INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series)

by ARKOPAUL DAS

  He felt his finger getting stuck on the trigger.

  He pulled it slowly; this things were not something you should hurry with. He knows he would get only one chance. Either he would succeed or else he would get caught. But the second option was not considerable. He had to succeed and that was what he thought off.

  He suddenly pulled the trigger down to the end and the shot was done. He put on the Binoculars again just to see if the prey was dead or not. Yes, he couldn’t have missed this easy shot anyway. He could see blood on the floor of the room, his target was certainly dead.

  * * * * *

  They were all back on the second floor and were standing on their original positions. Alicia first went to the board and pulled out the picture of Henry, as that part was over and solved.

  ‘What’s next?’ asked Ryan glancing at everyone as no one was willing to talk, just absorbed with their own thoughts or blank heads maybe.

  ‘Our next move. Yes our next move’ Alan repeated, as he himself was not so sure about it. ‘Yes, it should be tracing our next missing man, Paul Brown’

  ‘Okay?’ Ryan asked. ‘But you know we tried tracking him but hadn’t got any satisfying outcome of it’

  Kevin also gave a node.

  ‘Do we have anything else on him or any other information?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘We tried tracking everything possible. But still got no information’

  ‘But we got to start somewhere’ said Kevin.

  ‘What do say Mr. Smith?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘I don’t have any opinion’ said Alan quietly looking outside at the city ‘I was thinking about something else’

  ‘What?’ nearly everyone asked.

  ‘About Paul Brown’ said Alan as he came back to their table. ‘He was a journalist and worked at NY Times right?’

  ‘Yes he was. And the main thing is that he was the partner of our victim, so that’s what made him important’

  ‘One minute’ said Alan. ‘That’s not my point. I was just wondering that if he was a news reporter or a journalist, shouldn’t he have a camera with him?’

  The others didn’t answer his question instantly. He was right, but they hadn’t thought of this before.

  Kevin said ‘Yeah, he should have one for sure’ while Alicia and Ryan were still thinking.

  ‘You both searched the house thoroughly, I believe’ said Alicia ‘Did you get anything?’

  ‘No we didn’t’ replied Ryan with a thoughtful face.

  They all thought, Alan was right. A news reporter always should have a camera, be it personal or professional. But there was none. So was it supposed to be weird?

  ‘Oh’ said Alan after hearing that they didn’t find a camera ‘You should have found one’

  ‘What if he doesn’t have a camera?’

  Alan shook his head. ‘A news reporter not having a camera, umm...no I wouldn’t buy that’

  ‘Even I have a DSLR’ said Ryan. ‘I am a photographer, I can say’

  ‘Yeah you’re right Ryan.’ said Alan ‘I have a software, I’m a hacker, I can say’

  ‘Okay Okay’ Kevin steered the conversation. ‘The main thing is that, if there is a camera then we'll have to find it.’

  ‘So how do you think we can find this camera?’

  ‘No idea yet’

  ‘What if he uses a mobile camera? Nowadays it’s a new trend, you know’ said Alicia but the suggestion was soon rejected by Alan who said ‘No no, he might use a mobile camera but he surely have an official DSLR with him. You can’t do everything with mobile’

  ‘Yeah and I’m sure his phone is a total crap like Carter’s’ said Ryan.

  ‘Maybe it’s in the NY Times building itself?’ said Kevin this time hoping that his idea would work.

  ‘That is a possible reason’ said Alan. ‘He may have kept the camera in the building itself’

  ‘I don’t think so’ Ryan instantly said ‘The camera of a news reporter is like his heart. He could not live without it’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I know. This type of cameras contain important and pretty confidential information’s so if I were a reporter or a journalist or a photographer I would have certainly kept it to myself or maybe in a safer place’

  ‘And how safe might your place be?’

