INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (9 page)

The other room was also empty, so when they moved out they met Bill Jameson coming out of another room from the main lobby.

‘Detectives’ he said ‘How very nice to meet ya’ll again’

‘I see there are not much people here today?’ asked Alicia looking around.

‘Yeah...some are working on the other floors while others just left’ said Bill Jameson ‘Anyway, how may I help you today?’

‘We just need a little clarification, that’s what bought us here’ said Alicia.

‘Anything’ he said in the same confident manner.

Ryan without wasting any time quickly held the photo of Henry Roberts in front of him, and Jameson took it in his hand and studied it for a few minutes, then said ‘Who’s this?’ handing the photo back to Ryan.

‘I thought you could help us identify him’ said Ryan taking it.

‘What’s his name?’

‘Henry Roberts’

‘Henry Roberts?’

‘Yeah, does it ring a bell?’ asked Alicia.

‘I’m afraid, not’ He said more flatly than usual this time ‘I don’t know any Henry Roberts’

‘You are sure?’

‘Yeah, there is no Henry Roberts here’

‘Can anyone here identify him? Say Mr. Henricks?’

‘I don’t think so. And he gave you the list, I believe?’

‘He did, and yes it was helpful’

‘Great, and that list contains all the names of the people working here, there is no one outside that’

‘I see, okay, our mistake’ Ryan smiled.

‘And be assured no one knows anything about this guy, neither do I’ Mr. Jameson said looking assured.  ‘No one here knows him, I can bet on that’

‘Well that settles it then’ said Alicia ‘Thank you for your time Mr. Jameson; I hope we will not meet over this topic again’

By saying that they left the floor.

* * * * *

They were all back inside the car, Ryan driving, and it was unusually quiet inside. Kevin was the first one to break this uncomfortable silence.

‘You saw no Henry Roberts there, I told you so’

‘Yeah I thought so too’ Ryan said not looking at him.

‘No way to get him, unless we try out that thing’ said Kevin and looked uninterested.

‘What’s that?’

‘You know what, asking...’ said Kevin ‘Asking people around the streets about it.’

‘Will you shut up’ grinned Alicia ‘We still have another place to visit’

‘What’s that?’ asked Ryan.

‘Mr. Carter’s house’ said Alicia ‘We should ask his wife if she knows this man’

‘Good idea’ said Ryan ‘If Henry Roberts was a friend of Mr. Carter then surely his wife would be able to identify him’

‘Right, hope so’ said Alicia.

They drove on to her house and asked her about that man, but it didn’t prove to be of any help. Mrs. Carter denied knowing him .She just said the same thing ‘No I never saw him’

After they made sure that Mrs. Carter was telling the truth, they came back to their car worrying much more. They didn’t talk in the rest of the way, they just stared at the evening street with vacant eyes thinking about what should be their next move.

It was late so Ryan dropped Alicia in her apartment and came back to their flat.

Ryan opened the door of their room, switched on the fan and started cooling himself, just like yesterday.

‘Hey Ryan’ Kevin called.

‘I’m listening’ said Ryan.

‘You know I have been thinking about something’

‘And what would that be?’

‘So this man Henry whatever is a complete outsider’

‘Yah?’

‘So he’s not any relative, not any friend of our victim, yet we got his fingerprints in our victim’s car .Then how can it be possible?’

‘Right’ Ryan shrugged looking at the ceiling ‘So what’s your point anyway?’

‘I believe there’s a simple explanation behind this’

‘Go on’

‘Where?’

‘With the simple explanation, of course’

‘I have got no explanation, I just believe  that there is one’

‘Just don’t tire yourself with all these shitty thoughts of yours’

‘They’re not shit man’ Kevin sat up ‘These are all possibilities’

‘Yeah yeah, I know that’ said Ryan and he too sat up ‘Now don’t disturb me’

He took out the folded bunch of newspapers that they got from Paul Brown’s house.

‘Now they are the real shit’ said Kevin but Ryan ignored him and started making the crumbled papers straight , as if like ironing them.

‘What are you gonna do with them?’ Kevin asked again.

‘I will check them to see if there’s anything important, just like I said I will’

‘Do you seriously believe that you will find anything?’

‘Do you seriously believe that I am going to listen to you?’

Ryan spread the paper on the bed  straight and started glancing at the first page then remarked ‘Okay, so they’re dated 10
th
March, so they’re only two months old’ he said this more to himself.

The papers were a little yellowish and old, and they were also crumbled in a manner that they would never find themselves straight again. Ryan then became quiet for a few minutes and gave all his attention available into the paper, and the pages. He studied the headlines carefully and read some of the paragraphs, nothing important came up until now.

Then he just started scanning the pages one at a time and kept changing them. He kept the first lot aside and started reading a topic and some articles but he soon got bored and then changed the page. He did the same and continued for most of the pages, reading some, and then leaving some, ignoring some. He still thought that there might be a reason for this papers to land on Paul  Brown’s house.

The paper was more crumpled so some of the lines were hard to read, he left them just like that and started flipping through the pages.

He then turned the third last page and found lines drawn with a red-inked pen as if a child played with a pen and by mistake, he drew the lines in the paper. Then his eyes caught something, something he wasn’t looking for, something that was completely unexpected to him. His eyes lit up.

He turned and said to Kevin ‘Hey, Kevin’

‘Yeah what?’ he acted like he was asleep.

