The Challenge

As the investigations continue, Landon follows Brian and asks him:

‘What happened? I’m seeing you haven’t changed in past three years.’

‘You know Landon what I’m thinking? You say you are better than me and I believe I am. What if we decide right now who is?’

‘How?’

‘Let’s both of us take this case,’ Brian suggests, ‘and solve it separately. The one who catches this criminal first will be the better one.’

‘That’s not going to decide whose better.’

‘Are you afraid that you might lose?’

‘Of course not,’ Landon chuckles, ‘and you know I always accept challenges. But I feel that this is not such a nice option. I say a better and more interesting case should be in front of us.’

‘A well-known industrialist just got bankrupt. He got accused for earning black money from the criminal. What could be more interesting than that? This seems better than any homicide cases I’ve ever solved.’

‘Well, I agree that being accused of earning black money can be interesting if a criminal is leaving such a clue, but we can’t be in a challenge unless we know he would do this again.’

‘He will,’ Brian predicts, ‘I mean if he does a robbery again accusing the victim for black money, then I’m on for this challenge.’

‘Then, I’ll hope that we do get this chance. Because this criminal here is the only source that can prove me to be better than you.’

Landon smiles and walks away.

Mr Barrymore comes towards Landon and says:

‘I know you can do this on your own. But I suggest you to work with us.’

‘Thanks, I appreciate your offer, but I am smart enough to catch this burglar myself.’

‘I know Mr arrogant,’ commissioner replies as a taunt, ‘but this is something serious, this criminal is different. Even though being a thief himself, he’s accusing the victim for earning black money.’

‘Well, did our victim tell anything about his appearance?’

‘Yes, the criminal was wearing black shirt, grey pants and a mask on his face.’

‘What sort of mask?’

‘Just a black coloured cloth that covered his entire face and head except for his eyes.’

‘Wait a minute,’ Landon says getting something in his mind. ‘According to the report, he was attacked from behind. If that happened then how come he knows about criminal’s appearance?’

‘This appearance was described by the servant who secretly viewed the entire scene.’

‘I see…but anyways even if I’ll work on this case then I’ll only do it to prove myself better than Brian. Right now, I’m off the case.’

Saying this he arrogantly walks away.

Brian’s Investigations

Two days later, Brian was at his office with Bret. They were having coffee but Brian was a little tensed.

‘Sir, you seem disturbed,’ Bret replies.

‘I’m not disturbed. I’m just waiting for another crime scene.’

‘Crime scene? You mean like that of black money robbery?’

‘Yes, because Landon, my perfect opponent is back in my life. I just want to prove him who’s better among us.’

‘You are sir…’ Bret says, ‘we both know you are smarter in every way he isn’t.’

‘You’re not getting it Bret. What I want is that if this robber commits series of robberies, then Landon and I shall have a race ahead of us. And that criminal is going to be our finishing line.’

‘I see, but how can you be so sure about what will happen.’

‘This is just my prediction, because whenever any criminal commits a crime and purposely leaves a clue behind, then he definitely commits further series of those crimes.’

‘Well, the bad news is that whatever you predict ultimately happens.’

‘That’s a good news,’ Brian says giving an evil smile. ‘Anyways, show me our reports on that case.’

‘Here you go sir,’ Bret says giving him a paper with their victim’s statements.

Brian examines those statements but couldn’t make out exactly. He asks Bret to give him the footprints sheet. As Bret gives him that sheet, Brian asks:

‘Are you sure these are the footprints of that criminal?’

‘Well, these were found over car’s trunk, and no one other than the criminal touched that spot according to the statement.’

‘Well, then maybe we need more evidences or witnesses.’

Brian still continues investigating, only to prove himself better.

The Second Robbery

Next Saturday, while Landon was sleeping at his home, his cell phone begins to ring. He wakes up and sees it was nine o’clock in morning. He answers his phone call:

‘Hello?’

‘Landon another robbery just took place,’ Mr Barrymore informs him in panic, ‘I’ll text you the address, come as quickly as possible.’

‘…Okay, I’ll see,’ he replies ending his call.

As he stands up, he feels absurd thinking why the commissioner was involving him even though he had his own team of police force.

An hour later, Landon arrives at the crime scene in his own car. He walks towards the second victim’s house but sees Brian on his way, who was waiting for him, giving a teasing smile. He irritatingly ignores him and enters inside the attorney’s house who was the victim.

Next moment, as Brian, Bret, Mr Barrymore and Landon were standing right in front of Mr Doe the attorney, he tells them the incident:

‘Today, I received a text message from someone unknown…the message was saying that go and check your bank balance. I went to the bank and checked it. As I checked it, I had nil. This meant I lost more than million dollars.’

‘Quite similar to the previous case,’ Brian says.

‘Excuse me?’ the attorney says.

‘Nothing, tell us did you get any clue after that? I mean any other message or anything?’

‘Well, yes,’ he replies taking out his cell phone, ‘someone sent a short stanza of a poem in another message.’

‘Was the poem on black money?’ Landon asks.

‘Yes, how did you guess that?’ the attorney asks getting surprised.

Landon takes his cell phone and reads the second stanza of the poem, ‘Black Money’.

Every moment, every time,

You’re committing a crime,

By making greens,

Through illegal means,

And always counting your ‘Black Money’.

Landon Recognises the Criminal

Landon gets extremely shocked that the cell phone drops off from his hand. He gets quite frightened as he recognises the criminal behind this at once. He walks to another room and sits for a while. Mr Barrymore gets concerned with his anxiety, so he follows him and asks:

‘What happened Landon?

‘Nothing!’

Brian turns his head towards them but before going to them, he asks the attorney:

‘So, sir can I ask you that you made most of your wealth earning money through illegal means.’

