5 Chapter Five -

"Here, these are some places we suspect Sid has stayed. There were unknown blueprints discovered there and some fingerprints that matched with a deceased man," Maggie spoke, pushing a plastic bag full of images towards me, whilst sipping on a cup of hot coffee. I could feel the brewed coffee beans working to calm my nerves.

This was just too much.

After spending an hour hovering over several case files, my mind seemed too stressed out, too taken by the added information. Every latest discovery was toying with my soul: Mr. Wright and Jamie were business fraud, my ex-bullies were suffering in life, Sid was an extremely intelligent criminal taunting me with a frustrating mystery and my nerves were aching with the need to get rid of it all.

What was going to happen now?

All of the information sent by Sid made no sense. Okay, so he wanted me to know all about the people who he presumed had wronged me. Shocking. Liberating. The gentleman 'Jamie' had demons hidden in his closet, so I have been saved from vicious claws of corruption. But, out of all these people, who's reality was Sid unravelling? They were a part of my past. What about my present? I didn't want any harm to fall upon anyone. But given that Sid had recently revealed himself as my stalker, it would have made more sense if he started unravelling the ugly demons of my recent tormentors.

Was he actually showing that he knew me for a very long time? If so, then why come forward with this information now? Or perhaps, he was showing that he had come to find out all about my past, but what purpose would that serve? Him knowing, he wasn't using that to frighten me.

Feeling slightly depressed by the unravelling of all my demons, I leaned against my chair-rest and cupped my chin.

"What do you think he is actually trying to do?" I looked up at Maggie, eyeing her cup of coffee. She seemed in deep though as well.

"We can't make sense of his actions anymore. We have tried chasing him all the way to Germany, Algeria, Dubai. His actions have just been so unpredictable. He leaves some taunting clues, blueprints around. And this is the first time he is being so directly in contact with us. The constant sending of messages, files, and revealing his obsession."

"Detective Maggie!" it was Sana, showcasing an expression of urgency on her face. "You need to come and see this."

Maggie immediately shared a look with me, finishing her coffee in one gulp and getting up.

"Of course, lead the way."

"Two college girls have recently been arrested for taking part in a robbery. They belong to Kings College for Women." That's my college! "The girls plead to be innocent, yet sources have found their fingerprints on a rare diamond set placed in the National Museum of Monuments. Police are in the process of questioning some classmates of these girls. Peers have reported these girls 'Karen' and 'Georgia' to have always taken part in acts of bullying and torment in their college."

Tick.

"We've got an anonymous caller telling us to listen to a radio station," Sans informed, switching on the radio. I was feeling too speechless to respond.

"You study in this college, right?" Maggie turned towards me.

"Yes, these girls, I am not on friendly terms with them either!" I squeaked, knowing this had Sid written all over it, again.

This proved it.

He had moved on from the past and was now moving towards my present. He was doing this for me!

Who exactly was this guy?

"He is clearly doing this to make a statement," Maggie folded her hands behind her back. "He is trying to impress you, Grace, but the thing is we have no idea what he is going to do after making all these gestures, so we are to raise your security to full notch. Capisce?"

"Capisce," I responded in a frightened tone.

"Sana," She then turned towards her attentive worker. "Try seeing if we can track that anonymous caller and get someone to call the local police station where Karen and Georgia are being kept captives. Give them an insight into the whole situation!"

"Yes, captain!" She immediately stomped away.

The chaotic police office was filled with a sense of havoc, again. Everyone had gotten busy with phone calls, some began heading outside the office, files were being thrown across the room. I felt like conducting some investigation of my own.

This was so overwhelming.

Seeing me on the verge of hyperventilating, Maggie pushed me to sit on a random chair, assured me that nothing would happen to my family and took out a mobile phone from her bag. I wasn't allowed to bring my mobile phone along, or else I would have been investigating of my own; I would have searched how exactly Karen and Georgia had gotten caught.

Soon, after a few hours of making quick phone calls, giving orders, Maggie's eyes widen as someone loudly called out over the havoc.

"The male department has been able to trace the anonymous call. It reportedly came from a small island near our southern bay. A team has already been sent there, and it is reported that they found someone resembling Sid's appearance residing in a small cottage, there. The police are bringing him in."

What! This was news.

"Are you sure?" Maggie asked in a stressed tone, stomping over to him.

"Yes, affirmative." The officer nervously nodded.

Everyone's nerves seemed to get triggered by that. Quick calls seemed to circulate around the office floor, once again, while I was left frozen in my seat.

Could this man really be my stalker?

No, this must be some kind of game, a plot. After all, what the police knew about this guy was from the hints HE left behind. What if this was a ploy? It couldn't be this easy capturing this guy.

A man who had escaped the police for so long, been making a complete fool out of them, he couldn't have been caught by a simple call trace, that was the most cliché trap. I think the police knew this, that is why there was a sense of panic and edginess tinging in the air; they knew that this could be a deadly game.

However, there was another thought that seemed to plague my mind. What if this really was Sid? What if he purposely got caught? But why would he do…unless-

My eyes widened as the answer hit me suddenly.

-Unless he knew I was staying here.

Shoot!