Arbitrage

by Thomas Ransom

  Her attacker whispered in her ears, “Easy! Don’t worry. It’s me!” the voice was familiar. “I am going to let go, please don’t scream. I need to talk to you.” Aria nodded and immediately turned around the second she was released, ready to fight.

  It was Coons!

  “What is wrong with you!!?” Aria practically screamed at him, shocked that he could do something like this to her… or to anyone.

  He tried to shush her. “I am sorry! I needed to talk to you …” Coons tried to explain.

  “Like this!!?” Aria’s heart was still beating like crazy. Coons was looking around to make sure no one saw them. “Why are you acting so weird? Where have you been? I tried to find you. It is your party…” her voice trailed away as she saw Coons’ expression.

  He was frantically looking around, with a scared look on his face, not paying much attention to what Aria was saying.

  “What is wrong?”

  “Shush! Not here …” replied Coons.

  “Wha…?” Aria tried to speak, but Coons stopped her.

  “Meet me outside in the alley. Quick, but be careful!” Coons told her urgently and walked away before she could say anything. Aria was stunned and worried about her boss. Maybe he is having a mental breakdown or something. She thought. It felt so bizarre that she couldn’t move for a while. She decided to get help and started moving towards the dancing crowd, looking around for Tanya or Whitney. She could make out Tanya laughing and dancing with some colleagues. She tried shouting her name but in vain. The music was too loud. Before she could make her way towards her friend, the terrified look of her boss came to her mind, and she paused.

  “Maybe I should go and hear what he has to say. It could be something important,” Aria decided to go look for her boss. “Even if he is having some health issue, it is better to get him inside as quickly as possible.

  She made her way towards the back door in the hallway outside the banquet hall and pushed it open. There was no sign of Coons. She looked around, confused. She turned back to see if Coons was inside, but all she could see was the empty hallway and the faint music and cheering coming from the hall. Aria shifted her attention to the alleyway. Was that the sound of footsteps? She wondered as she closed the door and stepped out in the alley.

  The alley was dark; there only light was from the streetlight across the street and a faint, flickering bulb on top of the door. “Coons!” she shouted. “Are you there?”

  There was silence. Aria made her way to the end of the alley and looked up and down the street wondering if Coons was waiting for her there. There was no one. She turned her face back towards the alley. Half of it covered with darkness. Is it possible that Coons was hiding there somewhere, she wondered. Aria was reluctant to go in the dark alley alone. Maybe she should find someone first. She hesitated near the door of the building, unsure of what to do. She called out her boss’ name again.

  Aria was feeling uneasy, she could call someone, but she knew that no one would hear their phone ringing with that loud music. It would be quicker if she went inside to get someone. As her hand reached the door handle, she caught something gleaming from the corner of her eye. She stopped. There was something shiny on the ground just a few steps away.

  She hesitated for a few seconds but decided to investigate. Maybe Coons dropped something. Aria cautiously moved forward. The alley was so dark; it was impossible to see. Is that a blade? She wondered, surprised. She reached down and felt the smooth, cold surface. It felt like steel, and then she felt a wooden texture. She fell back instantly when she realized what it was – a knife with traces of blood. What the hell! She scrambled backward, her beautiful dress dragged in the dirt.

  A sound caught her attention. Aria’s heart was beating so fast; it felt like it might explode out of her chest. She slowly got on her feet and took a few steps forward to hear more clearly. She heard the sound of whimpering nearby. Her instinct was screaming at her to run for help, but her curiosity got the better of her. Aria cautiously moved deeper into the alley to investigate. She could make out the outline of two large trash bins against the wall.

  Maybe I should get someone, she decides. Aria had a terrible feeling about the situation. Before she could turn around, she noticed someone lying next to the bins. She could only see the ankles and shoes of the person. The person was clearly in pain. She thought. The whimpering grew louder, the closer she got.

  “Are you okay?” she called out, her voice shaking with fear. She could hardly hear anything besides the pounding of her heart.

