by Sijal Aziz
It was provided quickly as the university did not want to have their name dragged through press because of one of its alumni. It wasn’t wise for them to get on the bad side of the Washington Police Department. The employment records showed that Kate had in fact worked as an admin assistant to Mrs. Perkins for three months.
Detective Derek was confused as the rap sheet clearly mentioned the case against Kate.
Instead of heading back to the station, Derek went to the local police that handled Katherine’s battery case.
Detective Derek introduced himself at the police station reception and asked to meet the officer in charge of Katherine Hawkins case and her file.
He was asked to take a seat. After about 30 minutes he was told that the officer in charge of her case had died in 2017 and the department was unable to locate Kate’s file in hard copy.
The charge sheet against Kate was looking more and more suspicious as Detective Derek carried out the investigation.
Detective Derek then paid a visit to the police station in Maryland where Kate had two prostitution complaints registered against her.
The officer in charge of her case was Detective Charles Adams. Detective Adams was a mammoth of a man. He was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed over 250 pounds. His desk was covered with files and it had a large box of donuts on it. With his physique it was evident that he needed to eat a lot even though he was in late forties.
“I am here to check your arrest file on a Ms. Katherine Hawkins. She was arrested on two counts of prostitution on 7th August 2016. She is my murder suspect and I need to investigate her past to build a strong case against her”
Detective Adams scratched the top of his balding head which had a few strands of black hair left “Hmmm I don’t really recall arresting a Hawkins or any prostitute for that matter, but I may have forgotten. I have been making arrests for the past 18 years. Help yourself to some donuts while I go and bring her file from the records”
Derek sat there for about 15 minutes, then picked up a donut and started eating it.
When half an hour had passed and detective Adams still hadn’t returned with the file, Derek knew in his gut that there was no file.
Detective Adams returned with a look of worry on his face, “Well I could not find her file in the records department. But they told me that her charge sheet is in the computer. So here is the copy from the computer”
Detective Derek took the sheet of paper from detective Adams and looked at it. It was the same sheet he had seen earlier on his computer.
So, there was no record of Kate in hard copy at both the stations.
Detective Derek thanked detective Adams and left.
One thing was sure, his trip to both the stations was not for nothing.
If at first detective Derek had his suspicions now the alarm bells were going off in his head that there was something about this case that was not right. Kate worked in a computer company. According to her she had found something that was not supposed to be there and then her boyfriend got murdered. And now there were no files of Kate’s arrests in hard copies.
It was now becoming evident to him that Katherine Hawkins was being framed. He needed to know by whom and for what reason besides murder.
Again, and again Derek’s mind drifted to Alexander Cooper but all he could do was investigate him in an inconspicuous way since Alexander Cooper was a billionaire and was friends with the mayor and the president.
One mistake on Detective Derek’s part regarding Alexander Cooper and he could kiss his job goodbye.
From what Detective Derek had assessed in his investigation so far into Alexander Cooper, was that he headed a company which built the software that Kate had found the backdoor in. Besides the doubt Derek hadn’t found anything on Alexander Cooper yet. As far as he could tell Alexander Cooper was a model citizen.
He was a philanthropist who donated thousands of dollars to orphanages, schools, offered scholarships to students and had opened literary clubs across the United States.
He was hailed as the most prominent government contractor in Times. He had made it to the front page of every major newspaper in United States and abroad and was the most eligible bachelor.
He has had steamy affairs with the daughters of various well-known politicians and people in power but had never married. Alexander Cooper also had a clean record and based on his work with government agencies he must have been vetted by the most high-profile government agencies as well. Derek knew that he had to tread carefully if he was to investigate Alexander Cooper.
Alexander Cooper was in a foul mood. He was a month away from his plans and he could not afford to have any loose cannons. Katherine Hawkins was a loose cannon.
He had picked her up thinking that she would never be able to find the backdoor but somehow, she had managed to and now she had run away from the police. The visit from detective Derek had worried him and he did not get worried easily.
He knew what he had to do. He walked over to the safe in his wall and punched in the code and took out a burner phone and made a call. The person at the other end simply said, “Yes?”
“Because of you I have landed in shit. I want you to take care of this Hawkins problem now.
If you had not murdered her boyfriend I would not have been in this shit!”
The person on the other end had carried out assignments for Alexander Cooper before but he had never messed up an assignment. Alexander Cooper had offered him three million dollars to take care of Hawkins, but he had ended up murdering her boyfriend. Since Alexander Cooper was a regular customer, Simon intended to take care of this problem as soon as possible.
“I will make sure that nothing goes wrong this time, Mr. Cooper. You have nothing to worry about”
“Ok. But do it quickly”
“I am on it”
They both hung up.
Alexander Cooper turned off the phone and put it in the safe again. Then he punched in the combination to lock the safe. As he punched those magical numbers, the memories of Jasmine swept over him. She was the love of his life and the bastards had taken away the only person he had truly ever loved. The lock code for the safe was the Jasmine’s birthdate.
