INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series)

by ARKOPAUL DAS

  ‘Well we scheduled a visit at the NY Times building today and will try to gather a little more information’

  ‘I see ,and do we have the CSU results ?’ said Henderson keeping his bag on the table.

  ‘I don’t know, I asked Kevin to get the results’

  ‘Yo ! I got it’

  Alicia turned back as Ryan and Kevin entered.

  ‘Uh. Good Morning Mr. Henderson’ Ryan said. Ryan saw that Henderson was in a youthful mood today.

  ‘Morning’ said Henderson a little surprised.

  ‘So what is it?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘Well yeah’ Kevin checked the files one more time and continued ‘CSU checked everything and the only interesting thing that they found is a pair of fingerprints on the front seat belt of the car’

  ‘And they are not of Mr. Carter’s, it’s of someone else’s’ Added Ryan ‘We can hope to get a match’

  ‘And they also got it traced and matched the number plates of the SUV and found that it belongs to a garage which is in the West 37th street.’

  ‘That’s just a few blocks away from the NY Times building’ replied Alicia. ‘Let’s start with the NY Times first then?’

  ‘Sure’ said Kevin.

  ‘Okay boys, so we got some new leads’ said Mr. Henderson as he smiled.

  EIGHT

  ‘I asked the security guy, it’s the fourth floor’ said Alicia as she turned back to them .They were already inside the NY Times building which was nice, well polished and the structure looked sleek and tall, made mainly of steel with some other metals. They found some high quality cars and official NYT vans which stood at the gate .It had a high security system with camera’s everywhere, capturing every move from every angle. Inside the ground floor there was a reception area, some photographers could be seen adjusting their cameras , some announcement was also going on. The lobby was stylised with longs corridors which were often deserted. They were at first held by two fat security guys who asked them what purpose they had ,but later they became friendly and in turn helped Alicia with the floor.

  They waited for the elevator to come down as Ryan pressed the switch .Soon the elevator door opened ,they entered and after some seconds it opened for the second time as they came out.

  They entered a new floor with a vast room and found that a interview was going on at the end corner, facing the view of the Empire State Building in the background which was nearby. Maybe it was a interview for some purpose as some questioning was going on and a lot of cameras were there . It was a woman who was answering the questions , facing the mikes in front of her. Two dudes held some personal DSLR camera’s for ‘‘off the record’’ recording.

  Alicia ignored them and moved to the other room but a suited gentleman came in the middle and blocked their way.

  ‘Yes, how may I help you?’ he said with a slight Canadian accent.

  ‘We are looking for the director of this building’ Alicia replied in a professional tone.

  ‘And for what purpose , may I ask ?’

  ‘We are investigating a murder case and we need to talk to him’

  ‘Murder?’ he said with a confused expression.

  ‘Yes’

  ‘Very well, what name should I give him ?’

  ‘I am Detective Quinn and these are my partners Detective Raglan and Connelly. And we are from NYPD’

  ‘Would you care to wait for a few seconds here?’

  ‘Sure’

  The man vanished inside just to return after few minutes . ‘That way Detectives’ he showed them the straight way ahead and escorted them there. He led them inside a new room , the front side was made of glass overlooking the city and a man sat behind the table on an expensive revolving chair.

  The man was in his fifties with shades of greyness in his hair, sat behind the table .He had blurry eyes with a few wrinkles on his forehead. He wore a dark green suit with black stripes that were hardly visible.

  ‘Here are the’ the man who bought them here said ‘Detectives from NYPD who wishes to talk to you’

  ‘Okay?’ he said and stood up. The other man who seemed to be his assistant left them.

  ‘Bill Jameson’ he introduced himself ‘Pleasure to meet you’

  Alicia shook hands, introduced herself and others . ‘Likewise’ she said.

  He took his seat again and Alicia , Ryan , Kevin did the same.

  ‘So Detectives, what’s the matter?’ he asked at last.

  ‘Do you know anyone named Jade Carter?’ Alicia started .

  ‘Jade Carter’ Mr. Jameson thought for a moment. Then he said ‘Oh, yes Jade .Yeah, I know him’

  ‘Well we were investigating his murder’ Ryan said.

  ‘Murder?’ he agonized a little. ‘What do mean?’

  ‘He was killed yesterday at dawn’

  ‘Who killed him ?’

  ‘That’s what we’re trying to find out’ said Kevin as Mr. Jameson remained quiet.

  ‘Okay, when was the last time you saw him?’ Alicia started the main course of questioning.

  ‘Yeah Sunday, I think’

  ‘And you were not worried , that why didn’t he came back on Monday?’

  ‘No’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he said he wouldn’t’

  ‘Did he say why wouldn’t he?’

  ‘He said he would be off for three days ,he had some personal work to do, that’s for what he came to me, to ask for the approbation from me’

  ‘Ok, and he was all natural?’ said Alicia ‘Or was he all excited or depressed about something?’

  ‘All normal , I would say’

  ‘And do you want to name anyone else from this building who he had a conflict with?’

