INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) by ARKOPAUL DAS Read Free Book Online

garage. The garage proved to be quite a dingy looking place that was full of smoke and dust. It was old and some of the cars looked like as if they were bought straight from the 1980s .The walls were of green colour that nearly faded and the place carried a heavy smell of  petrol mixed with zinc and rusty iron. There were loud noises coming from the innermost area , some hard banging sounds made by the mechanics working there. There was a man in the front who was checking an engine of a half open car with his back to them.
    There was no door or any sign of a gate , it was all open to the road. As they came near , they understood that it was not so small as they thought it to be , there was a large hall kind of area with hundreds of car and some of them were also high quality sports cars apart from the vintage ones.
    The man turned back and saw them standing .He had a black sort of face that was the result of the smoke and the chemicals so it was not so easy to distinguish his facial features, and he was short and looked like he was in his late fifties.
    Alicia first showed him the NYPD badge and he made a confused face .
    ‘Ok?’ said the man not sure what was going to come.
    ‘Just some questions Mr..?’
    ‘Cleverly’ he replied promptly.
    Ryan quickly took out a picture of the car and held it in front of him and said ‘Saw this car?’
    ‘This black SUV ?’
    ‘Yes’
    ‘Sure I know this car’ he laughed ‘A man rented it a few days ago’
    ‘He bought it?’
    ‘No he rented it’
    ‘And for how many days?’ asked Alicia .
    ‘A week, he said he would drive the car back here after that and would pay for it’
    ‘What was his name, you remember it ?’
    ‘No, I didn’t ask for his name.... but he said he works in NY Times. And people form NY Times usually come here to take cars , you’ll even see some official vans that were taken for here. Most of the times they rent it or else they even offer to buy it .So you see when this man came for a car , there was no confusion form my side. I was happy to assist’
    ‘And he himself chose the black car?’ asked Kevin.
    ‘Right he himself chose this one’
    ‘Can you identify the man?’ said Ryan.
    ‘Maybe’
    Ryan took out another picture, this time it was of Jade Carter, and showed it to him. ‘Looks familiar?’
    ‘Yes this man was one of them’
    ‘One of them?’ Alicia was surprised and looked sideways. ‘You mean there was more than one man?’
    ‘Yes, there was another man with him, it seemed like they were friends or something’
    ‘And where does that man work?’
    ‘How do I know?’ this time Mr. Cleverly was a little annoyed ‘And why the hell should I ask him?’
    ‘Did he say anything in particular, maybe something you ignored?’
    ‘Nope, I don’t think so’
    ‘Where were you between 3 to 4 am Sunday morning?’
    ‘Home’ he said and looked a little more curious ‘But what for are you asking this?’
    ‘Just asking, Mr. Cleverly’
    ‘But why are you asking so many questions about this man? Why is he so bloody important?’ he shrugged.
    ‘Well’ Ryan went on ‘the thing is that he was strangled Sunday morning at that time. And we are just investigating...’
    ‘He was murdered?’
    ‘Yeah, and that too in that black SUV he rented’
    ‘Man’ The man was disappointed .‘If I knew he will be murdered then I would never have given him the car’ he said this more to himself. Then he added ‘Just to be clear, I say, that I haven’t killed him and I don’t want to be involved in this case’
    ‘You sure will not’ said Alicia politely ‘But you’re already involved with the case as a suspect. That’s why I say if you remember anything more ,then please tell us, even a slightest detail, maybe’
    ‘Sorry folks, I have said everything I know’
    ‘Okay tell me, did you get a good view of the other man who was with him?’
    ‘Yes I did’
    ‘Then tell us how did he look?’
    ‘6 feet , white, had a healthy