CHAPTER 13
Alexander had met Jasmine at a dinner party thrown in his honor by the Iraqi minister for science and technology, Khalid Al Abdali, four years ago at a local venue. Alexander hated parties and events. They were a pure waste of time. He wished he had come up with an excuse for not attending the party.
Alexander wanted to expand his work in Iraq and there were many contracts to be won. The problem with this party was that Khalid Al Abdali was the only important person in the party and he was already helping implement Alexander’s projects. Alexander would have preferred to meet some generals to get some new contracts.
There were some women around but either they were married and or too wrapped up in their Islamic clothing to spark any interest.
Alexander could not leave before dinner as he was the guest of honor. So, he had to stay and keep a smiling face.
He was talking to the minister, trying to kill time, when she entered the room. The room suddenly lit up. Alexander was in the middle of a sentence, but he stopped talking and started staring at her.
She was tall, with jet-black hair that seemed to be dancing on her shoulders as she walked. She had bright black eyes, a tan complexion and voluptuous body. Her sleek dress seemed to be clinging to every curve of her body. A number of men in the room stopped talking and turned their heads to look at her. There was a radiance about her that seemed to fill up the entire room.
She was making her way to him with an enchanting smile on her face.
The Iraqi minister looked at Alexander puzzled and then looked in the direction of Alexander’s gaze.
“Alexander, may I introduce my daughter Jasmine”, the Iraqi said but Alexander did not hear him, he was mesmerized by her beauty.
Jasmine held out a hand, “I am very pleased to meet y
ou Mr. Cooper”
Alexander took her hand in his and replied with a dry throat “I am very pleased to meet you as well. I am sorry I did not catch your name”
She smiled again, “I am Jasmine Abdali. I hope this party is not boring for you”, she said in perfect English.
“Not at all”, Alexander said still gazing at her.
“Jasmine is an Industrial Engineering Graduate from University of Toronto with a specialization in Computer-Human interactions” Iraqi minister, Khalid Al Abdali said proudly.
Alexander stammered, “Good, good”.
“Jasmine, Mr. Cooper is implementing the hospital networking project for us that I was discussing the other day. I am sure he will be happy to answer the questions that you asked me”
Then the Iraqi turned to Alexander and said, “Jasmine is very interested in our project”
“Yes, I would be glad to”, Alexander composed himself, “answer any questions you may have Ms. Abdali”
“Please call me Jasmine”
“Would you like to take a seat Mr. Cooper?”
“Please call me Alexander”, Alexander replied looking deep into her eyes.
“Please follow me”, Jasmine said making her way to the dining table that had been set up for 50 guests.
Jasmine offered a seat at the head of the table to Alexander, but he declined and said, “No offence but I don’t want to sit here all alone without anyone to talk to. Why don’t we sit at the middle, at least I will be able to talk with you. You don’t want your guest of honor to be bored, would you?”
“Of course not!”, Jasmine said and sat down with Alexander at the middle of the table. Iraqi minister was looking at them disapprovingly but didn’t say anything.
Once they were seated, Jasmine continued, “I have just returned to my country after being away for more than a decade. My father told me that you are very interested in rebuilding Iraq?”
Alexander was only interested in getting contracts and making a huge profit. Just like what the other companies were doing. But he felt that hiding the truth was better.
“Yes, I am very interested in rebuilding Iraq, that is why I am implementing quite a few projects here and one of them is with your father”
“You know what Alexander, I am sick and tired of seeing all the hurt around. My people are hurt because of a war that was imposed upon them by others. I want to see my country regain its formal glory, I want people to have jobs, I want enough food on the table for everyone to eat, I want the children to get free education, I want to see the smiles back on their faces and I want my country rebuilt. What interests you in rebuilding Iraq?”, Jasmine said in a serious tone.
Jasmine’s love for her country was contagious. Alexander felt bad for not telling her the truth before.
“I am sorry, I was not straight forward with you before. My main aim in rebuilding Iraq was to get some contracts that could help my company. You seem to be very much in love with your country and very motivated towards its future. Now I feel ashamed for only having the monetary motive. I am sure the more time I spend here, the more I will be able to understand the needs of the people and associate with them on an emotional level”, Alexander had to fly back to DC in two days.
“Well in that case I would love to show you around”, Jasmine said with that enchanting smile and perfect lips. Something about her lips, made Alexander want to grab her by the hair and give her a long steamy kiss. To kick that thought out of his mind, Alexander tried to focus on the dinner plate in front of him.
“As my father said already, I have some questions regarding your projects, you wouldn’t mind if I will ask them right now?”
“No, sure go ahead”.
They talked for the next three hours about Alexander’s project and about Iraq. It was as if there was no one around them. They ate and neither of them knew what they ate.
Jasmine was genuinely interested in the work he was doing in her country for the poor. She really cared about her country and its people. Alexander had never seen such patriotism in his life.
