The Frills of Sanity

CASE 2

The days went on and on. The cases they dealt with, were of supreme complexity. Hope learnt almost all the twists of human mind and her mother's work in psychology just helped her more. Hope was considered the soon-to-be-expert, just the way her mother was known for, back in her days.

In the mean while, she had asked AD to run her mother's name and tofind whatever he can about her last mission. She had also asked him to run the detailed check on Mrs. Lovato.

AD could not find a thing about Hope's mother, but Mrs. Lovato was a golden hit. There were certain files that were redacted and were confidential. AD had to do special efforts in hacking in to the PD's database and system. When AD decoded the complex encryptions, she found many things about Mrs. Lovato, which helped her build her personality.

Mrs. Lovato was a drug addict and some people had accused her by confirming her involvement in the smuggling of the children. They also had stated that her visits to the orphanages around the city were of tainted motive and definitely not charity. But the offences were dropped by the State PD due to lack of evidence. Few people also had said that this was the publicity stunt to make her more famous around the city and sorority than she already was.

'Who is she? A well-organised Criminal? Or just a soft target?', thought Hope.

The only thing disturbed Hope to the extreme was Mrs. Lovato committing suicide. It was beyond her understanding. What bothered her more wwas that Mrs. Lovato seemed to know what she was doing. Her smile, the whole act of committing suicide and the mystery of the meaning of those lines of a Poem.

Hope could not decide whether Mrs. Lovato was a criminal or a victim. She could not understand what the poem has to do with all the scene. And the game she had mentioned about was confusing. She did not give any details except that Hope was late on the game.

One day, while she was reading her diary, reading those lines of a poem out loud; she heard a knock on her bedroom's door. It was Layla, asking her to come downstairs near the dining. Hope locked her diary in her drawer and went downstairs. All the others were already gathered there.

"Hey, what's going on?"Hope questioned as she observed Layla mumbling something on her phone.

"Hope, Layla needs our help. We have got a case-not been assigned by the institution." Spoke AD.

"Layla, stop mumbling. We will protect her no matter what." Alexis was trying to sooth her, while others looked at Soltz.

"Well, just a moment before our meeting here, Layla received a call from her childhood friend, Dina Orlov."AD explained.

"You mean, THE Dina Orlov? That famous Law journalist whose blogs are outstanding and has been improving my GK for years? That Dina Orlov?" yelled AD.

"You know her?" everybody flashed at AD.

"Yeah. I am a big fan of her blog. She always stumps all the PDs and reveals 'behind the curtain' scenes of almost all the possible missions of local PDs, CIA, NSI, GRU, BND, ASIS, ISI,MI6, MSS, RAW, Interpol; every intelligence in the whole world. But, what about her?" He glanced at Soltz. Excitement visible in AD's eyes.

"She's been receiving threat letters, recently. They state that she should stay away from the current mission she is on, or they will kill her." Soltz explained.

"Who's THEY?" asked Hope.

"How many are they? Can we find them?" Alexis queried.

"The local PD has sent all the letters to the handwriting specialists. The lab confirmed that there are more than two people involved. However, they have failed to track their whereabouts." Layla briefed.

"She thinks she is not secured, even though she has the tight security around her. Apparently, the people who're sending the threats, follow her everywhere she goes. They must be hunting her down and observing smallest of the details of her every activity. The threats include all the details which only she and the other person in the room would have known. They are following her personal life as well. The threats also include warnings and possible harm to her- well, beloved people." Soltz explained.

"Her blog says that she is working on solving some local crimes. Then why anybody wants to harm her?" questioned AD.

"I think the Interpol or some similar guys are threatening her for what she did in the past. Maybe, blowing up the whistle about their dark secrets is costing her that much.", uttered Alexis.

"Or maybe, the local crimes she are solving, are not as local as she thinks!" Sparkled Hope, loud and clear.

"I am buying that." Soltz hurried. "We should go meet her. Now."

Everybody seated in the car and AD, as usual, provided her whereabouts. When they pulled over near the gate of Dina's house, it was decided that it is better that Layla, Hope and AD should go in; while Soltz and Alexis would wait in the car.

As Layla, Hope and AD cleared the door security, they met Dina. AD was flattered at his fate and followed the ladies. Dina hugged Layla and welcomed the others. She showed them all the threats she had received.

"So, umhhhh..Dina, can you enlighten us about your current project?" Hope asked her.

"Sure. I was working on a report on all the mysteriously closed cases. Everything was fine until I touched a particular case of Mrs. Jia Song. The PD's database information was not enough. So I investigated in my own ways and I had found pretty much everything. I was very close to finding the real master of all those puppets. I had studied that case thoroughly. I had made some notes and had arranged them in a file. The moment I spoke to the media about this case, the file was stolen and the thief set the perfect fire to burn down my entire place."

She swallowed and then continued.

"Every piece of my investigation on that case is gone. Today evening, I have a press conference. I have to attend it but without the case details and the evidences, my speech would be like a flop show. Everybody will lose their trust in me and my hardship. I will be the greatest failure ever." Hope could see the intense pain, misery and probable devastation.

Hope thought for a while and snapped her fingers. She called Soltz and they chatted for a while. When she hung up, she glanced at Layla with the winning smile.

"We have a plan, Layla. Dina, you will attend the conference and will definitely talk about the Jia Song case. Portray as if you have some eveidence saved. Our colleague Alexis will be with you. Layla would be observing all the security cameras with AD. I and Soltz would mix with the crowd."

"Got it. Soltz can have some of his friends on surveillance to secure the entry and exit.", flashed AD.

Everybody seemed pleased and they walked out of her house to walk towards the car. Soltz and Alexis were waiting for them and they all decided to go to the conference venue. All the surveillance teams were gathered. Soltz instructed them and went inside. AD set up his cameras, and went in the surveillance room with Layla. While Alexis went back in the rest room with Dina, Hope and Soltz made sure that the cameras are working and have clear view and voice.

With all the arrangements made, they waited patiently for the conference to begin.