  Aria took a few steps forward when she didn’t hear a response. “Sir? Are you okay?” She contemplated whether she should call for help, but the whimpering grew louder and urgent. The sound made Aria quicken her steps, but then she froze. All the blood drained from her face.

  Right in front of her, lying in a growing pool of blood was Coons. She could see the fear in his eyes while he gasped for air. “No!” she screamed, finally finding her voice. Coons’ eyes widened when he saw Aria’s face.

  “No. no. NO! Coons!” Aria was frantic. She rushed to help her boss, grabbed his arm, and tried to help him sit up. “Oh God!” he was too heavy for her, and the plastic bags cluttered all around them didn’t help much. “What the hell happened?! Who did this!?” she asked.

  She noticed multiple stabs on his chest. His white shirt was almost entirely red now. “You will be fine. Hang in there. I am calling 911,” she tried to sound reassuring. Just then, she realized she didn’t have her purse with her.

  “Where…?” Aria looked around. She was holding it in her hand when she came out. Thankfully, she found it lying a few steps away. “I am going to get help.”

  Coons grabbed her arm. Aria was startled at the strength of his grip, considering the amount of blood he lost. His eyes were wide with fear, and his mouth was moving. Coons was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t understand. She moved in closer to listen, but all she could hear was indescribable sounds. “What… I can’t understand Coons. I need to get help now. I have to take you to the hospital.”

  She made a mad dash to grab her bag and dug in to find her phone and hurried back to Coons. “Hang in there. Help is coming,” she says, dialing 911.

  “Come on, come on. PICK UP!” Aria screamed at her phone.

  “911. What’s your emergency?” says a very calm female voice.

  “Oh, thank God!” Aria was relieved and hysterically asked the person to send help.

  “Ma’am, I need you to calm down. You are making no sense. Please take a deep breath and tell me where you are and what happened,” she said.

  Aria took a deep breath as she told her the location of the banquet hall. “Please send an ambulance here quickly! My boss…,” she stammered, “My boss … there is blood everywhere!”

  “What? Is your boss hurt?” Aria was getting frustrated at how calm the woman at the other end was. “Someone has stabbed him!” Aria yelled. “Send an ambulance!! He has already lost so much blood!”

  “Ma’am. Please calm down. The ambulance is already on its way. I am alerting the police too. I want you to describe his condition. Is he breathing?” asked the woman.

  Aria was shaking, “Yeah, he is struggling to breathe. He is…,” her voice trailed off when she noticed the absence of any sound. “Coons?” She looked at her boss, and her phone dropped from her hand, Coons had gone completely still.

  “Omg, Aria!” Tanya rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her. Aria was shaking uncontrollably as she heard the siren of the ambulance in the distance. The medics asked so many questions that Aria barely heard. She knew. Aria knew that there was no point. It was too late to save him. The medics tried to give Coons CPR, but Aria had screamed at them to leave him alone. The sirens made a few people in the building curious, and someone eventually found Aria. The news spread like wildfire. It was chaos everywhere.

  A medic was spreading a blanket around Aria when Tanya found her.

  “He is dead!” Aria whis
pered, her gaze transfixed on the spot Coons was lying a few moments ago.

  The medics had pronounced him dead and shifted him into the ambulance, which was now speeding towards the nearest hospital.

  “I can’t believe it!” Tanya whimpered, tears falling down her cheeks.

  Aria was in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to consider it. She kept on repeating, “he is dead.”

  “What on earth happened!” came a shrill voice. It was Whitney. Her face was white. She looked at Aria and then at Tanya and back. “Where is Coons? Tell me they are lying!” she croaked.

  She grabbed Aria by the shoulders, “What happened!!?” Whitney asked, shaking Aria slightly.

  “Ma’am! Please step back,” said a police officer who had just arrived at the scene. “Which one of you is Aria?”

  Aria looked up. The police officer’s eyes moved from each woman, stopping at Aria. “Is your name Aria?” he asked gently.

