INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series)

by ARKOPAUL DAS

  ‘That doesn’t clear anything’

  ‘I know. You will know everything soon enough’ said Alan. ‘And it was also quite hard finding you’

  ‘I gave you a clue’

  ‘That was a nice clue. But the clue was also tough. Most of the people thought that it’s meaningless’ said Alan as Jake laughed. ‘Still I knew that there got to be a meaning, and I found it after a lot of experiment’

  ‘It was easy’

  ‘Trust me it wasn’t’ said Alan. ‘And if you find that easy, then you should definitely become a detective’

  ‘Come on, I made the puzzle, of course I will know the answer and find it easy. That doesn’t mean I have any qualities of a detective in me’

  ‘True enough’ said Alan.

  ‘So where are we going now anyway?’

  ‘To the precinct’

  ‘To the NYPD?’ said Jake cheering up a little more. ‘Wow, this will be my first trip there’

  ‘That’s weird,’ said Alicia looking at Jake from the rear view mirror. ‘Why are you so overjoyed to hear this? People don’t usually like going there. And there is nothing really, no entertainment. Just plain and stale police work’

  ‘I like it. Police work. Sounds good’ he said.

  Alicia turned left and then finally parked near the 13th precinct building.

  ‘Ok, so here we are then’ said Alan as they all came out. One time Jake stood and watched the whole building and said ‘Looks nice’ then they all three went straight in. Jake was fascinated, as he looked everywhere and found that most of the people were busy and working. He thought they are doing justice to the police work.

  They stepped into the elevator and headed for the destined floor. As the door parted open, a minute later, they were greeted with some laughter and jokes form Kevin and Ryan. Jake also found that although they are all over-worked here and handles some of the most serious and dangerous work of this city, still they finds time for jokes and keeps their moods light. That was another nice quality of these cops. He smiled at himself, without even hearing the joke.

  Henderson was also there and he was in a nice mood. And that was more important , if he wasn’t in a nice mood then he will not let anyone joke or laugh in front of him, and if he was in a light mood then he will make sure nobody remains serious in front of him.

  ‘Here , guys, we got someone’ informed Alicia as they entered the large room , and more or less everyone working in this room who were all sitting for the whole day with their heads stuck inside the computer now was looking up hearing this.

  ‘Hello’ Jake said to everyone, as they were all strangers to him.

  ‘Oh, hey how is our little man doing?’ said Henderson and patted his cheek.

  ‘Just fine’ Jake replied promptly.

  ‘I hope you didn’t have any hard time for the past few days’ said Kevin.

  ‘Nope, no way’

  ‘Cool’

  ‘Hey did you catch the bad guys?’ he asked to everyone.

  ‘Yep we did catch them. You can meet them in the ground floor cells’ said Henderson.

  ‘No I don’t wanna meet them. I just asked’

  ‘Ok guys’ said Ryan coming forward with his coffee cup ‘He must be tired, give him some space. Here sit’ he showed him his chair.

  ‘Where’s McRae?’ asked Alan.

  ‘He’s in the restroom’ said Kevin.

  ‘Can I go see him?’ asked Jake.

  ‘Sure, straight to the left’ said Kevin as Jake walked away happily. Kevin turned back and said ‘Cool kid’

  ‘Yeah...’ Ryan agreed.

  ‘So what about your mission guys?’ asked Alicia. ‘Looks like it’s all positive’

  ‘Yeah, mission accomplished’ Kevin laughed.

  ‘Yeah totally’ said Ryan sitting back.

  ‘Hey that was my plan, so I should get all the credit for this’ Kevin pointed out.

  ‘Yes, it was your plan. No one is denying that and how can they?’

  ‘Yep, that’s more like it’

  ‘It went well just like you all planned’ said Henderson looking at Alan, ‘the money gets save, and the boy and the father are reunited again’

  ‘Yes but there’s nothing to cheer yet’ said Alan making Kevin stop his incoming joke and looked at Alan. ‘The case is still not completed here okay? We might have saved the kid but don’t forget the main part. We didn’t get the murderer.’

