Ryan and Kevin hurried on to the other floor before Mr. Henderson could get a grip on them.

'It was a perfect timing, damn perfect' said Ryan.

'You saved us' added Kevin.

'What's wrong?' said Alicia as she stood in front of the half-blank white bulletin board that was used for summarising the facts. 'Someone tried to kill you or what?'

'Henderson'

'I get it. Say no more' said Alicia.

'Yeah'

'Okay whatever' said Alicia and went on 'Our fingerprint experts ran the fingerprint on our database and found a match'

'Who is it? You got an ID on him?' said Kevin.

'Negative' she said and took the photo from the table and pasted it on the board. 'This is our man, Henry Roberts, male, 26. Our database scanned the fingerprints and narrowed it down to two person, then narrowed it to one .So this must be the man who left his fingerprints on the seatbelt'

'Where can we get him?'

'Ah, there lies the problem. We don't have any location on him'

'Our database usually gets the location even a small biography on the particular man' enquired Ryan 'Then what's the problem now?'

'Maybe this man doesn't live in a place much longer. He escapes from one place to another'

'So you are telling me that he is our killer?'

'I don't know'

'If he's not guilty about something, why would he just escape from one place to another? Normal people seldom do that' said Ryan.

'I know. I just said that maybe it is like that. We are not sure about that'

'I see' said Ryan 'So we just have a picture?'

'Yes, even our Crime Scene Unit cannot say anything about this man. Actually no one here knows anything about him'

'Is he a ghost?'

'Something related to that' said Kevin.

'Then it's going to be real hard finding him' said Ryan 'This is a big city, and we cannot roam around the streets and ask everyone if he or she knows this man, a man named Henry Roberts'

'If we could have gotten anything more, then it would have been easy'

The man in the photo was black and wore a cap with its backside to the front. He had dark eyes and he wore black leather jacket, which was quite large, and he looked a little weird wearing it. Only half of the chest and the face could be seen in the picture and they saw a gold chain running down his neck and hanging awkwardly in the middle.

Kevin got up and studied the picture more carefully. And at the end only thing that he concluded was that 'Doesn't he seem like a younger version of Jay Z?'

'Jay Z. Maybe' said Ryan 'But his name is Henry Roberts, not Hey H, so he's not related to him'

'If he was, then it would have been real easy to catch him'

'Of course'

'Now are we done with the Jay Z thing?' said Alicia irritated 'If so, then we should start to think practically now'

'And' Ryan added ignoring Alicia 'If he was by any means related to Jay Z then he would also have been famous'

'Good point, man!' Kevin exclaimed 'But he does look like a perfect Jamaican Rapper'

'Okay' said Alicia interrupting them again 'Can we please drop this Jay Z topic?'

'Okay'

'Now we should think of a way to get him' said Alicia roaming back and forth.

'Come on Ryan, we should consider it' said Kevin.

'Consider what?'

'Roaming around the street and asking everyone. "Hey have you ever seen this black dude?''

'Yeah, let's do it' Ryan joked.

'Guys would you please think seriously...' said Alicia still roaming.

'I am thinking, thinking of course. He's distracting me' complained Ryan.

'Come on man, I know that you still think he's a rapper'

'Yeah...I mean not at all. You see he's distracting me again'

'Okay let's think about it step by step' said Alicia 'Why would his fingerprints be in Jade Carter's car?'

'That's what I was thinking, what if he's our vic's friend?'

'Right. But then we would have probably found him. And Mrs. Carter said that he didn't have any friends.'

'Well how will she know?' said Ryan 'She just said what she thinks. That doesn't mean it is so'

'But even if he is his friend then where can we get him?'

'We know he worked in NY Times' said Kevin 'Maybe this man also works there'

'I checked the list, there was no one of this name' Alicia said.

'You're sure?'

'Sure'

'But we should still consider it. If they both worked in NY Times then perhaps one day they went for a ride and that's how his fingerprints landed on the SUV'

'If they did went for a ride then it got to be in the past few days because this car was rented just one week ago'

'True'

'But he already had a friend form NY Times, Paul Brown, so it is improbable that he would have another friend'

'This friend might be his personal friend, not his office partner' Alicia sat down playing with a pirre cardin pen that was on the table.

'You're puzzling me' said Ryan as he sat down on the chair facing Alicia.

'No other way' said Alicia standing up again. 'We have to check on the NY Times if he worked there'

'But...' Ryan hesitated.

'Let's go'

'Okay, let's check it out then' said Kevin walking towards the lift.