  ‘I can’t say that’ Mr. Jameson noted politely ‘I really don’t keep track of what everyone is doing here, or who have a bad relationship with whom .In that case you might want to try talking to some of the staffs here, although I am not sure if they will be able to provide anything helpful’

  ‘Then we need all the names of people who work here’

  ‘That would be a real long list’

  ‘Then shorten it and give us those names who he worked with’

  ‘That we can try’ said Mr. Jameson as he picked up the landline phone and dialled a number. He said ‘Send Clyde Henricks’

  In a minute the man who bought them here appeared and said ‘You wanted to see me, sir?’

  ‘Uh...yeah, Give these detectives all the names of who works here. Include as many as possible’

  ‘In a minute, sir’ he acknowledged and left the room.

  ‘And just for the records’ said Kevin ‘May I ask where were you between 3 to 4 am Sunday night?’

  ‘I was... I was in home of course. But why do you ask?’

  ‘We are just trying to get as much information as we can. I hope you won’t mind’ said Ryan.

  ‘And can say anything more about him?’ asked Alicia .

  ‘About Jade?’

  ‘Right’

  ‘He was good, a faithful man. I can’t say anything more about him than that’

  ‘Thank you , Mr. Jameson .That’ll do.’ Said Alicia ‘My apologies for wasting much of your valuable time’

  ‘Never mind that, Detective’

  They stood up and made their way out of the room but just before they could catch the elevator, they were again blocked by his assistant Henricks.

  ‘You might want to take this with you’ he showed them a printed list of all the names with their position of work , degrees they had and other things about the company . ‘Here’s all the names, I haven’t left anything out, I believe’

  ‘Thank you’ said Alicia taking the folded slip .

  ‘Well may I ask you a question Mr. Henricks?’ Kevin said suddenly.

  ‘Yeah ?’

  ‘Can you tell if someone here would want to kill Jade Carter?’

  ‘No’ he said flatly ‘I’m afraid I can’t’

  ‘And...—�
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  ‘Come on ,let’s go’ said Alicia as she knew that even if this man knew about someone with any strange intention, he would not so easily let it out. So basically , it’s just wasting time talking to him. She knew there were still leads available to chase, and they should stop wasting their time.

  ‘Just a minute’ said Kevin to Alicia and continued ‘And do you know what was he working on ?’

  ‘I don’t’ Clyde replied in the same style as he used previously.

  ‘Okay’ said Kevin with a disgusted look.

  ‘But yes,’ he said ‘I think I can help you in some other way , for sure’

  ‘And what would that be?’

  ‘I can give you the name of someone who might know something about this man, Jade Carter’

  ‘What’s the name?’

  ‘Paul Brown, his name is also on the list’

  Kevin was just in time to catch the elevator.

  NINE

  ‘It’s becoming a lot easier , isn’t it?’ said Kevin as they stepped outside the building . ‘Now that we got a name, if we can get the man Paul Brown then he will be able to clear it all for us.’

  ‘We don’t know yet if he really knows anything’ said Alicia absent-mindedly’

  ‘He is his partner. Sure he will know everything, whatever they were working on’

  ‘Even he might be the guilty one’ said Ryan .

  ‘What makes you think so?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘I don’t know. But usually this partners become jealous over each other for something. So one day they will quarrel heavily and will end up killing each other’

  ‘Then there must be a reason to feel jealous over someone’

  ‘Sure and there will be. There must be some inner conflicts going on between them that resulted in this, murder’

  ‘Huh, slow down. You are talkin’ like you’re sure , that’s what happened’ said Kevin.

  ‘Wait, you said’ Alicia must have found a flaw ‘They will end up killing each other. So you mean they both are dead?’

  ‘I’m not saying that’ said Ryan as he drove the car and kept his eyes on the street.

  ‘But if they really got involved in a fight then at least one could have died and that can be our victim’

  ‘So you say that Paul Brown killer Carter?’

  ‘Yes’

  ‘That sounds like an amateurish theory’

  ‘One minute’ said Kevin ‘I remembered somethin’ , did they give the address?’

  ‘Yes . They did’

  ‘Let me see’ Alicia had written it on the phone so Kevin took her phone and opened that address page.

  ‘Hmm.... it’s not too far’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘But whatever the address is, my theory seems to be the right one’ Ryan bragged about it.

  ‘Not a chance’

  ‘Why don’t we stop this and just drop at the garage from where he took the car' Ryan changed the topic.

  ‘Okay , so where is the garage?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘Right around the corner’

  ‘Great, let’s check it out.’

  * * * *

  They parked their car on the left side as they crossed the road and came to the other side, and found the garage. The garage proved to be quite a dingy looking place that was full of smoke and dust. It was old and some of the cars looked like as if they were bought straight from the 1980s .The walls were of green colour that nearly faded and the place carried a heavy smell of petrol mixed with zinc and rusty iron. There were loud noises coming from the innermost area , some hard banging sounds made by the mechanics working there. There was a man in the front who was checking an engine of a half open car with his back to them.

  There was no door or any sign of a gate , it was all open to the road. As they came near , they understood that it was not so small as they thought it to be , there was a large hall kind of area with hundreds of car and some of them were also high quality sports cars apart from the vintage ones.

