Zack and Olivia were in the dining room. Zack just drank the last sip of tea as he kept down his cup. Olivia, who sat in front of him, asked, “So, why did you come here?”
“Like I said, there’s no particular reason.”
“I know that there is a particular reason, but you just don’t… don’t wanna tell me,” She shrugged. “Why?”
“Well, I don’t wanna tell you because…” He seriously answered the question, but the tone changed in midway. “… because there ain’t one.”
“Oof!” Olivia face-palmed.
“Okay, see. Harry’s missing, and probably dead, right?” Zack just had a good idea I mind. “So how are we gonna give peace to his soul?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“How are we gonna give him the ‘Last Farewell’?” Zack asked. “We all never thought about that, isn’t it?”
“But, he’s not proved dead—”
“But he is not even proved alive, isn’t it?” Zack explained her. “God forbid, what if he’s really dead? If he’s alive, we’ll soon find out, but if he’s dead, we’ll never find out, right? So it’s better to give him the ‘Last Farewell’ for the meantime.”
“Hmm,” Olivia rubbed her chin. “What y’are saying is absolutely correct, but…” She thought for a few more seconds and then replied, “Um, okay. How’re we gonna do it?”
“That’s what I’m here to ask!”
“Well…” Olivia thought for a few more seconds. “I think we all should discuss it together.”
“Um, okay.” Zack stood up from the sofa and while giving a hand, said, “I’ll ask him and then we’ll inform you when to meet for this matter.”
She shook the hands and replied, “Okay, sure.”
Zack kept his hands in his pocket, turned right towards the door and walked outside.
March 15th, 2014 (9:02 pm)
“Didja find him?” Scott asked while looking at a monitor in front of him.
The policeman browsing on the computer replied, “Yes sir. See, he’s just coming out of a house, probably a woman’s. It’s the video footage of about forty-five minutes before.”
“Interesting,” Scott replied. “Let’s catch this shithead before it’s too late! Where’s he now?”
The computer-guy searched for something on the computer screen and after a few minutes, he replied, “I suppose he’s in his house.”
“Okay then, keep up the job!” Scott patted on his shoulders and ran backwards towards the door. “Imma collect the forces!”
He came out of the police station with ten to fifteen men following him. All of them settled in three cars. The engines of the cars revved as the first car, on the left-most side, turned towards the left and moved out of the parking area of the police station. The other two followed it out, but turned in the opposite direction as that of the first car. Scott, who was leading the forces, radioed, “So men, we’ve got two objectives in our hands— one is to catch our possible convict, named Zack Will, and the other is to search for something valuable stolen from Mr. Johnson. My car is escorting Zack Will’s house. The second car should escort the targeted house as the third one to follow the second one. Mr. Johnson’s also called to the targeted house. It’d be determining whether Zack is the convict of entering Mr. Johnson’s property and threatening his life or not.” After that, he turned off the radio an kept it back in his pants’ pocket. “It’s gonna be the fastest mission to be solved by the London Police in the whole history!” He greedily thought.
Zack was preparing for lunch in his kitchen and had his kitchen apron on. The flame was on and something was being cooked in the pan while Zack was cutting carrots with a knife. Garlics and cucumbers were also piled up beside the cutting board. “I can apply for this year’s Masterchief I suppose,” Zack whispered. “I cook like pros out there.” Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Zack turned back towards the door. The entrance was at the right side of the sofa set in the drawing room, in front of the bedroom. “Only if the greatest chiefs were not disturbed like this,” He thought and walked towards the door while rubbing his hands on the apron. The doorbell rang again as he opened the door and asked, “Yes?”
“Oh, hello Zack!” Scott replied with a smile. “Do ya care to reply what were you doing at Mrs. Olivia’s house?”
“Sorry, but that’s none of your business.”
“Haha!” Scott laughed. “I think you needa recall the rules, Mr. Zack.”
“Sorry sir, but I know the rules well. You can’t interfere in the convict’s personal life, I suppose,” Zack confidently replied.
“Sorry sir, what you said was all WRONG! Lemme tell you the right ones, Zack. I can’t interfere in a layman’s personal life, but it’s the exact opposite when that layman is accused in a case, especially if he's accused by a great man like Mr. Johnson.” Zack was speechless and stayed neutral or a few minutes.
Olivia opened the door and Mr. Johnson walked in the house. “What the hell is going on?” He asked.
“Even I’m confused, sir. They said it’s a case regarding Zack, and now they’re investigating my whole house.”
“Okay,” Mr. Johnson told her an went further into the house. He asked one of the officers, “Sir, what’s going on here?”
“Sir, we’re commanded to investigate this house and ask for your assistance if that thing belongs to you or not.”
“What? Why?”
“Sir, Mr. Scott detects that the one to attack your house can be a robber, and he can very well keep that stolen stuff in this woman’s house, for the accused visited this place. It’d be good if you let us do our job here.”
Mr. Johnson was speechless. He walked back to the woman and asked her, “Why was Zack here anyways?”
“Sir, he came here to ask about the farewell of Harry. I told this to them several times, but they just won’t listen.”
“That’s not good,” Mr. Johnson whispered, keeping his hands on his waist.
Suddenly, someone shouted from the bedroom, “Hey! I got something!”
Everyone ran towards the bedroom along with Olivia and Mr. Johnson. The policeman had a scrolled piece of paper in his hands. “See, this is the portrait of Mr. Johnson!”
