The Runaway Reporter (A Police Procedural Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Hyder Ali #3) (18 page)

He didn’t know, but he would eventually find out.

He sat up.  There was still so much he wanted to find out.  Why did Nolan attack him?  Did he survive his injuries? What about his mom? Did she know what he had done?

He couldn’t find the answers while he was not eating.  Plus, his mind was already too distracted with matters at hand.  He would just be starving himself, and wouldn’t be fulfilling the true purpose of the fast, which was to focus on God and to perform good deeds.

He decided to not have
Sehri.
He also decided to leave before the
masjid
was completely filled with worshippers.

If the police were after him, he didn’t want the people in the
masjid
involved.

SIXTY-FIVE

Lopez was back at the hospital.  Nolan had still not regained consciousness, but the doctors had assured her that it was nothing to be concerned about.  Nolan would get better, but he needed time to do so.

She wanted to speak to him.  She wanted to tell him that she loved him.  She wanted to say those words to him, and she knew he would want to hear them, too.

She couldn’t believe how strongly she felt for him.  She hadn’t felt this way for anyone before.  They had a connection, something she couldn’t put into words, but it was there.

When she had first met him, she had never thought in a million years that they would end up together.  She had just started on the force and he was in a new relationship with the woman who would become his wife. They were at a police event, and she remembered he was loud, brash, and even crass, but what stuck out the most about him was that he was never demeaning.  Unlike the other officers, who thought the only reason she got into the force was because she was a good looking female, he looked at her like she belonged there.

Years later, when she asked him about his behavior or why he acted the way he did, he always said that it was never intended to be mean spirited.  He just didn’t like people who thought they were better than him.  He loved his job, but he would never bend over backwards for anyone to get ahead.

Now that she thought about it, what attracted her most to him was his honesty.  He was honest with his work, his friends, his family; but above all he was honest with himself.

He was not going to be someone he wasn’t.

When they finally ended up together, he never promised her much, except that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

This was more than enough for her.

As she watched him lay there, with his eyes closed and his chest slowly rising and falling, she couldn’t help but want to wake him.

She had a lot of questions about what happened.  She couldn’t believe Hyder had hurt him.

But why? This was something that had kept her up all night.

What would push him to shoot Nolan?

Lopez had already been to his house.  She had spoken to Mrs. Ali.  They had met at Hyder’s brother’s wedding, so she knew she could speak to her without raising any alarms.  She didn’t tell her what had happened because it would’ve been too much for her. But Lopez asked her to tell her son to call her as soon as possible.

She wanted to get to Hyder before Pascale or Halton did.

SIXTY-SIX

Lester looked at the rectangular box and then opened it.  He was in his cubicle at the
Daily Times
.  It wasn’t unusual for him to receive packages at work, so he wasn’t too concerned about its contents. He knew it was probably a demo version of some product a company wanted him to review.

When he checked, he realized he was right.  The pamphlet inside told him the company was testing software meant to monitor people’s health.  There was also a card with a username and password on it. Next to it was something that looked like a floor mat.  The mat had the outlines of feet printed on it.

The instructions on the pamphlet told him to use the username and password to sign into the company’s mobile application and then stand on the floor mat.

Lester made a face.  He wasn’t too keen on trying health products; even if they were the next biggest thing on the market.

“The things I do for my job,” he muttered.

He removed his shoes and socks and then placed his feet on the mat.

Using his phone, he signed on to the company’s application software and waited.  It took several minutes, but slowly the application began to tabulate data on the screen.  His weight popped up, then his heart rate, then his cholesterol level, then his body fat, and so on.

Lester could sense what was going to happen next.  The screen then went red and told him that he was overweight to the point of obesity and that he should seriously consider dieting or exercising.  The program then laid out the steps he needed to take in order to accomplish this goal.  Healthy meal menus popped up on the screen, which included lots of fruits and vegetables, salads, little or no meat, and much more.  Then exercise regimens popped up on the screen, telling him how much walking and running he should do per day.

This was then followed by a video of a muscular man. The man looked like he could be in charge of a boot camp.  He pointed at Lester and said, “Listen, you piece of human waste, I’m going to turn you from the sad sack you are, and into a fine piece of human specimen.  I’m going to push you, I’m going to cuss you, but overall, I’m going to make your life a living hell, until you start losing…”

Lester quickly exited the program.  He was utterly scared. He shivered at the thought of this program running his life.

But then the software popped back on again.  The man was even angrier than before.  “You can’t turn me off, you lazy ass piece of human excrement.  I’m not going anywhere until you shape up and change your life…”

Lester powered off his phone and then left his cubicle.

He was now beyond terrified.  He couldn’t imagine this man yelling and screaming at him all day.

Forget losing the weight, he would lose his mind. 
Whoever thought this would push people to get healthy?
He thought.  In fact, it made him want to eat more, not less.

As he was walking to the washroom, he spotted someone familiar.

He remembered meeting her somewhere, but where?

She caught him looking her way. She smiled and came over.

“You’re Lester, right?” the woman said.

Lester’s eyes narrowed.  “Yes.”

“I’m Detective Lopez, we met at a wedding.”

Lester remembered.  “You mean, Akbar’s wedding?”

“Yes,” she said, looking around. “I was wondering, have you seen Hyder?”

