"Why are we unable to find anything?" Valarie shouted for the fourth time in the day and she had lost count on how many times she had said the same words in the entire week. Since the day Simon Moore had been murdered mercilessly, the group of three were trying to find the murderer. But they had been unsuccessful in obtaining even a small clue, let alone finding the culprit.
They had searched his entire house even though they had the reports with them. But there was nothing they could find. No fingerprints, no footprints, and even the cause of the death or the weapon they had used to kill him was not known, except for the knife the killer had used to chop off his feet. Also, there were no marks on his body that indicated him resisting or even trying to put up a fight with the killer. His forensic reports too came clean. Everything was as blank as a white canvas. If they had not seen the way he had been murdered and had not gone through the reports of people who died in a similar way before, they would have concluded him to have died naturally.
However, while investigating, they had found out that Simon's entire family was missing and nobody knew where they had gone. They had not even come to see him when the news of his death had been broadcasted on all TV channels over the entire country. Just like his death, his family's disappearance was also a mystery. Also, Simon had not filed any missing report with the police. Everything was a mystery and Valarie did not know what to do.
The investigation team from Intelligence, which had been handed over with the cases of a similar kind initially, had failed to reach their destination on their way as somebody had tampered with the breaks of their vehicle leading to an accident. One of them was had been seriously injured, though now he was out of danger. So, they could not make it in time to the murder site.
By the time some of them tried to reach the area, the police had sealed the area and the body was sent for post mortem. So, they too did not get much information. Later, the case had been handed over to Preston, Ryder and Valarie.
Though the team had the President's backing as well as possible resources for their use, they were helpless. Nobody knew what to do, they were at a dead end.
Also, since the day Simon had died, their Chief Frederick was behaving weird. He would come to the headquarters rarely and had started questioning everyone regarding the cases they were working on, especially Valarie and her team.
Though Frederick did not have to do any work other than to report about the cases to the public and the government as he had his subordinates to solve the crime, he would at least be at his office previously. But now, he would come only on Fridays, meet each department personally and then leave right away. The people in the office would see him next on the next Friday only.
This unusual behavior of his surprised many people including the President, Luis Truman. But he had not reprimanded him yet as the work was going smoothly, even though Frederick was not the one doing it.
"Ryder, did you get the details?" Valarie asked after taking a deep breath. She had been taking a lot of stress lately and it had taken a toll on her health. Her head would ache at times and she would even feel dizzy. She was tired, yet she was trying to be strong. She had overworked herself, completely forgetting that she had just come out of a coma. Her friends, Ryder and Preston had warned her to take care of her health a lot of times. But she had ignored it completely as she immersed herself in her work.
"Yes. Simon's wife was last seen in the army supermarket almost two months before Simon's death. After that, she was not seen anywhere. Even the guards who usually followed her did not see her in their house. The maids who came to clean every day were asked to stop doing their work somewhere around this time. They found the situation to be highly abnormal, but they did not give it much thought to it."
"So, basically his family has been missing for almost two months and nobody knows about it?" Preston asked, folding his hands and his expression turned grave.
"Yes. That is what I found."
"How many people were in his family?" Preston asked again, his attention completely fixed on Ryder. Neither among the two noticed Valarie's pale expression.
"There was his wife, along with a daughter who is sixteen and a son who is eleven."
"Hmm. So three people are on the missing list?"
"Yeah."
Valarie, who was sitting on her chair, tried to stand up when she wanted to speak a word or two, buts stopped suddenly. Now she felt exhausted. Even standing up took a lot of strength. Ryder was relaying his findings to her when she saw black spots before her. She tried to move, but the next second the world spun and she tumbled right in front of Preston.
Seeing Valarie collapse suddenly, Ryder and Preston rushed to her, and Preston who was nearer to her caught her before her head banged the floor.
"Oh my God. Valarie, what happened to you?" Ryder yelled, his face paling in fear. Even Preston was frightened seeing her faint.
They called her out loud, trying to wake her up and get her attention. But she remained unresponsive. They even sprinkled droplets of water on her face. This time she woke up and blinked slowly. However, it was only for a short while. She fainted again right away, much to the two men's horror.
