Chances

Chapter Eleven

Jad; the investigator, sat behind his desk with his partner, Red. They both kept glancing over the papers. They didn't find any clue. Just when they found any, another movement blew it away.

They kept moving from crime to crime to see if they could solve any of the mysteries. But luck wasn't on their side that day.

Red brushed his ginger hair with his fingers. He held his chin as he realized each case could be connected to the other. It seemed like a puzzle. They needed to put the missing pieces together before they could solve the cases.

Jad got up and paced around the room, holding a white folder in his left hand.

Red stared, reading through the papers. Even though nothing came in mind, he still kept looking through.

The phone began to ring. Just then they knew there was a new case.

They both sighed, showing how bad they were feeling already.

Red picked up on the third beep, "Hello, who is this?" Red asked the caller.

But no one answered. The person kept breathing but didn't talk.

“If you have nothing to say, I'm going to hang up. Call when you find your voice," Red told the silent caller again.

He did hang up and as soon as he was putting the phone down, it rang again.

This continued for many times. But when it happened again, Jad took the call this time.

Showing his impatience, he sighed and yelled into the phone, "See, we have so many cases we need to solve. Even if you are in danger, you can still talk because we can't hear anything but your breath, which means you are in a safer place to talk. Do so before they find you. Talk!”

Yet there was silence. Then Jad went over his speech again, a lot better and calming this time around, “See, I'm sorry for shouting. The forces are your friends. We don't scare, we only help. Tell us what's bothering you. We'll be glad to help.”

It seemed to have helped because as soon he finished, The person spoke, "There has been an incident I just witnessed. Someone got injured. It was serious. The person was meant to be murdered. Be quick. I'll text you the address.”

“Who are you? Wait don't hang up," Jad removed the phone when he heard the disconnecting sound.

“What happened? Is it good news?" Red prayed it was, considering the loads on the desk.

“Someone got injured. And the caller will send the address in some few minutes. It was meant to be murder but it turned out the person was severely injured," he summarized what the caller told him.

He held the phone in his hand and waited for the message. Just after a few seconds, the message came.

“It's in, prepare the team and let's go. The murderer could be around. Let's go," he suggested as they rushed outside.

***

Leah hugged Marisca as Dean talked to Jad and his team. Kourtney was putting Tyler to bed. They didn't want him to know what was going on.

The team took away the evidence and asked them not to cross the line they've drawn with the tapes.

“Which one of you called? Who was the witness?" Jad asked but nobody came forth. He sighed. The call was anonymous but he hoped for the person to be around or owned up somehow.

Red went closer to Jad and shook his head. As if Jad was reading his mind, he sighed again.

“This is going to be difficult. There's no weapon here to show anything. Sure, the wound shows the victim was stabbed. But we can't catch the cooperate without any weapon. Let's just hope the man survives," he whispered so his partner would be the only one to hear.

“Which means the murderer could be around, watching where the victim could be sent. He could follow them there to finish off what he started. We need a hundred percent security," Red suggested and Jad nodded his head and moved to talk to Dean and his people.

Jad asked to take his leave and return the day after. He was sure to be back with some "good" news.

The next day, he came as he had promised. He took twenty two hours to solve a few puzzles on the case before going.

Red was of much help as always. He greeted them and they offered him a seat.

They all sat as he got up with his two hands in his pockets.

“I have a feeling the culprit could be connected to some of the cases we have. He or she is smarter than we think. With the look of things it is definitely a he. But what I don't understand is why I had that call. The person knew my personal number. I have been here before. I have given my number to you guys. The person who called is not just a passerby. The person lives or works here,"Jad told, pacing around the room.

“That's weird. If the person lives or works here, then why didn't the person say anything about it?” Marisca wondered as she sipped some of the coffee.

“Maybe she was scared. Maybe she didn't know how to say it." Leah gave clues while Jad shook his head in disagreement.

“Or maybe she knew the culprit. Because she talked with...I'm sure with a handkerchief around the phone so we wouldn't identify her voice but the voice can't be mistaken. It is a she. She didn't want to give more information. Her number is also off. It was a private number which means it can't be traced," the investigator declared once again.

“Sounds like a smart person. Smart enough to commit that crime. She could be the same person you think might be a he. It could be after stabbing Ken...See, I believe it's the same person." David finally chipped in.

“No, not so. We believe there were three people at the scene. It could be you are right. But from the angle in which we found the blood, the culprit can't be the same as the witness. Also, there were six footprints. Not to forget the scratches we found on his body. It is definitely three people," Jad couldn't accept the same person who called could be the culprit.

