Crime Scene

16. A man in the Hoodie

Natalie's POV:

Both my mom and dad were lying lifeless on the floor; blood was still dripping from their wounds. It was horrible; my body refused to move; every nerve was feeling numb and lost and empty.

I slowly went near them and suddenly, a bright white light flashed at me and I was blinded instantly. Someone hit me hard on my head and I fell to the ground. Then I heard someone calling my name. Slowly I faded away.

"Nate???"

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw my mother gently stroking my forehead and my dad was giving me the weirdest look ever.

"Mum??? You were...Dad??" I said looking puzzled.

They both looked at me like I was some kind of alien. My gun was lying on the floor near the couch and my laptop was still running. I looked around and saw my phone in the nearby stand. I checked the date and time.

"Shit, bloody nightmare", I said and ran upstairs before my mom could shout at me.

Yes, she always care about my safely rather than trusting me. She was not very fond of my job. She always says that girls are not good for this kind of work, but my dad encouraged me in all my decision.

As soon as I was done with everything, I headed downstairs. I grabbed my coffee and went to sort my paper works which were scattered around the table. My dad was sitting in his chair with the daily news paper.

As I kissed him bye, he winked at me.

"What was that?" I asked.

"You gave your mom a good punch this morning", he said.

"Oh my god!!! Did I hit her?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Mum? I didn't know that was you. I had a terrible..." I yelled from the living room.

"I got that darling", she said from the kitchen. And soon, she started to blabber all her sentimental emotions.

"Could you handle her? I was already running late", I said to my dad.

"Yes honey", he said.

I kissed both of them and ran to my car.

20 minutes later:

Since I was running late, I started to run to the lobby.

"Running late?" Regan called me from behind.

"Yeah, I was called to report", I said.

He looked me in the eye and asked "Nate, are you still haunted by your nightmares?"

I looked at him silently and ignored his following comments.

"You know, I can see your black circles behind your makeup", he said smiling.

"Nate..." he started again but I cut him mid way.

"Don't ever call me that", I hissed. He always enjoys teasing me.

"So, what's the matter with you? You are not yourself lately", I asked.

He became tensed. I really liked to see him like that.

"So you are following me everywhere, right? Do you still care about me?" he asked smiling wickedly.

I looked at him angrily.

"Don't ever think about that", I said and left the elevator.

He smirked mischievously.

Bloody morning, I thought and ran to submit my reports.

Justin's POV:

Ever since I convinced her to stay with me she was really occupied by something and looks restless. She is moving all around the house to unpack her belongings. I helped her in closet and few other works but she always insists me that I have to rest for a while.

Yes, I didn't sleep well in the night but that doesn't mean I have to stay in my bed while she is doing all the chores by herself. But that's Claire; she always takes the role of a mother, when it comes to me. She wanted me to concentrate on the case rather than distracted by her.

After everything was arranged perfectly she went to sleep for a while. I then went to make myself a strong black coffee. Soon I settled myself in front of my laptop and started to check my e-mails

Few hours later:

I called Natalie to check on her progress and asked her to send the CCTV footage files. I wanted to find the bastard who is threatening us.

As I was going through the clip, I saw a hooded figure entering the lobby around 8:15 in the evening. He quietly slipped through the corridor and entered the elevator. As I watched him, he moved to the hallway leading to chief's office and went out of the coverage for some time and again returned the same way after 7-10 minutes.

It gives him a good amount of time to slip those letters into our bags as we both left our bags and coat outside the hallway and went for reporting. Because we didn't find those letters in our bags when we left our cabin, it was after we left the office I found and she found it later at home. So it must be from the man in the hoodie.

As I was going through those clips for any other intruder activity, Claire sat beside me and kissed me gently.

"I was going for grocery shopping", she said.

"Do you want me to come?" I asked with heavy eyes.

She denied and asked me to rest, while she went for shopping.

45 minutes later:

I woke up by the sound of someone banging on the doors.

As I opened the door, Claire was standing there and she looked terrified and covered by sweat.

"What happened?" I asked.

She quickly closed the door behind us and went to look through the window.

I was shocked by her behaviour. "What's wrong babe?" I asked again.

"Someone was following me in the grocery store", she said.

"What? Who?" I asked.

"I don't know, he was wearing a hoodie", she said.

"Shit", I yelled. Could you describe him? I asked.

"Yes, he was 6 ft tall and has a lean body. Is he a threat in real time? I thought he was some kind of street stalker", she asked.

"No, somebody was following me too and he also wear the hoodie", I said.

"Is he followed you here?" I asked.

"No, I didn't saw anyone tailing my car", she said.

Please stay in door until I figure that bastard, I said. She nodded weakly.

I will definitely screw Regan and make him talk to me, I thought. 

He is the only way to find out, who that hooded figure was.

....................