Catch You!My Billionaire

The Search

The inner narrow parts of the street called, Conway Roads bring a different atmosphere to a traveler in the city. The bright green trees in the parks, the empty benches at the sides, and clear grounds make the outskirts of the city a calm rest in the eyes out of the streets Olivia went before, the crowded and waste-ridden places. The scenery didn’t last long when she and the man from the restaurant, enter the Conway Roads. People scattered all around the streets doubles ranging from women who gather outside to waste their time on a chat about events on the streets and their neighbors which creates sickening fights between neighbors. A group of drunken men sits in the front of a two-story, but thin plain house clanking the bottles of beer from their hands. The men noticed Olivia wandering her eyes around on every passer, house, and store, therefore, he asked if she is born rich. She shakes her head and chuckles at the man’s perception yet she has no idea if his words are even a compliment.

The man then said it is not how poor people like him act and pulled another suggestion. Olivia is from a middle-class family but has more than enough aside for their needs. Olivia asks how can he say so. This time the man laughed at her, “Because you seem surprised at what you see”, he said. She replied no words but looked into the man’s eyes with a smirk on her lips, since the more she’s silent, the danger is lesser. The two walked with their mouth shut for a minute, yet the man can’t control the questions in his head, his lips long to say a word and he didn’t resist it. Out of curiosity, he asks her about her prize from finding the place.

“My cousin”, she said, not to arouse any suspicion.

“From a troubled man?”, he raises his left eyebrow but has a little smile on his lips. She perceives the man found her words a lie, and it was true. In order to get in contact with a person you are searching for, first, ask around if they knew the person or even provide a picture. She noticed the doubts on his face, and she must avoid suspicion at any cost. Oliva steps aside closer to the man, “He’s a robber”, she whispered, and his eyes widens all of a sudden.

“A hot-headed person, ever since we were young we always get into a fight”, she added after the man’s face turned expressionless. He said it’s quite rare for him to encounter criminals or talk about them, but it was never new to him. “I see”, he said and points in a straight direction. He raises his hands and waved them in the air, “Ride here!”, he shouted and a motor drives towards them.

The man told her, if she continues walking in order to reach the apartment, she won’t feel her legs afterwards. He also added how long the street is, thus many public vehicles line up along a little waiting shed they now used for terminals.

“Tell the driver, to drop you off at Mrs. Johnson’s apartment”, he said.

Olivia thanks him, she grabs his hands and inserts a paper in his palms. She hoped on the motorcycle and gave a last wave of goodbye to the man, and he did the same to her.

When the motor left, the man opened his palm and it is a bill worth a hundred dollars. Speechless and surprised, his mind can’t figure out what actions to do, should he chase her? It was useless since its impossible. He instead smiles and pockets the money.

After ten minutes of drive, she found herself standing in front of a three-story old building, with fading white paint, dark muddy spots, and rust blends on the wall’s color. She walked and

knocked on the metal gates, yet there is no answer. Olivia repeats it again, and out of nowhere a wild roar of dogs, barks at the bottom of their lungs startles her and makes her step back a bit.

A fat-bellied old woman in a floral blue house dress opens the door. “Sorry, we don’t need tenants yet”, she said and was about to shut the door, without even giving Olivia a chance to talk. She holds the gates and stops them from closing with her palms pressed. She told the woman her purpose, for her to answer a few questions. The woman frowns and still resisted, she implied her out of interest in talking with anyone, but when Olivia took out her badge, her face went straight.

“Was there something I did?”, she whispers aloud in an empty reaction.

“No, but we need your cooperation, for your own security”, she said and asked the woman if her name is Mrs. Johnson, and what does she know about the man mugged recently.

“He was my tenant”, she said, Before saying a single word any further Olivia requests if she can come into the lot. Mrs. Johnson allows her and opens the gate wide. She lives at the very first apartment door in front of the gate perhaps alone since no one is in there.

She then offers Olivia a drink, a juice? Coffee? Anything? Yet Olivia refused since she won’t take much time at the place. Mrs. Johnson sits on the wooden chair, opposite Olivia’s.

“Can you tell me who that tenant is? Do you know his name?”, she asked.

Out of fear of the unknown, Mrs. Johnson told her everything, because, in her old age, she doesn’t want to implicate herself from any troubles.

“I am not sure about his name since he stayed only for three days, but I guess it was Edwin……uhh…what is his last name again?....oh! Edwin Sharp”, she said, followed by a few details about the man.