  ‘True’ Henderson agreed. ‘Alan is right. We should now focus on finding the murderer’

  ‘So how did it go with the killers?’ said Alan.

  ‘It went well’ said Ryan.

  ‘Just like we wanted’ added Kevin. ‘Three of them came to get the money with some shitty guns. We held them back for sometime later Mr. Henderson came with some backup and finished the job’

  ‘So they’re arrested?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘Yeah, just like we said to the boy. You can meet them in the ground floor temporary cells’

  Alan sat down on the corner chair without bothering to know whose it is. ‘So the only thing that is left is, finding the killer. We now get the killer, the case ends’

  ‘But I don’t think there’s anything more to investigate about this’ said Kevin becoming more energetic. Ryan could anticipate that another theory was brewing. ‘I mean isn’t it all clear now? Donovan is the main culprit. Whatever is going on, it’s a part of his plan. Even this abduction, it was all pre planned no doubt about that’

  ‘How do you know?’ asked Henderson.

  ‘The killers who came for the money. They once said that they would give a phone call and have the child killed if we don’t back off, and guess who they would have called? It’s Donovan. Does it clear anything?’

  ‘If they said so, then it does’ Henderson nodded.

  ‘Right so that’s my point.’ Kevin went on. ‘Donovan is the abductor plus the killer’

  ‘But how can we all prove all this?’ asked Ryan.

  ‘We will have to find a way for that’ said Kevin. ‘If he’s the killer then there got to be a way to prove all this’

  ‘Don’t ever think that will be easy’ warned Alicia. ‘This two mission might have gone well because Donovan let his men handle this, but confronting Donovan himself won’t be a piece of cake. He will surely find a way to get rid of us’

  ‘Ooo I’m so scared’ Kevin joked.

  ‘I’m serious Kevin’ said Alicia. ‘You just need to be organised so that there is no flaw in whatever plan we are about to make’

  ‘We’re always professional and organised, that’s why we’re cops’

  ‘Alright then’ Alicia understood that no one was interested in this sort of warnings, so she thought it would be the best to change the topic. ‘So how can you prove all this?

  ‘That’s what I was thinking about’ said Ryan.

  ‘I’ll go with Kevin’s plan again’ said Henderson. ‘He abducted a child and killed two men; what’s more can there be to think? We will arrest him, straight. That’s it’

  ‘We know the whole truth’ said Alan who was still sitting on that corner and listening to them. ‘But to others it’s just plain conjecture. We need something more concrete to prove this’

  ‘Wait a minute, you guys are all missing out something here’ Kevin mumbled and said at the same time, remembering another theory maybe. ‘What about the men we arrested today? We can make them talk, can’t we? We can make them say that Donovan is the killer and the kidnapper. And that’s it, we then can go and arrest him’

  ‘That’ll be a waste of time’ Henderson sighed.

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘These men aren’t gonna back you up in anything’

  ‘And why not?’

  ‘Look’ this time it was Alan who started it in an all business manner ‘This guys are criminals and are totally trained. They know how to act in this situation. So you get what I’m saying? They’d rather die than giving away anything important’

  ‘O
h...then that is a problem for sure’ Kevin understood.

  ‘It was always a problem for us’

  ‘See’ Henderson continued as Kevin became quiet. ‘He committed enough crime and there are enough offences against him, so we can arrest him anyway showing one of the reasons when arresting him. So after we get him in our hands, we dig into the current matter and make him talk. How about that?’

  ‘All these cases have now turned into cold cases and they’re either closed or else long gone under a stack of files. It would take up a lot of time trying to open one again’

  ‘And’ Alicia went on ‘You’ll not be able to keep him in the cell for more than a day or two. His sources would assign him the finest lawyer available in New York who would probably bail him out in a day. Later he will fight himself in the court trial and will win probably. And then he will vanish before starting the crimes all over again.’

  ‘He can also live his whole life as fugitive without getting caught. So we can also consider that option too’ said Ryan.

  ‘Whoa, ya’ll are thinking too far’ Henderson said with a surprised looking face.

  ‘That’s what will happen. I didn’t exaggerate it at all’ Alicia replied.

