INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (20 page)

‘He’s afraid that this might come out again if we start digging the closed cases’

‘Yes but now that we have something on him, more than something actually, now we can hold him for as long as we want and even book a cell for them’ said Kevin ‘But that would mean that we’d have to reopen this car theft cases again and start digging over it’

‘Hmm’ Ryan grunted. ‘What do you say Alan?’

‘What’s the use?’ said Alan. ‘I don’t think we should start with the theft cases all over again, and how can we anyway?. We’re not officially authorised to investigate car thefts. We’re in the homicide department, so we can’t investigate anything other than murders or any other normal burglary. We will either have to move the cases to the main NYPD building and let them take a look and decide or else we can inform the federal authorities about this. But wouldn’t that consume a lot of time?’

‘That would for sure’ said Ryan ‘That would take up a lot of time that we can’t afford to lose at this moment.’ He turned to Alicia.

‘And this case is formerly handled by the 86
th
precinct, so why should we make our hands dirty by digging into this?’ she said ‘So if we wanna take this up then we will have to ask for the permissions from the respective departments’

‘That won’t be necessary’ said Ryan ‘We’re not taking up this case. We have another case to solve at this time. And I don’t give a damn about whatever they’re stealing and selling, or doing with it’

‘Yeah, right. We will continue with our own case.’ Said Alan ‘and now we know why Henry was in the car, Jade Carter’s car. He wanted to steal it. But it was just a bad day for him. Next minute the stiff shows up and we’re thinking that he’s the killer. And that’s why he ran. He thought we want to talk to him about this stealing business, and maybe sent him to prison. So he tried to escape’

‘So are you we just gonna let him walk away?’ asked Kevin.

‘What’s the use of keeping him here now that we know everything’ said Alicia. ‘Of course we will have to release him and we will do it now.’

‘And are we all sure that he was there in our Vic’s car to steal it and not to kill the man?’ asked Kevin.

‘Yeah yeah, that’s what happened’

‘Very well then’ Kevin closed the page and stood up from the chair.

‘Let’s go down and release him’ he said.

‘Hey just a minute’ said Ryan. ‘I’m just curious. How do they do this?’

‘Do what?’

‘Steal cars. People usually keep the car locked don’t they?’

‘Oh, that’s easy. They will first bump against the car for a car alarm then they will break the window or jimmy lock to gain entry. After that, they will cut the steering wheel lock. There will certainly be an exposed wiring that can deactivate the alarm of the whole car. After eliminating the alarm they will just look for the car manufacturing information and everything then they will copy those information, take it to a manufacturer to get a vehicle key made. And if it’s a push button start, then they will just run of with the car then and there, make a car wash, change the plates, hide it , then after a long time they will take out the parts and sell it where they sells it’

‘Oh, lengthy process' said Ryan.

‘It’s just a piece of cake’ said Alan.

‘Okay let’s go down now’ said Alicia.

They reached the first floor again and gathered outside the interrogation.

‘I will go first’ said Alan, as he quickly entered and Henry said ‘More questions?’

‘No. You’re free to go’

He stood up smiling and gave an unnecessary node then just walked, forgetting about his bandaged leg.

‘So it seems like you got all the answers you wanted from me?’ he asked as he came out with Alan.

‘That’s what we do’ said Alan. ‘We would have found the answers anyway so you see lying was never the best option’

‘Oh’ Henry exclaimed ‘I lied because I didn’t want you to know about the auto theft business that I do .I thought you all came to capture me for that. But when I saw it was about something else, I thought it was the best to remain quiet. And I will tell you what happened that night, I was wondering on the streets and suddenly this black SUV caught my attention, so I damaged the lock with my tools then went inside, I worked with the fuse and tried to light up the engine without even a car key, as the Push Button was protected somehow, but the tires were stuck in the mud. I left it, and also must have left my fingerprints behind. End of story’

‘You should have just told us that before. It would have been a lot easier process’ said Ryan.

‘I don’t care’

‘We could have kept you here opening this car case business again, and also could have arrested you’ said Alan. ‘But we don’t want to’

‘Whatever’ he said.

‘And just remember. This is not a no nonsense GTA game. It’s the real world. So be careful when you steal some car next time. If you fall in the hands of a nasty cop, he will certainly slaughter your fatass’

‘Yeah yeah, I know how to deal with the cops’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Kevin came closer to him ‘Deal with me, can you?’

He gripped his shirt and pulled him near his face.

‘Get your hands of my collar, man!’  Henry said not at all afraid now.

Kevin was trying to make the next move, maybe squeeze his head or twist his neck but Alan quickly stepped in between them and pushed both of them away to the other sides.

‘Next time, you remember...—’ Kevin started.

But Henry quickly snapped out ‘Go to hell’

‘Kevin calm yourself’ said Alan and turned to Henry ‘Now you, just get out of here now’

TWENTY TWO

PART 4

He tossed the heavy crate over to the corner. It didn’t bounce, it was made of hard wood. He hurried to that side then thought about checking the straight lawn outside. He stepped out and looked at the both sides. It was empty. He knew the security officer he encountered would still be on the stairs and would not be bothered to look up. He might even be dozing off by now.

He felt relieved as he came inside and opened the crate.

The long Barrett M99 was in place. Like the M95, this rifle also had bullpup configuration and a hardy pistol grip. Meaning instead of a single shot, one round is loaded directly to the ejection port and is pushed into the chamber by a bolt.

It was a strong rifle. He took it out and loaded it with a special kind of bullet as soon as he could. He always thought that the guard might come back and catch him red handed. For security purpose, he also kept the Remington revolver at bay in case he needed to shoot anyone from a little distance.

Then he went to the large opening, as if it was a panorama view of the bright street outside.

The hotel on the other side was in a perfect place. He balanced the mouth of the rifle on the edge of the window kind of space, only it was too wide. He put on the field glasses and checked if his target was in position.

The target was not there.

He still aimed at it straight and waited directing the point of the rifle to the specific window on the opposite side of the street. He waited seven more minutes after which he could see his prey coming straight at the window then sat down somewhere, maybe there’s a chair or a bed .He could not see it clearly. But who cares, the aim was great, the angle was top notch.

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.