Fifteen
22nd March 2003
3.55 P.M.
'Holy shit! This is all just preposterous.' Dexter exclaimed, shocked, impressed.
'Jesus. This can't be any coincidence. Can't believe it.' Akash was astonished.
'This guy's a pure genius.' Dexter said, zooming into the piece of paper. 'He could have been a writer, for all it matters.'
'SHO Syna, you're good at this.' Akash appreciated Syna, making her blush immediately.
'So, John Wallis's infinity has to be –'
'The title of his theory or perhaps, Abort's real name.'
'What are we waiting for, then? Let's try and arrange the jumbled words.'
'Or even better. Use the internet. There are a lot of freely available softwares which can arrange any jumbled word.' Syna offered.
Dexter took the lead and started clicking on the keyboard furiously.
He stopped at the word,
"INPUT"
'Type John Wallis. Let's go systematically, one by one.' Syna said and Dexter obliged. After typing the name, he clicked on,
"GO"
Words kept blinking and dancing randomly, trying to match with each other. After a few seconds, fifty words showed up, with different word limits. Fifty words meant fifty names and fifty vast possibilities, trying out all the permutation-combinations which would match with the suspect's name would prove time-consuming. And time they couldn't afford.
'Change the word length limit to seven.' Dexter did what was asked of him and clicked on the "GO" button again. The same blinking dance of words, and then came the result. They pressed their hands together, hoping to find something exclusive.
7 -word limit: 12 results,
Joh Inwalls
Jin Hallows
Jin Shallow.... Show more
They looked at one another, with shocked faces. The two names displayed were their only leads, unless they tried another combination.
'The second name makes more sense to me, or should we try infinity?' Dexter asked.
'Why don't you search for that name, "Jin Hallows". The code said that he was a professor. Now, if we have the correct name, then surely we will find something about him.' Akash said.
Dexter opened a new window and searched for "Jin Hallows". He waited impatiently, his heart beating fast. The screen displayed a few results.
'Nope. I can see people with the name, "Jin Hallows" but their nationality is not Indian.'
'Well then, we should try and add Infinity.' Akash shook his head and asked him to search for all the twelve names, one by one.
'Type in Professor Hallows.' Syna said. 'Just Hallows?' Dexter asked.
'I'm certain that Hallows is his last name. We have a lot of Indian citizens with that head name. If we add Professor, we might find his first name.'
Dexter then searched for "Professor Hallows.". The screen was loading, his foot started thumping on the floor, with angst. When finally, several articles popped up with the search words, "Professor Hallows". Dexter, wasting no time, clicked on the first link available.
'That's it!' Syna exclaimed. 'We got him.'
"Prof. Mark Hallows from Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta."
'Mark Hallows? That's his real name?' Akash asked. 'Jesus. It's him. It has to be!'
'A foreigner?'
'An Indian. India is home to all religions.'
'Hold on. His skin.' Dexter said and zoomed in on a photo that unveiled a fair, broad-shouldered man, in a black suit. 'It's white.'
'Are you being racist?'
'No! I mean, we have seen Abort Hazer's pictures on news channels and in the papers. He's not fair, and he's definitely not white. Furthermore, Abort Hazer is bald, he has no hair. On the other hand, this professor looks like he has great hair.'
Syna and Akash studied the photo. She took a printout of the professor's image and ordered Dexter to find Abort Hazer's image and print that, as well.
Dexter disappeared, and also brought along a few newspaper cutouts which had Hazer's photos. Both pictures of Abort Hazer and Mark Hallows were placed adjacent to each other. As Dexter had pointed out, Mark Hallows had fairer skin, as compared to Abort Hazer. Besides, he was also bald. They noticed that Hazer's nose was crooked and short. Their faces showed different features, but they were both roughly of the same height.
'Some features tell me they are the same, some don't.'
'The skin and the face, they can be changed, surgeries.' Syna said. 'That doesn't help us, we need something more. Something that matches with both of them.'
'Are you telling me this is a coincidence? In case you both haven't noticed, Rahul Arora too, lived in Calcutta.'
'Considered, Syna. But what we are dealing with here demands precision.' Akash said, in a condescending tone.
'Are you seeing this?' Syna said, pointing a finger at the Professor's right elbow. 'A tattoo.'