  ‘Home maybe’

  ‘Home is not quite what you call a safe place’

  ‘Okay my point is, wherever it is, it’s not in the NY Times’

  ‘One minute, one minute’ said Ryan again. ‘We didn’t find him in his home. Perhaps wherever he is hiding, the camera is with him’

  ‘Right right’ Kevin also realised something. ‘The camera is where he is now. So we find him, we find the camera’

  ‘Now there is the problem, we can’t find him’ said Alicia.

  ‘No, there must be a way to find him’ said Alan as he took the papers and started glaring at it.

  ‘You think there might be a clue in there?’ said Ryan.

  ‘I don’t know’ he said and went to the bottom of the page.

  He then turned to that particular page where the words were written and he muttered. ‘You don’t give it, you’re dead’

  He muttered it again and again on his own for several minutes then he kept the paper down and looked outside. The sun was setting down and now the sky was turning pitch black, soon the sun will vanish, as still there were some sunrays present, but hardly. The environment was quite humid. He looked at the sky, a flock of birds flew away chirping among themselves, maybe they were also investigating something, or so he thought, as they disappeared behind a building.

  Alan turned his gaze at the papers again and said ‘The paper is some months old. The letters are written by a low quality gel pen’ He rubbed the letters with his index finger. ‘The words are a few days old, i.e they still have the moisture in it. The edges still have the soft jelly matter which comes off when you rub it.’ He showed his finger to them, it did contained a small amount of ink, a bluish hue.

  Then he started looking at the other pages all over again.

  ‘What do you conclude from this?’ asked Alicia as Alan gave no more explanation.

  ‘If he wanted us to see this paper’ said Alan. ‘Then maybe the person wanted us see something more than this’

  ‘I checked all the pages, there’s nothing more in it’ said Ryan.

  ‘Did you really check the whole paper, or were you too excited to find this out at that time?’

  ‘Not sure’ said Ryan. ‘Well did you find anything else?’

  ‘Nothing till now’

  ‘We’re wasting time’ said Alicia.

  ‘Oh, you think we’re wastin’ time? Then tell us what do ya’ want us to do?’ asked Kevin in a mocking tone.

  Henderson soon came back from somewhere in his room , he had a bunch of files in his hands and a grim look on his face. He tossed the files over the table then he came out.

  ‘Why’re you all relaxing?’ said Henderson in his usual tone when he is not in his best mood. ‘Did you solve the case?’

  ‘No we didn’t’ Alicia felt more annoyed ‘And by the way, we’re thinking, not relaxing’

  ‘Thinking about what?’

  ‘Some place to find our suspect’

  ‘You need to find another suspect?’

  ‘Yes’

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Paul Brown. News reporter, works in NY Times’ said Ryan.

  ‘Where can we find him?’

  ‘That’s what we’re thinking about’

  ‘You will not be able to find him just like this’ said Henderson wiping the sweat from his forehead. ‘You need to move on and try to track his location’

  ‘We tried all the ways, he’s unreachable’ declared Kevin.

  ‘What’s this?’ said Henderson moving to Alan’s table. He noticed the sentence and said ‘Some threat is it?’

  ‘Yeah, we’re seeing if we can do something over it’

  ‘Is
something going on here?’ Luke just came. He wore a dark brown leather jacket that sometimes cowboys wear, and blue denims. He hardly ever wears a formal suit.

  ‘You wanna say something Luke?’ asked Henderson trying to make out if he was also relaxing or not.

  ‘No, I just came because CSU asked me to give you this’ said Luke as Alan quickly looked up and took the plastic bag from him.

  ‘What’s in that?’ asked Alicia and took the bag from Alan’s hand.

  ‘Haven’t seen the materials’ said Luke ‘Might be some evidence’

  ‘Okay’ said Alicia and opened it. Then she wore a glove, after that she kept the things on by one on her table, so that the products were not destroyed.

  ‘What’s all this?’ asked Henderson as Alicia kept the last piece on the table.

  There was a wallet a pocket diary, and a handkerchief. They also found a pen and a cheap mobile that looked like a Chinese phone.

  ‘Are these not the same items that we found from our vic’s clothes?’ asked Ryan and looked at everyone just to make sure they would also support him.

