The Outcast 6

‘Here, these are some places we suspect Carmen has stayed.  There were unknown blueprints discovered there and some fingerprints that matched with a deceased man.’  Jolene spoke, pushing a plastic bag full of pictures towards me while sipping on a cup of hot coffee.. I could feel the brewed coffee beans working to calm my nerves.

This was just too much.

After spending an hour hovering over several case files, my mind seemed too stressed out.. Too taken by the added information.  Every latest discovery was toying with my soul.  Mr Nishaan and Bradley were business fraudsters, my ex - bullies were suffering in life, Carmen was an extremely intelligent criminal taunting me with a frustrating mystery and my nerves were aching with the need to get rid of it all.

What was going to happen now?

All the information sent by Carmen made no sense.  Okay, so he wanted me to know all about the people who, he presumed, had wronged me.  Shocking, Liberating. The gentleman ‘Bradley’  had demons hidden in his closet, so I have been saved from vicious claws of corruption.  But, all these people, whose reality Carmen was unravelling, they were part of my past.  What about my present? I didn’t want any harm to fall upon anyone, but given that Carmen had recently revealed himself as my stalker, it would have made more sense if he started unravelling the ugly  demons of my recent tormentors.

Was he actually showing that he knew me for a very long time?  If so, then why come forward with this information now?  Or perhaps, he was showing that he had come to find out all about my past, but what purpose would that serve? Him knowing … he wasn’t using that to threat me.

Feeling slightly depressed by the unravelling of all my demons, I learned against my chair- rest and cupped my chin.

‘What do you think he is actually trying to do?’  I looked up at Jolene, eyeing her cup of coffee.  She seemed in deep thought as well.

‘We can’t make sense of his actions anymore.  We have trying chasing him all the way to Germany, England, Dubai, his actions have just been so unpredictable.  He leaves some taunting clues, blueprints around.  And this is the first time he is being so directly in contact with us.  The constant sending of messages, files and revealing his obsession.  We are going to send his file about your uncle to a Forensic Auditor.  Let’s see how they can further Aid us in this case, show us from where these files could be retrieved from.’

The thought about having Uncle Nishaan and Bradley being jailed did something weird to my soul.  A family so on top of a peak was going to fall, that would be a might lesson.  Feeling so overwhelmed by all the raging emotions, I jumped slightly as Jolene’s office door opened with a bang.

‘Dect Jolene’  It was Charlotte, showcasing an expression of urgency on her face. ‘You need to come and see this.’

Jolene immediately shared a look with me, finishing her coffee in one gulp and getting up.

‘Of course, lead the way.’

‘Two college girls have been recently arrested for taking part in a robbery.  They belong to King College for Women.’  That’s my college.’  The girls pleas to be innocent, yet sources have found their fingerprints on a rare diamond set placed in the national museum of monuments.  Police are in the process of questioning some classmates of these girls.  Peers have reported these girls ‘Andy’ and ‘Ntoms’ to have always taken part in acts of bullying and torment in their college.’

Tick.

‘We got an anonymous caller to telling us to listen to this radio - channel,’  Charlotte informed, switching off the radio.  I was feeling to speechless to respond.

‘You study in this college, right?’  Jolene turned towards me.

‘Yes, these girls, I am not on friendly terms with them either’  I squeaked, knowing this had Carmen written all cover it.  This was crazy, insane.  He was at it, again.

This proved it.

He had moved on from the past and was now moving towards my present.  He was doing this for me.

Who exactly was this guy?

‘He is clearly doing this to make a statement,’  Jolene folded her hands behind her back. ‘He is trying to impress you,  Sarah, but the thing is we have no idea what he is going to do after making all these gestures, so we are to raise your security to full notch.  Capisce?’

‘Capisce,’  I responded in a frightened tone.

‘Charlotte,’  She then turned towards her attentive worker.  ‘Try  seeing if we can track that anonymous caller and get someone to call the local police station where Andy and Ntoms are being kept captives.  Give them an insight into the whole situation.’

‘Yes, captain’  She immediately stomped away.

The already chaotic police office was filled with a sense of havoc, again.  Everyone had gotten busy with phone calls, some began heading outside the office, files were being thrown across the room.  I felt like conducting some investigation of my own.

This was so overwhelming.

Seeing me on the verge of hyperventilating, Jolene pushed me to sit on a random chair, assured that nothing would happen to my family and took out a cell phone from her bag.  I wasn’t allowed to bring my cell phone along, or else I would have been conduction an investigation of my own;  I would have searched how exactly Andy and Ntoms had got caught.

Soon, after a few hours of making quick calls, giving orders, Jolene’s eyes widen as someone loudly called out over the havoc.