Lester shook his head.  “He hasn’t come in yet.”

“Do you know where I can find him?”

“No idea,” Lester said.  “He could be out on a story.”

Lopez went silent, as if thinking.  “If you see him, can you ask him to give me a call?  It’s urgent.” She pulled out her card and handed it to him.

“Sure, no problem,” he said.

He watched her leave.  He had never seen Detective Lopez come here before.  The only other person that ever came was Nolan.  He had a feeling something was not right.

He hurried back to his cubicle, stopped.  Sitting on his desk was his phone.  It was shut off, but he feared turning it back on.

He reluctantly did, fully expecting the man to pop up and start cursing him again, but this time he didn’t reappear.  Lester wasn’t going to take any chances.  He uninstalled the application and then threw the box and floor mat in the garbage bin.

He shivered when he thought of the foul-mouthed man.

He speed-dialed Hyder.

After a few rings, he picked up.

“Hey, bro, what’s happening?”

“How are you, Lester?” Hyder replied.  He sounded distant and tired.

Lester told him about the visit from Lopez.

After a brief pause, Hyder said, “Did she say anything else?”

“No, why? What’s going on?”

There was silence.  All Lester could hear was heavy breathing.

“Bro, you know you can trust me,” he said.  “If you’re in trouble you have to tell me.  You know I can help.”

There was a long sigh on the other end.

Hyder told him everything.

At the end, Lester said, “Wow, this is some serious shit, bro.”

“It is, but please believe me, I never intended to harm Nolan.”

“I believe you,” Lester said.  “I’ve known you long enough to know that you don’t have a mean bone in you.”

“Thanks, Lester.”

“Now, tell me how I can help.”

“Can you check up on my mom?” Hyder said.

“No problem, anything else?”

“I need a burner phone.”

“A what?”

“You know, a phone that the police can’t trace.”

“Oh, you mean a disposable phone.  Burner phone is spy-talk, bro.”

“Sorry, I’m just a little anxious.  I need one to call Detective Lopez. I don’t want her tracing my phone, if she hasn’t already done so.”

“Sure, I’ll leave one in the garbage container behind the coffee shop across the street.”

There was silence for a moment. “Lester, I hate to involve you in this,” Hyder finally said.  “You could be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive.”

“Don’t worry about me, bro,” Lester said.  “I can take care of myself.  You just take care of yourself.”

SIXTY-SEVEN

After hanging up on Lester, Hyder felt a bit better.  He was glad he had a friend on his side.  Since the incident, he had been feeling isolated and lonely.

He needed all the support he could get.

He went and grabbed a copy of the
Daily Times
.  He wasn’t interested in reading whose story had made it on the front page, he was more interested in knowing what had happened to Nolan.

He flipped through the entire paper and found no mention of him.

Why was that?  Maybe the news had not made its way to the press yet.  Or maybe the department was keeping a tight lid on it, like they had done with the Riverfield Massacre.

Hyder had a feeling that both were related somehow.  He just didn’t know how.

He felt his stomach grumble.  He had to remind himself that he wasn’t fasting today.  This meant he was late for breakfast.

He found a fast food restaurant about a block from the
Daily Times
and ordered a coffee and an egg and cheese sandwich, with hash browns on the side.

He ate slowly and purposefully.  He kept his eyes on the television screen mounted on the other side of the wall.

He feared a breaking story would appear any minute, which would show a mug shot of him with the headline:
Reporter shoots police detective
. Or:
Detective shot and fighting for his life
.  Or even:
Detective killed by reporter friend
.

Hyder was making up his own headlines, but he couldn’t help it.  He was accustomed to coming up with catchy lines to grab readers' attention.

When enough time had passed, he left the restaurant.

He went to the spot where Lester had told him he would leave the disposable phone.  After a bit of searching, he found it behind the metal container.

He didn’t have the courage to call his mom, so he called his brother instead.

“
Bhai
(
brother
), it’s me, Hyder,” he said.

“Where are you?” Akbar quickly replied. “
Ammi
told me you didn’t come home last night.  She’s worried about you.”

Hyder couldn’t tell him the truth.  He didn’t want him involved.  Plus, the less he knew the more he could deny if and when the police showed up at his doorstep asking about him. “I was at the
masjid
and… um, my phone wasn’t working, so I couldn’t call
Ammi
.  I’m using a friend’s right now. I can’t talk long, but I will call
Ammi
soon.”

Before Akbar could ask any more questions, he hung up.

He felt bad for keeping his family in the dark, but it was for their own good.

SIXTY-EIGHT

Lopez was in Halton’s office.  Without wasting any time he asked, “How’s Detective Nolan doing now?”

“He still hasn’t regained consciousness, but we’re hoping it will be soon,” she said.

He nodded, as if digesting this information. “Did you find anything that might tell us how he was shot?”

She shook her head.  “I’m waiting for Nolan to tell me once he’s awake.”

Halton studied her and then said, “I know you must think I hate Nolan.  I can’t say I like him, in fact, I think he’s a prick, but he is still a member of this force, and he is still under my command, which means I take what happened to him very seriously.  An officer of the law was gravely injured, and I intend to put the person responsible behind bars.  I know you and Nolan are close, so I want you to know that you have my full support in finding this person.”