"Who, Sir?!" Mark asked, checking if he heard correctly.

"Harry Richard Jones. Do you know any such person?" Charles asked.

Mark took in a deep breath, proud for the first time, that he knew an answer his boss had asked.

"I was going through your early cases, Sir. There was a file, which held the information of one culprit, named Richard Jones. It held the names of his wife and son too. His wife Marriene Jones and son Harry Richard Jones. It said, that, when Richard was punished for the crime, he let out the names of his companions too. This caused a huge chaos, resulting in the murder of his wife and his son."

Charles was stunned. He remembered Richard. A tall and lean man, with soft features. No one could have guessed him to be a brutal murderer.

Then could it be that he was the one behind all of this, taking his revenge on Charles?

Could it be?

●○●○●

"Anna! Come here," A man called the little girl from a dark corner. Little Anna who was having a lollipop, looked up at the huge man who was accompanying her, whom she had come to trust in such small time. The man nodded giving her a smile.

With tiny steps, she went up to the man in the dark corner. As she arrived she could see, a tall man, with shiny hair, smiling at her. The way he smiled caused Anna to shudder. She was scared of the man.

"Come here. Don't be scared.." he said, in a low, smooth voice.

The man lit a lamp which was kept beside him. The light illuminated his scarred face.

"Sit," he said. Anna obediently sat on the chair kept opposite to him.

"Do you draw?" He asked in a friendly manner.

Anna nodded, "Yes."

"Would you like to draw something, until your father comes?" He asked.

On the mention of her father, Anna smiled, and brightly said, "Okay."

The man laughed at her sudden happiness. He was reminded of someone, and suddenly the anger in him rose even more.

He gave Anna a sheet of white paper, a pencil and eraser, and another paper with a doodle. "You have to draw this on that paper, can you?" He asked her. Anna analyzed the doodle, and then nodded.

●○●○●

(27th July 2017)

©AmyParkins