Pools of Blood

Chapter 59

There were photos clicked by Bo Chang himself in the dead of the night. The infrared mode of the camera captured each shot perfectly. Photos of Frank. Crystal clear images of the blond curly-headed man, wanted by the whole country accused of multiple murders, r***s, killings, and forgery. He was seen standing, talking to someone, and drinking wine straight from the bottle. The house looked familiar. The windows and the curtains were too much well-known. But I couldn’t place a finger where I had seen them.

-"Can you guess who's house is that?", I asked. Angela shook her head. But I knew, I had been there before. Sometimes the most frustrating point of life is when you know the answer but your brain denies providing it for you. In some of the pictures, there was a lady which face we couldn’t comprehend. Frank seemed to obey her, the look of his eyes spoke that he revered her very much.

-"Who can she be?", asked Angela. I had no idea. Short cropped hair, heavyweight, and someone who wore specs, that’s all we could deduce from the photos. Then came the photos which blew my mind away. I saw my parents. Bo Chang must have followed the links and the clues that they unintentionally dropped and had reached the house where he might have been attacked from behind. I saw my parents tied in chains. They looked horrified and in pain. I saw the look in my mom’s eyes. Tears were streaming down her beautiful face and her mouth was open. She might have been crying in agony. Dad’s face was obscured from view. They were seated in two chairs and were tied with ropes. My heart broke seeing them like that. My soul cried silently. It was all my fault. Had I died when the blast took place, neither Amiya nor Alfred nor his wife would have met such a thing. Neither my loving parents would have been forced to tolerate such disgrace in this old age. I cursed myself for their pain. The photos showed me, my mom's welded-up wrist, dad's grave, and angry face, and the mom's silent pleading for freedom. Her hair was all disheveled and her clothes were wrinkled. She wasn't even wearing a pullover. No one was bothered to keep her warm. Did they even give food? I highly doubted. Anger surged within me like a high tide. I gripped the chair tightly with my fingers to restrain myself from shouting.

-"I have a question", Angela suddenly blurted out.

-"What?"

-"When Bo Chang was attacked, why the attackers couldn’t find his camera? I mean, he was simply attacked, hit in the head, and threw on the road. Why? They might have taken him hostage like your parents. They might have killed him and hung his corpse on the marketplace for all to view. But they did nothing of those. Simply hit and run. Why?"

- " I thought the same question. And I have come to some possible reasons. Firstly, they might have been some common thief or goons. Secondly, they might have been Frank’s men and after hitting Bo Chang on the head, they had thought that he might have been dead, so they dumped the body and ran off. Whatever the case may be, I never can think Bo Chang could be so careless. Don’t you think so?"

-"Yes. He always has remained high alert. In fact, I have heard that he even sleeps with a gun under his pillow. He could tell anyone if coming from behind. How did he lose his pose here and got hit so brutally?"

Yes! That’s the question, troubling me too. There was something fishy about it.

-" Listen, Michael, whatever the case is. Until he comes back to his senses, we could never know the full story of how he found Frank out and how he met with this accident".

I nodded. She was right. We had much more work than ruminating the real cause of Bo Chang’s hit and run case.

"I want to run these photos and see if we can identify who the woman is. Regarding the house, it seems so much familiar. I just cannot figure out to whom it belongs."

-"Maybe you need a scrumptious dinner and a good night's sleep. You will figure out in the meantime".

I nodded. As we were about to leave the café, there was a call from Jasmine. She described how she went in the disguise of a family member to the cremation ground and secretly uncovered the urns of my aunt and found a key. I was surprised by her sleuthing skills. That key must unlock some locker or drawer. And there would be the original will.

"When you find the will, what are you going to do?", asked Angela.

" I don't know. If the situation arises, I will give the will to Frank and rescue my parents. Then I will chase him and arrest him myself."

-"What? Why will you give your family heritage to someone like him? We will find out a way to rescues your parents without even handing over the documents."

I smiled. She was a well-wisher. Just like Bo Chang. But  I really didn't want to put everyone I love, in the face of danger. The feud of my property arose years ago when I was a child. It killed my parents. Then it killed my brother, my wife and now my second parents were too in danger. How could I tolerate any more people dying to save me? Won't it be better if I hand over the property to Frank and save my mom and dad? I did never had any greed for my family lands and trees. It won't matter if I give it away. At least I would have my parents back. That’s what it mattered. I would use the will as my last arrow to solve everything.