  Aria couldn’t move or speak. Tanya nodded and said, “Yes. This is Aria. She is the one who…,” she hesitated before continuing, “who called 911.”

  The officer stepped forward, “I am sorry for your loss…”

  Whitney’s head jerked towards him, “Loss? What! Is Coons…”

  The officer continued, “I am Sergeant Jake Walker, and this is my partner detective Sanjay Ray.” He nodded towards his partner.

  “We will be leading this case,” added in Detective Sanjay.

  Sergeant Walker took a step closer and gave Aria a sympathetic look. “I know this is a rather difficult thing to process, but we need you to answer some questions."

  Tanya glared at him, “Seriously! Right now? Look at her,” she pointed at Aria, “She is in no condition to talk.”

  “Ma’am, we understand,” reassured Detective Sanjay, “But we believe it is best to talk to the witness as soon as possible when the incident is fresh in their memories. It is important that we quickly find the person behind this.”

  “Give her a break,” Tanya persisted, taking a step in front of Aria.

  Aria sighed, “It’s okay, T.”

  Tanya turned back to look at her friend, concerned. “Are you sure?”

  Aria nodded. “I did explain everything on my 911 call. What do you want to know?” she looked at both officers standing in front of her.

  Detective Sanjay asked Tanya and Whitney to excuse them so they can talk to Aria in private.

  “Why?” both women asked immediately.

  Sergeant Walker looked at them, clearly trying to hide his annoyance, “This is a murder investigation, ladies. I would have to ask you to head inside the building and stay in for questioning.”

  “Why are you questioning us?” asked Whitney, startled.

  “As I said, this is a murder investigation. Our officers are questioning everyone present at the party, and we would appreciate your cooperation,” he gestured to an officer nearby, “Please take these two inside.”

  Tanya and Whitney were reluctant at first, and gave Aria with a questioning look. Aria nodded at them to assure them she was fine. She watched as the officer ushered them back in the building.

  “What were you doing out in the alley?” asked the sergeant.

  “He… Coons… he asked me to come outside,” Aria was trying hard not to cry; “He said he has to tell me something.”

  Sergeant Walker raised his eyebrow and asked, “in a dark alley?”

  Aria shrugged, “I know. I found it odd too. He was acting strange…”

  “Strange how?” he asked.

  Aria stammered, thinking back on how terrified her boss looked, “He looked scared.”

  “Of you?”

  Aria was startled, “What! No!”

  He looked at Aria and nodded for her to continue. “He was constantly looking around to make sure no one is watching us.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “I don’t know!” Aria answered exasperatedly.

  “So, he came to you and asked you to leave the party and go with him in a dark alley. Is that right?” Sergeant Walker asked Aria, intently looking at her. Aria nodded, and he continued, “And you went to the alleyway?”

  “Ye…,” Aria started to say, “I mean no. He asked me to meet him there and left immediately.”

  “You didn’t follow him?”

  “I did…” Aria started but was cut off by another question by the sergeant, “You followed him, and someone had stabbed him multiple times and left him in the alley, and you saw no one?”

  Aria stammered, tears falling down her cheeks, “I didn’t follow him immediately… I probably should have. Maybe he wouldn’t be dead then!”

  There was a pause.

  “He asked you to meet him, but you didn’t follow him?” the Sergeant asked.

  “I did! But after a few minutes,” Aria replied. “I… I am… sorry,” she broke into tears.

  “Here, drink this,” It was Detective Sanjay offering Aria a glass of water. “Take a few deep breathes, and then we can continue.”

  Once Aria had composed herself again, Sergeant Walker started asking more questions, “why didn’t you follow him immediately? Did you tell someone about your encounter with Coons?”

  Aria shook her head no. “I was concerned about him and was wondering whether or not I should tell someone. I was going to find someone to help or come with me, but then decided against it.”

  “Why is that?”

  Aria paused for a moment. She didn’t know how to explain her decision, “I don’t know. It was the terrified look on his face, I guess. He was clearly scared of someone and wanted to share something with me without being overhead.”

