Monday, the 2nd of May.
03:13pm
The coffee shop on Hudson street was not a really fancy one but it was one that many people loved to come and get a cup of coffee and some snacks, because the customer service there was top notch, rated a plus ten out of ten. The coffee shop had been on Hudson street for only two years but its customers spread further than that. The coffee shop had its must busy times in the morning when people going off to work would stop by for a cup of coffee and some snacks. In the afternoons like this, it was not as busy as that as most people placed orders over the phone and in the evenings it was almost empty, people only came by for the snacks. No body wanted to drink a cup of coffee right before bed time.
"One with extra cream Gabby?" He beamed and winked at the elderly lady as he decorated her cup of coffee. Gabby winked back and laughed out loud, placing one hand on her chest as she did so.
"You are such a silly young man." She admonished playfully. "You might just make me laugh to death!"
He smiled back and placed the cup of warm creamy coffee in front of her on the counter. "Now, now Gabby, I would not be much of a son in law if I did that now would I?" He winked again which earned another round of laughter from Gabby.
"Oh not again." She picked up the cup and while admiring the grain shaped design on the top of her coffee, she said. "I have just one daughter and she is already married."
"Oh no..." He said and grabbed the part of his chest above his heart and faked a pained look. "You just broke my heart again."
"Oh stop it already!" She giggled. "Stop with a your fanatics and tell me how much does this work of art cost."
"For you Gabby, this one is on the house." He lifted both hands up to demonstrate.
"All the coffee I have ever bought from you have always been on the house." She smirked at him. "But I could at least drop a tip? Do not say no."
He shrugged his shoulders in defeat and nodded. "Well al-right Gab."
The elderly lady smiled and shook her head, then went over to the tip box and put in a five dollar note, then she looked back at the young man who was already attending to another customer and smiled before going off to a seat by the windows side.
As soon as he was done attending to that customer the phone rang, he went away from behind the counter to the back, where the phone hung on a wall and snatched it from its cradle, bringing it to his ears.
"Hi, you have reached Rain coffee shop, how can I be of service?" He spoke into the receiver. The next voice he heard was not one he was expecting to hear and the smile immediately fell from his face. He held the phone to his ear for a couple more seconds before the line went dead and he replaced the phone back in its cradle.
For right years he has not heard from him and now, all of a sudden he wanted him to return back home.
"Ameila." He called to an attendant and a cherry girl with deep brown hair turned to face him, she smiled.
"Yes Chester?"
"I need to head out some where and I may or may not be back. Take care of things here for me?"
"Yes sir!" She playfully replied and went back to attending to the customers.
Chester took off the apron he had on and threw it onto the hook just by the exit door before he stepped out, the cool breeze of the Tribeca spring season welcomed him into the outside world. Chester shut the door behind him and stood there for a while, looking ahead of him but not exactly taking in the scenery, his mind was elsewhere. Why would grand father call him? He sighed and began to walk, he needed some time to himself, he needed some time to think and clear his head, mind and thoughts and nothing sounded better right now than going for a long drive.
His mid night blue Honda FCX clarity had been the lone car parked on this side of the street when he had drove in earlier in the morning, but now it sat in between a mini van and a yellow taxi cab, giving him very little space to maneuver his way out from between them, but there was enough space for Chester, just enough space which he needed to move out, it had been just the exact space he had needed to get away from his over bearing and controlling grand father and his “supposed” duties towards the company. He got into the car and took a while to calm down, steadily breathing in and breathing out before he drove off.
Chester Hunt, a self made business man, owner of The Rain coffee shop and a number of other booming and widely growing businesses abroad, an under cover billionaire, legitimate grand son of the well known and renounced Mr. Colin Hunt and the sole inheritor of Skyline businesses. A thirty five year old handsome man that had the ability to make women turn their heads in his direction more than twice. Despite the wealthy family and extremely influential background he came from, Chester was too humble and it was this humility of his that had his grand father screaming down at him that he had to be strong and bold and man up to his duties. But Chester was all that, he was strong and not just physically, he was bold and he was wise too, Chester just did not believe in throwing his weight around and looking down on other people just because he had more money and more power and a higher status that the others. Grand father did not follow his logic, he had seen every thing as being weak and the last thing he wanted was to have a weak successor.
One thing had boggled Chester though, despite Grand father’s strict rules and tough exterior shell, he had not tried to stop Chester when he was leaving the house years back, he had merely even taken a look at him and it was not as if Chester had gone to meet him to ask for his permission before leaving the house any way, but still, Chester had thought that the man would have had him bound or would have kept some men on him to make sure that he never tried to “escape” from his duties. But Grand father had done none of that, even after he knew that Chester had left.