“W-What?” Olivia was shocked. Her eyes were wide as she extended her hands at the large canvas. “T-This ain’t mine, policemen.”
“Then whose it is?”
“I-I dunno,” She turned her head towards the other man. “It-It’s someone else’s plan to frame me for this, I-I’m damn sure, sir!”
“Whose? Whose plan is it? Who will frame you for such thing? And why?” The officer asked her, and she had no answer. She tilted her head downwards, her eyes still wide in shock. “Sorry, ma’am. We needa take ya to the police station.” The officer took out a handcuff from the back pocket of his pants and locked Olivia’s hands. “See, the three of ya will come to police station with me, whereas the other seven will continue searching.”
“Yes, sir!” Everyone saluted and went back to searching.
He advanced towards the entrance and the three followed him with their first convict, Olivia Blacksmith. Olivia could do nothing but stare at herself being dragged by the policemen being taken in a police car to a police station. “T-This can’t be happening,” She thought. “T-This is just a dream.” She saw people outside the car talking and gossiping about her. “T-This is probably a bad dream! T-This can’t be happening.”
Zack was in the police car with some two or more policemen inside. Suddenly, his smartphone started ringing inside his pocket. He looked at the policeman, who was sitting beside him, asking through his eyes if he can pick it. He policeman nodded and he took out the phone from his pocket. He saw the number flashing on the screen along with the options to decline or accept the call. He swiped his finger towards the green option and brought the phone towards his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Zack! Listen to me carefully. You will be—”
“Wait, who are you?”
“No time, kiddos. Listen to me carefully. Olivia is caught with the portrait which you stole. What ya needa do is get the portrait back if ya wanna complete this mission. Get the portrait back and run off from London until the competition ain’t over. Imma take care of Olivia and the rest. Just tell them that you were sleeping today till eight, and then went to Olivia’s. Got it?”
“Um, okay.” The call was cut. So, he kept the phone back in the pocket.
“Whose call was it?” The policeman asked him while he was keeping it back.
“I suppose it was a wrong number,” Zack told him.
“From whom?”
“He didn’t tell the name, but I suppose he was talking something about secrets. Maybe you will get a brand-new case about this.”
The policeman smiled and chuckled. “Maybe.”
March 15th, 2014 (9:29 am)
“So, did you go to Ms. Blacksmith’s home today?” Scott asked him. The two were sitting inside the Investigation Cell. It was fully white— the walls, table, chairs, ceiling, everything. Scott and Zack were facing each other. Zack’s hands were tied with handcuffs.
“Yes.”
“So, what did you do there?”
“Well, I knocked at her door. She was a kinda annoyed because I broke her sleep. So, she was a kinda angry at me. It took me time to settle her down. Then, we drank some tea, and I explained that I was here to discuss about Harry’s Farewell. So, she suggested that we all should discuss it together, and I left. I even called Adam to ask when we should discuss about it. You can talk to him.”
“Well, I will talk to him later. For now, you are kept at the jail, until Olivia’s done here.”
“Wait, why jail? I mean, I’m not proved to be guilty so I—”
“Do as told, policeman.”
Another policeman entered the Cell and took him away. Zack tried to free himself by waving his arms here and there madly. “See, Imma complain against y’all to your superiors! Leave me!” He tried to scare them, but it was of no use as they didn’t pay heeds to his words.
“Try as much as ya can, Will!” Scott shouted. As soon as Zack was taken out, Olivia was thrown in the Cell. Her hands were also handcuffed and she looked very dejected and depressed. Looking at her somber face, Scott, while lighting a cigarette, asked her, “So, you think ya didn’t so this, right?”
She was already very dejected, so she decided not to answer. She just sat there, facing downwards, silent.
“So, ya don’t wanna talk?”
She saw it as an opportunity to speak her heart out. With her hairs still covering her eyes, she replied in a dull manner, “What’s the point? In your eyes, I’m the guilty.”
Scott nodded, stood up and started roaming around the whole table. “Yes, what’s the point? What’s the need of proving myself innocent and what’s the point in not going to jail? What’s the point of not being humiliated in front of the whole society, neighbors and relatives? What’s the point of even LIVING IN THIS RECKLESS SWEET HOME?!” Through this, he tried to explain Olivia that there’s a point. After his sarcastic speech, he whispered in her ears, “There’s a whole fucking point, Ms. Blacksmith!” Then, he walked towards his chair, pulled his chair behind and while sitting, asked, “So, if ya wanna corporate or not?”
She exhaled through her mouth and sighed. Then, she said, “I-I need some time, Mr. Scott. I hope that you can provide me some.”
Scott thought for a few seconds, and then replied, “Okay, we all have a lot of time. Think carefully.” He stood up, turned right towards the door and went outside. While locking the room, he told one of his policemen, “Inform Zack that his departure is delayed.”
“Yes, sir!” He saluted and left for Zack’s cell. As soon as he left, another policeman entered the room, breathing hard. He opened the door with a bang. “Sir, sir!” He murmured. Scott was afraid after watching his policeman like this.
“What happened?”
“Sir, Zack…” He murmured, struggling to catch his breath.
“Give him water!” Scott shouted as someone ran towards him with a glass of water in his hand. The constable drank the water for a few seconds. Then, while pointing towards the door, he announced, “Sir, Zack’s cell is empty!”
Scott shockingly asked, “What?”
