Case of The Confounding Jester (Editing)

Chapter 4

The whole night, Angel's words tormented me, 'The clown looked like you.'

Why do I have these headaches? Why can't I remember anything when the jester is active? How come I have the missing bell in the jester's hat? What is the link between jester and me?

Could Angel be right? Am I the jester?

No absolutely not. I'll go to the neurologist and the psychiatrist. They'll help me with my headaches and I'll catch the jester. They will provide a reasonable explanation for my blackouts. Everything will go back to normal.

I took leave from work and spent the whole day getting checked up. A number of scans and blood tests were taken. The results would take a few days to come. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist hypnotized me to find out what I do during my blackouts. However, to my utter dismay, he couldn't determine anything.

Next day, I walked into the precinct completely drenched in red water. While my suit was dark enough to not show the color, my hands were red. 

"Hey handsome, what happened today," asked Martha, cautiously standing a few feet away. 

Blinking dolefully, I replied, "Crashed into a kid's volcano project for his science class."

"Aw, the poor kid. I hope you bought him candy," said Martha. 

"What about me, my suit's worse for the wear and I'm a mess," I protested outraged. 

Martha raised a single eyebrow and with her hand on her cocked hips asked, "How exactly is it new for you?"

Huffing in annoyance, I made my way back to my desk. Blade was already at his desk.

"My office. Now. You two," the chief shouted at both of us. We looked at each other and made our way nervously to the chief.

Even before the door to his office was closed, the chief began ripping into us, "What are you guys doing? It's been days and you have zero leads. Tums, why did you take leave yesterday? Unless you are on your death bed, no more leaves. Understand this very clearly. This may have started as a simple case. However, after the school incident, this has become serious. The press is having a field day. People are panicking and rumors are flying. Stop fooling around. Especially you Tums. The top brass is also monitoring this case closely. Now, get back to work and get me some results."

The press had started covering the jester even more after the school incident. With increasing news coverage, the number of sightings of the jester was also increasing. Some reports were genuine. Some were fake. 

The next couple of days were spent fielding calls and interviewing the complainants. The most common one was from neighborhoods where a clown was hired for a child's birthday party. More often than not, there was a genuine clown at the precinct getting interrogated.

There were also a few people making fake reports to get into spotlight on the television. These people fabricated their own stories and very soon the jester was believed to be a serial killer, kidnapper and a con artist all rolled into one. This heightened the tension in the city. Genuine clowns, jokers and jesters started protests as they were being harassed by well-meaning citizens.

Unable to shake the feeling that there was a high probability of me being 'The Jester', I started cuffing myself to my desk and spending the nights at the precinct. However, on the nights when there was a verifiable jester sighting, my handcuffs were removed and placed neatly on my desk. Stiff neck and backache were now added to my pounding headache from the sleepless nights at my desk.