‘I don’t think there is anything more to check’

‘Like I didn’t figure it out. I told you so’

‘Because I’ve got what I was looking for. Something more than what I looking for, actually’

‘You’re bluffing’

‘Not the least’ said Ryan ‘Man, you got to see this’

THIRTEEN

Kevin lazily sat up, came beside Ryan, and said ‘What?’

‘Look’

He looked at the page and gasped out instantly ‘Holy Christ!’

‘That’s what I’m talking about’ smiled Ryan.

This particular page of the paper not only had lines, irrelevant lines drawn but also with red ink, written in block letters, it’s written ‘YOU  DON’T GIVE  IT. YOU’LL BE DEAD ’.It took nearly the whole page, from the middle till the bottom.

‘Now that is some kind of threat for sure’ said Kevin quite astounded by Ryan’s discovery.

‘So you see, checking some waste papers are also important’ said Ryan ‘And look at this, it’s the seventeenth page , so not always everyone will look into that part of a waste paper. They would think these are shit just like you thought’

‘At least I am not the only person who thought so’ Kevin got something to defend himself.

‘Anyway so what do you think about this?’

‘First of all it’s a threat. Second , someone is quite angry. And third, the person who wrote this is asking for something’

‘Right’ said Ryan ‘Your third part is the main part here. And also Mr. Brown knew this man who wrote this all along that’s why this man was not bothered to describe anything about the thing he was looking for’

‘He knew that Mr. Brown will understand who is this’ Kevin added.

‘But what is this man asking for? What can Mr. Brown have in his possession that our killer or whoever , wants to take?’

‘Something that might prove very fatal to this killer’

‘Sure, but we searched his whole house, even the CSU did it, but we didn’t find anything?’

‘No we didn’t’ said Ryan thinking ‘but we also didn’t find  Mr. Brown himself, so it’s highly possible that the thing he had....he took it with him’

‘And that’s the reason he’s hiding, he knows the danger, but still he doesn’t wanna let go of whatever he have’

‘Right’

‘And that’s always been the major problem for us, we cannot find anyone. First Henry Roberts and now Paul Brown’

‘But this will alter the case, or our theories’

‘What will?’

‘This disappearance of Paul Brown’

‘What will it alter?’

‘That means he is not the killer, but somebody else is, who is behind him right now. It’s convoluted and is complete the opposite of what we were thinking, right?’

‘True’ said Kevin who rarely agrees with Ryan.

‘Now what is that thing so valuable...to him and to someone else?’

‘There’s the problem, I can’t see anything valuable that a normal news reporter might have’

‘Yeah, me too’

‘And I hope wherever he’s hiddin’ , he’s not dead’

‘I too was thinking that’ this time Ryan agreed ‘These men are so desperate that they would leave no stone unturned to get what they’re looking for, they might even consider killing someone in order to get it’

‘And the only thing we can do is search for him’

‘And if we don’t find him soon, we would surely find him dead later’

‘Yes, and he’s the key to all the information we need, so we get him, we unlock another level. Or else we will forever remain stuck here’

‘I would not think like that. So negatively. But yes you’re right’

PART 3

The man was standing looking around the street, leaning on the wall of a coffee shop. He didn’t drink coffee, he just watched the car ahead which just came and the driver who seemed to be the owner, parked it on the other side of the road.

The owner of the car came out and entered the building next to it. The car was an expensive one, an Audi A7 shining as if it was just out of the showroom for a test drive. It was also black. And it was also better than the SUV he tried his hands on that night. No regrets, he thought.

He quickly cruised across the street looking at both sides and reached the car. He checked the exterior in a way that no one would be suspicious about what he was doing. He was all-normal.

He pulled the door, it was locked. But he had some cool keys and equipments with him to unlock it , as he went inside and started the engine with a push button start. So far so good. No worries until now, and he was nearly done, so that was not a problem as well. But as soon as he gave the first gear the owner of the car suddenly came out of the building and saw him inside. He shouted and cursed but he was already hitting the accelerator and the car zoomed away past the street.

The man yelled more ‘Hey! What the fuck! Come back here’ Some traffic police came running to him quickly and tried to help him out. But how could they help him? His car was already out of the street.

* * * * *

The next day Ryan and Kevin reached the Precinct, they found Alicia there, who must have come in more early, and was checking the list and some other files.

The other room was also buzzing, as it seemed like Dr. Taylor had a free day today that’s why he and Henderson were chatting among themselves. A lot of sound of laughter was coming through the blinds and the mood was cheerful. Luke the other detective from the crime lab was also there giving some advice about something to a uniform and throwing an occasional glance at the Henderson’s room. Everyone was busy with their work but there was something cheerful going on around the complete precinct.

‘You both look like you just solved the case?’ said Alicia as they both came smiling and looking around.

‘Positive’ said Kevin.

‘Seriously?’

‘Yes, but not the whole part’ said Ryan.

‘Okay then, which part?’

‘Discovered something unimaginable last night’

‘Oh, really?’ she said still thinking that they’re joking ‘Tell me’

Ryan, without telling her, kept the bunch of newspaper on her table and smiled again.

‘And what should do I with these crap?’ she jerked.

‘Yes! There is the funny part’ said Kevin ‘This newspapers contains something that we discovered last night’

‘We?’  Ryan was surprised ‘It was only me, man. You didn’t even bother helping me’