by Aman Gupta
“That’ll be all. And remember, this conversation never happened,” said Eric, with a stern look on his face.
Emma and Joey nodded in unison.
“We mustn’t allow Vik to barge into TS – 19. They aren’t exactly on friendly terms with the rest of us,” said Eric.
“Well you know him better than us. What can we do that’s going to stop him?” asked Emma.
“He won’t make a decision till he gets a confirmation about Jenna’s identity,” said Eric.
“Where is he going to get that from?” asked Emma.
“Close the door when you leave,” said Eric, as he sat on his chair and turned his back on them.
“And tell everyone, the priority is Anthony Arnold,” said Eric.
Emma and Joey left.
They saw Vik sitting in his lab through the window and decided to know his intentions.
“Hey!” said Joey.
“Hey!” replied Vik.
“Are you alright?” asked Emma.
“Why do you always ask that when you enter this room?” snapped Vik.
He took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. Lots of things on my mind.”
“Does this have something to do with Jenna?” asked Emma.
Vik looked at her and said, “No.”
“What about Jacob?” asked Joey.
“Whatever you think you know, I’m sure you’re wrong,” said Vik.
“We’re your friends, Vik. You can trust us,” said Emma.
“I know,” said Vik.
“Then tell us what’s going on,” said Emma.
“This is me paying back your trust. I can’t lose whatever we have here,” said Vik.
“You’re not responsible for our safety. We can handle ourselves,” said Joey.
Vik looked at him.
Few seconds later, Joey said, “Apart from some occasional help. But that’s normal.”
“There is one thing that you can do for me,” said Vik.
“Anything,” said Emma.
“Investigate the murder of Anthony, while I look into the murder of Jacob,” said Vik.
“Jacob wasn’t murdered,” said Joey.
“There are a lot of ways to murder someone without actually doing it,” said Vik.
“Ok, we’ll look into Anthony. I know how much he meant to you,” said Emma.
“Yeah, you could say he was the reason I came here,” said Vik.
Later, Joey and Emma met Kate.
“Do you guys know anything about what’s going on here?” asked Kate.
“No, not really,” said Emma.
“Sheriff just told us that we all have to look into Anthony Arnold’s case,” said Joey, as he shared an eye contact with Emma.
“I know. Officers Mortan and Trent told me that the entire town hasn’t taken the murder well. They’re scared, even questioning whether Morrow PD can handle this town’s security or not,” said Kate. “I just remember when Anthony came here the first time, in this precinct. We were lucky to have him.”
“Yeah, I remember. Wasn’t so nice to me,” said Joey.
“That’s because you asked him to tell you more about his ringtone,” joked Emma.
“It was just iconic, you know. I remembered it from that press conference on Christmas. And it sounded like something that could be used to woo girls,” laughed Joey.
“How’s that?” snapped Kate.
“No, I mean. Take you for example. You liked it, didn’t you? You felt that it said more about the man than the music, am I right?” said Joey.
“Why are we talking about a ringtone?” said Eric, as he came from behind.
“Nothing sir. We were just making a strategy on how to start the investigation tomorrow morning,” said Emma.
“The strategy is simple – I don’t care who the person is. As long as their name is on that list of numbers, they are a suspect,” said Eric. “Get them to prove their alibi. If they aren’t able to convince you, take them in for questioning. Keep them in the cells at this precinct overnight if you have to.”
“Right sir,” said Kate.
“Should we look at the surveillance tapes?” asked Joey.
“There’s just one camera. Pointed at the square. The one near Nucleus was unfortunately destroyed as Adam told me. And neither of them are anywhere near our crime scene, so it won’t get us near the killer, but might help us checking out the alibi of our suspects. I’ll get a copy of that,” said Eric.
“Kate, take Officer Adam with you and head over to Anthony’s apartment first thing in the morning. See if you find any clues that can help us in finding the killer’s identity,” continued Eric, before departing.
The next morning, Kate and Adam headed to Anthony’s apartment while Emma and Joey went to the town, running down people on the list.
“Good thing that the town keeps a record of numbers and the address of people who own them. Makes it easier to track down people,” said Joey.
“How many are left?” asked Emma.
“30 more,” said Joey.
“What do you think about this whole Jay and Jenna thing?” asked Emma.
“Don’t know what to think. But I think in time, we’ll get the answers,” said Joey.
◆◆◆
At Anthony’s apartment, Kate and Adam had discovered a clue after going through the charred furniture.
“Found it,” said Adam.
“Found what?” asked Kate.
Adam showed her a shell case.
“It could be from the bullet that hit Anthony,” said Kate.
“Yeah, we can scan it for prints at the lab,” said Adam.
“Did you find a gun?” asked Kate.
“No,” said Adam.
“Maybe the killer has it,” said Kate.
“So the person who has the gun, is the killer?” said Adam.
“Most likely,” said Kate.
“That’s a huge break. We should inform the sheriff,” said Adam.
“Or we could find the gun, and directly bring the guy. I’m tired of going empty handed in front of sheriff. We just caught a major break, so we must make the most of it,” said Kate.