"Ryder, get the car ready. We need to get her to the hospital."
"Yes." Ryder rushed out of the cabin towards the exit gates while Preston picked her up and carried her hurriedly outside.
Seeing Ryder hurry out like a maniac, everybody in the Intelligence headquarters stopped in their feet to see what was wrong with him. Some even made way for him lest he should strike them like a hurricane with the speed he was running at. They stared at him perplexed and before they could even make out what had happened, he had already disappeared from the floor.
They were standing like dumb statutes when Preston came out hurrying and this time he was not alone. He was carrying an unconscious Valarie in his arms. Her face had lost all its color and she looked sick. Some women gasped seeing the state she was in. It looked horrible. Now they realized why Ryder had rushed out like a speeding bull.
Nobody came in Preston's way as he made it to the entrance. But he met Frederick who was entering the office just then much to his dismay and the man stopped him immediately.
"What happened to my favorite Deputy? Why are you carrying her in your arms?"
Preston gave him a weird look hearing his dumb question. It was obvious that she was unconscious. Did he even have to ask about it?
"Chief, she fainted suddenly. I am taking her to the hospital. So, if you will excuse me." Preston did not even wait for the old man to excuse him. He left him alone when he tried to speak, making it awkward for him. Many people were watching them as Preston was carrying an unconscious Valarie. So, they were curious to see what had happened.
Now that Preston had left Frederick hanging, it made him utterly embarrassed and gave out a cheeky grin to hide the frustration he was feeling on being disrespected. Without waiting another second, he walked away from there, his mood worsening every second. 'How dare the lowly sub-ordinate treat me this way? Who does he think he is? I am the Chief of Intelligence and he dares to disrespect me this way. I am going to teach him a lesson for his rude behavior. Wait and watch.'
Meanwhile, Preston was highly oblivious to what the old man was thinking. All he had in mind was to get Valarie to the hospital before it became late. He was very worried about her. Thankfully, Ryder had already driven the car out of the parking space and was waiting in front of the entrance. He immediately got inside.
"Hurry up. She is not responding." Preston hugged her close to keep her body warm while Ryder sped up, trying to skip as many traffic signals as possible.
"Valarie, hold on. We will be there in a minute. Please. Hold on." Preston spoke to her softly as he tried to wake her up. It bore results to some extent as Valarie moved slightly and she tried to open her eyes.
"Yes, Val. Come one. Wake up. Wake up." He coaxed her like how a father would do to a small child, trying to keep her awake.
As Valarie tried to force herself to wake up all she heard was Preston's soothing voice beside her ears, though she could not make up what he was speaking. She heard only gibberish words and her head hurt like hell. She felt herself moving and she realized that they were in a car. Before she could gain complete alertness and get her thoughts straight, Ryder had reached the hospital. It was the same one where she had been admitted to when she had met with an accident.
They rushed inside, calling the doctor frantically with Valarie still in Preston's arms. Seeing them dash in, the doctor who was nearby the reception came to attend them.
After half an hour of treating her, the doctor stared at the two men with a serious expression on his face. Valarie was deep asleep by then. "Did she happen to hurt her head sometime in the past?"
"Yes, Doctor. She was discharged just ten days ago. In fact, she had been admitted to this hospital and Dr. Baker was the one who treated her."
"I see. In that case, why did not take care of herself? According to my observations, she has not been taking her medicines regularly. Also, she has been over exhausting her brain and her body. Her body tolerated up to a certain limit. When it could not stand the stress anymore, it shut down automatically. This is the reason why she fainted."
Ryder and Preston looked at each other perplexed before they turned towards the doctor. They never knew about her skipping her medicines. if they had known about it, then they would have scolded her for her carelessness.
"Anyway, I have treated her and there is nothing to worry about. But I suggest a complete bed rest for three days. She needs energy and rest. And more importantly, make sure that she takes the medicines on time. She needs it to return to her healthy state. Any questions?"
"No Doctor. Thank you so much." Ryder stepped forward and thanked him for his work.
"My pleasure. Call if there is anything." The doctor smiled at them before he left the room.
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