Unraveling Secrets Of The Devil

Chapter - Six

  As I was heading downstairs my phone vibrated. “Yes Ansh?” “Chief, usually Mr. Braxton and Ms. Cassie , Dr. Ethan’s and Dr. Hazel's respective assistants go into their rooms to check on the reports, the patient details etc. So , maybe if we could track them down we can find about them . I’ve texted you their phone numbers Chief.” Ansh informed. “ Only those two? No one else goes into their rooms?” I asked. “ No Chief. No one goes” “ Ok. You can go home. I’ll look after the rest” I said and hung up. Stella went home a while back but I wasn’t much interested to go. So I went downstairs into our cabin.

I entered the cabin to find Sarah working on her laptop. “Didn’t you go home?” I asked her. “ No Chief, not in the mood” she replied and I nodded with agreement. “ Ok. Can you get these two numbers traced?” “ Yes Chief” she took out her phone and called someone. “ Hi Austin. I’ve texted you two phone numbers , could you please trace their locations and their call history? .... Yes ...... As soon as possible....... Ok thanks” she said and hung up with a smile. “ It’ll be given in half an hour Chief” “ Ok” I nodded. “ Whose numbers are these Chief?” “ They are the assistants of Dr. Ethan and Dr. Hazel. They are the only ones who enter their cabins to check on the reports and patient details” she just nodded.

We sat there in complete silence while lost in our own thoughts for a while. “ Chief” Sarah said breaking the silent atmosphere. “ Yes?” “ I’ve seen in few hospitals , there is this one particular office for every department which is looked after by a person. That person usually updates the database of the hospital with the list of new patients and their information related to their health and treatment. Actually that database is more confidential so, even if the patient asks the doctor not to tell about their illness to anyone , it must and will be stored in that database. I was thinking, what if that person who manages all this is the one giving out the details of the savants to the kidnappers?” she was right. We were only suspicious about the two doctors and never thought any other person from the hospital could be involved. “ Oh. I never knew there was something like that” “ Exactly, even if anyone suspects the hospital, they will never be able to suspect the database manager” “ True. Mason is still in the hospital right? I’ll call him right away.” I said and called him.

“ Mason?” “ Yes Chief. They still haven’t got the footage.” He said “ Ya that’s fine . I need you to secretly keep an eye on the database manager of Dr. Hazel’s department. Don’t ask anyone about him. Just keep an eye” “ Ok Chief” he said and I hung up. I called Sameer. “ Sameer. I need you to keep an eye on the database manager of Dr. Ethan’s department. Don’t ask anyone about him except for Dr. Ethan . Keep it secretive ok?” I told him. “ Yes chief. On it” he said and hung up .

“How do you know about this?” I asked Sarah. “ My grandpa was in hospital for almost 2 months and I had taken like 15 days leave during the initial days Chief. Since I had nothing to do in the hospital I used to roam around the whole hospital daily. That’s when I got to know how a hospital runs and all other stuff.” “Oh. How’s your grandpa ?” I asked. “ Umm..... He’s no more Chief” she replied. But surprisingly there was no expression on her face. “ Oh. I’m sorry. You weren’t that close with him is it ?” I asked. “No Chief.” She answered only to the point, just like always. “ Hmm since we just have to wait, why don't you tell me your story?” I asked casually. I don’t know why, I usually never talk to people about their lives but she was kind of mysterious, so I was very curious to know more about her.

“ There is nothing Chief” she shrugged. “The ones who say nothing are the ones who have the most to say” she sighed and continued “ My parents died in a car crash when I was very young. Since then it’s just been me, my younger sister and my grandparents . They are my mom’s parents. I don’t know what happened but since my parents’ death I changed from this bubbly, talkative and smiling mischievous girl to a silent, very reserved and serious girl. Few major incidents in our life does bring a greater impact and change us, it just depends on how we use it in becoming a better person. I was an introvert in school and college but none of that really mattered because I knew how to keep myself entertained. The only person with whom the old Sarah is still alive is my sister. She’s an artist in sculpturing. My grandma also passed away when I was in college and my grandpa like a year ago. Now it’s just me and her in my apartment” she completed while staring at the wall, probably by recollecting all memories while telling them. “ I’m really sorry for your loss” I didn’t know what else to say. “ It’s fine Chief. Maybe that’s the reason for the person who I am today, strong enough” she said when her phone rang.

