Try In Vain

The story of a detective, who is tasked with finding a missing accountant.

  My shoes hit his face like the bumpers of a railway engine. There was a sound of crunching bones and he fell lifelessly on the floor with a shrill scream. He had lost his beauty in no time. His nose was shriveled, the skin on his cheeks was split and his bones were showing.

  Pretty Wells was a killer who loved his beauty as much as his revolver, and the only use he had for private detectives was to put revolvers to their heads. It is obvious that in such a case what could be the use of your servant Shell Scott?

  But one evening at four o'clock he entered my office in the Hamilton Building and said,

"Put on your coat, Scott. You're out." It was an order.

  I was looking at the tiny colorful fishes swimming in the small aquarium on top of my bookshelf at the time, so immediately I could only guess that there was some evil jerk behind me, but when I turned around, I recognized him even though I had only seen him once before, but absently I knew everything about him. He was only good in appearance, inwardly he was a complete evil.

  "I'm not a slave to your orders, pretty," I said.

  "Shut your mouth and go away."

   His attractive face turned red.

"If you knew me, you shouldn't have dared to do such nonsense." He said.

 Although knowing and not knowing Pretty meant the same thing. Those who knew him were afraid of him and spoke very frankly. And those who did not know him, at first considered him a noble and virtuous person and treated him with good morals. Later, they were also among those who feared him who were beginning to count.

 He was almost as tall as me, six feet two inches. However, he was about twenty-five pounds heavier than me. Unless the weight of his revolver was counted, which must have been resting on his side.

 Despite his revolver and his size, his personality had great delicacy and sophistication. His teeth were smooth and shiny, his hair dark black and sleek, his skin flawless and his nails neatly trimmed. The eyebrows were arched and thin like a bow and the space between them was as empty as his skull was empty of wisdom and mercy.

Pretty Welles was without a doubt one of the most handsome but tough men in Los Angeles, but there is hardly anyone else in Los Angeles who was both handsome and tough at the same time. He had been involved in several physical fights, but he was still handsome because he knew how to protect his beauty not with soap or cream, but with punches and a revolver.

"Stop procrastinating." After a few moments, he ordered me.

“Hack has called you.

I heard you are looking for Leokran. "

  He was telling the truth. Twenty-four hours ago Mrs. Leokran hired me to find her husband. It was possible that it was obligatory to call her husband deceased. He worked as an accountant for Heckman. Or say it was done. So my mind was determined to consider him already dead.

  Heckman was one of the big but behind-the-scenes gangsters found in big cities who had a hand in everything, be it drugs or wrongful death, gambling or brawls, prostitution dens, or buying and selling stolen goods. He must have had something to do with every case. He was not only extremely ruthless but also extremely stupid.

 He never reached such a high place in the underground mists, but despite all his stupidity, there was a cunning habit in him. He did not trust anyone in the world. Not even on his right hand, Pretty.

  His empire was like a communist organization. A rogue used to supervise another rogue and a third rogue was supervising him. And all three of them were being supervised by another rogue.

And in this way, all the reports are used to reach the same person above, that is, Heckman.

Although this system was complicated, the result was that no one could get any concrete material against Heckman that would be enough to send him to jail, let alone drag him to court.

Under these circumstances, the accountant was the only person who still knew more about his real businesses than anyone else, with the result that his former accountant had quietly disappeared two years earlier. In other words, it disappeared and was never found again.

  After that, Leokran took over the post, which was no doubt handsomely paid, but his life hung on the gallows, and at any moment the board could slip out from under his feet. Now Leukran had also disappeared. Probably the board was also pulled from under his feet. So it was no surprise that Heck wanted to stop me from looking for him. 

“Now get moving,” added Pretty Wells.

 “Heckman doesn't like to wait... and try not to do any more bullshit."

  "You go now, pretty, and pluck the extra hair from your eyebrows and make them beautiful,"

  I said gently. "And tell the boss that I'll meet him when I like and have time. I'm not dying to meet him.

  I think meeting Heckman and dying were the same thing.

Pretty took a few steps forward and stood right in front of me. He wanted to say something but then postponed it. I was just staring at him and thinking about how to control him. I knew that it was not too difficult to control him with bare hands and feet, so I had to take care not to harm his beauty. 

By the way, even after being kicked and punched, he would not be any less furious, but if there was any mark on his face, then he would be mad with anger and what was the point of making him mad at the moment?

   He loved his beauty and if I had put a mark on his face he would have killed me. Whenever he gets the chance. In fact, the best way to deal with Pretty was to control him with the revolver itself. I glanced at my revolver and holster which were lying on my coat and the coat was now on the table.

  It was at that moment that I learned a valuable lesson when talking to a man like Pretty, you should never take your eyes off him for a second. Just then I looked at my revolver. 

He punched me in the temple. I guessed that he would try to run things for a while longer. But I might have hurt his feelings a little too much. So he attacked me, taking advantage of the first opportunity.

