“And you believed them?” he observed her.
“No. I was also not inclined to fight court battles with lawyers. They don’t want to find truth, at least most of them; they are only interested in winning the case to secure their reputation. Truth doesn’t matter to them.”
“It matters to you?” There was something in his eyes which she could not place. Interest? He is going to judge me afterwards on what I say now.
“In a client and lawyer relation; yes, it matters to me.” She chose her words carefully. “If I don’t have faith that I am on the right side, I would lack the motivation to … make effort.”
There was a knock on the glass and Edgar came in.
“Sir, there is a consignment of shopping bags which you need to receive.” He said to Ken.
“All right.” Ken left his seat and put the pile of papers in a binder.
That’s it. He is leaving.
“Err, do you have a mobile phone, by chance?” She tried to look as indifferent as possible. “I forgot mine at home in the morning.”
“Oh. You need to make a call? Edgar!” He called Edgar who was standing outside talking to another supervisor.
“Miss Stone needs to make a call.” Ken informed Edgar when he came inside.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
“It’s actually fine. I will do it from the landline.” She tried to look normal as much as she could.
“No. Its fine. You can make a call.” Edgar said cheerfully offering her his mobile phone. Ken turned to leave the room when she tried to make one more effort.
“I was actually asking for your mobile number in case of emergency and if I need to contact you.” Damn it. I cannot even ask for a number without embarrassing myself.
“Oh, I am sorry, but I don’t use mobile. You can take my landline number.” He quickly penned his number on a paper and left Alicia in the office staring at the scribble in her hand.
————
“What?” Flora looked at her in disbelief.
“Yes, he said that.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Actually, I do.”
Flora was caved in Alicia’s floor bed in attic after a tiring day while Alicia was on the floor trying to message her scalp with hot oil. If she had to impress Ken, she really doubted that any other body part was up to any competition. She had already felt a horrible inferiority complex with her jet black hair with a hint of blue.
“In fact, it suits him.” She giggled a little.
“Why?”
“He has a computer in his office but he still uses a typewriter. Imagine! You know you cannot even undo on those things.”
“What will you tell Harry then?” Flora was only worried about Harry.
“I don’t know.” Alicia wrinkled her nose. “He is not going to believe me any ways. He would think I am a drip.”
“Did you ask Sam?” Alicia had invisibly introduced Sam to Flora.
“Yes. Sam also had landline number only with the strict condition of calling only in case of an emergency like earthquake etc.”
“What’s wrong with this man?” Flora sat straight on the bed thinking something. “Is he single?”
“I think so.”
“I think I should try reading his fortune.”
“What tarot reading has to do with relationship status?” Alicia looked confused.
“I find it difficult to read fortunes of people in a relationship. Their energies are so badly mixed with their significant others that I never know what is going to happen with the husband and what with the wife. You remember Mrs. Jackson whom I told that her husband was having an affair? Turned out she was the one having an affair.” Flora sighed.
Alicia laughed, “Perhaps she started the affair under the assumption that her husband was disloyal, in which case she wrote her own fortune.”
“Fine, you don’t trust my clairvoyance, lady? Let me tell you one thing. I am the one going to catch the killer for you.” Flora never liked someone making fun of her psychic abilities.
“Let’s go read some fortune.”
————
“A five of cups.” Alicia tried to see the first card.
“Hmmm.” Flora cleared her throat as a warning sign. She didn’t like getting disturbed during tarot reading, especially in this case where she was trying to read a person’s fortune whom she had never met before. She had warned Alicia to stay silent, but for Alicia, it was all fun.
The room light was turned off. Only three long red candles were burning on Flora’s crystal gazing table. Flora had opened her hair and she was looking somber. She solemnly looked at the withdrawn card for few seconds and then drew another.
“Chariot.” Alicia announced again loudly. Flora opened her eyes and gave her an annoyed look.
“What?” Alicia asked with a naughty smile.
Flora closed her eyes again and tried to focus. Then she drew the final card and held her breath. Her face turned white and her fingers clenched the table cloth.
“What? What was that?” Alicia bent to read the card, but she only managed to see a black flag and a white horse. She had never seen that card before. Flora quickly mixed all the cards and got up.
“What was the last one?” Alicia asked looking at her worried and sweaty face.
“Nothing. It was a mistake.” Flora said breathing heavily. “It is not wise to read fortunes of people without their consent.”
Alicia looked at her in surprise. Flora refused to read fortune of someone was something new for her. She had read fortune of their neighbors plenty of time, obviously without their consent.
She made a search on her mobile browser when she went to bed that night. The card of five of cups meant difficulty and loss in general; chariot meant conquest and victory. She paused for few seconds. Aren’t they contradictory to each other? Then she looked for a card with black flag and white horse. After a while, she got to know the reason of panic of Flora. That card depicted death itself holding a black flag riding a white horse.