“So what should we do now?” asked Adam.
“We need to find a way to lure out the killer,” said Kate.
“How do we do that?” asked Adam.
“We need to come up with a plan,” said Kate. “Let’s regroup at the precinct and see what Joey and Emma found.”
“Okay,” said Adam.
“Don’t tell anyone until I tell you to. Not sheriff. Not even Vik,” said Kate.
“Why not tell Vik?” asked Adam.
“He’s too close to this case. And he might tell the sheriff who might tell the mayor. What if the mayor is involved? Too many variables,” said Kate.
Adam agreed.
◆◆◆
“Heard anything from Sera?” asked Eric, as he saw Vik working on something in his lab.
“Not yet. He said it might be a week till we hear anything,” said Vik.
“Have you thought about what you are doing to do?” asked Eric.
“Do what?” asked Vik.
“When you find her,” said Eric.
“I’m going to ask why,” told Vik.
“That’s it?” asked Eric, knowing that Vik had different plans.
“That’s all you need to know,” said Vik.
“Damn it, Jay. I cared about her as much as you did,” said Eric.
“Don’t I know it,” said Vik.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Eric.
Vik looked at him, and exclaimed, “You know exactly what I mean!”
“No, what I remember is that you were gone for a whole week. No one knew where you were. Your phone was out of range. Not even Olivia knew where you were. Sarah was scared. Katie was scared, and so was I. Everything that happened afterwards was because you put us in that position,” declared Eric.
“I wasn’t exactly sipping margaritas. I had to fini
sh the job and make sure that my family survived the aftermath,” said Vik.
“I know that now. But that day, it wasn’t exactly black and white,” said Eric.
“I seem to recall that it was exactly that - black and white,” concluded Vik.
Eric shook his head in disgust and slammed the door while leaving.
Vik sat down in his chair as the flashbacks in his head had started again. He could only remember the same bits and pieces of the night before Katie and Sarah died. The things he did remember, had come to him after spending days and weeks in agony while his head was spinning. He had even tried unconventional practices to unlock the memories that had been buried in his mind. There was no one around who could help him fill in the blanks. They would sneak up on him whenever he had a déjà vu moment. To spare himself from looking weak, he practiced pushing people away so that he could have a moment alone. He was good at that.
Kate bumped into Joey at the station.
“Did you find anything?” asked Kate.
“We ran down all the numbers. There are 4 numbers on that list which don’t check out,” said Joey.
“Yeah so three of them are new, so aren’t in our database. This last one is an old number which earlier belonged to someone we all know,” completed Joey.
“Who?” asked Kate.
“Vik.”
“Who else knows about this?” asked Kate.
“Only you and me. I hid this number from Emma. As far as she knows, we have only 3 unknown numbers to check out,” said Joey.
“I don’t think we should tell her,” said Kate.
“Why?” asked Joey.
“What if Vik did it?” said Kate.
“Oh come on, not again Kate. I know you don’t exactly like him, but this is taking it so far,” complained Joey.
“Listen to me. All I am saying is that we investigate him. If we don’t find anything, we don’t say anything,” said Kate.
“No, I am not comfortable investigating my friend. Not to mention that he risked his life and got me freed from Sera’s captivity,” said Joey.
“I know,” said Kate.
“You know? How?” asked Joey.
“I listened to your conversation,” said Kate.
“Well good. I think everyone should know about this. He has never let us down and yet you and those two idiot officers Mortan and Trent have always looked at him as a criminal mastermind,” said Joey.
“You’re not thinking straight because you think you owe him,” said Kate.
“I do owe him. And I’ll tell you what – you go through with this, you and I are through,” said Joey. “I know you always try to show that you’re not into me, but I know that’s a lie. You feel our connection as much as I do. But the Kate I know, doesn’t go after people to serve her own vendetta.” Joey left.
Tears rolled down Kate’s cheeks. She wiped them off as she saw Eric standing behind her through his reflection in the mirror.
“Everything alright between you and Joey, Kate?” asked Eric.
“Yes, sir,” said Kate, trying to fake a smile.
“Okay,” said Eric.
“Sir, can I ask you something?” said Kate.
“Yeah, anything,” said Eric.
“If you have been wronged by someone and you get a chance to right that wrong, and you decide to take it. But at the expense of someone else who you feel is guilty of some other crime, which could be far lesser than what you had done, would you still go through with it?” asked Kate.
“All I know, Kate, is nothing good comes out of revenge. But sometimes it doesn’t matter. Sometimes, the end do justify the means,” said Eric. “Hope you get the courage and wisdom of doing the right thing.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Kate, before leaving.
In the evening, Sheriff Eric gathered everyone. He was enraged.
“I just got a call from the mayor,” said Eric.
“What did he say?” asked Emma.
“He said that a detective from my department came forward with evidence against a member of this department regarding the murder of Anthony Arnold. He is under a tremendous pressure from all 4 towns, their people and their respective Police Departments that a stronger initiative is required. Therefore, without consulting me, he has given full liberty to that detective in carrying out this operation,” said Eric.
“I don’t understand,” said Emma.
