INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series)

by ARKOPAUL DAS

Ryan first went up straight to the door , started searching for a calling bell , but there was none, so he just knocked and yelled ‘NYPD, open up!’

  He waited half a minute. Kevin said ‘I don’t think he’s gonna open it’

  ‘Then we have to break through it’ said Ryan.

  ‘Great, let’s do that .Just hope that the wood is not too solid’

  ‘Hold on , guys’ said Alicia, trying to move them away, ‘It’s already open’

  ‘Oh!’ Ryan growled.

  Alicia moved the door open and it was all dark inside save the sunlight that was coming from outside and lighting it partially.

  Alicia took out her gun which was a Sig Sauer P226. She held it in front of her in the darkness and then started moving inside. Ryan and Kevin also had their gun out, facing Alicia’s back.

  There was a table in the middle, maybe a dining table and the place looked like a mini hall room cum kitchen type. Apart from that there was nothing . The floor was just made of wood and the wall consisted of a bunch of cabinets.

  It’s a peculiar house’ Ryan said looking around.

  There was a window on the wall and it was half open ,that’s from where the sunlight was coming in.

  ‘Why do you say that?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Don’t you see it , the kitchen is in the front .Generally people make the living room in the front.’

  ‘Hey , you two check the rooms. I will go and see if there is another floor’ said Alicia and started climbing the stairs to see if the other floor also needs to be checked.

  ‘Seems like our man isn’t at home’ said Ryan. He took the straight route to the dark room pointing his gun , but it was not so dark as he thought it would be, ample of sunlight was coming through another window that was on the north west side of the room . He yelled ‘Clear’

  It was the bedroom, and it was tossed.

  The bed was ransacked , even the pillow covers were out and half of the bed cover was lying on the floor. There was some drawers in the dressing table that were open and some papers were strewn helplessly on the floor. A glass jar was lying upside down ,a flower vase broken. A framed wall picture that was moved roughly, resulting in a crack in the middle.

  Kevin was also there checking everything and both of them looked at each other when Alicia entered and said ‘What’s all this?’

  ‘Someone was here before us’ said Kevin.

  ‘What are they after?’ said Alicia.

  ‘Whoever it is , he was trying to find something in particular. They even thought it might be in the flower vase’ said Ryan as he took the broken pieces in the hand and started plucking the plastic flowers.

  ‘Or behind the picture’ Kevin suggested. ‘They even thought that it might be hidden behind it.’

  ‘What were they searching for?’ asked Alicia again more to herself this time.

  She took the papers and started checking them.

  ‘No idea’ said Kevin .

  ‘Well I have an idea’ said Ryan.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Whatever they were searching for , it’s small in size’

  ‘Good point’ said Alicia keeping the papers back on the table ‘That’s why they considered searching the small places, like behind a picture’

  ‘And it is important to them. They are trying to find it out because maybe it might prove fatal to them later on’

  ‘That means Paul Brown have something that might prove fatal to the killer?’

  ‘It seems so’

  ‘Really? What can he possibly have?’

  ‘Hey.’ Said Alicia ‘why are we referring as ‘they’ or ‘them’?’

  ‘I am just describing the things’ said Ryan.

  ‘But why are we only wondering about what were they searching about, we also have to think ,where this man Paul Brown is?’ exclaimed Alicia.

  ‘I hope he’s not killed, too’

  ‘You know what I think?’ Kevin geared up for giving his theory ‘I think that this man had something important with him and he knew that someone else also wanted it , that’s why he fled somewhere and is hiding now’

  ‘That is possible’ replied Alicia ‘Then we will have to find him’

  ‘Sure we have to’

  ‘What are these papers for?’ asked Ryan.

  ‘Nothing , some old newspapers’ replied Alicia.

  ‘And they are not even the current ones, they are all dated’ said Kevin. 'So yeah they're old...'

  ‘Then why would he keep the papers?’

  ‘How do I know? You see, everything is peculiar just like you said’

  ‘Let me see it’ Ryan took the bunch ‘I will look into it and see it in more detail’

  ‘Man, they are some useless bunch of waste paper. What are you gonna do with them?’