‘The male dept has been able to trace the anonymous call.  It reportedly came from a small island near our southern bay.  A team had already been sent there, and it is reported that they found someone resembling Carmen’s appearance residing in a small cottage there.  The police are bringing him in.’

What! This was news.

‘Are you sure?’  Jolene asked in a stressed out tone, stomping over to whichever officer had informed her this.

‘Yes, affirmative.’  The officer nervously nodded.

Everyone’s nerves seemed to get triggered by that.  Quick calls seemed to circulate around the office floor, once again, while I was left frozen in my seat.

Could this captured man truly be Carmen?  No, this must be some kind of game, a plot.  After all, what the police knew about this guy was from the HINTS HE LEFT BEHIND.  What if this was a ploy?  It couldn’t be this easy capturing this guy.

A man who had escaped the police for so long, been making a complete fool out of them, he couldn’t have been caught by a simple call trace, that was the most cliché traps.  And I think the police knew this, that is why there was a sense of panic and edginess tingling the air, they knew that this al could be a deadly game.

However, there was another thought that seemed to plague my mind.  What if this was really Carmen? What if he purposely got caught?  But why would he do unless -

‘My eyes widen as the answer hit me suddenly.’

Unless he knew I was staying here.

Shoot!

He was coming for me..

Stifled and terrified, I found my limbs growing terribly weak and heartbeat increasing with such fervour intensity that it had my soul feel like tearing up.  This was a nightmare, a dreadful trap that had clutched my throat and was feeding on my sanity.  The police could do nothing to save me.  They were as much clueless, as blank as I was about this guy.  He had an advantage, the upper hand, and he was using it to toy with my soul.  I found my breath growing weak and shaky.

Among the storm of panic, Jolene seemed to have noticed my hyperventilating status and was, soon, rushing to my aid.

‘Get Sarah a glass of water,’  She screamed over the noise, as she lowered before me and tapped my face. ‘It’s going to be alright.  We won’t let him get to you. It’s going to end.  If he is our man, then this is all going to be over.  Relax.’  She tried assuring, but all those words seemed empty in my ears.  We all knew the severity of all that was going to happen.  If Carmen was coming here, then he was going to cause mayhem, he was going to leave a mark.  I had read about criminal cases like this.  People with huge IQ’s, they intend to out-smart many.

Knowing that there was no time to deal with nervous breakdowns at the moment, Jolene got back up on her feet and continued  barking out orders to everyone.  The police were appearing for the arrival of one of their most notorious criminals.

This was going to be news.

Desperately grabbing hold of a glass of cold water that was handed to me, cupping it with both hands.  I was just in process of hungrily gulping it down when Jolene loudly announced, ‘The men have brought Carmen into the building’

Shoot! Water was quick to clog my throat.

Getting entrapped in a horrible fit of coughing, I was aching for sheer air as Jolene began giving the instructions.

“So the men’s Dept are allowing their stenographer in on the whole interrogation.  The work of the stenographer will type everything been said and seen during the interrogation of Carmen.  The stenographer’s typed words will be displayed on all of our monitor screens, so what we have to do is stay firm and attentive in front of our computer screens.  Any signs of suspicion or lies detected should be reported at once.  And someone please get one of the monitor systems connected with my office’s computer.  Miss Sarah and I will be using that.’

‘Yes, captain’  It was Charlotte who quickly gave a salute.

With a brighter blue light flashing out of a hanging - computer screen, Jolene and I were now sitting a few feet away from it, sitting on comfy armchairs.  Jolene was holding a case - file and a blue pen, while I had my hands occupied in clawing the leather of my chair.  The tension, the discovery was about to be astounding, immense.  I could feel my soul aching with nervousness.

Just after a few moments, the police were going to interrogate someone who could be my potential stalker, a deadly psychopath.  They had given me strict instructions to see if I could find any familiarity --recognizable hints during the whole process of interrogation.  They believed that if this was really him, then there was going to be a full loaded Pandora’s box about to be unleashed.  I felt like wincing with that thought.  A whole Pandoras box.  The real Carmen would only come here for one purpose alone; tormenting me.  How would the police manage to stop him doing just that? 

Tangled between whether I should start biting on my nails or fidget with my fingers, I gasped as the computer lights suddenly flickered and black coloured words began appearing on it.

The suspect has been bought into the interrogation room.  He has both of his hands handcuffed and looks like someone in his late twenties.  A black mask, seemingly glued, is covering only half of his face, revealing only his eyes and a dark set of hair, and his stance seems dark and overly smug.  He seems too calm and collected, given the circumstances.
Jolene and I shared a look at this.

This was definitely Carmen.