A jobless man around thirty years old, with no family according to Mrs. Johnson’s guess because he acquired the apartment for himself alone, the man’s a bit mysterious. He spends his days locked in his apartment without lights on. At first, his neighbor thought he wasn’t present in his place when they wanted to welcome him, still, they tried to knock and the man left the door half-opened, took the welcome gifts, a candle and shut himself again inside.

Olivia then asks if she found any strange actions from this man or the people he meets at this place. Mrs. Johnson nodded, “The four other guys”, she said with her eyes wide open, “They picked him up in a white long van, which is odd because Edwin only has two bags he can carry himself, why must he need four men!”,

“What do they look like?”, Olivia said.

“T-shirts and jeans, but each of them wear sunglasses, surgical mask, and cap”, Mrs. Johnson uttered, she then explains if she had known those men might bring danger to her and the apartment she shouldn’t have welcomed them.

Olivia fell silent for a few seconds and stares at the blue vase with dragons painted beside her, which made Mrs. Johnson puzzled yet silent. All of a sudden, she took an envelope from her bag and placed sketches on the wooden table between them. “Do you recognize any of these men?”, she asked. Five pictures of men according to CCTV footage of the latest heist drawn on white paper. Mrs. Johnson picked the glasses stuck to her dress and puts them in her eyes, she leans closer to the picture and stares at each of the sketches. “I don’t recognize any of these men, nor the people who went here, but this”, she points at the third picture, “That was Edwin!”, she said. Olivia picked up the paper and placed it in the envelope, “I see”, she uttered and offers her

hand to Mrs. Johnson, she thanks the woman for her honesty and cooperation. Before she leaves the place Mrs. Johnson requested the men to be put in jail, because he imposes danger to citizens like her. Olivia promised and says goodbye to Mrs. Johnson.

She brought no cars with her when she left the restaurant. Olivia ordered the woman in the restaurant to watch it for her. She didn’t care much for a car because it is a borrowed second-hand car no one wanted besides she left not a single item in it. However, the problem rises after she left it. Olivia must arrive at the main local police station in the same city, to look out for CCTV footage, but now she must call Jim to pick her up.

In no time her fellow detective arrives at her place. She went inside the car, and the two talked about the evidence or clues which will lead them to trace the criminals. “Did you find anything?”, Jim asked her

“Yes, and we must act right away”, she said, and Jim accelerates the car, but still below the speed limit. Olivia told him, her conversation with Mrs. Johnson, and if the old woman was right, David and his men now move. The situation will get worse when they escaped to another city. Jim notices her uttering wild things and being negative towards the situation, to ease the tension in her mind he assures her, the criminals won’t make their way out, there are local police guards in every transit they can pass, thus it is harder for them to run away.

Oliva pats the back of his head, “Aren’t you a detective? You must measure the situation and outcomes, how come you can say those things?”, she said, but Jim laughs and teases her for being too serious through mimicking her words and voice.

“We are on duty remember that!”, Olivia said.

“All right, I am just goofing around, besides it didn’t happen yet, focus on the present”, he uttered with a smile on his face.

After fifteen minutes of drive, he and Olivia arrive at the police station. The two fell surprised when Peter is also in one of the private rooms, with three other policemen staring at the CCTV screen.

“What happened?”, Olivia asked, and Peter explains his investigation and findings, he left not a single word untold.

“A group of three men knocked a convenience store owner, three days ago at Friday ten in the evening”, he said and pointed at one of the screens. “They must have a heated conversation. In my conclusion, the store owner closed his shop but these men wanted perhaps to buy something and the owner didn’t allow them. They punched and kicked the owner in the abdomen, at the face, and in the back leaving him injured at the side of the street”, Peter told the exact happening on the screen, the short conversation which ends up in beating.

Olivia then requested the policeman operating the screen to show CCTV footages three days ago at Mrs. Johnson’s apartment after she noticed a public CCTV, hangs in a post beside the apartment. The detectives try to connect if the men and the van from different footages are the same. The color and t-shirt logo design both men wear matched, but they can’t be certain about the van since it has no plate number on it. The criminals try to put their works in the shadow, thus the evidence against them will be clean, yet none of them notice how reckless, their execution is.

“We can find them in no time”, Olivia uttered in conviction.

“The van ends up here, in Southfield lane (a street in the city) in a mini modern house, yet

one of their members went missing”, Peter said

The police operator on the screen intervenes in their conversation, he offers he’ll scan and study the routes the van took. The three of them agreed but Peter requested if he can pass it six in the morning by tomorrow, with a help of a few police backups they will go investigate at the place.

Oliva then asked how many men can they give for this operation, and the policeman in a cap with a few badges pinned on his uniform answers, “Eight, is it enough?”. She nods and gives thanks to the officer.