  ‘Whatever’ said Ryan as he folded it in such a manner so that it just fits in his pocket although he could not avoid the bulge on the pant.

  ‘Okay, so get CSU to check the room and also canvas the whole area. You both go and see if anyone, or if any neighbour saw anyone suspicious here for the past few days or if they saw anyone coming in or going out’

  ‘You got it’ said Kevin as they both went out.

  * * * *

  ‘I informed them’ said Kevin as both of them sat on a roadside bench and Ryan soon took out a pack of stuffed bread and digged into it.

  Some more backups were also informed and some more police cars were now parked in the area with some busy uniforms who were roaming around the area discussing things among themselves.

  ‘Why are you eating these things now?’ asked Kevin pointing at the bread.

  ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘It’s lunch time’

  ‘I know. But I guess no lunch for us today. You see we got a lot left to do’ Ryan said and took another bite as two uniforms looked at them with peculiar faces.

  ‘Where’s Alicia?’

  ‘She went somewhere. Maybe back to precinct’ said Ryan ‘Feeling bored are you?’

  ‘Yeah, especially this thing’

  ‘What thing?’

  ‘This talking to the neighbours and canvassing the area. I don’t think it’s gonna help.’

  ‘I think not’ said Ryan and stood up , finishing the bread and throwing away the wrapper ‘We should head back to precinct’

  ‘Okay?’

  ‘I mean yeah, you’re right this is useless.’ Said Ryan agreeing with Kevin. ‘You see if this man Paul Brown really thought that there’s a danger to his life and he escaped somewhere, then surely he would make sure that no one sees him go out or where’s he heading at, it’s more secure that way’

  ‘Yeah’ Kevin nodded. ‘So your bet is that he securely went to hiding without anyone noticing him?’

  ‘Precisely’

  ‘We should still wait for the CSU results. They must have finished with the room by now’

  ‘We will get it later’

  ‘But tell me,’ Kevin also stood up ‘Why did you really take those papers?’

  ‘I told you already, didn’t I?’ said Ryan ‘I have to make sure that there is no information left in there. I will check it when we head back home and get some free time’

  ‘Let’s go then’ Kevin said ‘We have to track this man and see where is he hiding now’

  ‘What about that place?’

  ‘What place?’

  ‘No sorry, I mean what about those fingerprints we found on the seatbelt?’

  ‘Oh, right. Henderson said that he will run the prints in our system and see if we can get a match from the database .If we can ID him then it will be easy for us track him down’

  ‘Or our killer’

  ‘Right’

  They moved towards their car sorting everything out. It was a normal car not a cop car. Ryan first got up and started the engine but a uniform suddenly rushed towards them and stopped them.

  ‘Detective Raglan?’ the officer said.

  ‘Yeah? Is something wrong?’ asked Ryan
looking puzzled.

  ‘A man wants to see you two’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘He claims to know something and he will only say it to the detectives who are in charge of the case’

  ‘So where is he?’

  ‘Maybe he went back home. He refused to say, as he asked to call him when we find you.’

  ‘So he wanted to see us?’

  ‘Right’

  ‘No, he’s there, he didn’t go home’ another uniform informed the officer.

  ‘Oh, Detective Raglan you both can meet him there’ the uniform who just got the information from the other uniform , pointed to a man who was sitting on a bench just like they did a few minutes ago.

  ‘Okay, we’ll see him’ said Ryan as he and Kevin moved towards the man who was maybe 50 or so. He wore a brown blazer and a shirt with cap kept beside him ,as they came near to him , he looked up at them and smiled .He had a little greyish hair with a round face.

  ‘Hey’ muttered Ryan ‘I am Detective Raglan and this is Detective Connelly’

  ‘So you wanted to see us?’ asked Kevin .

  He looked at them a little longer as if trying to understand if they were really telling the truth, then he stood up scratching his blazer as if removing dirt from it.

