Chasing the Elusive 'H'

Chapter 6

(‘H’s’ Point Of View)

All of my searches have come up with the same results. Ethan Quinn, Brendan Phillips and Shaun Simmons. Those are the only names that have been recorded with my past jobs and with my recent hacking crime. They named my crimes as the ‘H’ cases, it’s probably because none of them have the slightest clue on how to decipher my codes to call it any different. It looks like Abigail Mason has nothing to do with the ‘H’ cases at least, but this new information did little to soothe me. There was still an investigator on my lot and she was looking for the very thing that I was wanting to hide. But no matter. Information is key to finding out how to deal with the situations, and knowledge is power.

Now to find out who she is.

My next search. Abigail Mason. Searching … Searching… I took a swig of my red bull that was next to my keyboard whilst I waited for this slow computer to hack into the police’s database further.

The file popped up on the screen. “Got cha” I breathed. Clicking it open, I begun my research.

Personal file/ Miss Abigail Mason. My eyes studied her profile picture straight away, confirming that I had the correct person. The picture that I saw on her profile doesn’t do her justice, as she was straight faced and was wearing a collared shirt to give her a more professional appearance. She seemed a lot more…I don’t know… scatter brained? Inexperienced? Prettier in person? I shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts taking me off track, and continued with my research.

Age: 28. Occupation: Petty Crimes and Financial Investigator. Station: Based in the Central Detroit Police Department. …. … … … “Yaddi yadda yadda…” I skimmed through her personal profile until something odd stuck out.

Status: Up for a review on the 5/22/2002, concerning her employment. “Interesting” I exclaimed with peaked interest, as it looked like I was about to dish out some dirt on Miss Mason’s file.

I continued to scroll further. I came up to her past cases’ section and was surprised that they seemed pretty bare, and most of them were initialised with D.N.F. I did some digging in the police search mechanisms and typed D.N.F, the results showed ‘Did Not Finish’. I was intrigued. Maybe I had nothing to fear after all. This Investigator seems clearly incompetent with her job that maybe I could have some fun with her in the meantime.

A slight smile tugged at my lips.

Suddenly a knock on my quarters brought my attention towards my visitor, who was standing on my door’s threshold. “You called?” He asked.

“John, perfect timing” The side of my face could see his figure, I waved him forward with my body still facing the screen. I minimised my current page and clicked open the suspicious vehicle report.“I wanted to ask you about your loading job.”

“My loading job, Boss?” John repeated, as he walked into the room and closing the door behind him.

I swivelled around in my chair to now face him directly. “Apparently you failed to follow simple instructions, as seen here on this report.”

“What report Boss?” he look genuinely perplexed.

I jested towards my computer with a neck jerk. John walked closer to view the screen behind me. I swivelled back around to highlight the words which stuck out.

The report reads ‘on the 24th of April an older lady, who shall remain nameless for her own protection, spotted a suspicious vehicle near her home. The truck was parked on the corner of Jaspers road and Cinder circuit.

The quoted statement from the lady was,“There was a large, bulky man going in and out of the truck in question, with all types of equipment. Leaving the truck there for three days so far. I didn't find it suspicious at first, because the truck was parked in an industrial area. But today, I saw the same large man shake hands with another man, right outside the truck’s back doors. After that one of them entered the truck and drove off, I couldn’t tell which one.” The old lady only made contact with the authorities giving those brief descriptions and a licence plate. “EBP 5414” Police were unable to track down the truck or the licence holder in question.’ End of report.

I gave him some time to read the report before I started the conversing. “If I remember correctly, I instructed you to load the truck out of sight. I asked you to do this to reduce the risk of witnesses seeing, which is now in vain.” I indicated towards the screen.

“It says ‘all types of equipment’ Boss” He tried to save himself. “It seems like the old bat couldn’t see all that well.”

“Well, she was able to make out the license plate and your build, so I wouldn’t be that confident about your opinion concerning her eyesight. It also doesn’t get you off the hook about going against specific and simple instructions, cause if you followed them, we wouldn’t have her report in the first place.” I argued back with gritted teeth. “And now thanks to you, we may have bigger problems.”

“Problems?...What problems Boss? He grew concerned, furrowing his brows.

“We had an Investigator on site this afternoon, asking about our getaway truck in particular. I had no choice but to show it’s location.” I informed John.

“What?! Why would you do such a thing?” Shock was written on his face. “Why would you give this investigator the whereabouts of the truck? We could have hidden it ag..”

I held up my finger towards John to stop him from continuing. “What would YOU have done?” I questioned him in response, my eyes not leaving his. After some time he broke the eye contact with me, casting his eyes away in defeat. I slumped down in my chair shortly after winning that mental battle. A moment or two went by before I sighed loudly with my hand on my brow, trying to contain my irritation. “If you ‘must’ know, I was honestly caught off guard. At first impression the investigator seemed clueless and inexperienced, plus also alone. Questions weren’t asked straight away, so I was able to pull myself together. I had to make a decision on the spot though, luckily we cleaned the truck out a couple of days before, so there was nothing in the truck to find. And I believe that the camera for the side access was broken, but it now seems like it wasn’t.” I explained.