* * * *

When they reached the building for the second time the sun was going down the horizon .The sky was red with a few shades of purplish clouds hanging in the sky .The buildings had long shadows, the result of the long slanting light that was coming from the west region. Some sides of the skyscrapers were dark while the opposite sides were glittering with the last light.

They soon came out of the car and headed inside .This time they found no security officer to block their way. They were inside and found that there was comparatively less people than that day, and the buzzing noise was also less ,maybe because that day they came in the working hours and now it's.....a relaxation hour, perhaps?

They headed straight to the floor where they found the director of NY Times last time. As the door of the lift opened and they went inside the floor, they saw some people busy with someone's new cool camera, adjusting it. They ignored them and went straight to the other room. They soon realised that how weak the security system was, anyone could enter and go straight to the inner most sections of the building just like they did, only difference was that they didn't have any foul intentions.

The other room was also empty, so when they moved out they met Bill Jameson coming out of another room from the main lobby.

'Detectives' he said 'How very nice to meet ya'll again'

'I see there are not much people here today?' asked Alicia looking around.

'Yeah...some are working on the other floors while others just left' said Bill Jameson 'Anyway, how may I help you today?'

'We just need a little clarification, that's what bought us here' said Alicia.

'Anything' he said in the same confident manner.

Ryan without wasting any time quickly held the photo of Henry Roberts in front of him, and Jameson took it in his hand and studied it for a few minutes, then said 'Who's this?' handing the photo back to Ryan.

'I thought you could help us identify him' said Ryan taking it.

'What's his name?'

'Henry Roberts'

'Henry Roberts?'

'Yeah, does it ring a bell?' asked Alicia.

'I'm afraid, not' He said more flatly than usual this time 'I don't know any Henry Roberts'

'You are sure?'

'Yeah, there is no Henry Roberts here'

'Can anyone here identify him? Say Mr. Henricks?'

'I don't think so. And he gave you the list, I believe?'

'He did, and yes it was helpful'

'Great, and that list contains all the names of the people working here, there is no one outside that'

'I see, okay, our mistake' Ryan smiled.

'And be assured no one knows anything about this guy, neither do I' Mr. Jameson said looking assured. 'No one here knows him, I can bet on that'

'Well that settles it then' said Alicia 'Thank you for your time Mr. Jameson; I hope we will not meet over this topic again'

By saying that they left the floor.

* * * * *

They were all back inside the car, Ryan driving, and it was unusually quiet inside. Kevin was the first one to break this uncomfortable silence.

'You saw no Henry Roberts there, I told you so'

'Yeah I thought so too' Ryan said not looking at him.

'No way to get him, unless we try out that thing' said Kevin and looked uninterested.

'What's that?'

'You know what, asking...' said Kevin 'Asking people around the streets about it.'

'Will you shut up' grinned Alicia 'We still have another place to visit'

'What's that?' asked Ryan.

'Mr. Carter's house' said Alicia 'We should ask his wife if she knows this man'

'Good idea' said Ryan 'If Henry Roberts was a friend of Mr. Carter then surely his wife would be able to identify him'

'Right, hope so' said Alicia.

They drove on to her house and asked her about that man, but it didn't prove to be of any help. Mrs. Carter denied knowing him .She just said the same thing 'No I never saw him'

After they made sure that Mrs. Carter was telling the truth, they came back to their car worrying much more. They didn't talk in the rest of the way, they just stared at the evening street with vacant eyes thinking about what should be their next move.

It was late so Ryan dropped Alicia in her apartment and came back to their flat.

Ryan opened the door of their room, switched on the fan and started cooling himself, just like yesterday.

'Hey Ryan' Kevin called.

'I'm listening' said Ryan.

'You know I have been thinking about something'

'And what would that be?'

'So this man Henry whatever is a complete outsider'

'Yah?'

'So he's not any relative, not any friend of our victim, yet we got his fingerprints in our victim's car .Then how can it be possible?'

'Right' Ryan shrugged looking at the ceiling 'So what's your point anyway?'

'I believe there's a simple explanation behind this'

'Go on'

'Where?'

'With the simple explanation, of course'

'I have got no explanation, I just believe that there is one'

'Just don't tire yourself with all these shitty thoughts of yours'

'They're not shit man' Kevin sat up 'These are all possibilities'

'Yeah yeah, I know that' said Ryan and he too sat up 'Now don't disturb me'

He took out the folded bunch of newspapers that they got from Paul Brown's house.