  I was more than a little surprised at my fall and Pretty stomped on my stomach with his pointed shoe. Instead of a meal, the tip of the shoe reached my stomach. I sat up and twisted in agony. His foot came towards me again so I grabbed it and tried to twist his leg just like the judo karate training center says but they don't say when your vision is blurry. The body has become paralyzed and if you do not have the ability to bend a straw then how can you bend the leg of a man like Pretty?

  After that, I also felt that Pretty was leaning on me and the handle of his revolver was about to hit my skull. But knowing that was just like knowing that the earth rotates. But you can't stop it from spinning…

  When I regained consciousness, I was lying on a soft couch, but I had absolutely no recollection of how I got there. I didn't even remember why I was getting threatened in my head. By turning my hand on my head, I found that another small skull appeared on my scalp. And after touching it I remembered everything. I opened my eyes.

A few feet away from me sat a bloated man slumped in a bloated chair. It was Heckman. This situation meant that I was in Los Angeles in Heckman's suite on the top floor of the Statler Hotel.

  "Hello, Heckman! Stupid devil!" I addressed him.

  He let out a low chuckle. Usually, the higher-ranking bullies are very cheerful and have amazing endurance, but this man was not, so I was somewhat surprised to see him laugh in response to my method of address.

 His face was puffy and round like a child's and his whole body swayed when he laughed.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. So that the fog can clear from the mind. I knew Heckman would want to talk to me about Leokran, and I was trying to remember what Leokran's wife had told me about him.

  Yesterday Leokran's wife Anne Crane called me and at her request, I came to see her. She was a doll-like woman of short but attractive stature, with an innocent desolation in her big eyes. She tearfully told me that three days ago her husband had called her saying that she would not be able to see him for a few days.

 He was temporarily hiding. That's because he's getting his hands on a huge deal, at the end of which he'll make up for this brief separation by showering Ann with expensive gifts. Since then, nothing was known about Leokran.

  From Anne's manner, I was convinced that she had not quite understood what her husband meant, and I also thought that the poor woman's spirit had given up and she was at a loss as to what to do. 

 I got a photo of Leokran from her. Leokran's impressions were sharp. But he looked like a homely man from his face.

  From there I tried to learn as much as I could about Leokran. And during all this conversation, tears welled up from Anne's almond eyes, slipped down her rosy cheeks and curved red lips, and fell into her lap.

After the fee issue was settled, I returned to my office and started getting information from some of my specific sources. At some point, I deliberately spread the word that I was looking for Leokran, and after that Pretty Wells broke into my office.

  I opened my eyes again and said.

"You must be too restless to talk, Heckman. Say what you have to say."

  "Mister, you come out." He pointed to the door. The mister he addressed was Pretty and another scoundrel known as "Shadow".

I think calling him an x-ray rather than a shadow felt closer to reality because he was so thin that if he stood on a weight machine without the revolver, the needle probably wouldn't budge. He probably helped Pretty in bringing me here.

  Seeing Pretty, My anger increased and I moved towards him. But before I could reach him, he had already left the room with "Shadow" and closed the door behind him.

  "Sit down ." Heckman directed.

 "Otherwise I'll just have to bother pointing and you'll be lying down forever instead of sitting."

  At least this time he was right because I didn't have a revolver. I told him to stop the nonsense but followed his instructions anyway and sat down.

  "Scott," he said seriously. "I know you don't like me, and in my opinion, I don't have any love for you, but it's not necessary to like each other to cooperate with each other."

"Speak of meaning," I said disgustedly.

  "I'm looking for Leokran myself," said Heckman.

  "Suppose, if you reach him first, then you will hand him over to me. I can reward you for this work according to your honor."

  "Work for you?" I repeated contemptuously.

  "In front of me, even if you die in the desert rubbing your heels with thirst, I will not pour a drop of water down your throat." Then I started abusing him and saying bad things. His white face turned red and I understood that he was getting angry. 

He showed restraint and patience until I became silent. Perhaps he had believed that he would not get anything from me except trouble.

"They have done a lot of nonsense."

"Now shut your mouth and get out of here immediately. Before some more mouths open on your body." He leaned forward.

"But remember this, Scott! Leokran is what I'm looking for, and I'm going to keep looking for him. If you even get in my way, or if you even try to step outside of your limits, you're dead." understand."

  Immediately my anger subsided. If Heckman was indeed looking for Leokran, that meant he was almost certainly still alive, and if he was alive, my fight with Heckman was futile. I thought for a moment and then said in a low voice.

"As if Leokran really went into hiding of his own accord and you're afraid?"

  He informed me in his characteristic dirty tone that I was actually suffering from 

constipation and indigestion and hence I was having strange thoughts then he said. Leave this topic, and give up looking for Leokran, you know you've never heard of him. 

After that, he made no more overt threats, but everything he said had an icy hardness to it, every word falling from his mouth like snowflakes. I wanted to say something but he shouted. "Pretty"

  Pretty came in. "Shadow" was behind him. The revolvers were not visible in their hands, but I knew that if I showed any courage, it would not take them a moment to pull out the revolver. I headed for the door myself before they had eaten anything.

