Her Silent Cries Read online

“Hi!”

  He turned to find one of Rebecca's friends standing next to him awkwardly.

  “Hi!”

  “You are Nancy's friend, right?” She asked blushing slightly.

  “How do you know Nancy?” Collins asked.

  “She is my aunt. She talks about you often.” She said sheepishly.

  “Yeah. I remember.” He barely remembered a teenage school girl at Nancy's family dinners.

  They kept looking at each other in awkward silence for few seconds.

  Collins smiled in a friendly manner trying to encourage him. “Do you want to tell me something ...?”

  “Hilda!” She said quickly. “My name is Hilda.”

  “Yes, Hilda!” He looked questioningly at her.

  She stood there with red face twisting fingers of her hands. Collins felt absolutely dumb. He had suddenly remembered Nancy telling him about her niece who had a crush on him. Is she the one with a crush on me? Oh, God! no. Please, no.

  Finally, she spoke.

  “You are looking for Miss Bates.”

  “Yes.”

  “I have some information about her.”

  “Really?” Collins looked at her in amazement. She struck to him as a daydreamer type girl who might not notice a fly under her own nose.

  “Nobody knows that except me.” She said rather proudly.

  “What is it?”

  “I can't tell you now. Can we meet in the evening? Perhaps at a coffee shop?”

  Collins looked at her dead serious. She studied in the same class as Rebecca which meant she was half of his age and here she was asking him out.

  “I can come to your house ... with Nancy if it is alright.”

  He could see the look of disappointment in her face. It didn't go the way she wanted.

  “It is nothing big to be exact.” She said in a dull voice. “Miss Bates was seeing the art teacher, Sir Brenguoahm. But they broke up last summer.”

  “How do you come to know that?”

  “They had a secret spot where they met during school hours. I caught them meeting there many times. Then, they had an ugly fight one day after summer break, and then they never met again.”

  “Did you hear their fight?” Collins wondered how much of this was real and how much was made up to impress him.

  “Yes, they both were threatening each other to leak something out.”

  “What was that something?”

  “I didn't hear clearly, but he definitely said I will post it on social media and show your real face to the world to which she said I will contact police first.”

  Collins thought for a moment. He found it difficult to believe her but at the same time, he did not want discourage her from giving information.

  “Thank you for telling me that, Hilda. Any information will help us in finding your teacher. By the way, do you know a girl called Felicia?”

  “Felicia Smithson? She was a weird girl-never came back after last year. I thought she moved to a new school but then I heard that she ran away from her foster home.” Hilda looked bored now.

  “Did Felicia every accompany your group to the Governor's house?”

  “Let me think. I think she went with us last summer.”

  ◆◆◆

  Mrs. Nelson was history teacher and looked like she also belonged to a history book. She dressed like it was still eighteenth century. Clad in all black and white ankle length dress, she looked like an actor in a museum show. She watched him like a horse trainer watching an untrained horse who can kick anytime while he squirmed in his chair sitting opposite her in her semi-dark office room.

  “Can you tell me where were you on eighteenth November?” In her earlier statement, she claimed to be at home all day and night. However, there was no evidence to prove it.

  “I have already told that to your team.” She said with a stern face. “I don't understand why are you bothering me again?”

  “New information has been surfaced and we would like to know again. Just in case, you want to change your statement.”

  “What is that new information about me?” She looked at him with suspicion. “I don't see you interviewing other teachers today.”

  Collins felt dumbfounded at this question. How could he answer that without offending her? He wondered.

  “Do you know the home minister Mr. Plymouth personally?”

  “Ask me questions about myself.” She said in a strange, high-pitched voice which was like half-scream.

  Damn.

  “Mrs. Nelson!” Collins said in his calmest possible voice. “Trust me these are routine questions. You don't have to worry about anything.”

  She pressed her lips. “I know your tactics. You are deliberating making up new questions to keep coming to this place.”

  Collins blinked. “Pardon me?”

  “Your type of men drools over young girls. Think this is a hunting ground of some sort. Your type of men who charmed young girls with their money and their fancy cars. Huh?”

  Collins blushed deep crimson; this woman was testing his patience. “Mrs. Nelson! This is enough. You cannot accuse an on-duty police officer like this. If you don't answer my questions, I would have to call you to the precinct.”

  “Fine. Then, call me. I would like to see what new information you have in file or maybe it is in your pants.”

  Collins lost it finally.

  “Well, the new information is that you are teaching history to Mr. Plymouth at the back seat of his Mercedes.”

  Tthuck!

  Before he could even comprehend what happened, something banged on his head. He held his head in his hands which was about to explode with excruciating pain.

  “Mrs. Nelson!” He heard someone screaming in distance but unable to open his eyes due to the sheer amount of throbbing. He could not believe that she would attack him like this in broad day light in middle of school. Collins managed to open his eyes few minutes later after feeling a cold sensation on his forehead. The first thing he saw was that the old spinster was not on her chair. However, a guy was there, standing close to his own chair. He held an ice tray in his hand and applied ice on his wound with the other.