  The man turned back and saw them standing .He had a black sort of face that was the result of the smoke and the chemicals so it was not so easy to distinguish his facial features, and he was short and looked like he was in his late fifties.

  Alicia first showed him the NYPD badge and he made a confused face .

  ‘Ok?’ said the man not sure what was going to come.

  ‘Just some questions Mr..?’

  ‘Cleverly’ he replied promptly.

  Ryan quickly took out a picture of the car and held it in front of him and said ‘Saw this car?’

  ‘This black SUV ?’

  ‘Yes’

  ‘Sure I know this car’ he laughed ‘A man rented it a few days ago’

  ‘He bought it?’

  ‘No he rented it’

  ‘And for how many days?’ asked Alicia .

  ‘A week, he said he would drive the car back here after that and would pay for it’

  ‘What was his name, you remember it ?’

  ‘No, I didn’t ask for his name.... but he said he works in NY Times. And people form NY Times usually come here to take cars , you’ll even see some official vans that were taken for here. Most of the times they rent it or else they even offer to buy it .So you see when this man came for a car , there was no confusion form my side. I was happy to assist’

  ‘And he himself chose the black car?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Right he himself chose this one’

  ‘Can you identify the man?’ said Ryan.

  ‘Maybe’

  Ryan took out another picture, this time it was of Jade Carter, and showed it to him. ‘Looks familiar?’

  ‘Yes this man was one of them’

  ‘One of them?’ Alicia was surprised and looked sideways. ‘You mean there was more than one man?’

  ‘Yes, there was another man with him, it seemed like they were friends or something’

  ‘And where does that man work?’

  ‘How do I know?’ this time Mr. Cleverly was a little annoyed ‘And why the hell should I ask him?’

  ‘Did he say anything in particular, maybe something you ignored?’

  ‘Nope, I don’t think so’

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

  ‘Home’ he said and looked a little more curious ‘But what for are you asking this?’

  ‘Just asking, Mr. Cleverly’

  ‘But why are you asking so many questions about this man? Why is he so bloody important?’ he shrugged.

  ‘Well’ Ryan went on ‘the thing is that he was strangled Sunday morning at that time. And we are just investigating...’

  ‘He was murdered?’

  ‘Yeah, and that too in that black SUV he rented’

  ‘Man’ The man was disappointed .‘If I knew he will be murdered then I would never have given him the car’ he said this more to himself. Then he added ‘Just to be clear, I say, that I haven’t killed him and I don’t want to be involved in this case’

  ‘You sure will not’ said Alicia politely ‘But you’re already involved with the case as a suspect. That’s why I say if you remember anything more ,then please tell us, even a slightest detail, maybe’

  ‘Sorry folks, I have said everything I know’

  ‘Okay tell me, did you get a good view of the other man who was with him?’

  ‘Yes I did’

  ‘Then tell us how did he look?’

  ‘6 feet , white, had a healthy body. Wore T-shirt and jeans that day and looked quite fit’

  ‘If needed, can you describe him to our sketch artist?’

  ‘That I can. Although I’d rather not’

  Someone from the back banged a car with something heavy, by mistake this time, the car crashed down to the ground from the stand it was in and made a hard thumping sound, the tyres became flat. He looked like a inexperienced worker.

  ‘Dude that’s not a toy’ someone joked.

  ‘What are you doing’

  ‘Hey come
one man. We got a problem here.’ The other one called cleverly.

  Cleverly said that he was going then turned to Alicia ‘Now if you would please excuse me folks, I must join them’ and he went away.

  ‘Come on’ said Alicia as they came out in the fresh air from that large dingy place.

  ‘That means’ said Kevin trying to form a theory again as they were inside the car and Ryan hit the accelerator hard ‘This man, his friend or partner, was always with him. So he got to know what he was working on. And I think they were both working on the same thing’

  ‘Right’ said Ryan ‘And the problem is someone wants to stop them from doing it.’

  ‘But we should still not forget that he might be our killer’ said Alicia.

  ‘That’s what I said before’ Barked Ryan. ‘You’re copying my theories’

  ‘I don’t give a damn about your theories, let alone copying them. They’re all bullshit’

  ‘Come on, then why are you saying the same thing as me?’

  ‘Because they are right’

  ‘You know they are right?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘That means I am right’

  ‘The main thing is that we find him, we get to know everything, it’s as simple as that’

  They all continued arguing in their whole way.

  TEN

  The street ahead of them was totally clear as their car raced along in a blazing fast speed . They knew they were close to cracking this case and they could not wait for it to happen.

  The day was high on humidity ,so people were all drinking a lot of fluids in order to regain their energy. They themselves were quite sweaty now , but they were ignoring the temperature as they were running high on adrenaline .

  ‘You got the address Alicia?’ Ryan asked keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead which contained just a few cars.

  ‘Yeah, it’ll be somewhere in the 1st Avenue’

  Ryan continued driving for a few more minutes after which he turned around a corner and said ‘Here we are’

  They came down , Ryan quickly identified the house on the right hand side, just another normal apartment in a large building .He lived in the ground floor, or so they presumed.