  ‘Yeah, these are the items from the Jade Carter’s clothes’ said Alicia. ‘Things that Dr. Taylor handed to us’

  ‘So,’ Alicia stared at Luke ‘Where did you find all these?’

  ‘Ah, yes’ he said ‘CSU found them on a dumpster somewhere in the 1st Avenue, in a short alleyway I think’

  ‘Just like we thought’ Kevin suddenly became delighted ‘the things that were found on Jade Carter’s clothes were all fake, so these must be the real ones’

  ‘So the main thing stands like this. Someone took the real ones out, changed it with the fake ones and then dumped them in the nearest dumpster available?’

  ‘Yes, that’s what it’s supposed to be’ said Kevin.

  ‘But how do you know they are the real ones?’ said Henderson. ‘These must be fake too’

  ‘Because they look old’ said Alicia.

  ‘Yes, and used’

  ‘So?’ asked Henderson.

  ‘So the fake things were all new, so these got to be the real things’

  ‘Then let’s see what’s there in it’ said Alicia ‘Maybe we will find a clue’

  She started with the wallet first. It was a branded leather wallet but seemed to be cheap .The edges have became dirty and some of the sides were even peeling off. The name of the manufacturer was written in the middle but it was too blurred out to read it properly. She stripped it open to reveal the dark interiors. There were two pockets on the both sides to keep the coins and some large chambers at the top; she found a few dollar notes there. She also found a picture of Jade Carter, which was just a notch bigger than a stamp mark. She put it on the table.

  ‘So this’ she held the picture ‘confirms that this Jade Carter’s wallet, no doubt remains about that’

  ‘And here’s a few bucks that I got’ she also emptied the wallet and put the money on the table.

  She rechecked it again and found nothing more.

  ‘So no clue from there’ said Ryan.

  ‘Nope’ replied Alicia ‘Ryan, what about the mobile phone?’

  ‘No, it was a cheap mobile phone and the battery is now destroyed by the damp environment it was in for the past few days’

  ‘Damp?’

  ‘Yes, it was in a dumpster, maybe the can was more damp than usual. So if it was there for the past few days then the dampness will reach its interior for sure and destroy the Lithium battery first’

  Then Ryan flipped the phone in his hand and said ‘But I think it might work. It looks okay, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah. I hope the SIM is okay at least’ said Kevin.

  ‘If it’s not then it will be just pure bad luck for us’

  ‘There’ said Ryan. The pen was in his hands now. ‘A Parker, I see’

  ‘That is not cheap, good’

  ‘Yes yes, it’s certainly expensive when you compare it with the other things’

  ‘He’s a kind of journalist, so certainly he had to write more.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right’ said Ryan. Then added ‘Oops, sorry. Correction needed. This is not a parker. A pseudonym of Parker’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘A fake parker’ said Ryan. ‘It looks like a parker but it isn’t one. Look at the refill. It’s a normal refill. Not any branded parker refill’

  ‘So our victim might have worked in the NY Times building. But he himself is not a very affluent man’

  ‘Yes, a middle class type’

  ‘And the last one, a handkerchief’ Ryan looked at it. ‘A normal male handkerchief. And that’s it. Nothing more to say’

  ‘What should be our next move?’ asked Alicia and glanced at everyone. Luke and Henderson were silently watching them work. Alan still was looking at the papers.

  ‘Luke, tell me. Did they found any fingerprints on any of these previously? Maybe the fingerprints of the one who handled all these?’

  ‘Umm....no they haven’t reported anything like that’ he said quietly.

  ‘Then whoever took this must have used a glove on his hands’

  ‘Probably’

  ‘Clever’ Henderson remarked.

  ‘Then it must be the killer’

  ‘Yes!’ Ryan agreed delightfully. ‘But why would he take the real ones just to dump it again?’

  ‘Yes, that’s what I was thinking’ said Kevin and scratched his head. ‘Why would he take it if there was nothing important in this’

  ‘He thought that he might find something important but when he saw that there’s nothing in it, he just dumped it recklessly anywhere’ said Alan now closing the pages.

