Chapter 5: Back To Home

"Harvey Scooter? Such a weird name. Can't you come up with normal names?" Claire asked, while her eyes were going through the contents of a notebook in her hands.

Alex was sitting on a chair beside her and was listening to her, critiquing the play he wrote. He used to write plays in the college and was also a member of a local theatre as an actor.

He smiled awkwardly at Claire's remark and answered, "I am not good with the names. What's important is the depth of a character, names are not that important."

She looked at him, holding a page midway which she was about to turn and said, "What are you saying, Alex? Names are important too. They give a basic idea of the character."

"You might be right, but I like weird names better," Alex replied. "They are catchy."

Claire shook her head as she knew that he was never going to agree with her when it came to his plays. She read it further.

"What is this character about?" She asked, her eyes still fixed on the page.

"He is a corrupt officer who often gets into bribes and even leers on women. He has a comical personality but can even play a bad character at times," Alex explained.

She sighed and replied, "You have such weird characters in your play. Do you like these kind of men who leer on women?"

Alex stood up, looked right into her eyes and said, "Do you mind if I leer at you?" He moved closer to her, caressing her body from up down to up from his teasing eyes and licked his lips. He slowly moved even closer, held her waist and pulled her closer to himself. "Do you?" He spoke softly.

The notebook was still in her hands, which she was holding near his chest. She was silent and was falling into his eyes deeper and deeper.

After a few moments passed by them just staring into each other's eyes, Claire spoke, "As long as it's only me, I don't mind."

"I am not Harvey Scooter, love. I am Alex, who only lives for his Claire," He replied, making her lips to form a smile. He took the notebook from her hands and threw it aside as it was acting like a barrier between them.

Their faces slowly moved closer as if they were pulled by magnets. Their eyes got closed and their lips were about to meet, but Claire put her index finger on his lips and stopped him. "You should better rehearse for your play tomorrow. Do a good job tomorrow, I have something special prepared for you."

"I will definitely do a good job if you are with me, love," Alex whispered.

She smiled, "Of course, I am with you."

***

Claire took a step back in the chamber with a terrified look on her face.

The person who was arguing with the police officer left after saying that he would search for his underwear himself, and how incompetent the police is as they couldn't even search for underwear.

The police officer and Sam ignored him thinking that he must be a mentally ill person.

Sam sighed and returned to the chamber where Claire was as he still had to get information from her.

As he entered, he saw her sitting on the chair with even more terrified eyes. She was staring at the surface of the table in front of her without doing a single movement.

"Are you okay, Miss Claire?" Sam asked with a frown, making her snap out of her nightmares.

"Ah… yes… yes… I am okay," She said, trying to act calm.

Sam nodded, still looking at her with suspicion and asked, "Before wasting any more time, I will come directly to the point." He sat on the chair parallel to her on the other side of the table. "What does the killer look like?"

She looked at him with sudden shock, giving him the idea that she knows something. Before she could speak, he spoke again.

"Also… Where were you until now?" He leaned ahead and added, "Don't lie to me. I am here to help you. If you know something, you can tell me."

"I don't know anything, I spent the whole night in an alley," She replied, seeing Alex's face in front of her eyes. "I witnessed a murder in an alley."

"Hmm…" Sam hummed. "Did you see his face?"

She nodded to say yes.

"How did he look like? Can you give a description?"

She gulped and said with a trembling voice, "He was a middle-aged man with a moustache. He had a fat belly and was wearing a tight t-shirt."

Sam found the description weird as it was not matching the description of the serial killer. He assumed that the man in the alley was murdered by the masked serial killer, but it didn't seem like the case after listening to her.

"Hm... Can you help us sketch the man?" He asked. She nodded to say yes but she wasn't looking so sure.

"Okay then, we will contact you when you are needed. Until then, don't go out of your house for no reason."

Claire stood up and left the chamber followed by Sam. As soon as she walked out of the chamber, she saw her father and James waiting for her at the police station.

"Dad!" She hugged her father tightly. All her worries and fears got flushed out in an instant.

Her father was a well-rounded bald man with grey hair on the sides of his head. His name was Francis Hoover.

They separated themselves and both looked at each other with a smile. Francis couldn't sleep the whole night waiting for his daughter to return. He was in a panic when he heard that her cellphone was found at the crime scene.

"Are you hurt, my child?" He said.

"I am fine, dad. No need to worry," She answered with a relieving smile. Looking at her, Francis sighed in relief too.

As the father-daughter reunion was happening, Claire found one thing weird. What was James doing there? She did tell him clearly to not meet her again last evening.

"I heard that you and James had a great time together yesterday," Francis said, looking at both of them. "I hope you two start a new life together. I am not pushing you, take your time."

Claire wasn't getting whatever was happening. Did James lie to her dad about the turnout of their date?

"Are you okay? I was feeling really anxious when I heard about it," James said while she was still processing everything.

She nodded with a forced smile on her face.

"Let's go," Francis said, signalling them to walk out of the police station as it was not the right place to stay longer.

As soon as they walked out, Sam said to the police officer, "She is hiding something."

"What, sir?"

"I don't know but we have to find out," Sam replied with a frown.

***

Francis calls a taxi. Claire returned home after dropping James on the way. The guy was being a creep again. He was trying to be touchy and was apologizing through gestures all the way.

As soon as she reached home, she ran straight to her room which was upstairs.

"I will prepare breakfast, you take shower and get refreshed," Francis said in a loud voice as he saw her going upstairs.

She walked into her room and closed the door from inside. It was a room with a bed, a study table, a bookshelf and a wardrobe. Of course, the walls were pink as it was her favourite colour.

She pulled out a drawer of the study table and took out an old picture. It was a picture of her and Alex. She held his right arm from both of her arms and they both were smiling.

While she was still staring at the picture, her father called, "Hey Claire! Your friend Sarah has called! Come, talk to her!"

Her phone was still with the police. It was natural that her best friend since the college days would call her father to ask about her. She wiped the tears slowly flowing down her cheeks, put the picture back in the drawer and walked out of the room. "Yes, dad!"

"She was really worried about you," Her father said, handing his cellphone to her.

She took it and said, "Hey Sarah."

"Oh my God, are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?" The voice on the other side of the phone seemed too anxious.

"No, I am okay. Don't worry," She replied.

"Thank God."

"How are you?"

"I am fine, baby. But I didn't just call you to ask this. I have to tell you something important," Sarah said.

"What is it?"

Claire didn't know what she was about to hear. Her eyes widened in shock as Sarah said –

"Alex had come over earlier. I asked him where he was for so long but he didn't answer me. He gave me a weird sealed carton and told me to give it to you…"