John just stood there listening to my words now. Not that it matters though, he answered to me after all.

“You can be locked away for just obstructing investigations, and you know why I can’t go to jail.” I continued with a calmer tone, now looking towards the computer screen. “But now that I’ve read the investigator’s personal file on the local police system, I’ve found out that what I initially thought was correct, which works in our favour.”

“What?…That the investigator is clueless and inexperienced?” John asked in a confused tone.

I only nodded in response to his question.

“So, what’s the game plan? How does this work in our favour?” He continued.

“First I must read the investigator’s personal file thoroughly, then find out what’s new on the police system about our case before I come up with a plan of attack.” I explained, body still facing the screen, my eyes searching for anything that’ll help.

“What do you need from me then, Boss?” He asked, clearly seeking direction and a way to make up for his previous mistake.

“I need you to return to your post, stay in tune with the police scanners and notify me if anything comes up.” I ordered, eager to get him out of my hair so I could focus on the task at hand.

“Of course,” He accepted with a sombre tone, before shifting and heading for the door.

As I heard the door knob turn I called out, “And take my instructions seriously next time.” Shortly after that I heard the door close quietly behind him.

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A short amount of time went by when I was searching through Abigail’s personal file, before I was able to find the ‘reviews’ section. I skimmed through it to find out that she had been employed with the central police station for the past four years, and with it a number of complaints stick out. Refusal of cases? Uncooperative with co-workers? Distracting others on the job?

*Flashback*

“I'm serious. Please help me, cause I don’t know what to expect.” Abigail asked.

“Sure, I’ll protect you. But why not just call for backup?” I asked.

“Look, you’ll just have to trust me. I have to do this here and right now. It’s now or never.” She responded.

No wonder she didn’t want to call anyone for backup. She knew no one would come, or she knew that she wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Interesting that she’s an investigator who has been employed for quite some time, with this sort of reputation that she has. How was she even able to keep or ‘get’ her job in the first place? I typed her name into google, hoping for answers to my question.

Abigail Mason. The first results are always the wors….. Wait .. What? My eyes caught a familiar name in the google results list. Victor Mason? … As in Mayor Mason? I then searched up Mayor Mason in google images, and received a heap of photos from his campaigns and functions in particular. I searched further and typed ‘personal life’, there was another heap of images that were linked to news articles and gossip magazines. One of them titled ‘Mayor, Single Father and a Playboy?’ I could see a younger ‘dolled up’ version of Abigail posing with her father in this article.

Oh this just gets juicier and juicer.

So, Miss Abigail Mason is Mayor Mason’s little girl? It all makes sense now. The job, why she hasn’t been dismissed and how she conducts herself in a ‘oh, so proper’ way. She’s not an investigator. Simply a spoiled princess who thinks she can play ‘Detective Barbie’.

I hated people like that. People who received their jobs ‘on a silver platter’. But in order to fix our current situation, I’ll need to think of something to keep her away or maybe link my truck in with another crime, something simple that this ‘Detective Barbie’ can wrap her little brain around.

Either way, this was going to be fun playing with her. Now I had to try and find out what she actually knows about my vehicle. I brought up the police database tab and searched the ‘suspicious report’ again and tried to click on the ‘notes’ section. To my surprise, nothing had been added yet.

Ok? So maybe she doesn’t update her investigation’s progress or maybe this is the first lot of information that she has received for this case yet.

So what did I tell her? Do I remember?

*Flashback*

“How did you find this truck, what were you doing back here?” She asked.

I knocked on the dumpster beside me. “I was taking out the trash and noticed the bumper of the truck sticking slightly out from the corner” I stated as I pointed towards the truck’s bumper.

Ok, I remember my statement. Now I have to see what she saw on the recordings for the 24thof April. “This should be the easiest thing of the night, hacking into work.” I boasted to myself. Within minutes, I was in the main security frame for I.T.G, and found the videos from that day.

As I clicked on the ‘side access’ camera recordings I cursed, as I was certain the camera was busted. But fortunately the recording was at least in low resolution, and had flashes of white noise in parts. It seems like the old girl was still working, but the recordings could be quite incriminating.

I watched as the events took place that night. I saw as I drove into the side access, it was dark enough that I couldn’t see my face in the recording. I sighed in relief. Emilia’s van came into view, and I noticed straight away that her headlights were causing a glare to come up on the video.

In my own silent way I thanked her, as Emilia’s actions could have just saved all of our hides.

But to be sure, I kept on watching, taking in each and every detail that I could see from the video.

I of course knew the truth of what happened that night, but I had to see what the investigator has seen or deducted from seeing this very same recording. I had to watch the recording through the eyes of a person who had nothing to do with the situation. I doubted my ability to do that, but I had to think of a way to see how an ordinary person would view this, cause I had to prepare my defence in anyway I could.

As the video continued to play, I watched as the figure of Emilia made her way around her van to meet with myself and John. Luckily I couldn’t see anyone’s faces, only figures that were barely visible due to the van’s tail lights. I made a mental note, that the investigator would have seen three people at the scene, but no faces.