  ‘And you are?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘Call me McRae’ he said.

  ‘Okay Mr. McRae, what is it that you wanted to say?’

  ‘You tell me something first, were you cops looking for something?’

  ‘Why do ask that?’

  ‘So that I can decide if you really need my help after all’

  ‘Yeah, we are searching for a man who’s one of our suspect’ said Ryan looking bored ‘You saw anyone going out of the house in the last few days?’

  ‘This house?’ the man pointed at Paul Brown’s house.

  ‘Yes?’

  The man shook his head and smiled ‘Mr. Raglan, you asked me the opposite . I didn’t see anyone leaving the house but I did see someone going inside the house’

  ‘You mean you saw Paul Brown going inside the house?’ asked Ryan not sure what exactly the man wants to say.

  ‘I don’t know if his name is Paul Brown or whatever’

  ‘You’re his neighbour, you should have known him’

  ‘I don’t keep track of everyone who lives in this area’

  ‘Anyway, the main thing is, what did you see?’ Kevin was always short on patience.

  ‘I saw two men’ Mr. McRae stopped abruptly.

  ‘So?’

  ‘They were talking quite animatedly’

  ‘Oh’ exclaimed Kevin ‘Do you happen to know their name, maybe the other person’s name?’

  ‘Of course I don’t’ said Mr. McRae.

  ‘And by what way is this gonna help us?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘This two men you told us about might be any random people talking in the streets among them, so why do you think this will help us?’ asked Ryan.

  Mr. McRae laughed half heartedly. ‘You cops don’t understand do you? I knew you were a pack of foolish people’

  ‘Mr. McRae’ now Ryan became impatient ‘You should understand that we got a lot of work to do today, so if there’s nothing more you have to say, then maybe you should think about excusing us’

  ‘Right, right’ the man said not at all bothered about everything Ryan said just now. ‘As I said one of the men went inside the house and now I saw ya’ll searching the house and the area so I thought maybe this might be helpful for you’

  ‘So if one of the men went inside the house then where did the other one go?’

  ‘He left’

  ‘He walked away?’

  ‘No he didn’t walk. First he took out his mobile and called and talked to someone for a few minutes then he left , he had a car with him’

  ‘So he drove away?’

  ‘Yes’

  ‘Can you tell what car it was?’

  ‘I think it was a black SUV’

  ‘Did you’ said Kevin ‘notice the number plates?’

  ‘Look Detective’ said Mr. McRae ‘I live in that house’ he pointed at the opposite side , another cottage kind of house ‘Second floor, so do you seriously think that I can see the number plates from there?’

  ‘Sure you can’t’ said Ryan ‘We just made you sure that you didn’t’

  ‘So this thing happened Sunday night?’ asked Kevin .

  ‘Yes, better say, evening. It was maybe 8 or 9 pm when I saw both the men quarrelling about something in the middle of the road’

  ‘I see’ Ryan said looking tensed and worried at the same time.

  ‘So I guess I did succeed in providing some helpful information , after all?’ the man smiled cheaply.

  ‘We will check on that. We first have to be sure if your information is correct or not’

  ‘Damn correct it is. There’s nothing to be sure about it’

  ‘Mr. McRae, can you describe the men you saw that day?’ asked Kevin .

  ‘Well I don’t have the best eyesight in the world’ Mr. McRae said ‘But yes , they were both of average body, bushy kind of hair, well I can’t give the exact details about them’

  ‘And you were in your own house when this thing happened right?’

  ‘Yes, I was there by the window when I saw two guys arguing on the street’

  ‘Well one minute’ Ryan took out the photo of Jade Carter and showed it to him ‘This man?’

  ‘Yes he was the black SUV guy, he went back in his car after finishing his talk with the other dude , then to his mobile’

  ‘And you’ll still say that you never saw any of this men before?’

  ‘I hardly have any interest in looking at anyone and everyone’

  ‘If you didn’t have any interest at looking at anyone, then why did you look at these men, you could have ignored them?’

