“Uggh! Shut up!” Aria yelled as she sat up and grabbed her head with her hands. “What the hell!!” She could hear a few more screams outside. “Just take a breath. It has not even been a few minutes and you are acting crazy!” Aria told herself.
She gave her head a little shake and got up to splash some water on her face again. For good measure, she gathered water in her hands and splashed it on her head. Aria started walking in circles in the room to keep her mind distracted. At least she now had Karen’s trust and respect. All she had to do now was to get a few things for her and she would stay happy. Maybe she would start her own gang here! She snickered. That would be crazy, but at least she wouldn’t have to clean dirty toilets anymore.
She came to a sudden halt, “Great, now I have started daydreaming too!” Aria rolled her eyes and climbed into the bed again. She covered herself with the thin blanket and squeezed her eyes shut. This is going be a long isolation time!” she thought to herself, but slowly drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 4: The Break In
As Aria tried to keep her sanity in the isolation cell, a plan to break into Ellen’s place was under way. Tanya and Clark were once again at Sanjay’s place, discussing the best course of action. The plan was already made and they were going through all the details one last time to finalize everything.
“We still need masks!” Tanya reminded them. “If someone sees us, at least they won’t be able to identify us.”
“We’ll look like robbers. People will definitely call the police when they see three masked individuals inside a house,” Clark rolled his eyes.
“They won’t see anything because her place has blinds and curtains on each window, which are already drawn. We just have to make sure no one sees us going in and out of the house.”
“Okay. So, masks are the way to go?”
Tanya glared at Clark, “I don’t see you coming up with any ideas that may help us with this.”
Sanjay pressed his fingers on his temples and squeezed his eyes shut. He was getting tired of this constant bickering between these two. He felt like he was with two teenaged kids instead of adults. Both of them were trying their best to bring down each other’s ideas, make sarcastic comments, or try to make fun of something the other said or did. It was amusing at first, but it was getting ridiculous now. It was only wasting time. The time and energy they should be using to help out with this mission. He turned to face and glared at the two of them.
“Are you guys done?”
The two of them opened their mouths to argue at once, but Sanjay raised his hand to stop them, “I feel this mission would be more successful if I do this on my own. You two are only going to waste time arguing and that will surely alert people nearby. I think you guys should leave now since you aren’t even helping to finalize the plan. I will take it from here.”
Tanya and Clark looked at one another with their mouths open as Sanjay turned and continued working. Tanya cleared her throat, “Umm… okay. Yeah, we get it. Listen, Sanjay. I am… We are sorry. We are going to be more focused on the mission now. You are right. The stress is just getting to us… and … well, we don’t really like each other. There. I said it. But yes, I apologize. I will be more civil. Aria’s life is in our hands and we should be handling this more maturely,” Tanya looked at Clark, who nodded.
“I promise too. Just let us come with you. Come on. You know you won’t be able to do this alone… I mean, you could, of course. But it’s better the three of us do it together. Like you said, we would be able to cover more ground, right?”
Sanjay sighed. “Fine! But if either of you mess this up because of your bickering, I am not coming to your aid.”
They nodded. “Roger that!”
“We should get things ready. We will need masks, because Tanya is right, even if someone sees us, they won’t be able to recognize us. So, yeah, they might come in handy. We just need a few flashlights and some gloves. We will each need a backpack to have something to put the evidence into,” Sanjay explained.
“When are we doing this?” asked Clark.
“Tonight.”
“What!!” Both Tanya and Clark exclaimed. “What do you mean tonight! We aren’t prepared. What about all the things you just mentioned? I don’t have a backpack or flash lights,” Clark’s eyes were wide.
“Don’t worry. I already have all the things prepared,” Sanjay said, and nodded towards his couch where three backpacks neatly arranged on the floor against the couch.
Tanya and Clark looked confused. “What!”
“I know. I am sorry. I probably should have told you but I can’t risk it at this point. Anyone could be following you or watching the two of you. The people behind all of this are very powerful. It is better to be spontaneous with this. They would never guess.”
“But…”
“We are going to leave now. Park our cars a street or two away from Ellen’s place and walk there. We will enter from the back door. It’s more covered by the surrounding trees so the neighbors won’t be able to see us.”
Tanya and Clark were still in a shock as they watched Sanjay walk over to the couch pick up two bags and throw them across the room. Instinctively, both of them each caught a bag.
“We are going right now?” Clark asked, looking at the bag and then at Sanjay and back again.
Sanjay nodded as he picked up the last one, “No time like the present. The mask, glove and flashlight are inside the bag. We will wear them after we enter Ellen’s street. There are plenty of large trees and plants on that street so it should be easy to hide.”
“But…”
Sanjay grabbed his keys and started towards the door. He turned to look at the two of them when he reached the door, “Any problems?”
Tanya shrugged, “No. Just surprised with the suddenness but I get where you are coming from. You’re right. This way is better. There are no chances anyone will find out about this.”