  ‘In that case we will have to make sure that doesn’t happen’ said Alan and stood up. He was fed up with all these discussions and useless theories.

  ‘Mr. Smith’

  Alan turned back and saw McRae standing with Jake by his side.

  ‘Yeah, how you doing Mr. McRae?’ he asked although he was not doing well himself.

  ‘Yes, fine. I just wanted to thank you all for this’

  ‘Don’t think it that way Mr. McRae, we’re bound to help you or anybody’

  ‘So how are you doing about catching the killer?’ he changed the subject.

  ‘We found the killer, you know’ Kevin answered as Alan shrugged. ‘It’s Donovan, the one who abducted Jake’

  ‘Oh, I hope you can get him soon’ McRae made an uncommon face and said.

  ‘Killer abducted me?’ Jake smiled. ‘How cool!’

  ‘You don’t need to worry about all this Mr. McRae’ Alan continued. ‘By the way I think Jake is tired, he has been through a lot for the last few days. You should probably take him home’

  ‘Yes yes’ he said and hurried on to the elevator. ‘You can visit me anytime in case you need to know anything more’

  ‘Oh sure’ said Alan as McRae departed.

  As soon as they went away, someone said from the back ‘What the hell is that man doing here?’

  They turned to see it was Trevor who was standing with a stunned face still staring at the closed door of the elevator. As if, he couldn’t believe something.

  ‘What’s wrong Trevor?’ asked Alan not sure what he should expect as an answer.

  ‘I’m asking why the hell is that man here?’ he said again with the same amount of stress in his voice.

  ‘You mean McRae?’

  ‘Hell yes, that’s the name yes!’

  ‘Oh right, you don’t know about this’ said Henderson. ‘Some criminal abducted his son, so we had to save the kid and bring him back to McRae, that’s why he was here. To take him back’

  ‘Oh really?’ he was flabbergasted and he was still not believing this.

  ‘Yeah, why are you talking like that?’ said Alan sensing that something was wrong for sure.

  ‘Do you know him?’ asked Henderson.

  He didn’t answer it straight, he took his time then said ‘The killer must have been quite brave that they chose to abduct his son’

  ‘Um...yeah’ Ryan also didn’t know what was going on. ‘But what’s your point?’

  ‘My point is that man McRae shouldn’t be here’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because he’s a lunatic, he’s dangerous’ this time Trevor answered rather flatly without thinking much. He wanted to see the expressions on everyone’s face, maybe.

  And this did take them all off guard. They were all astonished to hear this including Alan and Henderson. They were all looking back at him making a face as if they wanted to say ‘ – Like seriously?’

  Alan cleared his throat and he was the first one to continue. ‘Sorry what?’

  ‘I told you what, he’s a lunatic’ Trevor repeated the same thing just as confidently as he was.

  ‘A lunatic, you mean literally?’ Alan was still not sure if he should believe him.

  ‘That’s right’

  ‘You mean, he’s mad? Like a madman?’ said Henderson.

  ‘That’s what lunatic means, I presume’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ said Alicia and she became the first one to show that they did not really believe him. ‘Does he look like a madman to you?’

  ‘Looks can be deceiving’ he said. ‘Even a killer doesn’t look like a killer, sometimes’

  Alan considered his ‘Looks can be deceiving’ fact. Donovan didn’t look anything more than a affluent officer or a modern software engineer. Let alone being a criminal boss.

  ‘Okay if you know anything, then tell it more clearly’ Henderson insisted.

  ‘Okay here it goes’ he said and took a deep breath. ‘But this is only what I have heard. He allegedly shot five men without any reason’

  ‘Who were these men?’

  ‘Police officers’

  ‘Cops?’

  ‘Yeah’ said Trevor. ‘You see, it’s a terrible crime isn’t it?’

  ‘Wasn’t he arrested?’ asked Ryan.

  ‘How can you get away killing five cops? Sure he was arrested’

  ‘What then?

  ‘But his behaviour was so illegible that he was later transferred to some sort of asylum, or so have I heard’

  ‘Which asylum?’