“So you mean and believe it's a he but another she helping him out? But who will dare hurt Ken? He's one of the sweetest workers here. He's always smiling and everyone loves him. Why would anyone want to kill him?" Marisca simply explained her doubts.

“Exactly, which means you are all in danger. We still don't know who he came here for. As you said, Ken is sweet. Maybe he tried stopping him and he met his fate," Jad mumbled as he sat.

“First my house got burnt and now...wait, what if the person is after Leah and I? Or any of us?" Marisca enquired, suddenly realizing how dangerous it could be.

“You are right. It could be me. Everyone knew you had an interview that day. And the time the fire started, you weren't even back. Meaning I was the target. I had a fight today. The person might be waiting for me to come back but Ken saw him and so he decided to silence him. My work is dangerous and so can be the people I fight with," Leah smiled after what she had revealed to them.

For some unknown reasons, she wasn't scared. She seemed ready for it. Dean's heart started pounding as if someone was playing with it. Leah said something and smiled at it but he was the one having the effect she was supposed to be having.

“And so we believe there were more than two people at the crime scene. The victim, the culprit, and the witness who called after it happened. And interestingly, two people got injured. We found blood belonging to two different people," Jad looked at David who had been quiet since yesterday.

“When we first saw blood at two different spots, we didn't want to raise false alarm so we decided to check it out in the laboratory. I asked they sped the result so it came just two hours ago. The blood belonged to a girl. I hope none of the workers left, I mean those who were present yesterday during the time of the crime," Jad continued, picturing everything in his mind.

“If the third person is injured as well and we believe she is here, then it wouldn't be hard to find her,” Leah murmured, feeling tired from her fight yesterday. She hadn't had a decent rest since she arrived.

They had arrived yesterday and met a few workers and the police surrounding the side of the house. They arrived before Jad and Red did.

Tina had also been quiet. She was finding it difficult hiding her pain. The investigator was smarter than she thought. If she had known it could turn out this way, she wouldn't have called him directly.

She acted on an impulse, she was scared Ken could die when Jimmy stabbed him. She had grown to like him. And besides, it wasn't him she had a problem with.

When Jimmy stabbed him, he let go of the gun. Unfortunately but fortunately the gun was already set and ready. So when it came crashing to the ground, it bounced up and went off.

When the gun went off, Jimmy told her to relax since nobody would hear the gunshot, he was not aware it was pointed in her direction.

When Ken fell on his knees while holding his stomach, Tina also fell holding her left thigh.

They both groaned in so much pain especially Ken, whose wound was deeper and was losing so much blood.

Ken's body went stiff as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't believe he was dying, especially in that way. He had so much to tell his brother when he found him. He had been missing since he turned seven and he, Ken was eleven.

Her trembling body couldn't take the pain anymore. Jimmy quickly rushed to her side when he realized she was the one being shot. He cleaned the blood on the knife and stuffing his face towel into her mouth, he dug the very same knife into her wound and removed the bullet, which wasn't far too deep.

He asked her to make sure no one found out she was hurt. He warned her to act cool and not give away what had happened. She was limping on her leg when she walked back inside, thanking her star no one was around except Kourtney and her grandson who were inside her bedroom.

So she reached her bed and remembered what her mother once told her when she broke the leg of her neighbor's puppy. She told her to at least take the hurt puppy to its home and apologize to its owners. When she did, she felt a sudden calmness in her. So she again helped someone she had hurt even though she didn't do it on purpose. She would just make sure Jimmy wouldn't kill him.

***

The day was busy even though the restaurant, which was closer to the crime scene, was closed. They interrogated everyone since everyone was a suspect.

They examined everyone to see if they had any injured body. Once a while, Tina's heart would skip, thinking it was her turn. She knew it would soon be her turn. It's either she owned up about her being the one who called and lie a little to save her skin or she ran. And running would only make her a suspect. Besides she could tell them most of the things they said were wrong. She could come out as the hero if she told a good story.

It was clear they weren't looking for the person who committed the crime but they were looking for the witness.

When nobody was around, she'd freely limp and dress her wound once she got to her room.

Even though she knew when Ken regained consciousness she'd be in trouble, she secretly prayed he'd be OK. She was already missing him. He was the only one who gave her the attention she had needed since childhood. He'd make her smile even though she never showed it.

As she turned to move away from the table, her thigh hit it, making the wound burt her a little more than it was paining her.

She winced and from nowhere a voice asked, "Are you OK?”