'Now they are the real shit' said Kevin but Ryan ignored him and started making the crumbled papers straight , as if like ironing them.

'What are you gonna do with them?' Kevin asked again.

'I will check them to see if there's anything important, just like I said I will'

'Do you seriously believe that you will find anything?'

'Do you seriously believe that I am going to listen to you?'

Ryan spread the paper on the bed straight and started glancing at the first page then remarked 'Okay, so they're dated 10th March, so they're only two months old' he said this more to himself.

The papers were a little yellowish and old, and they were also crumbled in a manner that they would never find themselves straight again. Ryan then became quiet for a few minutes and gave all his attention available into the paper, and the pages. He studied the headlines carefully and read some of the paragraphs, nothing important came up until now.

Then he just started scanning the pages one at a time and kept changing them. He kept the first lot aside and started reading a topic and some articles but he soon got bored and then changed the page. He did the same and continued for most of the pages, reading some, and then leaving some, ignoring some. He still thought that there might be a reason for this papers to land on Paul Brown's house.

The paper was more crumpled so some of the lines were hard to read, he left them just like that and started flipping through the pages.

He then turned the third last page and found lines drawn with a red-inked pen as if a child played with a pen and by mistake, he drew the lines in the paper. Then his eyes caught something, something he wasn't looking for, something that was completely unexpected to him. His eyes lit up.

He turned and said to Kevin 'Hey, Kevin'

'Yeah what?' he acted like he was asleep.

'I don't think there is anything more to check'

'Like I didn't figure it out. I told you so'

'Because I've got what I was looking for. Something more than what I looking for, actually'

'You're bluffing'

'Not the least' said Ryan 'Man, you got to see this'

THIRTEEN

Kevin lazily sat up, came beside Ryan, and said 'What?'

'Look'

He looked at the page and gasped out instantly 'Holy Christ!'

'That's what I'm talking about' smiled Ryan.

This particular page of the paper not only had lines, irrelevant lines drawn but also with red ink, written in block letters, it's written 'YOU DON'T GIVE IT. YOU'LL BE DEAD '.It took nearly the whole page, from the middle till the bottom.

'Now that is some kind of threat for sure' said Kevin quite astounded by Ryan's discovery.

'So you see, checking some waste papers are also important' said Ryan 'And look at this, it's the seventeenth page , so not always everyone will look into that part of a waste paper. They would think these are shit just like you thought'

'At least I am not the only person who thought so' Kevin got something to defend himself.

'Anyway so what do you think about this?'

'First of all it's a threat. Second , someone is quite angry. And third, the person who wrote this is asking for something'

'Right' said Ryan 'Your third part is the main part here. And also Mr. Brown knew this man who wrote this all along that's why this man was not bothered to describe anything about the thing he was looking for'

'He knew that Mr. Brown will understand who is this' Kevin added.

'But what is this man asking for? What can Mr. Brown have in his possession that our killer or whoever , wants to take?'

'Something that might prove very fatal to this killer'

'Sure, but we searched his whole house, even the CSU did it, but we didn't find anything?'

'No we didn't' said Ryan thinking 'but we also didn't find Mr. Brown himself, so it's highly possible that the thing he had....he took it with him'

'And that's the reason he's hiding, he knows the danger, but still he doesn't wanna let go of whatever he have'

'Right'

'And that's always been the major problem for us, we cannot find anyone. First Henry Roberts and now Paul Brown'

'But this will alter the case, or our theories'

'What will?'

'This disappearance of Paul Brown'

'What will it alter?'

'That means he is not the killer, but somebody else is, who is behind him right now. It's convoluted and is complete the opposite of what we were thinking, right?'

'True' said Kevin who rarely agrees with Ryan.

'Now what is that thing so valuable...to him and to someone else?'

'There's the problem, I can't see anything valuable that a normal news reporter might have'

'Yeah, me too'

'And I hope wherever he's hiddin' , he's not dead'

'I too was thinking that' this time Ryan agreed 'These men are so desperate that they would leave no stone unturned to get what they're looking for, they might even consider killing someone in order to get it'

'And the only thing we can do is search for him'

'And if we don't find him soon, we would surely find him dead later'

'Yes, and he's the key to all the information we need, so we get him, we unlock another level. Or else we will forever remain stuck here'

'I would not think like that. So negatively. But yes you're right'

PART 3

The man was standing looking around the street, leaning on the wall of a coffee shop. He didn't drink coffee, he just watched the car ahead which just came and the driver who seemed to be the owner, parked it on the other side of the road.