  ‘I did ignore them’ he said . ‘But what about this guy Paul Brown, what’s wrong with him? Is he missing?’

  ‘That’s what it seems like’

  ‘I should have talked to him before’

  ‘Yeah, you should have’ said Ryan. ‘At the moment there’s nothing more to be done other that thanking you for the information you gave us. We’ll find our man soon, so have a good day’

  ELEVEN

  ‘Where the hell were you both?’ Alicia said as they returned to the precinct.

  Ryan didn’t answer but he put the blazer on the desk and sat down below the ceiling fan. Kevin also imitated his action and drank some water. The day was getting hotter by every minute.

  Alicia understood that they should get some rest first so she remained quiet for some time.

  As a few minutes passed away, they felt more steady and the sweat evaporated leaving behind a cool sensation , Ryan stood up as Alicia began ‘So tell me?’

  ‘Right’ said Ryan ‘We were actually trying to get more leads’

  Kevin added before Alicia could say anything more ‘We talked to a man who told us that he saw our victim and our missing man talking animatedly in the street’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah’

  ‘When did he see this?’

  ‘I think he said Sunday evening , or was it Saturday?’ Ryan said confusing himself as he drank some more water.

  ‘Nah! It’s Sunday’ Kevin confirmed.

  ‘So what were they talking about?’

  ‘Ah, he didn’t hear them’

  ‘He just saw two men arguing on the streets , and that too from his own house, so you see? There’s no chance of hearing anything’ said Kevin.

  ‘Where does this man live?’ Alicia was still not wanting to believe what they were saying.

  ‘Just on the opposite side of Paul Brown’s house’

  ‘But how did he know that we are searching for those two particular men, has he seen them before?’

  ‘Nope, he haven’t’ said Ryan ‘He just said that he saw us ‘cops’ searching for someone and he thought that his inf
ormation might help us, that’s why he called us himself to say this thing’

  ‘I see. What’s his name?’ said Alicia as she sat down on her chair and started looking at the files in front of her ,on the table.

  ‘He didn’t say his full name, he just said Mr. McRae. That’s it’

  ‘Mr. McRae’ Alicia repeated it then said ‘So you think what he said was the truth?’

  ‘Yeah...’ said Ryan ‘I mean why would he lie after all , he’s just an outsider and has got nothing to do with the case’

  ‘Okay, then ’ said Alicia still not looking satisfied ‘What else did he say?’

  ‘He said that after the argument one of them i.e Paul Brown went inside his house, then the other man who I think was Jade Carter talked to someone from his mobile and then went back in his car and left’

  ‘Was it the black SUV?’

  ‘Yes.’ Said Kevin ‘He at least confirmed that he never saw both of the men before. But we can presume that one was Paul Brown and the other one was Jade Carter’

  ‘And that SUV that he drove away is the place of the crime’

  ‘Interesting’ muttered Alicia. ‘Something was going on definitely... and what was it?’ she asked herself resting her jaw on her wrist looking at the overlooking city from the window.

  ‘So McRae surely knew Paul Brown from before, I mean they lived opposite to each other and in the same neighbourhood’

  ‘The funny thing is that, he didn’t’ Ryan smiled.

  ‘Then how did he know that it was Mr. Brown who lived in that house?’

  ‘Well, we showed him Jade Carter’s picture and he identified it as the man with the black SUV, so we easily concluded that the other man who went inside his house was Paul Brown’

  ‘That is right’ said Alicia ‘But we still need more evidence in order to believe it, we just cannot keep faith in the word of a random citizen’

  ‘Yes, but for the time being, we should. We don’t have anything more to accuse anyone else .And what this man said does seem to be right to me’ Ryan said.

  ‘Yeah, to me too’ Kevin said.

  ‘Did CSU check Mr. Brown’s house?’ asked Alicia.

  ‘Yeah they’re going through it now, so we can expect the results late today or tomorrow maybe’

  ‘Okay, track any calls or any purchases they made for the past few days. Both our victim and our missing man’ said Alicia ‘And I will check with the list of names we got from the NY Times’