CHAPTER 3 – BREAKING NEWS
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
ONE WEEK LATER –
Nikolai Belinsky was in his office when he received a phone call from Boston. He answered the call as he heard, “Greetings Sir! I am Dr. Douglas Mahoney! You appointed me the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital that you own in Boston!” In a cold voice, Nikolai Belinsky replied, “Oh! Now I remember you! I asked you to call me only when there was something that urgently deserved my attention!” Dr. Mahoney replied, “Yes Sir! Last year! You ordered a hit on an old woman called Melanie Turner! Today morning a junior doctor told me that she died in this hospital from a heart attack! I was shocked to hear that she was here! And alive all this time! I ordered the checking of medical records to find out when she was admitted here and why I did not know about her presence! Records say that she was admitted here three months ago when I was on leave!” Visibly shaken, Nikolai Belinsky said, “What? I hired Wolfman to kill her! She never contacted police after I hired Wolfman! I thought Wolfman killed her! If she was alive all this time, then why did she not report my operations to police? And why Wolfman did not kill her!” Dr. Mahoney replied, “I don‘t know Sir! What should I do now?” Nikolai Belinsky said, “You know Garry! He is the underboss who heads my gang in Boston! Give him the address Melanie Turner! Ask him to check her house and find out if there is something that can lead police to me! Better burn her house!” Dr. Mahoney replied, “Yes Sir!” Hanging up, Belinsky spoke on an intercom, “Send Mikhail Andropov now!” Within two minutes, Mikhail Andropov entered the office of Belinsky. Looking at Andropov, Belinsky said, “You need to find out that where Wolfman is and why he did not kill Melanie Turner! I want to know that why did he take payment when he did not do the job! That is not the Wolfman I knew! I am choosing you because in my gang, I secretly shared the identity of Wolfman only with you! You need to find him!” Mikhail Andropov replied, “OK Sir!” Mikhail walked away.
NEW YORK
Artist John Avery logged into is net banking account to see the balance. From the $ 1 Million that he had received one week ago, he had deposited $ 10,000 two days ago, in his new bank account from which, he was doing net banking activities, using the new phone number he had purchased. He called his customer relationship manager Karen. When Karen answered the call, he said, “Hey Karen! Now I can see the $ 40,000 I deposited in the account! And in a week, I spent $ 10,000! Thanks for updating my mini-statement service as earlier I could not see any transaction!” Thanking Karen again, John hung up the phone. Then John called Amy Tomlinson. He said, “Amy! Are you free tonight?” Amy replied, “I always have time for you!” John said, “OK! Cool! I want to share good news with you! As I am earning now, tonight dinner is on me! I will pick you at six!
”
As John hung up, Amy wondered, “What good news is John planning to share with me? Has he understood my love for him? Is he going to propose me to marry him? I hope he gets over that fucking slut Stacy!” In the evening, John arrived at Amy‘s house punctually in his car. In the car, Amy asked John, “So what did you do in one week? You were so busy to set up your business that you did not have time to return my calls or text messages!” Continuing to drive, John spoke without looking at Amy, “I am extremely sorry Amy! That is why; I invited you tonight to make it up to you! You are having dinner with me tonight! In past week, I printed pamphlets to advertise my services! I got a website developed called Avery Designs! I ran online ads on search engines so that more people know about my services! I spent almost 10,000 at least, maybe more!”
Amy thought, “He is not even looking at me! Maybe he is concentrating on driving! I wish he had told me how beautiful I looked tonight!” She asked John, “Wow! You are a real fighter! Did you reap any benefits with the efforts you put into?” John replied, “Yeah! I got three clients! They paid advance! Money has started coming in! Today I made my first delivery! This client also wanted me to design invitation card for his son‘s upcoming birthday party! Hence, to celebrate my first success, I invited you to celebrate with me! Who else could I celebrate it with? You are my best friend!” Amy thought, “Still friend! Except John, any man would want to be more than just friend with me!” She asked John, “How did you raise $ 10,000 all of sudden?” John told her, “You think I robbed a bank? I am not strong enough to lift a gun! You have a licensed gun at your house! I have a licensed gun and I tried to learn shooting but I could not perfect it even after learning it! Learning a skill and perfecting that skill are two entirely different things! Once my business is running smoothly, I will tell you! It might give you a reason to believe in miracles!” At the restaurant, John and Amy were eating. John told her, “Tonight...” Amy thought, “Finally he noticed my beauty!” John continued, “...everything at the dinner table is of your choice!” Amy thought, “What the fuck!” John spoke, “I wanted dinner of your choice because I wanted to make you happy!” Amy thought, “Why he cannot see that it is a life with him that would truly make me happy!” John continued, “You have been my true strength!” Amy thought, “Perhaps he saw it now! But I would hold my horses!” John said, “You helped me many times in school even though you were my junior! You helped me to overcome my breakup with Stacy! You motivated me to get up and fight back when I lost my third job! Your motivation encouraged me to do efforts to start my own business instead of looking for a job which I should have done! You helped me to realize my true potential and bring out the best of me! I realized that you are one person I can trust with my life! That is why tonight I want to ask you Amy...”
