Chapter 112 - First One To Discover The Body

Andrew wiped the tears off her face and made her sit on the bed, he then offered a glass of water to Sophia, she calmed down after drinking it.

"Now tell me what happened" He caressed her cheeks lovingly.

Sophia then narrated everything that happened.

"Okay so why do you look so scared?" Andrew casually asked.

"The cops were heading to the crime scene and there is a damn good chance that the body is not completely burnt, after autopsy they will know who he is and they will come to The Eminent Club first and you already submitted your fingerprints and retina scan there" panic was evident in her voice.

"Listen silly, Bob's fingerprints are not recorded in London, he belongs to Poland, so cops won't get any records of him, I was planning to get rid of his sim card but his sister messaged him today, with no option I responded to her text and told her everything is fine, she insisted on a phone call and I told her I am too tired for it now"

"What the fuck"

"So, don't worry Bob is alive according to the records and even if they manage to get his DNA they won't be able to run it here, there is no DNA record of his in London and till I'll manage his sister and she is not suspicious of us we won't have any problem."

"How will we manage her?"

"I'll regularly chat with her and would send some money to her every month, then she will not be suspicious of us and I am sure cops too won't be able to trace this murder back to us, so relax" Andrew lovingly kissed her on the forehead.

After listening to his assuring words she felt more relaxed, they ordered dinner to their room and after eating it Andrew went and got all the luggage that was in their car back to the room and then they slept cuddling each other.

Saturday Morning 

Next day Andrew went for work, he was supposed to report at 8 am so he left early, after locking the door Sophia again slept and woke up at 11 am, she was damn tired mentally and physically.

After freshening up she checked her phone, she went and browsed about the dead body found in the isolated area hoping to get some news on it.

There were multiple news articles on Bob's case, Sophia's hands trembled as she felt very scared as to what she will read, she nervously opened the article, what she read scared her even more.

It was mentioned, a half burnt dead body was found near the lake in the outskirts of the city, someone in that area quickly tried to save the body that's why only 30% of the body was burnt and 70% of the body was still left, the body was sent for autopsy and the results are awaited but a weird paper cutting was found in the jeans pocket of the dead body, it seemed like an article of a magazine but cops sealed the evidence so they are not sure which article it exactly is.

Sophia immediately went to her suitcase and opened the transparent folder she always carries where she stores paper cuttings of important articles from different magazines, she went through all the articles she had and she realized one of the articles was missing, she covered her mouth in shock as she understood Bob managed to get hold of one of the articles which were lying randomly on the motel table and hid it in his pants pocket.

With trembling hands she immediately called Andrew, after one ring he cut her call, she understood he must be busy working at the club so she decided to wait for some time before calling him again, every second felt like an hour to her and she couldn't wait any longer and called him for the second time, he again cut her call, she was frustrated but she had to wait, after few more minutes she again called him and the third time's the charm, he finally answered her call.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you know I am at work right now?" He shouted on the phone, there was no one around him so he let his guard down.

"Andrew" Sophia cried on the phone.

Hearing her cry so helplessly, his anger was gone and he gently asked her what happened.

She told him everything she read in the article.

"I told you, this habit of saving articles would create trouble for us" Andrew shouted at her.

"Please don't shout, I am really scared" 

"Okay calm down and tell me which article is missing?"

His eyebrows frowned when he heard Sophia's reply, his anger was replaced by worriedness. 

…

Friday Evening, Police Headquarters [Few Hours Back] 

Patrick was going through a case file when one of his subordinates informed him about a burnt dead body that was found in the outskirts of the London city.

He and his team quickly rushed to the said location.

It took almost an hour to reach the spot, there were a lot of people near the body and there were few journalists clicking photos of the body.

As soon as Patrick reached there and asked all the people to move away from the dead body as they were compromising the crime scene. 

He shouted at the journalists and warned them none of the pictures should be posted on the media.

"Why sir, it is our responsibility to bring the truth to the citizens of our country" A journalist argued with him.

"Yes it is, therefore we would allow you to post an article about the crime that happened but you can't post the photos, this way you will be alerting the criminals and they will get all the information, it will be more difficult for us to catch them" Patrick explained his stance.

"Okay sir but we will post the facts"

"Yes, as far as your facts won't meddle or disrupt my investigation, it is fine but before posting any articles you need to get it verified by one of us."

"Okay sir" The journalist too agreed as it was a fair demand. 

The public moved away and Patrick's subordinates took statements from all the people there, Patrick approached the body, the personality of the body implied that it belonged to a man, the face was burnt and it was difficult to recognize the person, some parts of the body were burnt and the dead body stinked.

"Who called us and who was the first person to discover the body?" Patrick asked the public.

"It was me" a young man came forward he was wearing a black vest

"What's your name?"

"Sir, my name is Bill"

"Where are you from?"

"A town called Rye"

"Were you the first one to discover the body?"

"Yes sir and also I was the one to call the cops"

"Please describe in detail what happened here?"

"Sir, I came here for a vacation, this place is beautiful so I was just taking a walk when I saw fire in here and after coming closer I understood it was a body which was on fire as I could also smell kerosene."

"Then?"

"Then I had a bottle of water with me so I tried to pour water on the body and I removed my shirt and tried to extinguish the fire"

It explained why the man was only wearing a black vest.

"Good job, how long was it before you called us?"

"Sir, as soon as I ensured the body was not on fire anymore I called you"

"Was there any witness who saw you extinguishing the body?"

Patrick wanted to confirm what he said and also had to ensure he himself is not the murderer.

"Yes sir we saw it" A young couple who were standing near answered Patrick.

"Who are you two?"

"Sir, we were just passing by but we saw fire and a man trying to extinguish it so understanding the situation we too came forward and since we were travelling we had a bed sheet with us so we carried it and helped him quench the fire" 

The young couple were in the car which Sophia saw approaching and it frightened her and she had to run away.

"Good job you two, did you see anyone else here?" Patrick asked all three of them.

"No sir he was the only one here" the young couple answered pointing at Bill.

"Are you sure he was really extinguishing the fire?" It was Patrick's duty to check the facts.

"Yes sir, actually he was the one who shouted and waved at us and asked us to bring a long cloth, so we are damn sure he was only quenching the fire"

"Did the man who was on fire shouted for any help?"

"Actually sir, I think he was already dead by the time I came." Bill nervously answered.