“But…” Clark muttered.
Tanya chuckled and patted Clark on the back, “There, there. It will be fine. Let’s go.”
The three of them were soon in Sanjay’s car, heading towards Ellen’s place. Everyone was silent. Sanjay was deep in thought. He hoped the two of them believed the excuse he gave them about why he suddenly wanted to go today. In reality, he had this strong feeling that there was something one of them was hiding. He couldn’t help but wonder if either Tanya or Clark were actually working against Aria. That wouldn’t surprise him. He had seen this happen before plenty of times. It is usually someone close to the victim who hurts them. He never got the chance to dig deeper into both of them, and he trusted them since they were both close to Aria. How else would it be so easy for someone to frame Aria so cleverly? Someone close to her must be working for those people. Feeding them her moves, what she was planning, where she was going.
They continued to drive in silence. He needed to make sure neither of them had a chance to prepare ahead of time or alter the plan. All it would take is one call to get the police over to Ellen’s house and the whole plan would be ruined, not to mention Sanjay’s career. He couldn’t risk it. Too much was on the line.
He was grateful to have the two of them helping out. He genuinely thought they wanted to help. However, as more and more time passed, he realized something wasn’t right. Things were somehow getting more confusing instead of getting clearer. It always felt like the enemy was one step ahead of them. How can they be? No matter what lead they found, it would end up as a dead end one way or the other. There was somehow more doubts about his plans and ideas, and he felt the two of them weren’t really trying to help, aside from the surface level desire of helping Aria.
He made a turn. They were getting closer to the house now. Sanjay could feel himself getting slightly nervous. Maybe he really should have gone alone. He wanted to trust both Clark and Tanya, and kept finding excuses to trust them, but he couldn’t shake off that nagging feeling that one or both of them were hiding something. Something vital. So
mething that could help with the case. Why else wouldn’t they reveal it if they weren’t working for the enemy?
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Clark asked.
Is it Clark? Sanjay thought. He was the one shooting down almost all ideas or finding ways to convince them not to go ahead with their plans. He was always finding something negative or critical to say about everything. Sanjay hesitated, but it could also mean he is simply concerned about us and Aria. One wrong move and the three of them would be caught. There won’t be anyone to save Aria, let alone save them. Aria’s case might even worsen because of them.
“Just relax, Clark. We were going to do this anyway in the next few days. Might as well get this over with tonight. We might find something before someone else gets the same idea.”
What about Tanya? Sanjay looked at her through the rearview mirror. She had been helping him from the start though. She was helpful and seemed extremely devastated when Aria was sentenced. She was the one who insisted they keep on looking at the footage to find Aria’s stalker, but Clark pointed out that would be a useless idea. Was Clark trying to stop them from finding something, or was it Tanya trying to keep them busy in a fruitless chase?
He sighed. He needed to clear his head. Maybe he should have been working alone. All this uncertainty and doubt would only mess with the case. It was too late now to back away from this. They were already near Ellen’s place. He found a good parking spot and switched off the engine. The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Sanjay said, “Let’s go.”
They grabbed their backpacks and got out of the car. As discussed, they started walking the same way and then each of them turned to a different street. They didn’t want to attract any attention and they had agreed that three people walking together would attract more attention than one person walking down the street. The plan was to meet at Ellen’s street.
Sanjay reached the house first, followed by Clark. They looked around. Where the hell is she! Sanjay mouthed to Clark, who shrugged. They stood near a large tree to avoid any wandering eyes.
A few seconds later Tanya joined them. “Where were you?” Sanjay whispered.
“There was a woman walking on the street, so I had to double back and take another street. I didn’t want her to see my face!”
“Hurry up! We don’t have much time!”
They started walking towards Ellen’s house crouching behind the trees. Sanjay took out the gloves and waved it to the two of them, indicating it was time to put on the gloves and masks. They turned at Ellen’s house and walked towards the backyard.
It was clear no one had been here for a while now. The garden was unkept, the weeds were growing and some of the plants had already died. The fairy light strings decorated on the patio were covered in dust and half of it was trailing on the ground. There was a lot of dust on the patio too. Sanjay halted.
“The dust. It will leave footprints.”
Tanya grabbed a cloth lying nearby and threw it on the patio. “We can walk on it to reach the door.”
Sanjay took out a knife from his pocket and started working on the lock of the door. Within a few seconds the door opened.
“Wow! Impressive!” Tanya said.
“Quick!” Sanjay entered and held the door for them both. They all hurried inside, closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
“That was actually fun!” Tanya chuckled. Clark shook his head and Sanjay ignored the two. He started looking around. They were in the kitchen. “We must do this quickly. We can start upstairs and do one room at a time.”
“Can’t we split up?” Clark asked.
“No. It is better to do one room at a time thoroughly so we don’t miss anything.”
The original plan was to split up but Sanjay was getting suspicious of the two and didn’t want to leave them alone. Who knew what they might find and they could end up hiding it? No. It was better to keep them close.