The owner of the car came out and entered the building next to it. The car was an expensive one, an Audi A7 shining as if it was just out of the showroom for a test drive. It was also black. And it was also better than the SUV he tried his hands on that night. No regrets, he thought.

He quickly cruised across the street looking at both sides and reached the car. He checked the exterior in a way that no one would be suspicious about what he was doing. He was all-normal.

He pulled the door, it was locked. But he had some cool keys and equipments with him to unlock it , as he went inside and started the engine with a push button start. So far so good. No worries until now, and he was nearly done, so that was not a problem as well. But as soon as he gave the first gear the owner of the car suddenly came out of the building and saw him inside. He shouted and cursed but he was already hitting the accelerator and the car zoomed away past the street.

The man yelled more 'Hey! What the fuck! Come back here' Some traffic police came running to him quickly and tried to help him out. But how could they help him? His car was already out of the street.

* * * * *

The next day Ryan and Kevin reached the Precinct, they found Alicia there, who must have come in more early, and was checking the list and some other files.

The other room was also buzzing, as it seemed like Dr. Taylor had a free day today that's why he and Henderson were chatting among themselves. A lot of sound of laughter was coming through the blinds and the mood was cheerful. Luke the other detective from the crime lab was also there giving some advice about something to a uniform and throwing an occasional glance at the Henderson's room. Everyone was busy with their work but there was something cheerful going on around the complete precinct.

'You both look like you just solved the case?' said Alicia as they both came smiling and looking around.

'Positive' said Kevin.

'Seriously?'

'Yes, but not the whole part' said Ryan.

'Okay then, which part?'

'Discovered something unimaginable last night'

'Oh, really?' she said still thinking that they're joking 'Tell me'

Ryan, without telling her, kept the bunch of newspaper on her table and smiled again.

'And what should do I with these crap?' she jerked.

'Yes! There is the funny part' said Kevin 'This newspapers contains something that we discovered last night'

'We?' Ryan was surprised 'It was only me, man. You didn't even bother helping me'

'Whatever, the main thing is that we found it'

'O, yeah?' asked Alicia.

'Yup!'

'So tell me what you found in this....'

'See it for yourself, the information is on the table' said Ryan and he opened the specific page and handed it too Alicia .Alicia looked at it and said 'Who wrote it?' not too excited.

'That's what we need to know' said Kevin.

'So these are the papers we found from Paul Brown's house' said Ryan 'You remember?'

'I do' replied Alicia 'So someone is threatening him?'

'It seems so'

'But they are wanting something for sure, what can it be?' Alicia concurred.

'No idea'

'I thought he is our killer, but it doesn't seem so now' said Kevin.

Another round of laughter that came from Henderson's room, interrupted their conversation

And they found that Luke had also now joined them.

Alicia made a face and ignored them, then she said 'But what so important could he have?'

'We talked about it last night. But we don't have an idea about what that might be' said Ryan.

'And are we sure that this threat is a serious one and not any prank?'

'Why would anyone play a prank without any reason behind it.?' Said Ryan 'This is serious, I'm sure about it'

'But we don't know yet where he is'

'Yes that's one of the many problems we have'

They thought and looked around for the third time, Henderson was still in a excited mood so was some of the other detectives, as everyone outside watched Henderson's room.

'Now what is goin' on there today?' Kevin was the first one to talk about this topic.

'They look like some street teenagers joking around' said Alicia utterly annoyed of their ignorance. 'Okay whatever' said Alicia back in her professional mood 'Now what do we have on our missing man Paul Brown?'

'Nothing really' answered Kevin 'even his phone is disabled so we will not get GPS connectivity and his mobile surely doesn't have a mobile tracker. And we also don't have any credit or debit cards to track'

'Look' said Alicia again ignoring those nonsense that was going on, in the other room. 'Mr. Brown's life is in danger so we need to find him as soon as we can in any way possible and send him to a secure custody , then we will get the information from him and catch this madman whoever did this ,and I myself will bring his ass to justice'

'Yes, you're right .If we are late then he will certainly kill our man, but the problem is that we have nothing to proceed'

'Kevin is right, you know' said Ryan.

'There must be something, there's always something, we just have to find that clue' Alicia murmured to herself and turned to the board 'there's got to be a way we can proceed'

Alicia started pacing the room talking to herself and repeating those particular words 'You don't give it, you'll be dead' What were they asking about, what could it be, who could it be, what happens if they doesn't get it, what happens if they kill Mr. Brown before they get it ,in that way they would never get it. Damn it! What is that thing? And there's a connection between the killer and Mr. Brown, why in earth would he keep contact with a killer? Or, did the killer choose him randomly? No not possible, he knows him. No Mr. Brown knew the killer...whoever is threatening him...he knew him...