This was the part I went back into the truck to grab out Emilia’s agreed payment, but I can barely make that out in the video. The only thing I ‘can’ make out is the suitcase, as it gleamed when it was brought close to the van’s tail lights.

Shit. Now I know that ‘Detective Barbie’ definitely saw this. Even someone with a low IQ can see that this looks like a shady deal. There are handshakes, a briefcase, dark lighting, after hours meeting ect, ect...

So, Abigail may have come to the conclusion of a deal that happened on the I.T.G property. She also may assume that a ‘higher up’ at my work could have had something to do with it. After a minute or two thinking about possibilities I shook my head, it was far too soon to come up with what she could have deduced. So I continued watching the clip. I made another mental note, that a suitcase was used during their discussion, looks like a deal was made.

The next thing that transpired in the recording was two figures getting into Emilia's van. That’s right, John and Emilia got into the van first and were going to meet me at the driveway into the side access, near the front of the store. We did this because I left an item in my locker and I knew that the flood lights would come on when I reach a certain point on the stairway towards the platform. I thought that the ‘dock’ camera would've been able to see Emilia’s van if she had stayed there, so that’s why I had her move her vehicle.

But I can see now, that it was all in vain. Since the ‘side access’ camera was functioning this whole time, for starters. And to make matters worse, when I was walking up the steps to go onto the platform and as the flood lights came on, the ‘side access’ camera caught vision of me.

My face. It was clear as daylight. There was no ‘getting out of this’. I was caught.

My fingers raked through my thick hair. “This is bad, this is really bad.” My voice sounded shaky.

It took me a moment or two before I started to calm down. “There has to be something I can … ,”

I clicked down the timeline, to replay the same chunk of video.

I continued to play the video again and again, my eyes was scanning for anything that could help me with figuring out a plan.

“Hmmm, it seems like my accomplices have their identities hidden entirely,” I thought aloud. The only two things I can see clearly in that damned video is my face and that suitcase. I’m not even seen with the suitcase when Emilia and John leave in the van. What can I say if I’m questioned about it? I have time to think about it, but let’s see what my options are.

“But first, this isn’t going to see it’s day in court.” I proceeded to erase the recording’s existence from I.T.G’s database, and replacing it with another day’s recordings.

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Later that night:

It took me forever and a day, but I was finally able to come up with a string of plans. I had to make this ‘string of plans’ because I still have insufficient knowledge on how our little ‘Detective Barbie’ thinks or what she knows. It was frustrating, having to think like a person of lower IQ and come up with a ‘wild goose chase’ for her to follow.

Confident with my game plan, my hands went for my cell phone. I punched in the numbers and the phone started to call my accomplice, Emilia. Some time went by before she finally picked up her phone.

“…Yes Robin?” Emilia answered groggily.

“How many times have I told you to not save my name on your phone?” I quickly accused.

“Oh, how I love hearing from you …” She continued, obviously half asleep or not interested in my tone. She moaned and groaned shortly after. “Robin, It’s 2am, can’t this wait?” Emilia must have seen her bedside clock’s time.

“No, we have a problem.” I explained.

I relayed the events of the day and the research that went into tonight in basic details. Then I told her the reason I called, her part in the grand scheme of things. She listened without further protest or interruptions. Even though we had already agreed ahead of time that if I was caught that she would take the fall, I felt like I owed her explanations and reasoning behind my plans. I did this because Emilia is truly the only one I can trust, she was family after all.

Emilia is my late father’s younger sister. She was the one who practically raised me after my mother and father met an end to their lives. She is the only family that I have left, apart from my distant relatives overseas.

I trust Emilia and she knows I would do my best to protect her as well, but this life of crime, hacking the ‘Big Bucks’ was never safe. And we both knew that when we took it up. I was a fool to think that we could escape the law forever though.

“Is that all you needed from us?” She asked.

“Yes Emilia, Can you have all of those key components ready well before opening hours this morning?”

“Of course, I’ll get on it right away. I’ll send you a text when everything is ready.” She confirmed.

“Thank you, I’ll try to buy you more time with the investigator. Hopefully I can get us another night to organise this properly, but see if you can accomplish everything tonight. Call me if you need anything on my end…”

“Will do…Goodnight Robin.” She answered.

I hung up after hearing her confirmation, eager to start winding down for the night. A sigh escaped my mouth, as I was terribly drained from the events of the day.

As I prepared myself for bed, I noticed in the mirror when brushing my teeth, that my eyes were red. They were strained from looking at the computer screen all night. The bathroom’s medicine cabinet had soothing eye drops, I followed the directions and proceeded to slip into bed shortly after doing my nightly rituals.

As I laid in bed sleep dared to hold me in her embrace, but before it did I couldn’t help but wonder if I had done enough. If I had done the right prep-work for tomorrow. There was nothing else I could do, I only pray that things went smoothly during the night for Emilia and John to complete their tasks.

A busy day was inevitable to come tomorrow, so I needed all the sleep I could get. Slowly I shut my eyes so I could let sleep engulf me.

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