The Consultant

3 | His Face

~ FIONA ~

As I finished reading the note, I was more amused then shocked.

I carefully turned the key in the lock, opened the door and flicked on the lights.

I mentally cursed myself for being so careless as to leave my gun in the apartment and even expect to have an uneventful day!

I checked all the rooms for any sign of disturbances or hidden equipment. I breathed a sign of relief when I found none.

I decided to take a warm shower, considering the long flight and the reasonably okay day I just had.

I then changed into a pair of black pyjamas and a printed Hulk tee. When it came to anger management issues, the Hulk and I were meant to be soulmates.

As I was prepping for dinner, I remembered the envelope from earlier. I removed the tissue, enclosing the tiny bits of paper from my jeans pocket and walked towards the kitchen.

I took out the lighter from the kitchen cabinet, turned it on and held it near the edge of the tissue.

The tiny flame soon grew and became a small fire, that quickly engulfed the tissue and its contents.

Before the tissue could burn out entirely, I dropped it into the steel bin. Now the only thing that remained of the paper, was black ash.

Satisfied, I turned the stove on and started preparing dinner.

As I was about to devour my dinner of spaghetti, I suddenly started to feel a sense of gloom.

I realized just how much I was missing my family. I missed our family dinners and our dinner-table gossips.

Suddenly, I face-palmed myself.

Because that's when I realized that since I had landed in N.Y, I had not once rung up home.

Just imagining how furious my Dad was going to be, gave me the creeps!

I started looking for my phone and slapped my forehead, when I saw that it was still on airplane mode. That solved the mystery as to why my phone had been eerily silent all day!

I somehow mustered the courage and with shaking hands, dialed my Dad's number.

Ring!!

Ring!!

He finally picked up.

I took a deep breath and before he even had the chance to say anything, I blurted out, "Hello, Dada. I am sor---"

"FIONA AGNES MASCARENHAS A.K.A FIFI!!" my Dad cut me off after just four and a half words.

I gulped down the lump forming in my throat, bracing myself to face his wrath.

Without giving me a chance to reply, he continued, "Finally you realized that you have a family here in India, who are desperately waiting for your call!

"I was just about to call A.C.P Rathore to ask him to check on your whereabouts, but by God's grace you finally called! You may have grown up and become a great cop who has an international reputation and is very busy catching criminals, but you are still hopelessly irresponsible!"

"I'm really sorry, Dada," I said in my most innocent voice, knowing that it would do the trick.

Hearing my puppy-like voice, Dad calmed down.

Dad did me a favor and changed the topic but continued his interrogation, "Hmmm. So Fifi, how's New York? Did you get settled there? What are you doing?"

"New York's good, a new place and a new culture. Yeah, I just finished unpacking. Since Central Park was the closest, I went there except that nothing much. I'm just having dinner. Where's Mumma and my loving elder sis?" I replied, munching on my now rubbery pasta.

"Ah! You know how those two adventure junkies are! Since your Mumma's retirement, they're hardly ever at home. Every opportunity they get to travel or do something new, they just pounce on it. But they'll be back by evening or so they said. How I miss the fun we had, when they used to travel. Wow, I'm seriously getting old! Just look at how emotional I'm getting, with you just gone for two days. But don't worry about me I'll be fine. Just be safe," he said in a soft voice.

Tears were threatening to flow from my eyes now. We weren't exactly a touchy-hugging kind of family, but we were still very close.

"If I speak anymore then we will have a crying marathon. Ha! Ha! So, goodnight. Just don't die!" he said with a chuckle.

"Goodbye, Dada. Give Mumma and Diana my regards. Miss, you all. Love you guys. Take care." I reluctantly disconnected the call.

Even though I cried quite a bit after talking to my Dad, at least now I felt calm and a lot less gloomy.

As I was starting to feel tired or lazy, or whatever, yes even we cops feel lazy, after all even we are humans not some robot straight out of a Terminator movie, right, I decided to call it a day.

I settled myself in the warmth of the sheets of my bed and started reading the copy of 'War and Peace' that I had purchased earlier today.

~

~ KEVIN ~

"Yes, I know my job. There's no need for you to teach me!" I hissed on the phone as I exited the subway. Navigating the morning rush hour crowd was one hell of a task!

Normally I would have brought my car, but Fiona's place was just five minutes from the subway, and, I didn't really have the patience to be struck in the traffic for an hour.

I was on my way to pick her up, as it was her first day working with us.

I also wanted to give her the limited number of files that we had on 'The Chameleon'.

I knowingly did not give them to her as soon as she came, because I wanted her to start work here with a calm and open mind.

She was our only real chance at catching him.

"I am keeping an eye on her! So far, I have found nothing against her! You very well know, going against her means inadvertently questioning the decisions of the Ambassador! She has an iron clad reputation and record. But still I'll be alert. Bye!" as I said the last word, I practically disconnected the call. The whole case and especially 'The Chameleon' were getting on my nerves.

I automatically turned around the curb towards Fiona's building, still lost in the thoughts about the case.

That's when I suddenly felt something hard smashing against the back of my head.

Before I could realize what was happening, my whole body went numb. I felt the hard concrete pavement brush against my cheek.

~

~ FIONA ~

Beep!!

Beep!!

I picked up my phone to snooze the alarm, that's when I saw the time, it was almost 8:00 am!

I was supposed to meet Kevin at 9:00, and I was going to be late!!

I had spent the remainder of my weekend doing nothing but read or occasionally stare at the ceiling. Thankfully, I was not suffering from any jet lag. I didn't realize when I had started day-dreaming. Gosh, it had already been six hours!

I somehow managed to leave the warmth of my cosy bed and reluctantly headed towards the bathroom.

As the cold water splashed on my face, all my fatigue vanished. I was wide awake now.

I quickly brushed my teeth, took a shower and changed into a formal white shirt with black jeggings and a black blazer.

I checked my reflection in the mirror. I was ready to go.

As I was early, I decided to wait for Kevin on the pavement outside my building.

I checked my watch,

9:00.

9:20.

Still no sign of Kevin, maybe he's held up working on a case.

As I was about to call Kevin, my phone suddenly started to vibrate. It was an unknown number. I reluctantly connected the call.

"Hello. Can I speak to Ms. Fiona? Do you know a Mr. Kevin Cafferty?" asked an urgent female voice.

"Hello. This is she. Yes, I do. He is a homicide detective with the NYPD. Who's this?" I said into the phone, not getting a good feeling about this call.

"Oh! I'm afraid he has been in an accident and has been bought to our ER. Since you were the last person he contacted, I figured maybe you'd know him. Can you come down to the hospital?" she asked.

"What?! Is Kevin okay? I'll be there. Which hospital?" I asked anxiously in return.

"St. Thomas General Hospital," came the prompt reply.

As I reached St. Thomas, I paid the cabbie and practically jumped out of the cab, knowing that this incident with Kevin was not a random one but the handy-work of a certain lizard.

I entered the hospital and headed directly to the reception and inquired, "I received a call from you guys. I'm here for Kevin Cafferty."

"Ms. Fiona, right? He is in the last room at the end of the corridor towards your right," replied the blonde nurse standing behind the receptionist's desk.

As I entered Kevin's room, I saw him sitting on the examination bed, a bandage around his forehead, with a bloody shirt and a expression on his face which I was quite unable to gauge.

"Are you alright, Kevin?" I asked with concern.

"Everything's gone!" Kevin replied in a whisper.

"What?!?!" I asked, confused.

"Everything that we had on 'The Chameleon'... files... data... evidence... and his only photo, it's all... gone."