The sobs reached the office first, even before the woman walked in. A few seconds later, a chubby woman in her late sixties walked into the Davenport Police Department, she was pale and her expression was a mixture of sorrow and confusion.
Sarah was the first to rush to her and she gripped her like she was grasping a life-saving straw.
"Good morning, What happened? Calm down so you can tell us what happened. We are here to help."
The woman crouched and began to sob like she could not breathe, "It is gone. It is all gone." The words croaked out from her throat. After a short interval, she burst into a surge of tears hysterically.
The woman was wailing so much that it echoed all over the police station, she could not be reached by Sarah at all.
He probably can not wait. Ravi thought and sure enough, Arlen stood up hurriedly and rushed to the woman.
His hand on her shoulder was warm as he patted her, his tone concerned. It was not just him, everyone in the office had surrounded the woman, Everyone but Ravi who was typing his report while listening with one ear, "Ma'am, calm down. What
is gone? Your child?"
The moment she heard the word, child, the woman burst into a fresh flow of tears.
"Your child is missing?" Arlen's voice turned more imposing as he frowned, "Maam, don't cry. Time is of the essence. How old is the child? When last did you see him or her? Ma'am pull together today so we can help you."
So, he could have such an imposing tone, but it makes sense, sometimes you have to be firm with someone crying or they may never stop.
"It is not, not my child. My money. My money is gone. Everything..." She hiccuped, "Everything is gone from my account. What am I going to do? I just want to die."
"Do not talk about death. Take a deep breath. In and out. What do you mean everything is gone from your account? Have you gone to your bank?"
Arlen helped her up, leading her to the chair and he nodded for Draco to take down notes, while he sat opposite her.
"Yes. I bought some..some groceries because my son is coming with his family on Wednesday but when I went to pay at the counter, the man said that there were insufficient funds. I thought that he was joking so I scolded him to try again but there was no money. I went to the bank and they said that I had withdrawn all the money. I did not, I really did not, you have to believe me. Oh! What am I going to do? Officer, please help me."
"That is our duty, we are here to help you. You have to answer a few questions for me. Can you do that?"
The woman nodded, her eyes shining as she focused on Arlen as if she had seen a savior at the end of times.
"Officer Adam, get her a glass of water. By what time did you go to the grocery store?" He gestured to Draco to begin writing and Ravi could swear that he had never seen Draco so attentive as his pen scratched the writing pad.
"By 7 am If you go early to Zenix, you can get deals on almost everything."
Ravi took out his writing pad and wrote it down when he saw Lisa give him a very hot glare making him pause in his action. Fine! That was inconsiderate of him. He did write in his memory. Zenix, 7.am, great deals.
"And you used your card at the counter."
"Yes."
"Did you use it anytime yesterday?"
The woman scratched her head and looked away briefly before reaching out to hold Arlen's hand, "Officer, I swear, yesterday, the money was in there, I swear." With her free hands, she touched the ground before touching her tongue and raising it to the sky.
Ravi bent his head to hide his laughter. Last month, a man had done the same thing, swearing on his life that he had not killed the man lying on his feet, even as his hands were still bloodied and the knife that he hid at the back of his shirt was sticking out.
Swearing meant absolutely nothing in this world. There was a world that he had sent to, Vowrel, Words were power so people avoided speaking as much as they could. It was a cold and silent world but it was one of his favorites.
"Ma'am, if you lie to us, you will make our work very difficult. If you want to recover your money, please be very honest."
Arlen's voice made Ravi snap out of his memories and looked at that handsome face that was completely focused on the old woman in front of him.
The woman looked agitated, "I am not lying."
Arlen was quiet for a moment but he continued to ask her questions, following a chronological timeline of all her activities yesterday.
This questioning took over 30 minutes and soon the woman left with Arlen's assurance that he would do his very best.
"What do you all think?" Arlen stood up to address the team.
"Captain, We should forward the case to the Financial Fraud Department at Alstria." Their police bureau was a small building with less than 20 police officers, they neither had the relevant trained officers or equipment to solve such a crime.
Sarah nodded her head, "She said she did not give out any personal details but she looked like she was holding back something, maybe she did and she is afraid that the police would not take her seriously if she should say the truth. It should be a financial fraud case, let us forward it to Alstria."
Arlen's brows furrowed but he did not say anything. Instead, he turned to Draco, "Officer Brown, what do you think?"
Draco looked around at his teammates who were looking at him and sending various messages through their eyes. He looked back at the Captain and did not hesitate to betray the people he had worked with for years, "I do not think we should forward the case to Alstria, if we do so, then how would we reach the Top 1000 police Department in the country? I say we should investigate a little on our own first. "
Arlen looked at Lisa who was transfixed by his features, and bobbed her head like a lizard, "Let us investigate first."
Arlen turned to face Ravi, his blue eyes had a pleading glint to them.
His eyes were so beautiful. Ravi thought. He has seen different ocean blue shades but the pair in front of him was just so memorizing. It was the ocean in the early morning with the sun's rays hitting it.
Clear and calm.