Pools of Blood

chapter 57

The camera was incredibly small and compact. Bo Chang always carried his portable camera and his notepad wherever he went. He loved photography and he literally drilled into our heads to keep a camera at hand always. There were many tight spots where an infrared camera with a Bluetooth signal and GPS locator would help rather than a phone or a laptop. His camera was specially built to suit his needs. It was impeccably stylish with a grey body and a sliver shutter. It was mirrorless and it had an inbuilt calling and GPS locator to find if ever got stolen or lost. The photos clicked y this camera is of superior quality. He never misplaced it throughout his life. Once he even proudly remarked that his professor at the police training academy presented it to him while he married his daughter on their wedding day. It had been with him since then. It was so small that it might pass unnoticed.

Angela came and sat beside me. Her eyes were red and were swollen and her hair was disheveled. She loved him like her own father and seeing him lying broken and damaged, killed her soul.

"Are you okay?", I asked, putting my hands upon her shoulder.

She leaned upon me and sighed deeply.

"Have you ever dreamt Michael that one day we have to see this pathetic sight? "

I nodded. Never. Had he been someone else, I wouldn’t have felt so much drained. But he was our King. And when the king goes down, the kingdom lies in ruins. I gave her the notepad.

" Can you identify the number?"

She shook her head. "None that I know of".

-"Can you run it down and see whom it belongs to?"

She nodded. "Yes. Right away. I will forward it to Mark and his cyber team to see if they can find out anything. Since it is found in this notepad, it might lead us somewhere. Bo Chang doesn’t even scribble anything unnecessary."

-" Yes. In the meantime, let us go and see the contents of the camera."

While we were on our way to the nearest cyber café, Jasmine on the other hand, who was alone in Damyang was struggling to find out the clue hidden in the children’s storybook. She had literally turned her bedroom at my hotel into an investigating coup. Walls were covered with pictures, photocopies from the book to scrutinize them properly. Each story in Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions was written on the walls, paper cuttings glued tapestries and there were also some mathematical formulas. She looked haggard. Deep black circles around her beautiful eyes pervaded like a dark storm cloud in a clear blue sky. She had lost weight and her clothes sagged over her dilapidated torso. Every two hours I called in to check if she was doing alright if she had taken her meds and water. She was my responsibility and with our parents kidnapped, I couldn’t let her feel traumatized once again. I described to her the condition Bo Chang had plummeted and the digs we had excavated.

Mr. Topaz hovered around her like an eagle. It seemed that he was more interested in knowing the contents of the clue than anyone else. Why? What was his profit in all these? I wondered.

-"Michael. I don’t like the way he looks at me. It is creepy you know", she said while we were on our one of the 'talk every two hours' calls.

-" I know. I shouldn’t have left you alone there. But with Bo Chang at the hospital and Mom, Dad still in his clutch, I had no other option".

She understood me perfectly. The s**t I was in.

-" I have reread the entire book more than thirty times."

-" Did you find anything?"

-"No. There is nothing exclusive or strange. We have all heard these stories when we were young. I couldn’t find anything misplaced or weird".

-"Jasmine. Listen to me. I am going to rescue our parents. They are the only living ones for us. Whether you find the clue or not, I will find them."

-"I know, Michael. I know. I have complete faith in you".

-" You don’t worry yourself, relax, go out, get some fresh air."

-" Michael. Did you remember your aunt? Your father’s sister?"

-"No. I have seen her photos though. She had died long before my birth."

-"Well, I was thinking that I would go and pay my regards to your aunt’s and your parents' graves. Can I?"

-"Yeah, sure. But let me tell you. We don’t bury our dead bodies, we cremate them. And their ashes are stored in an urn in the Cemetary. There is a huge glass case on the northern side of the cemetery. You will find our family name on the labels. All my forefathers and their urns are placed there.’

-"That’s interesting." She hung up. We had already reached the cybercafé.

Angela plugged in the camera with the cable and a basket full of files floated on the screen. Files from the recent past to the remote past are all stacked under different labels and years.

-"Find the folder of the latest date", I said to Angela. It took quite some time to locate the one we were searching for. The folder was named dark alley.

Angela clicked it open. As soon as she did, a militia of photos flooded in. Photos clicked at random and candid. We watched wide-eyed at all the pictures that laid bare before us. It took our senses away.