The roads of the city were almost deserted at this time. The night was dark, engulfing the whole town in itself; except the grey sky glowed with winking stars. Most of the inhabitants were asleep. Except for the occasional bark of a stray dog or horn of a car passing by, the whole town was wrapped in deathly silence.

Suddenly, a figure draped in a raisin-black cape approached a well-built building. The dress was also dark and face hidden under a hood. From the slimy figure and small features, it seemed like it was a girl.

As soon as a wooden arch of a building appeared in the line of her vision, she took slow but firm steps and stopped ahead of main oak door of the building. A lone streetlamp was illuminating the front concrete wall. Written in bold letters above was: 'Amber's café'.

She glanced at the aged guard snoring loudly, sitting on a chair right next to the entrance.

"Enjoying his pretty sleep, useless old man." She thought sarcastically.

Sneakingly, with her tactics, she easily unlocked the door and carefully stepped inside. She paced towards her target as she knew the way like the back of her hand.

Not wasting her valuable time she started her work. Her slender fingers quickly typing on the keyboard. The features of her face became visible from the light coming from the computer. With an olive-brown skin with chocolate-colored eyes, pink lips and a greek nose; she was a beauty. Her eyebrows furrowed in a deep frown and a strand of her black hair slightly caressing the side of her face. Her focus was on the screen but her sharp senses were fully attentive; ready to face any unexpected situation.

No one knew what the girl was up to...

After minutes, an evil smile found its way on her lips.

"Done." She mumbled, satisfied.

Wrapping her task the girl went out. The old man outside was still in his deep sleep, utterly unaware of what his poor self was going to face soon.

The girl threw a last nasty glance at the building and moved on her way back, becoming the part of the darkness. She wasn't scared of dark lonely nights nor of the dogs barking. She was used to it. Like a part of it.

She was brave.

Cruel incidents that happened in life made her brave.

She didn't care about anyone but herself—Or about someone else— who was very dear to her.

Little did she know a shadow of a sinister figure was looming in the darkness, stalking her every move.

•••••••••••••

Dawn came as a new hope for better bright days to many people in the city but at least not for Mrs. Farhan. It was proving to be the worst day of her life.

She was having a panic attack, her face which was painted with makeup a few minutes ago, now looked extremely pale. She was covered in sweats and her fifteen years old daughter— Amber— trying hard to calm her down.

"I– I don't know– officer. I have no idea. Pl– please do something.." She stuttered, being on the verge of crying.

"We are doing our best madam but we also need you to fully support us, are you sure you aren't hiding something?" The uniformed officer spoke in a professional tone.

"No. I told you everything. There's nothing I'm hiding–" Upon her answer, the officer glanced at his senior, who was already looking at them.

His name was Asad Qureshi. He was a man above 50s, despite salt and pepper hairs, he seemed quite young and handsome. He was dressed perfectly in a dark navy and khaki-colored police uniform, a similar cap on his head, and his guns stuck in his holster. The golden badge attached to his shirt proudly telling the power and position he held. Being an experienced and high ranked officer he was regarded with the utmost respect in The Central Police Department.

"We find no other lead, sir. The murderer was very cunning. He did his job perfectly and left no clue behind." Officer Rehman, the one who was inquiring the lady, said to Officer Asad Qureshi.

"He didn't break into the café?" He asked.

"No sir, the café was locked and everything in place as the owner left behind. The person only stabbed the guard and ran away."

"And that's where we can find any suspect. He only murdered the guard and stole nothing from the café? I'm sure this owner is hiding something. Keep working until we find a clue." He ordered in a deep voice, authority, and command evident in his tone. He never before failed in his job, nor he had any plans to lose now. Always ought to see criminals behind bars and solving every case with determination, he was sincere with his work.

"Did you send the dead body for autopsy?" Officer Asad asked.

"Yes Sir, doctors are on their job, but I concluded that the guard was stabbed right in his chest," Rehman replied.

"I agree, but wait for the final reports." He was saying but stopped when Mrs. Farhan's shrill voice echoed in the café.

"Oh thank God! Alina, you are finally here. I can't take it anymore, it's too much–" She ran towards a girl entering the cafe.

The girl's expressions were already morphed with shock because she had witnessed the police patrols and reporters outside the café along with the dried blood near the entrance. They weren't even letting her enter but when she stated that she was the owner's assistant, they cleared her path immediately.

"What happened?" She asked horrifyingly.

"Murder! Rasheed, our guard, is murdered." Mrs. Farhan hugged the girl named Alina and started crying.

"Oh my God! How? How did this happen?" Alina asked astonishingly, rubbing the woman's back to ease her cries.

Asad Qureshi was watching the dramatic scene unfolding in front of him with his hawk-like eyes stalking the newcomers' every move.

The girl was in her early twenties, wearing a pastel pink colored kurti, with a white scarf covering her hairs in a girly fashion. She was consoling the crying woman when she felt someone's scrutinizing gaze on her.

Brown eyes met the cold grey ones. Alina felt goosebumps because of the officer's doubtful gaze. She quickly averted her eyes and scanned the café building.

Cops were sealing the whole café, inquiring every worker about the murder. Obviously, no customer was in sight, nor any of them would dare to come now. Mrs. Farhan's reputation was completely destroyed, she was literally doomed.

"Can we talk in private?" Alina whispered to the crying woman.

Mrs. Farhan nodded and took Alina in a corner. Officer Asad saw their change of position with the corner of his eyes, but he chose to ignore it.

"What is all this? I don't understand." Alina said to the woman, earning a defeated sigh from her.

"We have been scammed. Someone killed Rasheed and broke into our café, that murderer looted me. I lost everything! I have not even a rupee left." Mrs. Farhan muttered and Alina gasped. "What?"

"Remember the investments I made two days ago? I get it now, it was all fraud. I was so foolish to give that caller very detail about my credit cards and bank ids. I just wanted to save my money. But I lost everything." She started crying again.

Alina was shocked to the core. She was aware of the investments Mrs. Farhan made.

It all started two weeks ago when an email popped in Mrs. Farhan's account asking if she wanted to make any investments. It was some get-rich-quick scheme, probably a con. But Mrs. Farhan fell into the trap because she wanted to save her black money, giving the 'fraudster' every detail about her accounts and fax which required further transactions.

At first, the 'fraudster' asked for upfront fees like for government taxes, fund transfers and foreign expenses, then he sent a partnership contract to gain trust and Mrs. Farhan signed it easily without any further verification. Large transfers of money took place and Mrs. Farhan invested all her savings that unluckily led her to nothing. The scammer took everything.

"Ma'am Farhan, you still have the soft copy of contracts the scammer gave you and also phone numbers. We can go into investigations and catch that con man." Alina said hopefully to Mrs. Farhan.

"Oh dear, you are so innocent. These con men left no loopholes in their work. The one was here last night, he broke into the café and swept all the documents, contracts, ids and numbers from my personal computer that we exchanged. But Rasheed must have seen him so he murdered him and ran. And the most important thing. I can't register any complaints. Cops will ask the resource of such a large amount and when I won't tell them, I would definitely be arrested. So don't you speak a single word about it, understand?" Mrs. Farhan asked sternly and Alina nodded in assurance.

"We have to talk to you miss," Both the ladies were startled by the officer's voice, who was pointing towards Alina.

Fear rose in both of their eyes. For Mrs. Farhan, she was dreading that if he overheard their secret talk.

For Alina, she was already scared when Mrs Farhan told her about the murder and she getting conned, now she was fearing from the inquiry which was about to take place.

♦♦♦♦♦

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_A.M_