had negative answers.

‘So everyone stop talking shit and think of a way to get out of this’ said Alicia.

‘We need a logical conclusion first’ Kevin suggested.

‘Everyone, hang on a minute’ said Alan as all of them turned to look at him. ‘Dr. Taylor, you were saying something about insomnia right?’

‘Yeah, insomnia, right’ Dr. Taylor sat upright.

‘Tell us more about it’ said Alan as everyone became angrier thinking what insomnia has to do with all this.

‘Well I’m not really a specialist in this so it will be tough to tell you the details. But as I said this is a sleeping disorder...which will leave you tired, raw and exhausted even if you’re not working. It will gradually deteriorate your health’

‘And how can you cure this?’

‘People use expensive steroids and everything but they doesn’t really cure this, and they does have a lot of side effects , so no doctor should recommend those things .But now a new herbal medicine is available which is known as the valerian root . This valerian is actually a plant and parts of it are useful. Like sometimes the flowers or the leaves, which can be eaten but the root is the main thing. You can create a soup kind of thing with it and drink it. People are saying that this is quite effective, though I don’t know for sure’

‘So what’s the colour of the...say the flowers?’

‘Pink and purple, mostly’

‘And the roots?’

‘Well when you mix the roots in the water and make the liquid, the colour usually comes as chocolate. And another thing is that it’s often called a bubblegum from Jupiter, because it has a taste which is real hard to define. And the smell is really awful, that’s why most people avoid it. It smells of sweaty socks or maybe...the kind of smell you get in a sewer’

‘And this insomnia’ Alan said. ‘Does it leave people with a hung over look and with dark circles under their eyes?’

‘Oh that’s for sure. It does’

‘Thank you Dr. Taylor, you helped us get the killer’ he said and everybody made a face like “What the hell are you talking about?’’ but Alan ignored the faces and said ‘We checked all the facts on everyone, but we missed someone too. If we had checked in on him, we would have got him, the killer. And you, Ryan, you Alicia and Kevin, you should have got him by now. How can you even forget about him? It was your job to do so because I wasn’t even here at that time...huh, you all are total idiots!’ Alan stood up and everyone still had that “What the hell” look in their faces.

Alan turned to Ryan and said ‘Okay I need you to break in someone’s apartment, but first come here, check some data on someone. I need you to do some more research for me’

FORTY

    ‘Seriously man, what are we actually expecting to find here?’

‘No idea. But things were a bit alacritous in the past few days, wasn’t it?’

Ryan fixed the glove on his right hand and scanned the whole room. He was looking for a place to start with. Then he went forward near the mirror, which hung in the front wall. He moved it to see, if there was any hidden chamber behind it or not, but there was none. 

In the room, there was a closet of average size and on the table, a water bottle with half water in it and also a plastic flower vase. The ceiling fan was new and looked more like a showpiece than an actual one. And the last of all the bed, a narrow one. Not a queen sized one. The room itself wasn’t so clean, it could be termed dirty actually. And everything seemed to be so cramped, just what you can expect from a cheap place like this.

Ryan first checked the table, felt the rough edges of the wood in his hands then also checked the underside of it. There was nothing. He spilled the plastic flowers from the vase most of which were full of dust then when he found that it had nothing, he kept the flowers back in the original position in the vase, just like it was.