Chapter 3: The Visit

Detective Maria

Sooner Kit shop had been completely robbed. The shop's owner was an old man who seemed to no longer have the heart to go back inside his shop. He was crying, sobbing and sniffing, as one police officer sympathetically slapped his back. I had decided to step inside the shop and look around...observe the crime scene carefully. I would prefer observing before taking pictures. 

The shop was small. It had glass decors and brown wooden cupboards. A tube light was enough to light this place, and there were no backdoors. No getaways. 

Hmmm...

The police officers were all over the place, looking for hints...pushing backbenches and gritting their teeth over how frustrating Black Fist was. I had been called here to see if I could pick up any hints. This time, there had been no note left.

I was looking at the glass decors, curling my fists in frustration. 

"He got away again." One police officer was saying behind me. "He got away...one more jewellery shop robbed, one more business destroyed. 

At that, I raised my head and clenched my jaw. Steely angry was brimming high. Yes, he had managed to get away...yes, he had managed to destroy a poor man's business. He was good at this. He was good at destroying people's livelihood because he was selfishly obsessed about his own life. Tears of others didn't matter to him...the consequences of his sins didn't feel heavy on his heart. 

I used to wonder how some people could be so stone-hearted that the pain of others failed to reach their ears...how some hearts were so filled with hate that they didn't bother with humanity, but then, I realized that some people just had blackened their hearts out of greed. They were selfish, they were cold, and they were plain heartless. The world didn't deserve to become a victim of their darkened choices. Someone had to stand up against them. 

With cries and stress echoing in the air, I knew that I couldn't let this continue.

Black Fist...he had to be stopped.

____

It was a tiring day. I had explained that the jewellery had been committed with the help of some metal used to make the security system collapse. Silver, copper...static, a deadly combination had been used to fail the systems, and this time, Black Fist has chosen to rob this jewellery with manpower. Gadgets had only been used to tamper with the security system.

He was a genius. That was his strength. 

Soon, after finding a bit of metal lying on the floor, I had sent it to the lab to look for some fingerprints on it....just in case. Black Fist, I knew, would probably not have left obvious hints clues. But then again, he might. He was confident and one step ahead, leaving evidence behind could just be another way of him just mocking the police's abilities. 

After asking to have a forensic report prepared for me,  as soon as possible, I had headed back to my flat. My flat room was on the tenth floor of a rather shabby building in the outskirts of this city. 

Thankfully, the building owner was a friendly old woman. She was a widow and had lost her family in a deadly car crash. She considered me as her daughter and would often send homemade pies to my room. She is really a gem.

Taking the stairs, before I didn't trust my building's lift, I finally reached my flat and unlocked its main door; its white paint needed to be worked upon. I stepped inside, making sure to wipe my feet against the doormat and switched on the lights. 

My flat included one bedroom, one living room, a tiny open kitchen and a tiny washroom. The best part of this flat was the balcony attached to the living room. Opening my flat's door led straight to my living room which had three sofas placed in a circle and a coffee table placed on in their midst. On the right side of these sofas was my open kitchen. 

I hadn't been able to clean my place in the morning. So, the kitchen counter still has pots, along with my coffee kettle, resting on it...the coffee table had patches of newspapers lying on it. It was really tensing my need to keep things clean. I had to relax my mind. 

Placing my laptop bag on the table, I moved to grab the lying newspapers, when suddenly I stiffened. The curtains a few steps before me, which led to the balcony, moved in an unusual manner. I stared at their ruined grey colour for a moment, and then calmly cleaned my coffee table. My kitchen could stay like this for a while. 

Sporting a serious expression, I then moved to my laptop bag and unzipped it. It was time to pull out my gun. Reloading it, I nodded to myself and then headed towards the balcony curtains.

 It was time.

Opening the curtains, I clenched my jaw as I noticed a dark silhouette outside, sitting on my white cane with feet folded and perched on my white cane table. The living room's light was hardly reaching him. The person was relaxing, his head turned in my direction. I knew who he was. I had an idea that he would show up. 

I tried turning on the balcony light, with its switch being next to the curtains, on the right side, yet it didn't work. He had messed with its circuit.

"Aren't you doing to welcome your guest?" The man now smirked. His confidence and smugness were irritating me. I didn't say anything, tightening my grip around the gun.  

This was Black Fist. 

"I heard your observations...heard you picking on some clues. It had me feeling impressed." He continued, seemingly unbothered by my silence, with the dark shadows so cleverly hiding his identity. The street lights didn't reach this part of the balcony. So, the crescent moon was only adding shades to his presence. He seemed so relaxed on my balcony. It was a frustrating thought. 

I still kept quiet, keeping my gaze to the floor...waiting for him to get to the point. I knew why he was here...why he had decided to pay a visit. 

Black Fist was a bored man. He had taunted the police, tried to play this game with them, but the police just weren't solving any puzzles. I had. I knew that this man had insiders and gadgets, that he was listening to our conversations and principled about staying one step ahead. I had been the one to pick up a clue, so obviously, he was intrigued. 

"You are smart. I wonder if you will be able to figure out..." he then mused, thoughtfully. I raised my gun at him. This was my answer. I was willing to go the distance to fight for justice and punish the criminals. 

"Interesting," There was no hint of fear in his voice. As I tried to take one step towards him in agitation, I felt this thin transparent glass before me. 

What the heck!

Shocked, I patted the glass and frowned as it felt devastatingly cold against my hand. This wasn't just glass. It was something else. Running my gaze all over this shield, I heard him speak again.

"This can be fun. A woman, finally with some brains...let's see if she can really compete...if she can meet my challenge." He was talking to himself now. And just as I turned my face in his direction, I saw that he was no longer on my balcony. But instead, a large white piece of paper was lying on the ground...visible with the help of the light that was reaching it from my living room. 

 The message on the white piece of paper was clear.

'Only fools chase after deadly traps' 

This was obviously a hint, yet, at the same time, he was mocking me, calling me a fool for trying to catch him. His arrogance, his confidence...they were on the full play, and he had taken my observations and theories as a challenge. This was why he didn't leave a note at Soneer Kit because he wanted to make me solve this puzzle. This was a competing game now. He wanted to see who would win, and who would lose. 

I didn't really mind losing, but in this game, I wasn't going to accept defeat. This man thought he could defeat me and then mock my attempts of trying to figure out his ways. He was wrong. In this game of chase, justice was going to prevail. It always did. 

I was going to make sure that Black Fist rued the day he had decided to carelessly ruin hearts. He was going to learn that even broken hearts can fight back. He had wronged many, and it was about time I made him learn that darkness always got consumed by light. 

Darkness can never win.