“I do. It’s Kate,” said Joey.
Kate came forward and said, “I did what I had to do to deliver the justice.”
“What did you do, Kate?” asked a confused Emma.
“Officer Trent, Officer Mortan, please come with me,” said Kate.
“Where are you going?” asked Emma.
“I have reason to believe that Vik is responsible for the murder of Anthony Arnold,” said Kate. “And I have gotten permission from the mayor to search his house for the murder weapon.”
Eric looked concerned as he believed that there were things in that house that weren’t meant to be discovered yet.
“There’s nothing left to say, detective. I hope for your sake that you’re right about this. Otherwise I don’t give a damn what the mayor says. You’re gone,” remarked Eric, as Kate walked out.
Emma looked at Joey, and asked, “Did you know about this?”
“I’m sorry,” pleaded Joey, as Emma stepped away from him, when he tried to hold her hand.
CHAPTER 3: SURRENDER
It was afternoon. The sun was shining bright, as seen from the balcony of the penthouse where Jay and Sarah used to stay. Jay had another apartment in the building in case someone followed him from work. But the happy afternoon didn’t last long. It took less than thirty minutes for the clouds to fill up the sky. Sarah picked up her things and went inside the penthouse. She heard the landline ringing and answered it.
“Hi, is Jay there?” asked the caller.
“No, he’s gone for some work. Who is this?” answered Sarah.
“You must be Sarah. My name is Olivia, I work with your husband,” said the caller.
“Olivia? He never mentioned your name. Do you work in the Tech department?” asked Sarah.
“No, I’m in Neurobiology. But we hang out,” said Olivia.
“Well, then you should know that he was sent on an assignment to DC?” inquired Sarah.
“Oh, I thought he was back. Anyways if he makes contact, could you let him know that both of the envelopes are here with me,” said Olivia.
“What envelopes?” asked Sarah.
“I don’t know. They’re sealed. It’s marked for him and he had asked me to hold onto them if they arrived before he had returned,” said Olivia.
“Okay, I’ll tell him,” said Sarah.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have called at your home. I don’t have his personal phone, only work phone which isn’t reachable. Would you mind giving me his personal phone number?” asked Olivia.
“Well, I believe if he felt like it, he would’ve given it to you before. But since he didn’t, maybe it’s better you don’t have it,” insinuated Sarah.
“Yeah, sorry again for bothering you,” said Olivia, before disconnecting the call.
The next day, Jay came to their New York home.
“Hey, how was the trip?” asked Sarah.
“Not exactly a trip. It was more of a transfer arrangement,” said Jay, in a gloomy voice.
“What do you mean?” asked Sarah.
“They want me to move to DC and work out of there,” said Jay.
“Why you?” asked Sarah.
“They want me to liaison,” said Jay.
“Liaison? Two weeks ago, you got promoted to the head of the department after just seven months into the job. Now they just took that away and made you liaison,” questioned Sarah.
“No, I’m still handling the Tech department. This is just an additional responsibility,” said Jay.
“Liaison to who, if I may ask?” asked Sarah.
“White House,” said J
ay.
“White House?” asked Sarah.
“Yeah. We got a contract from the government,” said Jay.
“What contract?” asked Sarah.
“I can’t say. For your own good,” said Jay.
“Maybe I should ask Olivia to tell me,” said Sarah.
“Olivia?” asked Jay.
“What? Am I not supposed to know about her?” asked Sarah.
“What are you trying to say?” asked Jay.
“You tell me!” remarked Sarah.
“Ok. What it feels like is you are trying to insinuate that I am having an affair with Olivia,” said Jay.
“Well, are you?” asked Sarah.
“How could you say that?” said Jay.
“Well, Jay, I don’t know. The woman calls me at my home, asks me for my husband’s personal number and basically tells me that you spend a lot of time together every day, and I am supposed to do what, just congratulate her for having a fancy accent and a sweet voice?” rebuked Sarah.
“She called here? Why did she call here?” asked Jay.
“Something about envelopes. Which you asked to her to hold on to. What else did you ask her, Jay?” asked Sarah.
“Sarah, I love you. And I love Katie. You’re my wife, she’s my daughter and I’ll never do anything to hurt either one of you,” said Jay, with a lump in his throat.
“Well, she’s not your daughter. She’s my daughter, and she’s just supposed to leave her life here in New York and go to DC? A place crowded with vultures?” said Sarah.
“What did you say? We may not share blood but she’s my daughter and don’t you ever say that she’s not,” shouted Jay.
“I’m not sure we should go to DC with you,” remarked Sarah.
“You think I want to go to DC? Your dad basically told me to. I don’t know what game he and Anthony Arnold are playing with the world, but I cannot exactly question them right now. I am already in hot water denying interviews with magazines so that no one finds out about us. Your dad remarked the other day that the world thinks that Verati doesn’t even have a Head of Technology, which has damaged Verati’s reputation. If I refuse now, he’ll snap. What if he finds out about you and me?” said Jay.
“We will go with you on one condition,” demanded Sarah, with wet eyes.
“Anything,” said Jay.