"With all due respect, Sir," I emphasize the 'sir' to really get him bothered, as he knows just as well as I do, it's said with as much contempt as respect. "I only did what I thought was in the best interest of the victim's girlfriend. I wanted to investigate and secure the apartment and make sure no one else in the complex would be at risk. I certainly didn't know how high profile my neighbors were."
"That's besides the point," Sergeant Hong says, relenting a little. "That Suraj Sama- Samaran-, oh, however the hell you say that last name, was a tech whiz kid. He'd invented some ridiculous computer software application that was going to make him one of the richest young twenty- somethings in America." It's a shame I think, that kid could really have done great things. Well I can't do shit for him now, other than find the bastard or bastards responsible for painting his MacBook with his own blood.
As I walk out of Sgt. Hong's office, I can't help but wonder what's happened to his girlfriend, Tessa. I really should talk to her now that she's had some time to calm down. See if she has any information. It may not help, but it sure won't hurt.
As I step into dim cafe, I can tell how affected she is. She looks exhausted, which isn't surprising after what happened to her. I introduce myself again and ask her how she's feeling. "I'm feeling alright," she replies. "Can I get you anything to drink or eat?" I ask nicely. "No, I still really don't feel very well." "Can you tell me anything at all about what might have been going on that could have led to what has happened? Take your time, you don't need to answer if don't feel comfortable."
"No, it's Ok. Suraj would want me to tell you everything."
"What do you mean by 'everything'?" I wearily ask her.
"It's a long story, but here goes," she replied slowly.
"It all started last summer, back when Suraj had to borrow some money for his new software. He had successfully got his new company up and running. He was seeing fantastic results. Each months he had over a million new hits, with almost half of them downloading and using his software. It wasn't long before people came sniffing around offering to buy his website. There were even a few times where some of the people got pretty aggressive over the phone."
"Can you explain more about that? What did they do? Say? Were you or he familiar with any of these people? I asked with the hope that maybe, just maybe I'd be able to get a solid lead I could follow.
"I don't really know who they were. I saw on the caller ID one day that it said that Stanford University was calling. Another day, University of Washington called. That wasn't as surprising as Suraj worked with U of W on certain occasions, offering professional opinions, he even consulted on one or two jobs there."
"I'm going to have to have his records for those jobs as well as any contacts he regularily worked with there."
"Okay," she quickly answers. "Should I continue?"
I quickly nod and let her know I'm ready to continue.
"Well after the Stanford call, things started getting a little crazy. One morning his windshield was cracked. We'd get calls from restricted phones on the apartment phone and his cell phone. I urged him to sell, he could always make something else. He never wanted to, he had such huge plans for his software. He wanted to do something big, something like Microsoft or Oracle or something, I don't know."
Turns out all he got was a bullet in the head.
All of the sudden, the windows of the tiny cafe shatter. My ears are ringing, but I immediately dive across the table and shield Tessa. I can feel the heat of the fireball. All I can hear are people screaming, running. It turns out that today we were lucky there's a Starbuck's on every corner. Apparently, whoever was gunning for her thought we'd be there. Luckily, I called 5 minutes before our rendezvous and told her to slip out the side door and meet me at the Tully's Coffee across the street.
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