She asked Alexander all types of questions regarding the hospital networking software.
The program, that was proposed by Kent and Cooper Inc to United States Department of Defense for implementation in Iraq, was aimed at building a support network of hospitals.
The program would create a network of hospitals situated in different cities across Iraq. The hospitals in the network would then be able to share their medical records, drug availability data, physicians, surgeons, doctors’ data and treatment methods used in handling a particular case.
The program would also help doctors and nurses donate some hours of their spare time to the poor patients by providing them free care.
When Kent and Cooper had pitched the project, the Department of Defense had accepted the proposal as part of reconstruction of Iraq and introduced Alexander Cooper to the minister of science and technology, Khalid Al Abdali, and the minister for health for kick starting the project in Iraq.
Jasmine was a good listener and she seemed to understand how the program worked and what more could be added to it to make it better. Alexander listened to her suggestions and promised to incorporate some of them in the program. Alexander Cooper had never been impressed by a woman before. He was mesmerized by her beauty and intellect.
Alexander Cooper had always looked down upon all women as objects that were to be used and thrown away. Girls in his college had never bothered to talk with him. Now that he had money, women were falling over each other to catch his eye. All they were interested in, was his money. None of them had ever loved him for what he was and in return he had used them and threw them away just like the trash they were. He had never met a beautiful woman with a brain. Now sitting there talking with Jasmine, Alexander was mesmerized.
It was not until Alexander Cooper looked around and saw everybody looking at him that he realized that it was late.
He checked the time on his watch and its was 1:00AM. He knew that he did not want to leave because of Jasmine, but why weren’t the others leaving. Then it hit him like a blow to the face that he was the guest of honor and no one could leave before him.
He turned to Jasmine, “I didn’t realize it was so late. I genuinely enjoyed your company today. Can we meet tomorrow for lunch?”
There was no hesitation in Jasmine’s voice, “Yes of course”
“I am staying at the Babylon Warwick Hotel. How about tomorrow there at noon?”
“I will see you there tomorrow and Alexander, I had a lovely time tonight as well”
The way she said his name stirred up feelings in him that had never existed before.
Reluctantly he got up and walked over to the minister. He shook his hand and said goodbye. He then walked back to Jasmine and shook her hand and held it a little longer than required and said good night.
Alexander made his way back to his car and started driving to his hotel. He did not like to be driven around so he never hired a driver. All the back to his hotel, Alexander could not get Jasmine out of his mind.
When he arrived home, it was 2 already. He took a quick shower and went to bed. He had trouble sleeping as Jasmine’s enchanting smile and her lips kept on appearing before his eyes.
Finally, when he was able to doze off, he had a smile on his face.
In spite of herself, Jasmine was thinking about Alexander too. He was handsome, charming and it seemed to her that he was genuinely interested in her. She also knew about his reputation and knew that he was a womanizer. She had seen him in magazines with a different woman on his arm every other week. She knew she had to be careful with him. She did not want her heart to be broken.
Jasmine had had her fair share of romances over the years. But nothing had lasted more than a month. Her father had tried to get her to court wealthy and handsome young men but they all bored Jasmine. They were either too self-centered or too dumb. Alexander on the other hand was completely down to earth, intelligent, handsome and c
harming.
Jasmine was looking forward to their lunch. She knew that her father would not have allowed her to meet Alexander openly if he was an Iraqi. But since he was her father’s guest, therefore he would not object.
Alexander got up at 9 in the morning and started making a series of phone calls. He had a meeting with a US General for another project at noon. He had it rescheduled to 7 in the evening. He knew that the general will not be happy, but Alexander had to meet Jasmine again.
Alexander’s schedule was pretty tight, and he was in meetings until 11. His first meeting was a 9:00 with an oil exploration firm that wanted to link up their procurement, financial and sales department through Enterprise Resource Planning solutions. Alexander found it hard to concentrate on the meeting and kept looking at his watch from time to time. It seemed to him that the people never shut up and that somehow time had come to a standstill.
Alexander said a silent prayer when the meeting was finally over.
He had to oversee the implementation of one of their projects until 10:30. At 11:30 he hurried back to his hotel. Took a quick shower and changed his clothes several times. He was so excited about meeting Jasmine that he felt like a college boy. He could not decide what to wear.
Finally, he settled for a navy-blue shirt with faded jeans and headed to the hotel lobby. It was 11:55.
Jasmine entered the hotel exactly at noon. The very sight of her took his breath away.
She was wearing a long white chiffon evening gown with a low neck and low back. The dress accentuated each curve of her body. She was looking breathtakingly beautiful. Jasmine extended a hand to Alexander with a smile on her face, “Good afternoon Alexander”
“I am so happy to see that you have made it. I am sure I will be having a very good afternoon now. You look absolutely stunning”
Jasmine seemed to blush just for a fraction of a second. She was glad that all her preparation had paid off. It had taken her two hours to get ready for Alexander and she had changed dresses several times.