They looked at the elbow, there was a tattoo which corresponded with his name, "Mark", written in a stylish form.
'Do we have the same on Abort Hazer's elbow?' Akash asked, excitedly. Dexter took out a blurred picture from a newspaper article, but it had a clear view of Abort's elbow. It displayed no evidence of a tattoo on any of his elbows.
'There you go.' Dexter taunted at Syna. 'No tattoo.'
'Maybe you should take a good look at this picture.' Akash said, holding a printed image of Abort Hazer.
'See what?'
'The scars and the bruises. They are permanent, and are at the exact same place where the tattoo is, on the professor's image.' Akash said, in a tone of eagerness.
'This means it's him! Abort Hazer's real identity is Mark Hallows!' Syna said merrily.
'But then, what about the word, "Infinity"?' Dexter asked.
*****************************
Mr. Khatri handled the complaints and progress of the remaining cases, in Syna's absence. As usual, he hurled out curses at all of his colleagues, particularly, SHO Syna. Something was surely revolving around, she had the opportunity to lead a mass-murder case. And instead of planning things with her team, she chose to run around with a junior and a private detective? Just two more days and the leadership will be transferred to the DSP, but Mr. Khatri wanted some revenge.
'Sir.' Constable Shinde hopped in. 'I may have something for you.' Mr. Khatri sat upright on his chair.
'Did you hear anything?' He asked roughly, in a low voice. Shinde nodded.
'I couldn't understand what they were talking about, but SHO Syna was excited and kept talking about some "Professor Hallows". I also saw the dickhead, Dexter running in with a bunch of old newspapers.' Mr. Khatri arched his moustache, this was news.
'Did you find out the date or any article from those newspapers?' he asked, in a whisper. 'Didn't get the chance.'
'Try to get a hold of those newspapers, and press yourself more for information.'
'Understood.' He said, and left.
****************************
22nd March 2003
4:30 P.M.
Dexter searched for the word 'infinity' in Mark Hallows' math's research data. They found a few articles which showed Mark Hallows trying to explain the negative effects and results of using infinity in mathematics, stating that 'infinity' doesn't have any relevance with mathematics, and that every assumption of values reaching infinity were wrong glitches of maths. Apparently, his research and theory were turned down by the board, and Mark Hallows lost all credibility and influence. Various similar articles also said that Prof. Hallows was very determined and strongly believed in his theory. However, after continuous rejections from all the high born professors and mathematicians, Mark left the institute and was never heard from again.
'Can we get a copy of his theory?' Akash asked,
'Nope, it's restricted. Unless we have access, we cannot get the theory.' 'Or unless we demand to get it.' Syna said.
'I'll look after that.' Dexter replied.
Akash stood up and stretched his hands, they had everything they needed. They broke the code, found out that The Stalker was real, and even figured out a way to find some leads to The Stalker.
'So, what next?'
'We go to Tihar jail. We have to reach there by 7 P.M. I got permission,' She said, mockingly.
'Are you serious? You got permission to interrogate a prisoner on death row!?' Dexter asked, surprised.
'Hold on. It's 4:40 P.M. How do you expect to reach Tihar Jail by 7? The distance is roughly 350 K.Ms, which means it would take at least 6 hours to reach there.'
'I have it sorted. Get ready Akash, we both leave in twenty minutes.' Syna said, Dexter instantly turned to her,
'Both? What about me? I've been here all along; I broke most of the complicated codes and-'
'I know. But if I leave with you for the rest of the day, the department would know something's fishy, which I reckon they already do. So, I want you to cover all the tracks while I'm gone. Not a word about my whereabouts can be leaked to anyone. You'll stay in this cabin, delete all history, any piece of evidence that was used by us while figuring out these codes, understand me?'
Dexter nodded, lacking the enthusiasm he had before. Syna and Akash could tell he was pissed, but they had no other choice.
'I hope you realize what we are dealing with here.' Akash said, looking at Dexter. 'We now have information which no one has, or perhaps will ever have. This information is crucial, we may get some leads from Mark Hallows. Sacrifice is part of teamwork, you're doing a great job.'
Dexter forced a smile and signaled them to carry on with the task.
*******************************
No judgement can overthrow my kingdom, for my castle is not made of sand but ancient wisdom.
~The Stalker