Then suddenly an idea popped up in Alicia's head.

'Hey Ryan' said Alicia.

'Yeah?'

'What if all this was just a joke?'

'What joke, what're you talking about?' said Ryan looking at Kevin who was also astonished to hear this.

'Okay, let me elaborate it a little' said Alicia as she took two deep breaths and then started, and spend some time explaining them the things, the idea that she had. 'Look we know that Mr. Brown and Mr. Carter had a quarrel, and that means there was a conflict going on between them'

'So what's your point?'

'Then' continued Alicia 'It's highly possible that he kills our Vic for some unknown reason and then write these words himself, then goes to hide somewhere'

'Why would he do that?'

'So that the suspicion falls on someone else. We would think that someone else wrote those words, the killer, and the killer is not him. It's just a way to deceive us. It will look like that he's hiding because he's escaping from the killer while he actually escaped so that we can't catch him.'

'Oh' Ryan tried to make out the meaning of her words though it was all plain and clear 'Yeah that maybe is true, he could have done that of course'

'And he knew someone will find those papers, and those words sooner or later, and the suspicion would just go away from him. He would be free'

'That'll be a clever idea'

'And you see we were thinking just in the way he wants us to think'

'True' said Kevin.

The laughter vanished from the other room as Dr. Taylor said at last to Henderson 'I got a call you know .I need to go now, I will catch with you guys later'

He came out of the room and saw Ryan, Alicia and Kevin looking at him blankly so he said 'What's up? Looks like you have some insurmountable job in your hand?'

'Yeah' said Ryan.

'Okay, see you later' he said and went away.

'They must be discussing some urgent matters' said Kevin and they all laughed.

'Just leave them. We need our focus on our case'

More minutes passed as they all thought what was to be done now. Mr. Henderson also came out of his room soon and said 'Are you all daydreaming?'

They all stood up and stared at him with blank faces.

He asked 'What's the matter?'

'Well' said Alicia 'We discovered something more and that's the problem'

'Right, the strangulation case?'

'Yes.'

'So what's the problem?'

'These papers'

'Some crumbled papers?'

'Yes, and they are the key to the problem' said Ryan 'And the papers aren't important, there's something more inside them'

Then Ryan summarised everything that happened, mainly the recent incidents. Then also told him and showed him the words.

He frowned and said 'Oh, this is some serious stuff'

'Now we can't find out the person who is threatening our suspect'

'And we also got a missing man?'

'Yes, and he was quite important .He had all the information we need, and now it turns out that someone else is chasing him too. So it just becomes more and more complicated' said Ryan.

'There's no way other than finding this missing man. Dead or alive. We first have to find him' said Henderson.

They remained quiet so Henderson continued 'Any idea how to get him?'

'No idea whatsoever' replied Alicia.

'Do you have anything by which you can track his location?'

'No we got nothing .Even his mobile does not work, and it's with us'

'So no way to trace him?'

'No'

'What did you get from his house?'

'The papers'

'That's all?'

'Yeah, pretty much, we checked, and CSU rechecked the house, but they didn't find anything I guess'

'Then it's a problem for sure' agreed Henderson at last.

'Who's that?' Henderson pointed at the picture of Henry Roberts that was stuck on the board.

'That's another suspect' said Kevin 'We got his fingerprints in our Vic's car'

'Jade Carter's car?'

'Yeah, the black SUV'

'You got him?'

'Nope' Ryan said in a low-pitched voice.

'So he's also missing?'

'You may say that'

'And there is no way to track him down too, is there?' Henderson looked at their faces.

'Nope' confirmed Ryan.

'I thought so' said Henderson and moved closer to the picture staring at it carefully for some time, then he remarked 'Is this dude some sort of rapper?'

'We don't know, sir,' said Alicia.

'Because he looks more like.....um..what was his name?' Henderson fumbled with the name.

Kevin answered for him. 'Jay Z?'

'Then is he..-- .'

Alicia cut him short. 'No, I don't think that he's related to Jay Z' She didn't want to waste much time on this topic.

'Right, right .In that way it would have been easier to catch him' he said.

'Yeah'

'Well so...'

'You wanna say something Alicia?' asked Henderson.

'I mean' said Alicia 'Shouldn't we just focus on finding him?'

'Yes, of course' Henderson tuned to Kevin and Ryan. 'She's right you know, we are drifting away from the main subject.'