‘That’s what a successful attorney does,’ he replies boldly.

At the other room, Landon stressfully tells Mr Barrymore:

‘I know this criminal…’

‘You know him? How?’ Mr Barrymore asks.

‘His name was Logan Bale?’

‘Logan Bale? Is he related to you?’

Landon remains silent and thinks about something for a while.

‘What is it Landon?’ he asks Landon. ‘You’re hiding something.’

Landon stands up angrily as if he had made a strong decision. He walks towards Brian and Bret who were staring him. He asks Brian:

‘Is the challenge offer still open?’

‘Of course!’

‘Then, I accept,’ he says offering his challenging hand.

‘Good,’ Brian says tightly shaking hands with him. ‘It’s time to prove ourselves.’

‘I will win this, because I know more about this criminal then you do. And after catching this criminal first, I’ll prove it to you that I’m better and smarter.’

‘Only time will tell that…’

Commissioner breaks off their hand shake and says:

‘Are you guys serious? This criminal’s a dangerous guy, we need to work together to catch this criminal alive.’

‘I work alone,’ Landon replies. ‘Even in my agency, I don’t take help or assistance.’

‘And this competition means everything to rivals like us,’ Brian adds.

‘We’re not rivals yet Brian,’ Landon says, ‘but if you cheat like you always do then this can turn into a fierce rivalry.’

Brian walks towards the attorney and tries to gain further information from him.

Landon Reveals a Shocking Truth

Next day in a restaurant, Landon was having lunch with his wife Wendy. He was very much tensed that he couldn’t swallow his food. He couldn’t even have a sip of water. His wife was afraid to ask anything, but she consoles him:

‘Look Landon…I know you have kept a lot of secrets, but if you want to relieve your stress then I better tell you that I’m always there for you.’

‘You know Wendy. I’ve been lying to myself since two years. I thought I’ve finished this case, but its back in my life…’

He stops talking as he sees Commissioner Barrymore coming towards them. As he comes and stands next to their table, Landon and Wendy stand up,

‘Good evening,’ Landon says.

‘Good evening Mrs Bale,’ Mr Barrymore says to Wendy.

Landon feels absurd and says to him:

‘Sir, it’s nice to see you here but I better warn you about something.’

‘And what is that?’

‘This is my personal case. I wasn’t interested in this at all. But I’m solving this not just to prove myself better than Brian, but for another special reason.’

‘Would you mind sharing that with me?’ Commissioner asks.

‘Well, I know you would leak this information to Brian, but I’m not afraid of that. What I am afraid of is, is this criminal Logan Bale.’

‘Logan Bale?’ Wendy asks.

‘This guy Logan Bale was my younger brother. I had him killed two years back. I ordered a serial killer to go and kill him. I was just told that he’s dead, but this didn’t happen I guess. Maybe that serial killer lied to me.’

Mr Barrymore and Wendy get stunned at his words. Mr Barrymore says:

‘I have only two questions: first, why did you want him to get killed? And secondly, how come you’re so sure that this criminal is your brother.’

‘Answer to your first question is that I wanted to have him killed because Logan Bale changed his entire identity. He changed his name from Logan Bale to entirely something else. He even changed his actual auto biography…And worst of all, he changed his face by getting a facial plastic surgery.’

‘That sounds like insanity,’ Mr Barrymore says feeling ridiculous.

‘And answer to your second question is that I’m sure of him because my insane brother was a good poet. He used write different poems. I have recognised his poem on black money.’

‘I see,’ Mr Barrymore replies, ‘Just tell me what was his new name? I mean he changed his name from Logan Bale to?’

‘I don’t know that…that’s the mystery? And you won’t believe this; I haven’t seen his new face after the surgery.’

‘…Pathetic history,’ he says after a while.

‘But I better tell you that the information I’ve given you is not confidential,’ Landon replies a little proudly. ‘You may expose it to anyone, because I know that I will resolve this case before everyone else.’

‘Okay, thanks a lot Detective Landon.’

Mr Barrymore leaves them. Now Wendy who was very much shocked, asks Landon:

‘Unbelievable Landon, I didn’t know you were a killer as well.’

‘Well, I’m not anymore, because my brother’s alive and back for revenge against me.’

‘You killed him just because he changed his identity and facial appearance?’

‘No, not only because of that’ he replies. ‘I didn’t tell Mr Commissioner the actual reason behind.’

‘Would you please tell me that?’

‘You know I won’t. So ask no questions if you don’t want to hear any more lies.’

‘Yeah, when you’re even lying to yourself then why would you tell me the truth?’

‘I have only two secrets left from everyone including myself. They will remain secrets only if my brothers die.’

‘Do you have any idea from where he got surgery?’ she asks just to keep talking.

‘I don’t know the place but Dr Adrian Cain, is the one who did it.’

Brian Overheard

At the table next to them, Brian was seated, who had secretly heard their entire conversation. Not even the commissioner was aware of his secret presence over there. Brian smiles as he had figured out things that he really needed to know. But there was still more to know.

Brian stands up, puts on his sun glasses and leaves the place. Outside the restaurant, his car was parked. He sees a piece of paper attached to the side view mirror. He reads the paper:

‘SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, MY NEXT TARGET!’

As he reads this, he realises this at once that this must be a clue from that mysterious thief. So, he immediately takes out his revolver and looks around getting vigilant. He detaches the paper and keeps it inside his pocket.

That evening, Brian and Bret were in their office room. Bret was looking at the paper, he asks Brian:

‘What do you think of it?’

‘This criminal knows I’m after him, and he wants to play games with me.’

‘Sir, you know what I think?

This is misdirection.’

‘By the criminal?’ Brian asks.

‘No, by Landon!’

to be continued...