  “How long did you wait to go outside?” he asked.

  “I am not sure exactly how long, but somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes,” she told him.

  “Did someone saw you heading outside?”

  “I don’t think so. Everyone was either on the dance floor or the bar.” Aria explained, “As far as I know, no one saw me.”He nodded and then gestured to her to continue.

  “I opened the backdoor, but Coons wasn’t there. I looked back to see if he was in the hallway, but there was no one there. I was about to go back inside when I heard a noise…”

  “What noise?” Detective Sanjay interjected.

  Aria shrugged, “It sounded like footsteps. I thought it might be Coons, so I stepped out in the alley and closed the door behind me. I couldn’t see him anywhere; it was too dark.”

  “How did you find him?” Sergeant Walker asked.

  “I looked around the street first as I figured he might be waiting for me there. When I didn’t find him, I thought about getting help because I was worried about him,” Aria continued, “but then I saw something on the ground in the alley.”

  “What was it?” he inquired. “A knife. It had blood on it,” Aria started sobbing. That got the attention of Sergeant Walker and Detective Sanjay. They looked at one another. “Where was this knife?” asked the detective.

  Amidst the sobs, Aria tried to point out the location, “It was a few steps away…. away from the bins.”

  The detective took out a glove from his pocket and went to investigate. The Sergeant continued, “What happened next?”

  “I noticed someone was lying near the bins… I could only see his feet and ankles,” fresh tears started falling Aria’s cheeks. “I asked loudly who was there, but then I heard someone whimpering. I thought he was hurt or something so I went to see and… and it was… it was Coons.”

  Just then, the detective returned empty-handed and shook his head at the Sergeant. “According to your 911 call, Coons was alive then?” the Sergeant asked. Aria was shaking uncontrollably but managed to nod her head. “He… he… Coons was… he was trying to… to say something,” Aria stuttered.

  “What did he say?” gently inquired the detective. “I don’t… know,” Aria wiped her eyes, “I couldn’t understand anything. And then I called 911, but then he…” sh
e started crying again.

  “Okay,” said detective Sanjay, “Did you see anyone? Or anything?”

  Aria shook her head, “just the knife.”

  “What did it look like?” he asked.

  Aria looked up at him. “I don’t know. It’s right there,” she pointed to the ground.

  “No, Ma’am. There is nothing there,” gently answered the detective.

  “What do you mean it’s not there? I saw it on the ground!” Aria said, standing up.

  “Can you describe the knife?” he asked again.

  “No. I don’t know. It was too dark,” Aria answered, “But it’s there. I will show you.” she led the detective and Sergeant towards the spot she saw the knife. There was nothing there. “It was just here.”

  “You said it was covered with blood,” asked the Sergeant.

  She nodded, still looking around confused. Her heart was pounding. Where did it go! She wondered. Did she pick it up?

  “How do you know it was covered in blood when it was too dark?” he asked.

  Aria looked at him exasperatedly. “I just know it was. Okay!”

  “Maybe it went under the bins or something. I rushed forward when I saw Coons, I might have hit it with my leg …” she tried to explain. Aria knew what she saw. It was a knife, and there was blood on it. The detective and the Sergeant looked at her unconvincingly. “You don’t believe me?!” she practically yelled.

  “Calm down, Aria,” said the Sergeant. “We know you are stressed. Your mind may be playing tricks on you. This usually happens after a trauma…”

  “I know it was right here. My mind is not playing any tricks,” Aria said.

  The Sergeant was about to say something, when the detective interrupted, “Don’t worry. Our team is doing a sweep of the entire building, including the alleyway. I am sure we will find it.”

  Aria relaxed a little. She tried hard not to picture Coons lying there. Her heart was still racing.

  “I think that’s it for now. You should go home and rest. We will contact you if there is anything else,” said detective Sanjay. “In the meantime, if you remember anything, then give us a call immediately. Remember, nothing is too small. Anything you remember might help us with the case.”