Henderson resumed his gaze at the picture, trying to check the details and ignoring the fact that he's related to Jay Z.

Luke came in and joined them. 'What's goin' on?'

'Nothing, what you doing here?' Ryan asked.

'Just wanted to get some coffee'

'Get some for me too' said Henderson.

'And for me too. Cream, no sugar' added Ryan.

'Got it' he left the room.

Mr. Henderson, after studying the picture for some more time didn't seem to get anything. In order to get a better view he tore away the picture from the board and held it in his hands more near to his eyes.

'You got anything, boss?' Kevin asked.

'Hmm' he grunted and added 'I think, yes'

'What?' Ryan moved closer to him.

'Is this a tattoo?' Henderson showed the picture to Ryan and asked.

There was something blackish on one side of the neck, but the picture was too small to get a good view at it.

'It seems like one, I don't know. But yeah, it might be a tattoo' said Ryan. Alicia remained quiet failing to make up her mind.

'Well then it's probably is a tattoo' said Alicia. 'Look at the design, it's certainly a tattoo. But is it important?'

'It might be' answered Henderson. 'Ryan, do me a favour. Get the picture in the computer. We need to be sure about it'

'On it' said Ryan, pulled the chair to him from the other side, and sat on it quickly logging in the computer on his table. When the desktop came into view with a not so good wallpaper, he quickly took the picture from Henderson's hand, scanned it and found it later in My Files section. He opened it and within a second, with the help of Photo viewer. But he saw that it came in a horizontal manner, he clicked the right button of the mouse and got the option to bring it back to its right position and moved it anticlockwise then went for the full screen option.

'It's ready for viewing' declared Ryan as everyone gathered behind his chair.

'It's still the same' said Alicia and she was right, there was no changes in the picture, the size , colour, contrast, everything was just the same .The only difference was that they were looking at a digital version of the picture .They could still see the man's face till the chest region.

'Look at it carefully' said Kevin 'There is a dark design for sure,' he pointed at the left side of the throat till the back of the neck that was not visible 'But that's all we can make out'

'It's still tough to make out what design is it'

'Well I think I can try and fix that' said Ryan as he clicked the mouse for a few more times as he increased the brightness up a few notch. It also increased the sharpness and saturation of the photo.

But the result was that it became more blurry.

'This angle is still not good' said Henderson. 'The tattoo is at the left side, but the photo is tilted to the right'

'But I cannot move the picture or tilt it,' said Ryan 'It's all I can do'

'No, that'll not work too'

'Hey can't you zoom it?' said Alicia.

'Oh, right. Great idea'

He moved the bar below a little, the picture got zoomed itself a little and the details came into view and it became more prominent .But still the picture blurred a little more.

'That's the best I can do' said Ryan.

'That's good, no need to zoom anymore' said Henderson 'Just move it a little this side...yeah now good'

Now the black tattoo became visible clearly .The design contained a head, a spiny narrow tail and there was something written below it, which they could not make out.

'What is this thing?' Kevin asked to himself.

'It's a dragon, or it looks like one'

'A dragon?'

'Yeah'

'And look' Ryan zoomed a little more 'There is something written below it'

'What's written below it?' Alicia tried to make it out.

'Something about the dragon must be'

'What's there to write about it?'

'Significance of the dragon maybe. Or something that is related to it'

'Yeah, probably'

'Can you read it?'

'No,'

'Then how will we read it?'

'You can't. Even if you get a clear view, you'll not be able to read it'

'Why not?' asked Kevin.

'It's not in English'

'Not in English?' asked Alicia.

'Nope, it's written in some other language. I can only tell you that it's not in English'

Henderson leaned further because the letters were all blurred out and was barely visible.

'You're right, it is not English' he gave the verdict.

'The patterns....' said Kevin but was not sure what to say.

'What?'

'The patter's seem to be of some Asian language .The style of the words...'

'If it is Asian then I know what it is' said Henderson.

'What?' asked Alicia.

'Look, first of all the dragon must be representing some Chinese language , and Kevin said whatever is written down there, is Asian , so it got to be Chinese'

'Right, so?'

'And I know a tattoo shop in this Manhattan area, which is the only tattoo shop to be Chinese'

'So you're saying-' Henderson interjected Kevin.

'Yes that's what I am saying' he said confidently as he stood up straight, in his normal standing position, adjusted his tie and continued 'These tattoo was made by a Chinese tattoo shop and there's only one here .So it got to be that one .This man Henry whatever made a tattoo from that shop'

'So we should head to that tattoo shop and try finding something more out' said Ryan.