Amy thought, “He saw it! Now he will ask me to marry him! I will say yes with or without him offering me a ring!” Amy told John, “Why did you stop? Say what you want!” John spoke, “...I want to ask you Amy! Will you come and work with me? With you by my side, I will have four hands! I will share profits with you! And I will not treat you like an employee! You will still be my best friend!” Amy was mad with rage even though she was smiling. She thought, “I want to slap you hard across your face John! But working with you can still get me chance to be close to you!” Controlling her anger, she said, “Yes John! I would love to work with you!” John said, “Perfect! Inviting you to dinner turned out to be fruitful! I am so glad you said yes! I love you as my best friend Amy!” Amy said, “He did not need speak that long sentence! He invited me to dinner to offer me job! Not to propose me!” John dropped Amy home and left for his home. Amy was sad, “He did not try to kiss me tonight also!”
CHICAGO
Next morning, Mikhail Andropov was standing in front of Nikolai Belinsky. Looking at Mikhail‘s stone-like face, Belinsky spoke, “So what information do you have for me?”
Mikhail reported, “Gary sent report from Boston! He found many things in Melanie Turner that imply that Melanie knew about many police officers being at your payroll! She was silent for a long time because she was trying to contact FBI and she wanted to give incriminating evidence against you directly to some Federal officer but only after confirming that the Federal Officer was not in cahoots with you! She died before she could confirm any officer! Gary has burnt her house!”
Belinsky asked Andropov, “Any updates about the whereabouts of Wolfman?” Andropov replied, “I talked to all contacts in the underworld about Wolfman! Everybody says that Wolfman has been in the wind for past one year! Nobody knows where he is or what is he doing!”
Just then, Belinsky received a phone call. Gary was calling from Boston. He said, “Mr. Belinsky! I got the house of Melanie Turner burnt! But media is not reporting it as they have found bigger news about Wolfman!” Belinsky hung up and told Andropov, “Turn on the TV!”
Andropov turned on the TV and switched to a news channel. On the screen, Andropov and Belinsky saw a news anchor speaking, “Good Morning! I am John Weir and the biggest news of this hour is the murder of dangerous contract killer Wolfman! That is right! The fearsome Wolfman who was wanted by police of 11 countries is no more! Today morning, Pittsburgh police has found a van from the Ohio River in which along with a headless dead body, a sniper rifle, a handgun, and a Wolfman mask have been found! Police also found a Voter ID card bearing the name John Avery!”
As the Voter ID card flashed on the screen, Belinsky said, “That is not the face of John! That is disguise! John did not have that type of beard and such long hair! Dead body and mask are for police to find! John would not be fool enough to throw his voter ID! He did that to convince those people about his death who knew his identity!” Andropov wondered, “You mean Wolfman is alive?” Belinsky replied as he muted the sound of news channel, “Possibility cannot be ruled out!” Belinsky made a call. He spoke when the call was answered, “Accountant Jamie Anderson! Belinsky here! I want to know who you gave my money to when Wolfman has been dead for past one year!”
Accountant replied, “Sir! Last year, you told me that Wolfman had chosen New York to collect the money! I deposited the money in the Post Box whose number was given to me! Before depositing the money, I called the number of Wolfman that you gave me! I asked if he was John Avery! This was my first question! He said yes! Then I told him about Post Box! Then I called your contact in New York and asked him to deposit the money!” Belinsky hung up! He told Andropov, “Two possibilities! Either John Avery is alive or his phone number is being used by someone who also has the name John Avery! Andropov was looking at his phone. Belinsky angrily demanded, “I am talking to you! And you are looking at your phone!” Andropov replied, “Pardon me Sir! I had saved the number of John in my phone! And I noticed that even after his death, his phone number is active! On Find My Buddy app, I can see the location of his phone in New York!” Fuming with anger, Belinsky said, “Assemble as many men as you want! Go to New York! Get my money back! Along with the dead body of Wolfman!” Belinsky again turned on the sound on TV, as he watched a news correspondent talking to a cop near the Ohio River as a crane could be seen in the background, pulling out the van. News correspondent asked the cop, “Is it really Wolfman?” Cop replied, “We never had the fingerprints of Wolfman or his DNA sample in his database! All we can say that final confirmation can only be after postmortem! If his DNA does not match any DNA sample in our database, we can rule that he is Wolfman!”
PITTSBURGH
After the interview is over, the police officer who spoke to the media was walking when his junior cop joined him and said, “Sir! Pittsburgh Police can earn the credit of finding the dead body of Wolfman! I think that after postmortem, even if the DNA of Wolfman matches someone in our database, we can pass off that person as Wolfman if that criminal is dead!”
The senior cop told the junior, “You kidding me? I am not going to waste time with postmortem! Tomorrow, I will issue a Press Release for media saying that the body is indeed of Wolfman! Years ago, Wolfman killed many people in this city including our former mayor! We have many unsolved cases! This dead body is a golden opportunity for us to close those cases! This would improve our track record of solving cases!” Hearing the senior cop, the junior cop said, “Wow Sir! You are genius!” Senior cop replied, “That I am!”
************************