But that was eight years back, he had left Manhattan, New York for the busy California city and he had stayed there six years, being wasteful and extravagant and for the first time in his life, Chester had thrown not just his weight but also his money around. He had lived lavishly for almost two years then, in his attempt to over come whatever grief he had carried in his hear from New York and to explore his freedom, freedom from his “duties”, freedom from his Grand father and freedom from all the hate at home.
He only returned to New York two years ago and had kept a very low profile, no body knew who this Chester was, no body knew him as Chester Hunt of the Skyline group and he had also felt free so he had settled here, in lower Manhattan, Tribeca. The Rain coffee shop was his get away place, because in here, he could be himself and he could interact freely with the other people whom his Grand father would have termed “of lower status than himself”, but he was doing what gave him peace of mind and joy.
Chester was a business man and he still is, but he did not want to grow up all sad and grumpy and lonely as his Grand father did. When it was time for business, Chester knew what face he had to put on and when business was over, he could be himself. That was a weakness for Grand father.
But now, after eight years, Grand father had called him back home. He had not requested to see him and he had not exactly commanded him to come back either, all he had asked for was to see him, but Chester knew what exactly it was that Grand father wanted. He wanted his successor back into the business. A business Chester never actually could leave in the first place, he had a twenty eight percent share in the company and knowing that this company was his inheritance, he could not abandon it. He was thankful for the break though; it was something he had needed.
* * * * *
"Hi, you have reached Rain coffee shop, how can I be of service?" He had said after picking up the phone call.
“Grand father wants to talk to you.” The caller had said, Chester had not under stood what the man had meant until he heard the other voice.
“Chester.” He had immediately recognized the voice and he had been left speechless for a while. “Chester Hunt, this is Grand father.”
“Grand father…” What could he say? He had a feeling of longing suddenly and he realized that he had missed the man he had run away from. He was still family and this had been the man that had helped raise him.
“Come home Chester. Come back to the company.”
“I am not quite done with work over here…” he began to say but Grand father interrupted him.
“I know you have been in New York for two years now. I know you have been in Manhattan. I know you have been in that coffee shop. I know that you own it Chester. I have been watching you.”
“You kept a spy on me, Grand father?” It shocked him, but after saying it out loud, it did not surprise him any more, this was after all his Grand father.
“I am your Grand father,” Colin Hunt continued. “And you are my grand son, this company is yours and you have to inherit it one day and take over running it, how do you think I could just let you go off like that?”
Chester half smiled, typical Grand father.
“Come to the company Chester, there are some people I would want you to meet.”
“Grand father, I do not…”
“I do not have that much time Chester. I also want to retire and not have to die in this seat.”
Chester paused; the man was right. Sooner or later, he would have to return, so why not now? He had stayed away for the longest of time.
“Come back Chester.”
Chester sighed. “I will Grand father.” he replied and the line went dead.
* * * * *
Chester stopped at the red light. Maybe he did need to return back home, not to stay or move in, he did not think he would ever be able to move back into that house, more over, he was already an accomplished young man and he needed his own independency as well, but he needed to return back home because no matter what happened, family was still family and family would continue to remain family.
The car behind him honked aggressively and Chester snapped out of his thoughts, he looked up to the traffic sign that had changed from red to a green before hitting the accelerator. As he drove, he could not help but feel numb; he had a longing for home and then again, he did not. He turned down the next street and headed for home, headed for his own house, right now all he needed was a cold shower and a long sleep. A really long one. He twisted his wrist to look at the watch strapped to it; 03:58pm, if he slept now, he probably would remain awake all night. He shrugged his shoulders, then he would kill that much time by doing something online, maybe watch a movie?