“Are you sure?” Tanya looked at him, confused. “This wasn’t the plan!”
Clark chipped in, “Yeah. We should cover more ground Sanjay. Otherwise, this would take too much time. You guys go check the bedrooms and I will check the study.”
“Hold on!” Sanjay said, alarm bells ringing in his head. However, he knew they were right. “Fine! But you two start upstairs. I am going to check this floor, including the study.” The study was where the laptops and other devices might be. He needed to do a quick sweep and then join the others upstairs. “Go!”
He watched them both head up the stairs and made his way towards the study. He turned the knob and opened the door and immediately cringed. No one had entered this room in a while, surely judging from the stuffy smell. Sanjay looked around. There were two large bookshelves covering the two walls on either side. The wall opposite the door had cabinets, some with glass panels but the rest were closed cabinets. Right in front of that was a massive desk that still had a few books, files, and stationary on it. Sanjay walked towards it. There was some empty space on the desk where Coons probably kept his laptop, which was now lying in one of the evidence boxes back at the precinct. Sanjay picked up the books and files on the desk and skimmed through them before putting them back. He sat down on Coons chair and opened the top drawer of the desk. There were a lot of papers but didn’t seem to be what Sanjay was looking for. He thought for a while, what exactly was he hoping to find here? He had no idea what exactly was going on and what kind of proof he needs to find to free Aria.
He moved on to the next drawer, and there were a few files in it – the mortgage payment, bills, and other utilities. He sighed and started putting them back when he noticed a black covered notebook lying underneath all the files and papers, he pulled it out. Coons had written notes in it that didn’t make much sense. In a few places, he had written a time and then a few numbers underneath it. Sanjay frowned. It could be nothing, or it could be something, but now wasn’t the time to go through it. He stuffed it in his backpack.
He stood up and started opening cabinets, some of them were locked, others merely had books. He closed them and moved towards the bookshelves. He took out a few books to see if there was anything behind them, but after a few minutes, he gave up. This will take too long! He thought to himself. He went back to the desk to see if he had missed anything and realized there was a third drawer he never opened. He tried to open it, but it was locked. Why is this one locked? He thought. He took out a knife from his pocket and started working on the lock.
After a few trys, he heard the click and the drawer opened. “What!” he looked inside, confused. The drawer was empty. Why lock an empty drawer? He stared at it before putting his hand inside to feel the corners, hoping to find something there. Nothing.
“Strange!” he whispered.
He closed the drawer and stood up confused. His mind racing. He bent down again and opened the drawer one more time. Gently, he started knocking on different parts of the drawer. Nothing seemed out of ordinary. He sighed. He was about to give up before he had another idea. He tried to take out the drawer completely. Maybe there is something underneath it. The drawer didn’t seem to want to come out. He pulled on it gently, but it wouldn’t budge. He then pulled it with more force and it came out with a thud.
He peered in but there wasn’t anything there. Using his cellphone light, he tried to see more clearly and caught sight of something in the far corner. Pushing aside a cobweb, he leaned in to grab it. A USB! He realized what it was as soon as his hand grabbed it. Bingo! He grinned broadly. “This could be it what we were looking for, or maybe not.” He didn’t want to get his hopes up.
Sanjay tossed the USB in the backpack and decided to go check up on the other two. He needed to keep an eye on them. He found Tanya rummaging through a closet in the first room. There were a few clothes lying on the floor.
“Yeah, please make it obvious that someone went through the house,” Sanjay shook his head as he grabbed the clothes and tossed them back in the closet.
Tanya
was startled to hear Sanjay’s voice, “Geez! You scared me!” She glared at him, “I just want to be thorough. No one is going to come here to check, at least I hope not.”
Sanjay sighed, “Did you find anything?”
As expected, she shook her head, “Nothing! The majority of the things are just Ellen’s… you know the usual, clothing, jewelry, a few files from her work, and that’s it. Nothing that could explain Coons’ murder.”
She tried to open a drawer, but it was locked.
Sanjay stepped forward, “Here, let me…” He took of the knife and within seconds the drawer opened.
“Wow! Neat trick.”
Sanjay took out the drawer and placed it on the bed. Tanya sat down next to him and they both started looking through the stuff. Most of it was jewelry, random receipts, and some files.
“What are these?” Tanya asked Sanjay, who was looking through the files.
“I think these are Coons’ bank statements…” Sanjay frowned.
“What is it?”
“A few of the entries have been circled, look…” he handed her the files. Tanya looked through the pages and saw the red circles around a few payments. These were made two to three times in each month. “This is a whole year’s bank statement. Do you think these are the payments Coons sent to ‘them’?”
Sanjay shrugged.
Tanya continued, “But these aren’t very big amounts.”
“Yeah. But you see he has made these payments several times a month. When you add them up, that comes to a rather sizable amount.”
Capital Crime (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 2) Page 4