Chase - Chapter 2 (Part I)

She couldn’t shut her eyes. She was still afraid. Why, she thought. She was once one of the readers of John Foster’s cases in newspapers. She critisised the man’s inhuman action, slaughtering men as if they were animals. But a few hours ago, he proved to her that she was wrong. She couldn’t forget his eyes, his gaze. She could not help but hoped that he would not be captured. No, she would not tell her mother. She didn’t want to hurt her mother’s feeling. Let her sorrow be hidden in her heart, she vowed to herself to bring that secret to her grave. She would not tell anyone. Soon, the rain ceased and the golden rays of the great fire ball bathed her room and the town, marking the arrival of another day, and the arrival of a true mastermind.

“Wake up,” Mike shook Carl violently. The 26-year-old opened his eyes slowly. “We should go around the town to hunt down our man.”

“He might have boarded the ferry yesterday, and left,” Carl said, trying hard to roll to his side, with his back against his senior.

“Don’t be so naive. The ferry was not permitted to leave yesterday. He can’t escape,” Mike replied, his hands were busy buttoning up his jacket. Carl got ready and joined his senior in the cafe they visited yesterday for breakfast. They had an American set. Carl and Mike were temporarily freed from work-stress thanks to the view of the scenic sea from their table. Just then, small boats started to appear along the horizon, about half a dozen of them. They seemed to enlarge every now and then, indicating that they were actually approaching the shore. 

When the boats finally arrived, the detective duo could see that the passengers were police officers. “Definitely aid from headquarters. Yup, they are,” Mike said slowly, and stood up, leaving an empty plate and his junior behind. “I will go to the station first. You can catch up later.” With that note, he flew out through the door. Carl hastily finished his last spoonful of baked beans, left some money on the table and picked up Mike’s trail.

When Carl finally reached the station, he saw some familiar faces among the crowd congregating in Chief Albert’s office. “Lee, Stephen, Kevin! What are you guys doing here? I thought you are still working on the Internet fraud case,” Carl asked his colleagues. 

“The higher-ups have decided to assign more manpower to this case. We had to pull some men from the HQ, this pack volunteered,” the chief answered, on behalf of the sea-sickened trio. “They are going to join you. Since they are your colleagues, I trust there will be no problem in collaboration.” He stood up, “The others will help to trace our man on the field. Let’s go!” 

It took a whole minute for the remaining 16 people to exit the small office, following Chief Albert to the crime scene for follow-up investigations. Mike was the first to break the silence among the five people remaining in the office. “We will move to Room 4. Our documents are there,” he said and led his juniors into a shabby-looking room, with which the four corners of its walls were at the mercy of spider webs. 

CHASE © David Egong 2012. All rights reserved. Check back every two weeks for subsequent chapters or parts.