  ‘Then what important things might there be?’

  ‘There wasn’t any’ said Alan again. ‘But he was expecting something...what is that?’ Alan now stood up, moved to the window, and looked out at the night sky.

  ‘Some information maybe, that might prove harmful if it’s exposed?’ Ryan tried a suggestion.

  ‘Yes’ Alan said still looking out. ‘Something...dangerous maybe. Then who is he? That it might be dangerous for him when something is exposed from a meagre middle class man?’

  ‘Look, he was a normal reporter’ said Henderson. ‘What sort of information could he possibly have that might cause harm to the killer?’

  ‘Maybe there wasn’t any harmful information’ said Alan now turning back to them. ‘He just changed the things to delay our proceedings or to hide any clues if it was there. He knows when we find this it will be late, so we will not be able to take any action then and there’

  ‘Alan is right’ Alicia suddenly called him by his name. ‘This is a nice theory. We just have to be sure about it.’

  ‘If the killer can kill someone then he can also do other illegal things’

  ‘Yeah, that’s correct too’ Kevin nodded.

  ‘But we’re just believing some complete speculations’ said Henderson. ‘We still know nothing for sure. For what purpose he changed the things.’

  ‘Or perhaps we are just thinking all this only from our side’ said Alan.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Maybe our killer didn’t find what he was looking for that’s why he dumped everything out of plain rage’

  ‘That’s probable but we just can’t stand here and discuss about it. We got to make a move’

  ‘Tell us where should we start?’

  ‘Start with the mobile you got’ said Henderson pointing at it. ‘Get a working battery and see if it works’

  ‘Ok’ said Ryan and turned to Luke .He asked Luke to get a battery as soon as possible. He took the phone and said ‘On it’ and went away.

  ‘And also see if this papers are of any use’ said Henderson as he didn’t like some waste papers lying around helplessly. ‘Try to find out who sent it, and form where it came’

  ‘Sure’

  ‘Right’ said Henderson and waited for another minute just to be sure that no one had nothing more to
say and then he went away in his own room.

  Alan resumed his gaze on the papers and Kevin and Ryan talked and argued among themselves providing some new useless theories. Alicia just stood there facing the window.

  Ryan looked at his watch. It was 6:15. Ryan finished talking to someone on the phone and came to Alan.

  ‘I talked to CSU to check if Luke’s information was correct.’

  ‘Was it correct?’ asked Alan.

  ‘Yes, it was’ Ryan said a little miserably. ‘They said the same thing. They found the things dumped in a dumpster there, and also found a slight algae residue on the things, from where they could conclude that they were left there for more than 3 days or so. That means they were certainly dumped on that particular night.’

  ‘And the things were changed after he was killed, don’t forget that’ said Alan.

  ‘Yeah, and I hope that Luke makes the mobile ready soon’

  ‘But I also checked on something’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I don’t think we can track the sender of these papers.’ Said Alan pouring over it. ‘because the papers might have came through someone in particular, or maybe the killer himself bought these papers. It didn’t come in courier or post. So you see, it’ll be tough tracking the sender.’

  ‘Yes, that’ll be nearly impossible’ said Ryan.

  ‘Yes and --’ Alan stopped because the elevator suddenly opened wide and in came Bill Jameson form the NY Times building.

  TWENTY THREE

  He walked briskly, straight towards their table not hesitating about anything. He only looked around once and surveyed the place. Then he again looked straight at them as if he owns this place, or maybe comes here regularly.

  He wore a grey and dull blazer, that was unbuttoned and a normal white shirt underneath it. The trousers were of the same colour. It was a little greyish, and he didn’t look tired at all. He looked just the same as he did the first time they met him on the building.

  As he came straight towards them, Ryan quickly signalled Kevin from the other side to come up and join him here, as he may not be able to handle him alone.

  He came to a stop as Ryan stood up and said ‘Is there a problem Mr. Jameson?’

  ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Because people don’t usually come here at the precinct without having a problem’