“ Hi Austin ........ Ok ............. Ya ........... Ok thanks” she said as she hung up . “ Chief, one of the person is in Seattle itself. The other one is in Vancouver from past two weeks.” “ Ok. Send the location of the person staying here” “ Yes Chief” As soon as I got the location I drove to that place. I stood in front of an apartment as I got down from my car. I guess she lives here. I walked upstairs and then knocked on the main door. A man in his mid thirties opened the door “ Hi, I’m Dexter Lee, I’m here to meet Ms. Cassie.” “ Cassie, someone is here to meet you” he called out to her and allowed me to get inside.

I was sitting on the couch when a lady came with a glass of juice. “ Please” she said as she handed it to me. “ I’m Cassie. How may I help you?” “ I’m Dexter Lee . I’m handling the missing case of Ms. Jeanine Alonso. Actually I came to know that you work for Dr. Hazel as her assistant and you manage all her patients lists and documents” “ Yes, I do” “ I had asked Dr. Hazel for a list of people recently and then I realised I had got a wrong list purposefully to divert me in the investigation. Mind to answer that?” I came to the main point with a stern look, even though I didn’t want to sound rude. “ What? I’m sorry but I never got to check any list from Dr. Hazel from past one week. Infact I’ve been on leave from past three days since my kid wasn’t feeling well” “ What? Sorry for the inconvenience. Can you tell me who replaced you for these three days?” I asked. “ Usually no one does because the details are so less that I only check them when I get back. But if the database needs to be updated immediately then the database manager usually collects them . I later get to change them” Database manager. I need to get to him. “ Thanks Ms. Cassie” I greeted as I left.

I called Mason as soon as I got into my car. “ Mason, any information on the database manager ?” I asked him as I hit the accelerator. “ Yes Chief. I mean I’ve got to know who he is and I’m keeping an eye on him from the past half an hour.” “ Ok. Try to get his phone number and track down his call history” I said and hung up. I quickly dialled Sameer and asked him to do the same when I found out even he is working on his mission.

I stopped my car in front of my apartment and just then my phone rang. It was Stella. “Hi Chief. Something important” she said in a hurry tone. “ What is it ?” I asked curiously. “ Someone from the nearby jurisdiction has been missing from the past 6 hours. We don’t know much about her but the only thing that caught my attention was that she is a savant. She was recently diagnosed with it and from them she has become this famous person who is talented in geomagnetism and research.” “ Come to the headquarters. Even I’m coming” I said and hung up. I texted Sarah and Ansh to meet us at the headquarters.

“ Chief, this is Ms. Evelyn Hook. She is the secretary of the CEO of Brooks cosmetics. She had been in an accident a few months back and from almost three months she has been diagnosed with savant syndrome and she is famous for that.” Sarah explained as she showed me her picture on her laptop. “Mr. Charles called me and told that she has been missing from the past six hours . She was last seen in a diner with her friends . They say that she left early because her mom texted saying that there was some sort of emergency. Her mom on the other hand says she never called her. Infact it was Evelyn who called and asked her if something was wrong. When she said that everything was fine Evelyn told that she would be home in half an hour but she didn’t come. After few hours passed she got worried and filed a missing complaint.” Stella explained.

So she left the diner early because she got a text from her mom, but her mom claims that she didn’t send any message. Probably the kidnappers would have sent a fake message to make sure she left early. “We have to interrogate her friends for more information and check with the updates about her missing. We can get a solid clue if we dig deeper. Who's handling this case?” I asked as I turned towards Stella. “Mr. Ryan Orlando. He was at the diner few minutes back while investigating, he would have reached headquarters by now Chief” she replied. “Ok then, let’s meet him now” we followed Ansh as he showed us the way to his cabin.

“Hello Mr.Lee. Pleasure to meet you finally!” he greeted with a wide smile as we shook our hands. “Good to see you too Mr. Orlando. Actually we came here to discuss about the missing case of Ms. Evelyn Hook” “Oh ok, how can I help you?” “We are working on Ms. Alonso’s case as you know, with our investigation so far we have got to know that her case is linked with previous missing cases from past few months. And we feel like the same g**g has kidnapped Ms. Hook too. So we need all the details of whatever you have found out till now and we would like to take up this case too so that we can save the kidnapped ones quickly. Hope you don’t mind” I didn’t want to sound like as though I’m ordering him to leave this case for me by being his superior. I have been through his phase in my career where I was eagerly waiting to solve my own cases initially. But I had a boon of being the student of a famous detective, so I got many cases at a young age. And that doesn’t mean my life was any easier, it was quite tough while proving myself every time.