  ‘I don’t know. I told you I only heard all this’ said Trevor. ‘This case was formerly handled by the 28th precinct’

  ‘Really?’ said Kevin, he was the fussy among everyone here.

  ‘Yep’

  ‘Then what?’ asked Alan again, he wanted to get the whole thing out of Trevor before judging it.

  ‘Naturally he was treated, I think and they found some kind of disease’

  ‘What disease?’

  ‘I don’t know all these details, but the disease was surely some mental disorders. And that after some time later, maybe he became normal, so he was released again. That’s it’

  ‘That’s all then?’

  ‘Pretty much’

  ‘But how did you come to know all this?’ asked Alan still not sure if all these were true.

  ‘I heard about it through someone’ he thought, then added. ‘Anyway my point is, he’s a dangerous man, a lunatic, so it will be the best not to mix with him much. You see, he can do anything’

  Alan became quiet and tried to reflect this new piece of information in his mind. He visualized it with McRae, those scenes, in an asylum, or McRae shooting people, cops, but no these couldn’t be true. He was with them all this time. There was no abnormality in him at all. Trevor must have mistaken about something.

  He shook his head a little irritated that he didn’t know all this fact before.

  ‘He can even be the killer you are looking for’ Trevor said and observed everyone.

  Everyone thought about this, and everyone could only think of one word – nonsense.

  ‘I know it’s hard to believe but that’s the truth, you know’ Trevor went on but paused suddenly and looked at his watch. ‘Ok, it’s late. I gotta go now. Will catch you up later’

  And then he left, keeping everyone confused with this new stuff. There was enough confusion already in this case and the new piece of information that he gave them now contradicted everything a little more without solving anything really.

  ‘No no no’ said Kevin shaking his head. ‘Please don’t ask me to believe all this. McRae is innocent, and that’s it’

  ‘You mean Trevor is lying?’ asked Henderson.

  ‘Probably’

  ‘But why wou
ld he lie?’ asked Ryan getting no reason for it.

  ‘You’re right Ryan’ said Alicia, ‘Trevor has no reason to say all this unless he really wanted to help us. And his looks doesn’t show that he’s lying’

  ‘He himself said, ‘Looks can be deceiving’, you heard that?’ Kevin pointed out.

  ‘Yeah but not always.’

  ‘And he didn’t help us at all; he just confused us a little more with all this nonsense’

  ‘Ok’ Henderson said stopping the debate that was about to start. ‘But I think as the case is still not finished, we should consider this and should check on everything now’

  ‘Right’ Alicia agreed.

  ‘Why don’t we leave it for tomorrow?’ said Alan. ‘It’s late today, so I better be off’

  ‘Yeah right, me too. I’m beyond tired man’ Kevin said rubbing his eyes showing how much sleep he needed now.

  Alan stood up and wore the blazer. ‘We start afresh with this lead tomorrow’

  ‘Man, I don’t know if I will be able to sleep today’ said Ryan shutting his computer.

  ‘Sleep tight’ said Alan. ‘It will help you keep up for another day’

  ‘My head is puzzled too’ said Henderson.

  ‘Mine too. Things are starting to look complicated again’ Alicia murmured quietly, which showed the lack of energy.

  ‘But don’t think about it much’ said Alan. ‘The first thing in the morning, I will give a visit to Donovan all alone just like I did that day’

  ‘Okay?’

  ‘But you guys should come with me too, but don’t come inside. I will call you in case I need you’

  ‘Do you have a plan this time, Alan?’ asked Henderson.

  ‘Not really. This is an inopportune moment to make a plan’ he said and headed for the lift, ‘A night rest and tomorrow we will pursue the leads again’

  ‘Okay let’s go then’ said Kevin and he also joined Alan and started waiting for the elevator to come.

  ‘It will be tough to sleep today’ said Kevin. ‘But I will give it a try anyway’

  ‘Yes try’

  ‘And Ryan can you help me with something?’ asked Alan.

  ‘Anytime?’

  ‘If you really can’t sleep today, try getting the records of McRae, if it’s okay’

  ‘No problem.’ He said and joined them again as the elevator opened.