It was a Death card!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Second Murder
“Death,” she murmured.
She was getting ready to leave for work next morning checking herself in the mirror. She used to think she was pretty enough before dating Harry, but the common notion that beautiful girls get everything they want, put her to conclude that she was not a part of that category.
She surfed the internet quite late last night and got to know that the death card did not actually have any bad implications. It meant purification and rebirth. She was thinking why Flora reacted in that manner when her aunt opened the door of attic and asked.
“You are ready?”
“Yes.”
“All right, we are going to the police station.” Her hairs were uncombed and she quickly tied them in a bun.
“I have not done the breakfast.”
“It’s okay. We will get something on the way.”
She dreaded the whole way going to the police station in Flora’s tiny fiat. How am I going to tell him that I failed big time? She shivered a little despite of the warm weather outside.
“You go and tell them.” She said biting her lips when Flora turned the car to the parking lot in front of the police station.
“I have already told Kripke. He asked me to bring you.” Flora said switching off the engine.
The local police station was a beautiful building covered with red bricks. The dark glass windows and doors were giving it a modern rustic appearance. Inside the building, there were lots of uniformed officers clad in black walking around. Kripke’s office was a large room in the center of the building.
When they entered in it, Alicia saw Kripke talking to police officers sitting in front of him, including Harry, from behind an executive desk. Some kind of briefing was going on. Kripke dispersed all of them, except for Harry, as soon as he saw both ladies. Flora took a side chair instantly so Alicia had no other option left except to sit next
to Harry.
“Another body is found.” Kripke informed them and put a photo in front of Alicia. “Have you seen him before?”
The guy in the picture was surely dead. Alicia answered in negative; she had never seen that person before.
“Take your time.” Harry said from her left. Kripke was calm but his eyes revealed his discomfort with the present situation.
“I am sure but why did you call me here? “Alicia asked ignoring Harry.
Kripke gestured Harry who got up from his seat and took out a plastic bag from one of the drawers.
“Exhibit A.”
Alicia closely examined the transparent bag which was usually used for containing and sealing important evidence. Today it contained something very familiar; another plastic bag used for packing books in it. She had seen Sam packing books in them countless times every day. It had the name and logo of her bookstore ‘Bell, Books and Candle Booksellers’ in bold letters.
“It doesn’t mean it has something to do with the store. Dozens of people buy books every day and then they disposed of the shopping bag.” She returned the bag to Harry.
“This one is different.” Kripke said. “We found it on the murder site and we found only one set of fingerprints on the bag.”
“Then?” Alicia still didn’t understand.
“If it belonged to a customer, there would be finger prints of many people. The person who packed the books at the store, then the customer who picked the bag and took it home. There would be at least two to three different sets of fingerprint on the bag, but there is only one. What does it mean, Alicia?”
“Oh please.” She was unable to accept this logic. “People use gloves all the time. Just because there is one set of fingerprints, we cannot assume that only one person handled it.”
“Except for one thing. This …” Harry pointed at the bag, “is an unusual bag. You see these wrinkles around the handles. This is the only part of the bag which has been used. The bottom part has not been used at all, no fingerprints, no wrinkles, no odor, not that of paper or anything else. If books were packed in it once, the forensics would have picked it. The forensic report said that it is a fresh piece out of the plant except for used to suffocate the victim.”
Alicia pressed her lips together. Harry’s logic was sound but she hated to agree with him.
“There are eighteen employees at the bookstore excluding me. How can you prove that it was Ken.?” She asked Kripke.
“We can’t prove it, but you can … by bringing us his fingerprints.” Kripke said looking straight in her eyes.
“Ken’s fingerprints.” She looked at Kripke and Harry. Flora was listening to their argument silently, “You should be asking him in professional capacity. You know you would not be able to build a case against him based on the fingerprints taken without his consent.”
“We cannot touch him until we get some strong proof to implicate him. Asking him to cooperate with the police is a complete waste of time. With Robinsons behind his back, we will be biting more than we can chew.” Kripke said.
“You don’t need to worry. She would take his fingerprints without a problem.” Flora gave her a stern look and smiled at Kripke who returned it back.
As Alicia was in no mood of exchanging smile with Harry, she picked her mobile and played with it. Keeping her head low, she knew Harry was observing her with his laser sharp eyes. He always claimed to be a good reader of body language. Read it Harry. I hate you.
She yelled at Flora when she was driving her to the bookstore.
“What were you thinking?” She mimicked her. “She would take his fingerprints.”
“Is it really that difficult? I think planting a bug in his mobile was ten times difficult than taking fingerprints.” Flora didn’t pay attention to her irritation. “You have got one chance to impress Harry and you are busting it. Opportunity is knocking at your door; all you have to do is to open the door and take his fingerprints.”
As soon as Flora stopped the fiat in front of the bookstore, Alicia jumped out and slammed the door behind her. It made a loud noise which made Flora also came out of the car.