“Not at all. If it’s linked with a major case then it’s better if you take over it. I had been to the diner to check the CCTV footage to see if anyone was stalking her, but I didn’t find anyone so suspicious. We tracked her car through the CCTV footages after she left. The cameras on a particular street which she passed were destroyed yesterday afternoon due to some accident in the construction building right next to it. They decided to change the cameras today since nobody checked those cameras usually. She was kidnapped on that street only because we didn’t find her car on any other cameras after she entered that street. And moreover that street just has few newly built houses and empty sites, so no one has noticed the kidnaping too” he explained.

“There can be a possibility that they purposely destroyed those cameras so that they could kidnap her right there and leave no clue” Ansh said. “Yeh, you’re right. They knew that she would take that route only to reach her home quickly. It was a well planned kidnap” Ryan commented. They would have been observing her very keenly from past few days to know more about her and kidnapped her without leaving any clues. “But who sent her the emergency message then?” Stella asked. “We are still trying to figure that out. Someone has sent a fake message from her mom’s number. It’s possible through different apps and by hacking too. So we are currently tracing that IP to know who sent that message” Ryan informed.

“Oh ok, thank you for your cooperation Ryan. I'll keep in touch with you, in case we need your help in this case” I said as I stood up. “I would love to work with you and your team” he replied with a smile. He is one of the most cheerful officers I have ever seen. Well it’s a good trait to seem less scary for the people being a detective. “Can I get the address of Ms. Evelyn’s home for interrogating her parents?” I asked. “Oh yeh. This file has all the information regarding this case” he said while handing over the file to me. I nodded and left his cabin with others.

“Chief, why have they changed their k********g time suddenly? Like usually they used to kidnap one per month right, but now it’s not been a month since the last kidnap” Stella asked. “Maybe they want to finish their work quickly or they are kind of suspicious that we are moving ahead in our investigation” Sarah replied. “Yeh, or they are trying to change the pattern to confuse us. But the main point is she being a savant. So most probably it has to be the same g**g. We should work seriously on this case to find out the clue, which will lead us ahead” I said as we entered my cabin.

My phone started ringing as I was checking the file. “Yes Mason?” “Chief, I have received the footage. There is nothing much suspicious right now about this database manager since he is just sitting in his place and working from a long time” he said. “Oh ok. Come to headquarters with that footage. We'll check that first and later decide what to do” “Ok Chief” I ended the call and got back to the file. We are missing something in Evelyn’s case. Some clue which can link the information which we have got right now. They are k********g the savants in a well planned manner by checking all the possibilities of we catching them. But they must have made some mistake, a tiny one at least in so many cases.

“Ansh, check the footages of Ms. Evelyn’s car from yesterday evening with Ryan. See the vehicles which have passed through that street during her kidnap time. We may find the same SUV or some other suspicious vehicle which can give us some clue” “Got it Chief” he walked out of the cabin. “Chief, what if she had some enemies or competitors from her company and they have kidnapped her? Because she was a secretary of the CEO, like we have seen cases where they kidnap and blackmail them to withdraw from their job” Sarah asked. “It can be like that too, but right now she is connected to our case because she is a savant. We'll have to check with her colleagues and her boss to know more about her professional life. Do one thing Sarah, you go to Brooks cosmetics main office and ask about her. Meet her close friends there and ask if they are suspicious about anyone, then probably we may confirm that she is kidnapped for being a savant” she nodded and left the cabin with her laptop. .

I paced back and forth in front of my desk while thinking. If Evelyn is kidnapped for the sake of her job or something else then we'll end up at the same point as we were before, but I don’t why I just feel like it’s done by the same g**g. Maybe it’s their k********g method which is confirming the fact. If it was someone else, I don’t think they would destroy the cameras particularly on that street to kidnap or select the street where the cameras weren’t working so that they won’t be caught by us. And moreover someone had to stay in the diner to inform the time when she left. Such a detailed planning for the sake of her job? I don’t think so. “Chief!!” I came out of my thoughts when Stella yelled. I stared at her with a confused look. “Chief, you were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t here me calling you four times” “Oh sorry, I was just thinking a lot about her kidnap” I said with a sigh. “Chief, I think you need to relax a bit. I know we are under a lot of stress but still.. like you know what I mean right?” I just nodded with a smile and she grinned