Tuesday, the 3rd of May.11:06am.The detective office was a lot busier than it had been in the last couple of days and the busiest people were detectives Aiden and Tia. They had been to the Coroner, William Martin, on several occasions, joining him in studying the body of Pamela Neil. Seeing and touching a dead body was not so much of a task for Tia but Aiden did not exactly like it, and to make it worse, her body was three weeks old. Aiden could not stand it so he stood afar off, holding in his hands a note pad and and a pen, jotting down the things that Tia and William discovered while studying the body.“So she died from bleeding out from the cut in her neck?” Tia asked as she leaned in for a much closer look at the wound which had long been cleaned but the cut was still very much visible as it was very deep.“Could be.” William said, adjusting the glasses to sit properly on the bridge of his nose. “We sent some sam
Tuesday, the 3rd of May.05:33pmGrand father was rarely ever at home, except on some rare occasions like maybe he was tired or sick or maybe he just wanted to be away from every one else, and that was about the only time you could find grand father at home and he was always mostly in his office too, and this time, grand father was at home because he needed to relax and be away from people for a while but right now, grand father was doing neither of that.Grand father Hunt sat behind the huge, custom made, polished oak desk in his office, a ton of files lined one side of the table and in front of him was one open file which he was working on, reviewing and signing. The office curtains were mostly drawn, allowing only the littlest light from the outside to filter into the room.The furnitures in the office were all dark coloured, from the dark brown wooden ceiling, to the deep red rugs, nothing in here could reflect the light and it was all how grand fathe
Wednesday, the 4th of May.10:05amSkyline travelling agency was usually a busy place, attracting a whole lot of people and occasionally, the media, but today was not like the normal busy days, today the media and the people who flocked outside the building were more and the news that brought them here was the rumor of the returning son of the Hunt family, the one that was always referred to as “The Heir”. The first grand son of Mr. Colin Hunt, grand father of the Skyline group, was returning today after years of being away.The head lines were juicy and some were just exaggerated, it would be the talk of the business world for a couple more days; The Return Of The Prodigal Grand Son.From a distance, they could see the escort cars racing to the front of the building and every media personnel got their cameras and micro phones ready, struggling to be at the front of the crowd to get a better view and better chances of briefly interrogating the
Wednesday, the 4th of May.01:02pm“Tia!” Aiden called out excitedly as he was stepping into the office, frantically waving something in the air. Tia lifted her head up from all the paper works on her desk and turned in her seat to see him coming towards her and waving a brown envelope in his hand. She smiled a little, glad for the distraction and little break, reclining in her seat and watching him.“You have good news? Because that is your look of ‘I have good news Tia’, so please tell me you have something.”Aiden beamed and grabbed a chair, wheeling it closer to Tia, he looked at her straight in the eye and said. “I have good news.”“Good!” Tia exhaled. “Now, lay it on me, what is the good news?”Aiden slapped the brown envelope on her desk. “This!”Tia quickly grabbed the envelope and tore it open, studying the paper in it. It was a DNA test resul
Thursday, the 5th of May.07:22am.The Manhattan spring morning was chilly and cool and oddly quiet, maybe it was because he had woken up too early or maybe it was because he was not used to waking up from this part of the city, he was not used to waking up in this house. It had been eight years and a couple of months since the last time he had slept in here. He laid still in the bed, unmoving, with the covers pulled all the way up to his chest, he breathed softly, listening to his surroundings, the house was quiet. Throwing the covers off of his body, he slid his feet into the flip flops and casually strolled out of the room, he quietly descended the stairs and headed for the back door leading out of the house.He stepped out onto the terrace and stood, shoving his hands into the pockets in his trousers. He had slept in his suit trousers and his singlet because he had not brought any other clothes. He had not even planned on spending the night here but he did a
Thursday, the 5th of May.08:31am“And here are the autopsy reports on Miss Pamela Neil.” Aiden announced, setting the file on the desk and pulling a chair closer as he did so.Tia looked a bit worn out, she and Aiden had come to the office a little earlier than normal because they wanted to dive fully into this investigation. Neither of them ever liked to have their cases turn cold, but the two cups of coffee on the desk in front of Tia had already turned cold. She wrapped a hand around the cup and when she did not feel the heat any more, she shifted the cup to the far corner of the desk.She yawned.“Tired already?” Aiden asked out of concern. Tia looked at him and smiled, shaking her head slowly while picking up the file. “When last did you have a decent sleep?” He asked again.“The same year I became a detective.” She replied and they both chuckled. “Now, let us see what we have got h
Thursday, the 5th of May02:13pmTia sat across the most seductive looking man she had ever come across, even with his apron on and his disheveled hair, he still easily took her breath away, but of course she was not going to act to make it so obvious that she found him attractive. No, that would be like her throwing herself at him, and although she did find him to be very attractive, she was not about to think up a scenario of both of them intertwined in a sea of bed sheets and torn clothings, making wild passionate love to each other and unable to just let go of each other.She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head slightly, why would she think that? And now that she had, it was stuck in her head, but the scenario did make sense to her in some kind of way as she could not remember the last time she had had sex with any man, or the last time she had even made out.“Stop it Tia!” She yelled in her sub conscious. “What the hell are you
Friday, the 6th of May.07:03amThere was something about the Manhattan spring morning asides from the fact that it was always chilly, or maybe it was just the way Tia felt. She was unable to get any comfortable sleep last night and she had been awake long before the alarm had gone off.She knew why she felt like this, and it was because of the fact that she had a puzzling case at hand and it was giving her sleepless nights. None of the cases she had worked on in the past had troubled her this much.Unable to sleep and unable to stay put, she had left the house earlier and had gone to the office, maybe she could have a head start in this. Pamela Neil and Clarissa Jan had more than just one thing in common, and asides from the fact that they might have possibly been killed by the same killer - no, hold that thought, it was a fact as clear as day that they had definitely been killed by the same person - they also had each other’s DNA sample in the other