'Yes, that's exactly what you should do'

'But are you sure that there's only one tattoo shop here?' asked Alicia as she knew if this tattoo thing fails, much time would get wasted ,so it was always better to be assured before you proceed.

'Hell I am, one of my friends goes there monthly and makes Chinese tattoo designs. I don't know what attracts him there'

'You got the address, sir?'

'Obviously'

FOURTEEN

They made their way past the traffic and managed to reach the place in about 30 minutes. As it was a working day with clear skies and a cheerful morning , the traffic at this hour was usually harsh .There was a lot of jams in the street with people stuck there in their cars or even who were walking on the sidewalks.

When they got past the Times Square traffic the road ahead was clear .That was why it didn't take much time to reach their destination eventually.

This area consisted of a bunch of middle class houses which had a 1950s touch in them and that were clearly visible, the way the cottages were build. w

Most were wooden houses, neat and clean, a few large sized office buildings and a few skyscrapers but overall it was all natural and homely.

'There' Ryan pointed at one corner and parked the car a few yards back. They walked up to the shop which was just as dingy as the garage they went yesterday and at the top there was something written in block letters and in Chinese which they were unable to read.

They stood at the open door and found the interior, full of materials from laser machines to ink, quill, different kind of pens and a lot of pictures stuck in the wall, which they found meaningless.

One man they saw lay on a chair at the far end and the other one who was muscular build and black was doing something on his arm, must be drawing a tattoo.

There was two other men. One was sitting and looking at some five dollar notes and the other man was showing pictures to a teenager, who may or may not be of legal age yet. These two men were Chinese with square faces and more or less looked alike.

Alicia was the first one to move inside after watching all these things followed by Ryan and Kevin.

When they entered, the Chinese man was the first to notice them as he was facing the door and others were quite busy. He stood up, kept the money aside and came forward. 'Yeah, what ya'll want?'

Then he stopped and added 'Look we have a exclusive design of a tattoo available, just a few bucks per centimetre, and that's all'

Alicia firmly replied 'We are not interested in tattoos'

'What do you mean you're not interested in tattoos? Don't you see this is a tattoo shop so all you can get is tattoos .If you don't want one, you should find your way out'

His voice was rough and patience less.

'Really?' Kevin came in between him and Alicia, and showed him the badge.

'Cops?' he was more surprised than he should be. As if, he never saw a cop in his whole life. 'Hey man, what did we do now? Look, we got permission for this shop, it's all authentic, we also got papers and all .And we're not doing anything illegal are we? You can't kick our ass this time.'

'Ask them to go to hell' the black man blurted out from the back 'We ain't movin' out this time'

'That's what I am sayin'

The Chinese man made a ridiculous face.

'Now shut up, will ya' Said Kevin 'We don't want to bust you out, or ask you to move out. We just need to you to answer some questions for us'

'What questions, I ain't not gonna answer any questions, just go away' he said flatly.

It seemed like they had a definite hatred for cops. There must be some kind of conflict going on between them, but Kevin or Alicia had no interest in cooling them down or talk about it.

'So you will not answer?' said Alicia.

'I said it' he yelled 'now get lost. I'm in no mood to answer your fucking questions'

'Then there's no other way' grunted Kevin. 'then we will have to drag your ass downtown and get your mood back'

'You threatenin' me?'

'Yes!' Kevin roared coming more near him, like a tiger wanting to give a bite. 'And you have no idea, how capable I'm in doing what I want.'

Kevin was much taller than the short Chinese man was.

Alicia tried her hand at cooling things down between them , 'We just told you that we will take steps if you don't cooperate with us' said Alicia 'After all it's completely your choice .But we don't have the whole day for this'

'You heard her' Kevin snapped again 'Now you better talk before you find your shitty ass in prison'

The man was taken aback a little .He was not sure if he should continue arguing or should he cooperate with them just as they were asking him to do.

'It's cool, it's cool' Ryan came forward and gestured Kevin to stand back.

'What's your name, dude?' asked Ryan gently as he was playing the good cop after Alicia and Kevin attacked him.

'Is this a part of your questions?' the man laughed this time.

'No, but it's a part of better communication'

'It's Ben, not my real name, mind you' he said.

'Ben would do' Ryan had no interest if he said his real name or not, he just had to keep the things moving.

'So Ben, did you see a black man around here?'

'Yes, he's sitting and drawing a tattoo right there'

'Someone other than him?'