“You know what?” Alicia yelled at her at the top of her voice which rang on the empty street. “I have become fed up of you pushing Harry on me all the time. I am not interested in him. He can think whatever he wants to think. I am not his puppet anymore.”
“You will do what I tell you, lady.” Flora threatened her. “You know the price of offending me is beyond your means.”
Alicia stomped her feet and kicked the headlight in frustration. When Flora didn’t react, she kicked the other headlight too.
“You behave like a sixteen-year old.” Flora shook her head, hoped back in the fiat and shouted from the window. “Now go and bring us fingerprints and don’t tell me in the evening that your boss doesn’t have fingers.”
Flora left without paying any attention to the broken headlights of her beloved fiat. Alicia was fuming in anger when she turned to the entrance of the bookstore, only to find Ken looking at her, standing in the doorway with his hands in his pocket. She felt as if someone showered her burning head with sodium bicarbonate. I am late. That was the only explanation she could think of.
“Good morning.” She stuttered.
“She was your mother?” He completely ignored the good morning.
“Kind of. She is my mother’s sister.”
“You should bring her to the store more often.” He was still somber. “People would take more notice of our store when people fight in front of it.”
Alicia looked at him in confusion, and then he laughed. It was the first time, when Alicia saw him laughing. He looked younger and happier, not a hint of sadness on his face. Her heart fluttered in her chest for a whole minute.
“What is that?”
“What?” he asked.
“What?” She realized she had spoken loudly. “Err. Nothing.”
He took a side to let her in the bookstore. She passed him holding her breath. How could Kripke think that he was a killer was beyond her. Damn you Harry. Damn you Kripke.
Wasn’t he the same guy who refused to come to the store even when a dead body was found? Now what he was doing here at noon, she wondered.
She avoided sitting in his office as she found it difficult to keep her resolve of helping the police after spending few minutes with him. She struggled to come up with a plan to take his fingerprints without raising suspicion, but at the same time, she didn’t want to fight with Flora any more on this issue. Take the fingerprints and finish this matter once and for all, she told herself.
She was setting books on a shelf mindlessly when a white hand came from behind and took out one of them. She turned to see Ken hovering above her head.
“Have you read this?” He asked turning the page of the book. The book in his hand was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
She shook her head.
“You will like it.” He gave the book to her and went away smiling to himself. She stared at his back with an absent mind. He was behaving odd today. First he came to the store before her, then he cracked a joke and laughed, and now he recommended a book to her without asking. Usually he only talked to her about the matters of the business. Alicia thought, if he was in the mood of chit chat today, she might be able to take his fingerprints as well.
She put the book back in the shelf and thought about going upstairs, when she suddenly froze in her place. She just realized that she had already got the fingerprints—on the book.
It was like a miracle. She didn’t have to do anything and she ended up getting what she wanted. She quickly put the book in her handbag and felt a burden getting off her shoulders.
————
She gave the book to Kripke at the same night after her working hours. He was still in his office and offered her dinner at his expense as a token of gratitude.
“Sorry child! I cannot go myself, but if you don’t mind I can send my assistant to give you company
.” His eyes twinkled more than usual saying that.
So he also knows about me and Harry. Damn you Flora. She didn’t think that Harry would be dumb enough to tell him, especially when he was engaged to his daughter.
“How is Daisy?” She asked in courtesy.
“She is busy with her London Fashion Week. She will come back by the next week.” He said affectionately. Alicia looked at him with admiration. How lucky Daisy must be to have a father like Kripke.
She said to have dinner some other time and left the police station. She could have taken a bus but she preferred to walk by herself. It was hardly a distance of fifteen to twenty minutes on foot.
The sky was clear and September wind had started to cool down. She liked walking on cold nights. For some reason, winter brought silence to Georgestown. It was already a city of old people as most of the young generation had moved to metros for better career opportunities and old people took refuge in warm confinement of their homes which meant the outdoors grew silent after sunset, and Alicia loved it.
She kept walking on the side walk thinking about Ken. She was sure he could not kill anyone. There had to be some misunderstanding and the fingerprints would clear the suspicion of Kripke once and for all.
She was crossing the central park to avoid going around it when she suddenly felt as if someone was walking behind her. She quickly looked back, but there was no one in sight. She had a strong feeling that she heard footsteps nearby. It was easier to catch the sound in the solitary environment of the central park which was deprived of a single soul at night. It had to be around ten o’clock when she left the police station.
It might be people on the night walk, she tried to console herself, but there was a suspicion lurking in her brain getting stronger every passing minute.
What if it is the killer?
Two murders had been happened linked to the bookstore. If there was some mystery connected to the store or to its owner, she could easily be the third victim. None of them had realized, not even Alicia herself, that she was also related to the bookstore and it could be equally dangerous to her.
The Killing Scripture (Alicia Stone Series Book 1) Page 6
