BANK ROBBERY

"I believe that guy wouldn't have run much further; it seems he was a coward. Because of that, I don't think he would think about running away and would be hiding somewhere close, probably some kind of hotel, and that too a cheap hotel because many people use different names to check in there, and no one suspects anything. I say search every hotel in the 5 km radius here; you might find your guy there."

Seeing her solve the case so easily, not only the officer but even the people who were listening to her report were shocked. How can someone solve any case without even properly looking into the case?

"Sear... search the whole area. I need reports of everyone who has checked into any cheap hotel after the incident near the radius of 5 km from here."

"Right now, I don't want to wait anymore. Go."

"Yes, sir!!"

The officers nodded and started to get to work.

Clap...clap....clap...

Then I heard someone clapping and coming towards us.

"Hey, you can't go in this area; it's off-limits for normal people."

"Hahahah, don't worry officer, you. Ma'am will call me in on her account and by her own free will."

"After all, I just want to comment on her whole report... Well, I am very impressed, but there are some mistakes in her report, and I would like to highlight them."

....

Hearing him, I narrowed my eyes as I saw that smug look on some random person's face who didn't know anything about detective work.

"Oh, you think whatever I just said is wrong, did you? Then why don't you kindly come here and present your thoughts on this matter? I think all of us would be eager to listen to you."

I spoke to him, mocking that guy out. Hearing me, a smile came upon his face, and he looked at the officer who was blocking his way.

"Well, I told you she would call me personally, didn't I?"

Hearing him, both the officer and I twirled our mouths in annoyance. Then he walked past the barrier and slowly came close to me.

"Aaaa well, well... What a mess. Can't you even cover his body? At least respect the dead. From where I come from, there is a saying that life is sweet but also unfair, and death is cruel but very fair."

He said while watching the dead body. Though he was talking about respect and all, there was not a hunt respect in his eyes for that body.

"Just tell me, why do you think what I said is wrong, and by what basis are you declaring me wrong? Do you know the consequences of your actions, trying to cause any trouble in a legal investigation can get you arrested."

"Ohhh come on, Ms. Detective. Don't try to change my words. I never said you were entirely wrong. I said there are some mistakes in your report. You know 'some' and 'entirely' are two different things, don't you?"

"Ohh and will you be so kind enough to point out my mistakes? If you do, I would be very grateful to you."

"Well, if you insist, after all, I am a very kind person."

He spoke to me with a kind smile on his face, which looked anything but kind.

"First of all, what your officers said was wrong, that those people who robbed the bank didn't take anything... It was wrong."

"What do you mean? We checked everything, and there was nothing stolen from there."

"Well, what you said is true, but the way you said it, 'They weren't able to take anything from the bank,' was wrong. You made it sound like they weren't able to take anything because you cops showed up there."

"So you are saying that they didn't take anything because they didn't plan to take anything."

"Bingo. Their plan was never to take anything from there; it was just a show a bluff to hunt the bigger fish."

"And how do you know that they didn't plan to take anything from there because the reports from the cops after talking with civilians say otherwise? They say they were put into gunpoint and were also asked to open the safe."

"Well, yeah. If they don't put everyone at gunpoint, it won't look real, will it? And I know it because I was also there."

"What... You were there when they were robbing the bank?"

With shocked eyes, I asked him, as if to confirm what I heard was true or not.

"Bingo, yes, I was there."

"What were you doing inside a bank?"

I asked him that question, knowing fully how weird my question was. And as if to confirm it, the stranger looked at me with a deadpan look on his face.

"Are you dumb? Why do people go to the bank? Even a ten-year-old kid knows the answer to that."

He spoke to me, and this time, I didn't know what to say. It was the first time someone had called me dumb. I didn't know what to say about this remark. I tried to apologize to him for such a weird question, but he cut me off.

"I... I am sorry, I know..."

"Well, obviously, whatever they do, I wasn't there to do that. I was there in hopes of some kind of crime to happen."

This time, I looked him in his eyes with a deadpan look and thought 'really and here I was going to apologize to this jerk'. But then...

"Wait, you were there for a crime to happen? But why?"

"Well, what I didn't introduce myself to you? Well, whatever. Let me introduce myself then."

"My name is Vijay, and as you guessed it right, I am from India. Well, I was, but now, I live here in England. Well, it's funny how first England invaded India in 1608 and lived there for more than 250 years, and now we Indians are the ones who are living in England. Hahahaha, and well, to your question, I am a private detective who takes cases and solves them for money. But, because of you government detectives who are somehow so good at their job, people like me now have to look for crimes. Do you know how hard that is?"

Vijay looked towards me and shook his head as if showing how disappointed he was.

"So you are a private detective, and you were there for a case."

I ignored all unrelated information and focused on the main points.

"So, what did you see there?"

"Well, at last, you asked that. I thought I would become old waiting for you to ask me that."

Hearing him, my mouth twitched, and I asked again, but this time, in a much stricter voice.

"Don't waste my or anyone's time here. We have much more important cases after this, so speak fast."

"Well, whatever."

"So, when I was in the bank, chilling and passing my time, I suddenly heard someone scream..."

...

Bank

Third-person view

"Haaa, I am bored...There is nothing for me, It seems I am not going to get any cases today too."

Vijay could be seen chilling in his seat while glaring at the ceiling.

"He looks suspicious, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you are right, see him, how he is acting there...."

Vijay could hear many people talking about him, but he didn't care about them and was just glaring at the ceiling with a very bored look.

"Everyone's hands up, no one will move....."

Then suddenly, Vijay heard someone screaming. When he turned around, he saw three people entering the bank with black masks and handguns in their hands. One of them moved straight towards the counter and pointed the gun at the worker, who was scared so much that it seemed he would wet his pants.

