The Dream

Chapter 3

I couldn't sleep that night. I had Mr. X right in front of my eyes, not once but twice on the same day and I let him escape. I felt like a complete idiot. Now I really wanted to solve the clues and get to the truth as soon as possible. Since I had decoded the first clue, I figured I should probably look at the second instruction from the letter I got.

I started searching for the envelope. I thought about how my life had changed in the past week. First, the dreams, then the envelope and all that Mr. X situation. I was cursing my luck, just when I found the envelope. I opened the envelope and started reading the next clue.
It read-'Congratulations! I knew you could easily figure out the first clue. I know you have a lot of questions and those will be answered eventually. Right now, the next part of your clue is 190.157.1.1.
It wasn't very hard to find out that it was an IP address. I ran it through the CSI terminal. But the issue was that it was a masked VPN address as it was bouncing off of various terminals.

So why has Mr. X sent me this IP address? I can't even narrow it down to a proper address. Well, I can't, but I knew a person who definitely can. I called her immediately and she picked up the call on the first ring, and there it was; the familiar melodious voice.

"Hey babe, what's up?"
"Nothing much hon. What are you doing right now? Can we talk?"
"Well not really. You see, I am trying to decrypt an algorithm for one of our clients. Well, what do you wanna talk about? Is it urgent?"
"It's about the Mr. X case. Can you maybe meet me at lunch then? I'll fill you in with the details then"
"Sounds good. Meet you at lunch. How about The Jitters? "
"Yup Sure. I'll be there. Thanks a lot, babe! Bye"
She hung up the phone with a sweet kiss and here I was all red like a ripe tomato.

The clock struck 1 and I got ready to leave for lunch. The Jitters was just a few blocks away from my office. I reached the place and there she was. Sarah was already there waiting for me, dressed in a royal blue peplum pencil dress. She paired them with the perfect royal blue peep-toes. Yes, there was no competition to Sarah's dress sense, be it a date or an office look she just aced it.

I went up to her, gave her a peck on the cheek, and grabbed a table for us.
"Sorry, I got caught up in some work."
"No babe, that's absolutely fine. I can understand. How are you now? Yesterday you left quickly after dinner and were very disappointed. Are you alright?"
I was completely bowled over by that man yesterday. This whole encounter with Mr. X had ruined our date. I was completely flustered by the events, enough that I asked Sarah if she could go home alone. I was not able to process anything and had to go home directly. She is sweet enough to understand, but that was how sourly our beautiful date ended.

"Yeah babe, I am totally fine now. In fact; I have called you here regarding one of the clues itself. See this"
I showed her the IP address and told her that it was bouncing off from different locations. I asked her if she could somehow hack into the VPN and get me an accurate address so I could further carry on my investigation.
"Sure babe. I still have that encryption protocol to crack, but I'll get to it as soon as possible. I can definitely give you the location by evening, tops. Would that be okay?"
"Yeah, sure! Thanks a lot! You are simply the best!"

All this work had made both of us hungry. So we ordered our lunch. Before we could talk anything else, we noticed the clock; lunchtime was over.
We got up to leave. Just then, I felt a tug on my shirt. By the time I understood what it was, I was already being pulled by Sarah. She totally caught me off guard and the next moment I could feel her lips against mine.
"Bye Richie, See ya later!", She chuckled and left.
And I was still standing there blushing, frozen to ice; until I received a call from Jack to report back to the office.
I did leave Jitters, but with a very fond memory.

I reached the office only to know that the case I had been working on has been solved, and so I could take the rest of the day off if I wished to, as there were no new cases for forensics.
Now, since I had time on my hands I decided to work on the Mr. X case.
I decided to stop by The Sunshine Plaza to check on the manager, to see if he found something about the waiter. I had left the office this early for the first time. Usually, I am the one to wait up till 6 PM, watch the doors of the office close behind me. Even if I would get half a day off I would hang around to help my colleagues, but now this Mr. X case and finding out the truth is more important to me.

I reached the restaurant, and to my surprise, the manager had a look on his face which told me that he was actually waiting for me to come back.
"Excuse me, I am here to talk about the waiter from yesterday. Did you get any information about him, or was there any note left for me by any chance?"- I asked
"Yes sir, I was waiting for you to come by. There was an anonymous note left on our front desk in the morning. At first, I couldn't understand but then I realized that maybe this was for you."
I was completely puzzled at this point. How would Mr. X know that I will come by again? How was he so sure?

Never mind that. I took the note and I was shocked to see what was written there. There was just one line – 'Hey there! I am watching you!!'