  It was not difficult for Collins to recognize him. His pictures were on display all over their investigation board, especially during brainstorming sessions with Fox.

  He was the nephew of Lord Brenguoahm, the art teacher.

  7

  The man looked like a piece of art himself with delicate features and long lashes. Collins suddenly remembered a statue which he saw in a museum; Dionysus-the God of wine. It was hard to find such a peculiar looking man at a high school. He wondered how many of his fellow teachers and students talked to him with a loudly beating heart and blushing cheeks. He could have given hot flashes to people of all genders and ages, with ice cube in his hand clad in a purple pullover; his youthful face had an innocent and melancholic expression of being ageless and ancient at the same time. His curly hair was slightly long but still wave above his head intensifying the ancient aura around him.

  “Are you all right?” When he spoke, his voice sounded like bells chiming before a sacred ritual in a temple hidden in an underground cave.

  Collins blinked few times to clear his head. “I am good.”

  “Mrs. Nelson can get scared easily.”

  “She was scared that's why she scarred me?” Collins asked mockingly. The man smiled and somewhere in woodlands a stream of water flew breaking the surface of earth around it.

  “How is your investigation going on?”

  “We are trying our best Mr. Brenguoahm.”

  “Oh, please call me Richard.” He stretched his hand for a shake. “Mr. Brenguoahm sounds more like my uncle.”

  “Pleasure meeting you.”

  They both shook hands looking in each other's eyes without blinking. Collins felt a current passing through his body during the moment.

  “Coincidentally I was coming to meet you next.”

  “No problem. We can talk
outside.” Following the glance of Richard, Collins noticed Mrs. Nelson peeking from behind a curtain.

  They strolled to the school grounds from teachers’ offices. The winter sun was now warm enough to feel relax under the sky without discomfort. Students were chattering around with books and bags lying over the grass.

  “Would you mind if I ask a personal question, Richard?

  “Why not?”

  “There are rumors about Ms. Bates.”

  “I guess these rumors must be involving.”

  “You are an intelligent man.”

  Richard smiled. His smile was detached from his facial expressions as if he didn't know he was smiling. Some girls were giggling and whispering to each other looking at them.

  “We dated for few months, and then we stopped.”

  Collins sighed. He had started to like the guy. However, concealing important information from police was a punishable offense.

  “I wish it was that simple. The problem is that you didn't mention it in your earlier statement.”

  “We had already broken up many months ago. I didn't see a point in stirring the pot.”

  “What was the reason?”

  “Ursula wanted to resign from teaching and had us moved to my uncle's state. I wanted to keep things as they were.” Richard said.

  “One may wonder why you want to keep this job over living like an heir of a state.”

  “I am not an aristocrat, Inspector. I live all my life hating status quo. People close to me understand it well.”

  “You must be heartbroken when you got to know about Ursula's future plans?” asked Collins.

  “Naturally. I thought she would agree with my ideas and prefer to live a simple life.”

  Collins hesitated for a while. “Was there anyway some kind of ... blackmail in your relation?”

  Richard looked visibly astonished.

  “Why would there be a blackmail?”

  “Someone heard you two threatening each other.”

  “Oh that-that was nothing. “Richard blushed and turned his face.

  “You know we will find out anyway. It will be much better if you tell me yourself.”

  Richard looked at the ground awkwardly.

  “I didn't want to breakup with her, but she was insistent on living on the state. After a while, she realized this was not going to happen so she broke up. I tried to get her back and, in that attempt, I threatened her once.”

  “With what?”

  “I had got pictures and videos of our-our time together.” Richard said uncomfortably. “But it was just a threat ... an empty threat.”

  “You threatened to post it on social media ... you threatened her with revenge porn? Mr. Richard, you are not looking good so far.”

  “I know it looks bad but these are the things a guy says when he is desperate. It meant nothing. I had even deleted it asap after breakup.”

  Collins didn't answer for a while then changed the topic.

  “Which car do you use when you go out of town?”

  “I have a Bentley.”

  “Do you use it when you visit your uncle's state as well?”

  “Obviously.”

  “By any chance you used your uncle's Mercedes any time during last month?”

  “I have accompanied some guests in it.” Richard looked thoughtful. “I think it was eighteenth and some of my uncle's guests wanted to see the state. You can get proper Vehicle Log from the state manager.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Richard.”

  “May I ask why you are asking about the Mercedes?”

  “This is the last information we have got about Ursula. Someone saw her accompanying a guy in a Mercedes. We are trying to find that.”

  Richard looked confused. “I don't know how police investigation works but if I were you, I would be looking for the guy.”

  Collins laughed at his confusion.

  “We would too but nobody saw his face. He was wearing a hoodie.”

  “But then how can you say that it was a guy?”

  Collins startled. He never really thought that. Just because the motel man said it was a guy, they accepted his statement.

  8

  “If it was not for your mother, I would have refused to meet you.” Flora Jackson said sitting opposite to Fox in her eloquently designed high-rise apartment. Flora was a family friend of his mother so Fox had to tolerate her small talk which he detested usually. “I am really sorry to hear that but why exactly?”