'No I haven't' another flat reply came from Ben.

Ryan looked around thinking about what to ask him.

He saw a picture of a tattoo design hanging from the ceiling and it looked like it could fall anytime. It was of a fire-breathing dragon with some Chinese words written below it, just like the one they saw in Henry Roberts neck.

'So you haven't seen this kind of man?' Ryan continued his questioning 'Black, wears a cap, looks like a cool rapper. Does this ring a bell?'

'I don't know what you're talking about'

'What about that tattoo?' Ryan pointed at the picture that hung from the ceiling.

'Yeah, it's a design. What about it?'

'Did you make this tattoo on anyone's neck in recent time?'

'Look man, this has became a trademark design' he said 'This dragon with command and conquer written below it, this is really famous in our shop. Most of the people who come here chooses this design and we just make it' then he turned to the other Chinese man. 'Hey Yung, how many people chose this tattoo last month?'

After checking the pictures for a minute, Yung replied 'Say about a hundred people'

Ben turned back at Ryan 'You see it's tough keeping track of all these people'

'I understand' said Ryan 'But this will help, I believe' Ryan offered him a photo of Henry Roberts. 'What about him, does he look familiar?'

'No, doesn't look familiar' he said without even taking a good look at the picture.

'His name is Henry Roberts? Are you pretty sanguine that you never saw him?'

'Yes, yes, I told you so' he said innocently.

But anger rose in Kevin's mind. He moved in front of him and blurted out 'You bloody schmuck, don't lie. We have enough reasons to believe that this man came to your shop and made a tattoo.'

'Get lost man, I told you what I know' Ben teased Kevin's anger a little more.

'Are you gonna talk or not?'

'I told you, I don't know this man. And that will be final'

Ben looked helpless and it seemed like he was telling the truth.

'Hey you' Ryan moved to the other Chinese man whose name was Yung and showed him the photo 'You saw this man?'

He shook his heads violently without uttering a word and letting them know that he didn't.

'What's wrong with this guys' Ryan actually asked himself.

'I tell you' said Kevin. 'These men know everything, but they would not speak, someone must have told them to keep their mouth shut. And they are just obeying it'

'Yeah, maybe so'

'Shut up. I ain't not going to listen to anyone's order .You better keep your mouth shut' the man said.

Kevin didn't say anything this time, he was busy controlling his own anger.

'Look there is two solutions for us' said Alicia to both Kevin and Ryan. 'Either Henderson was wrong about the tattoo shop or else this Chinese guy is lying'

'I will go for this Chinese guy is lying' said Kevin.

'Now hey cops' Ben said with a mocking tone 'Please excuse us, we are missing out customers today'

This time Kevin was not ready to show his anger or to push him a little further, they just stood quietly looking at each other.

'We should move on, I think' said Alicia.

Ryan nodded in approval but Kevin didn't say anything, he just stared at Ben carefully, to see if he's hiding something.

He then moved closer to him, so that their faces were just a few inches away from each other and then said softly 'Look, if I have to come here again, I will leave you in no condition to talk'

'Whatever' Ben said instantly.

Ryan put his hand on Kevin's back and gently pulled him away.

'Let's go' said Alicia but the black man suddenly stood up with his large body and biceps, keeping the pen down and said 'Hang on a second'

He came in the front pushing Ben away inside.

'You searchin' for a man?' he said. His voice was equally strong as his body.

'We were' Ryan said 'But your man says that he never saw him'

'Give me the photo' the man said and Alicia who had taken the picture from Ryan's hand for some reason, quickly presented the black man with the picture.

'His name is Henry Roberts, you ever saw him?' asked Alicia.

'Yes, I remember him' said the black man still looking at the picture.

'Who's it?'

'I know him not personally of course. But he's just a customer here'

'Did he make a dragon tattoo from here?'

'Yes he did, but that was long ago. He comes at least once in a month and makes a new tattoo'

'I see, did he come here recently, did he say something, where he lives or whatever?'

'Yes and no' the man replied with a hard voice. 'He came here the day before yesterday made a new tattoo and he also came today'

'Really?' said Alicia 'Why?'

'He had some money that was due for us. He came to pay it'

'When did he exactly come today?' asked Ryan.

'Just some minutes before you guys came.'

'Did he say where he went?'

'No he didn't but. But if you hurry, then you may still have a chance of catching him in the street'

'Let's go' said Ryan immediately regretting that they wasted so much time talking to that Chinese guy.

Kevin gave one more cold stare at Ben and then they went out.