"Hey, everyone on the ground, no one will move, on the ground right now...."

The other two started to make people kneel on the ground, and seeing that, Vijay became very excited.

'Well, it seems I am going to get a case soon.'

Vijay thought to himself and rushed towards the ground, kneeling without any resistance whatsoever.

"Come here, fill this bag with money. You, come with me, and you stay here, see that no one moves...."

Saying that the two robbers left the place without saying anything, and the other guy sat on the chair and watched everyone. No one could tell what he was thinking.

Beep...Beep...

Suddenly, the alarm started to ring, and seeing that, the robber panicked and jumped up from his seat, looking towards the hostages, and asked in an angry and deep voice.

"Who was it, who pulled the alarm...."

"...."

Seeing no one answer, he pointed his gun towards one of the hostages and asked.

"Tell me who did it fast, or I will shoot you..."

"I...I don't know, please don't kill me, let me live, I have small kids at my house."

The guy started to shed tears as if everything was about to end, but suddenly.

"Hands up... Don't move or I will shoot you..."

A policeman with a gun in his hand came inside the bank and targeted one of the robbers...

Seeing the cop, the guy shuddered in fear and dropped his gun, raising his hand to show that he had given up.

'Ohhh, cops came very fast here...'

"What the heck is happening here...."

Then, one more guy came in and seeing the cop, he tried to shoot, but the cop was fast and shot first, hitting his hand, and making his gun fall to the ground.

"Hands up, more cops are coming up, so don't move."

He said to him, and both of them raised their hands without any resistance. Then suddenly, the third guy who was hiding behind the table ran towards the cop.

The cop didn't notice him because the guy used the counter table to hide himself and got close to the cop, trying to attack him, and pushing the cop down.

And then, seeing the chance, he ran away without even looking behind towards his partners, completely ignoring them.

Seeing him running away, both of them tried to run past the cop, but the cop stood up, gaining his balance, and pointed his gun at both of them.

"You too, don't move, or I will shoot you both..."

Both of them stood there gritting their teeth in anger, as they were betrayed by their companion.

'Well, too much drama here. I could write a whole novel on their story....'

Vijay thought to himself...

....

"So, what does this prove, that guy was a coward? And what are you going to tell the moral of the story is, to not believe in someone?"

I asked after his story ended.

"Well, why not? After all, no matter where you get it, you should always take the knowledge. After all...."

I ignored his lame remark and fixed my gaze on him, asking in a slow but very scary voice.

"Tell me... What are you trying to tell..."

Seeing me act like that, his body shuddered a little bit, and he spoke.

"Well..... As you see, those guys didn't decide to rob the bank because of money..."

He answered, and hearing it, I narrowed my eyes, signaling him to keep going.

"You see, there was no one who had pressed the button of the alarm, but somehow the alarm was on, that means someone must have pressed the alarm from inside near the safe area, and the cop who arrived was suspicious too because when I came into the bank, there wasn't any cop there, and the third guy who attacked the cop, why didn't he use his gun? If both of his guys had guns, why was he the only one that didn't have his gun in his hands?"

"Hmmm.... So you are telling me that the bank incident was nothing but a false game..."

"Bingo again. I think the killer wanted to make it seem like the aftermath of a bank robbery.."

"So that the cops just focus on the bank robbers and they can easily instate their plan..."

"To kill him, the business tycoon....."

I muttered softly and thought about the case from different perspectives.

"But that doesn't prove that the killer was not the robber...."

"Well, it does if you see the body properly. There are three shots fired at him, two at the knees and one at his heart... That is not a normal way to kill someone; it is a very painful one, and I know who uses this type of trick shots."

He told me while pointing at the body and said with a serious look.

"It's the work of the Russian Mafia....."

"What? Why would the Russian Mafia be here in England..."

I asked him while narrowing my eyes.

"If you provide enough money to a Russian, they will do your work no matter what it is. I am sure it's the work of an Assassin from the Russian Mafia..."

"Then what about the bank case...."

"Ooh don't worry about it, I am sure you will find him, as you said, in some kind of hotel or something, and I am sure that guy is just a scapegoat for the Russian Assassin...."

"Their plan is very simple: use a bank robbery as a scapegoat and get out of there. I am sure when you find that guy, he would try to take all the blame on himself..."

"But why would someone do that to just kill a business tycoon...."

"Well, it's simple. This business tycoon is a major shareholder in his company. If he dies, somehow his shares would be transferred to another shareholder, and the person with the major share would be elected as the new CEO of that company..."

Hearing him, I narrowed my eyes...

"So you are suggesting that someone who holds shares in his company was the one who ordered his assassination."

"Well, that's just my report on the case. You can choose to believe it or leave it; it's up to you."

Then, I narrowed my eyes and looked at him with a suspicious gaze...

"One more question: How do you know so much about this?"

"Oh, well, I have many friends who help me, and they are very good; they tell me everything...."

He spoke with a kind, gentle smile, which somehow didn't look so kind to me.

"Alice, you were right. We found the bank robber... And he has confessed that he was the one who killed this guy..."

The officer came close to me and whispered in my ear to not let the other guy hear about it.

"Well, it seems you found your guy, didn't you...."

He spoke to me with a smile on his face.

"How did you know what he said to me?..."

"Well, I am quite good at reading lips too. When I was small, my uncle used to teach me things like that..."

"What should we do, Alice?...."

The officer asked me with a curious look.

"Well, now that we have the guy, let's see how much truth this guy speaks..."

Saying that, I turned towards the Indian guy.

"I am putting my trust in you. Don't disappoint me, private detective.."