  “All of my friends are dying to meet The Fox-the legendary Fox who solves impossible cases all the time, but you never come to my parties.”

  “Well, detectives are not exactly party material.” He said concentrating on his coffee cup. The low-cut dress of Flora was quite distracting. He had a suspicion that she specially wore that dress after receiving his call for meeting. She still used her ex-husband’s name given the reason that it was too difficult to change the name legally every now and then.

  “Everyone is a party material. They just need to discover the right party.” She smiled looking at his discomfort.

  Fox changed the topic. “My assistant told me that your daughter saw a ghost at her father's house.”

  She took a deep breath, stretched her arms contracting her back. Fox turned his head sharply to the window in a desperate attempt to find something interesting outside but there was nothing outside of the fourteenth-floor window.

  “Since when detectives have started running after ghosts?”

  “A teacher from her school has gone missing.”

  “That school is a wretched place to be. I think they should just shut it down. First, her friend got vanished and now a teacher. Imagine?”

  “Her friend got vanished?” Fox asked.

  “Yeah. I met her last summer when she went with Becky to see the Governor House. But afterwards, she did not join at the beginning of the new year-switched off her mobile. Becky even went her home which is, by the way, in a very down-market neighborhood. Turned out, she was gone missing.”

  “Alright and what about the ghost?”

  “Last Christmas, her poppycock friends left her inside the castle and poor Becky has not been the same since then. Since then, she is seeing ghost everywhere. First at the castle then she hallucinated again on Christmas party. It was quite a scene; she was found unconscious on the grounds. I told his father to stop calling her to that forsaken place. Every time, she goes there, she comes back worse. But, what can I do in front of the Honorable Governor?”

  ◆◆◆

  “It doesn't matter.”

  Fox put a puncture in his inflated theory of the 'stranger girl'.

  “We are looking for a person who knows Ursula and have access to a S350. Guy, or girl, doesn't matter.”

  They were having evening snacks in the living room of their apartment. It was a small dwelling aesthetically designed by Fox himself. Collins searched his red face glowing in the dim light of the sinking sun coming through their balcony along with the traffic sound as well. Fox was looking unusually excited and displaying all signs of finding a good lead.

  Collins neighed gently which made Fox spilled his coffee.

  “Is it a courteous way of saying that I am horsing around?”

  “Great that you got it without me putting it in words.”

  “I talked to Rebecca's mother.” Fox said. He looked like he was suppressing his excitement for a while to let Collins finished his report.

  “Rebecca saw a ghost last year.” Fox said.

  “Nick said the same thing. I hope you understand what tale-teller teenagers can be.”

  “I am not saying based on her story alone.” Fox got up from his armchair and gave him a printout of an article. “I tried to find local stories about ghosts. Someone else saw the ghost too,” he emphasized the point, “the same ghost.”

  He lazily took the article from his hand and put it on the side table. He was never interested in ghost sighting during cases.

  “What is the
point? Are we going to chase a ghost now?”

  “We are just eliminating the suspects.” said Fox strolling in the living room. “First suspect is Timothy Palmer who blackmailed her. Second is Richard Brenguoahm who dated her. Third, the guy who was with her at the motel. One of them will definitely lead us to Ursula.”

  “But where does the ghost come into the picture?”

  “Seriously? Are you asking me? Ursula was taken to Pitmedden instead of Jacobsville. She was actually traveling in the opposite direction and the only connection we have between high school and Pitmedden is Rebecca. She might be the most important clue we have. More important than the red fabric and the phone call made to the mechanic.”

  “Oh wait. Did you trace the call to the mechanic?”

  “It is a bummer. The call was made by a burner phone.”

  “What about the girl who went missing?” Collins asked.

  “Felicia. Her foster parents said she ran away from home but I doubt it. Her clothes, shoes, even books are taken except her mobile. How can a teenage girl leave her mobile behind?”

  Collins scratched his forehead. This case was getting complicated day by day.

  “Do you think these two missing cases are connected?”

  “There are two things common between both cases. First, they belong to the same school. Second, both cases can be explained as a kidnap or a runaway. If you look at Ursula’s case, there was no need to call the mechanic or to stop at the motel. It looks like these clues are deliberately left behind to make police doubt the kidnap theory which bring us back to the guy at the motel.”

  “You think he is the most important suspect?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. But the other two cannot runaway. They are prominent people of society. They cannot hide themselves. No matter where they go, we will always know about their activities. However, the third one is hidden, and we have to drag him out of his mask of anonymity.”

  “What is your theory so far?” Collins was curious as which direction Fox was going into. He had investigated a lot of cases with him, and he never managed to come close to his thought process.

  “I don't have a theory; I have got questions. Who was the guy in the motel with Ursula? Why did she start paying Tom? Why was she keeping the job at High School? Whose ghost did Rebecca see? To whom the red fabric belongs? Once I know the answer of these five questions, then I can have a theory.”