Chapter 3
After a long week, the weekend finally arrived and I can spend some quality time with my family. I was packing my bag to go to my parent’s house to see them. I left my apartment and while I was locking the door, I saw a newspaper over our post box. I was curious if there was any news of that guy. I grabbed the newspaper with me and took a bus.
I quickly went through all the pages of the paper while I was travelling in the bus. I reached the last page but couldn’t find anything about him. I realized how fast people forget about the crime these days. I wondered if anybody even noticed that news on the TV. I remembered because I encountered the person. If I hadn't encountered him live, I wouldn't have noticed the news on the TV that day. I became conscious about other news that went unnoticed by me because of my busy life.
I took out my mobile and Googled it if I could find any updates about him. I searched the name “Ryan Walters’s murder case”. It gave nothing new except what the news had already said. The more I was searched about that guy the more curious I become. I knew it wasn’t my job to get down to the depth but I had a hunch if there might be some innocent guy going through trouble. I wasn’t feeling good about that guy but I can’t explain the feeling I had. I became thirstier.
It was a Sunday afternoon at my parents' home. Everything was going normal but I wasn't able to divert my mind from that person. I wasn't mad at him because he gave me a fake id. There was something much deeper.
After the afternoon lunch, I went to the nearby police station. For a while I paused. I thought it didn't concern me but then I thought maybe justice is more important. Justice has become rare these days and something inside me pushed me to get one for him. Maybe my nervousness was visible to the outside world while I was standing in front of the police station. It wasn’t my first time at the police station. I approached a cop with a warm smile. But I could hear my heartbeat when the distance was getting smaller between us. With a long breath I asked, “I want to discuss a case with you?” That cop was a good person which I could see through with his avuncular smile. He said, “Please!” “I was curious to know about a guy who was accused of a murder which I notice last Friday’s afternoon news.” I told him. With a skeptical face he asked me, “I have to check about it but how do you know him, any link!!” I told him everything that happened on that Friday evening, the way he approached. I also gave the copy of his id to the cop along with my id as well.
He seemed busy browsing his computer while I was waiting by his desk. It was almost half an hour of waiting and then he suddenly said, “Wow! I finally found your guy. His name is Ryan Walter. So this is the id that he gave you. He killed his own father and his wife and disappeared.” I didn’t utter a single word at that moment. I had an ambivalent feeling whether I should take this case.