"Remember every word I said, Scott," instructed Heckman from behind.

  I stopped for a moment while passing near the two miscreants.

  "I'll keep seeing you pretty!" I said.

  "May I not die of this joy." He showed his bright white teeth. He and 'Shadow' followed me to the outer door. I was about to turn to Pretty to say a farewell word when he probably put the handle of the revolver on the back of my head. I staggered forward. 

Then he fell on his hands and knees. There was not enough life in my arms to get up from the floor with their support. Laughter was echoing behind me.

   It took me about a minute to get up off the floor and by the time I frantically spun back around Pretty and 'Shadow' had gone in and the door had been locked. I returned to my office. My revolver was placed where I had seen it before I fainted. I once again came to the Statler Hotel with a revolver.

 But there were six armed bad guys in front of Heckman's suite and they were probably waiting for me. They did nothing but smile provocatively at me, but it was clear from their expressions that if I wanted to live much longer, I must go back.

  I came back, but from that time peace, sleep, and rest remained forbidden to me. I stopped going to my apartment and traveling at night. I used to spend some time resting my head on the table or resting on the back seat of my Cadillac. I was trying my best to find Leokran. I had offered to every philanderer, ex-convict crook, and informant that if anyone could provide any useful information on Leokran, I would pay the asking price. I informed Leokran's wife that her husband is at least alive. Also, I was keeping an eye on Pretty. There was no change in the situation for two days.

  On Thursday afternoon, the phone rang in my office. I picked up the receiver and heard a woman's gentle voice.

 "Mr. Scott?" When I answered in the affirmative, she spoke.

"I can take you to Leokran for a hundred dollars."

  "For only a hundred dollars?" I said cheerfully. "That's a cheap deal and I'll accept it right away. Understand you've made a hundred dollars,

When and where? "

"Same time, in room sixteen of the Porter Hotel." The woman replied.

"Is Leokran here?" I asked.

"No fool! I'm here." The woman said immediately.

"Come here with a hundred dollars. Let me tell you my name is Lily."

  I put down the receiver and stared at the telephone for some time. Lily might actually have some information, but I couldn't believe it. One hundred dollars was too little for the information I wanted. It looked like a trap was being laid.

The Porter Hotel was one of the shabby and cheap hotels that lined Los Angeles Street. I was climbing the stairs of the hotel after some time. It was pitch black on the wooden spiral staircase and as I reached the top of the corridor I saw light, but at the same time, I started to smell like dead rats.

  Seeing the door to Room Sixteen, I was afraid that if I knocked on it too hard, it would come down in pieces. So I knocked very gently with the finger of my left hand and kept my right hand on the handle of the revolver in my coat pocket. 

The door opened and I stared at the opener. It was as if someone had once again kicked me hard on my stomach.

  She did not seem to belong to this environment in any way. Her curse was almost impossible to describe properly. She was a wonderful woman not only to look at but also to feel. My mouth dropped open and closed when I heard her melodious voice.

  "Come in. Have you brought the money? My name is Lily."

" Yes." I swallowed and said.

  "I brought the money."

  Her robe was very long, touching the floor, but there was no particular advantage to its length. She wrapped one hand around the robe to pick it up from the floor and stepped aside. I stepped inside.

 Her beauty and sophistication had mesmerized me till now and I continued to cling to her. She didn't try to obstruct my view. As soon as my senses allowed me, I looked around. We were the only two in the room.

  "Where do we go from here?" Finally, I asked.

  "If you don't have a hundred dollar note, then nowhere," she replied.

  "Give me the money, and I'll take you to Leokran."

"But for God's sake, don't walk in that dress," I said, taking out two fifty-dollar notes from my wallet. She took the note from my hand and fell down on the bed, laughing. I was still thinking that the woman looks high class but what is she doing in this poor environment why did she come here? Perhaps these days I was getting a little too preoccupied with thinking and getting lazy with practical steps that gave others the full opportunity to take advantage.

  What happened was that a spring probably came out of the bed mattress and stung Lily. 

Her condition did not leave me anywhere. I was already satisfied that there was no one in the room except her and me. I did not see any adjoining door, but I had forgotten the only entrance to the room through which I had entered by myself and which was behind me at that time. It was certainly my foolishness, but seeing the scene in front of me at that time, you too would have become foolish.

  Then what alerted me somewhat in time was that Lily was actually looking behind me even as she writhed in pain. Apart from this, perhaps I heard a slight sound. I immediately leaned forward. At least this effort of mine benefited so much that what was being hit on my scalp hit me a little. Otherwise, my scalp would have cracked this time.

  I was seriously hurt and I fell down but I must have been so conscious that I grabbed the leg of the person behind me and pulled him. He fell down and his leg slipped from my hand. He stood up in agony. By that time I had also stood up. I should have realized earlier that he was pretty.

  Pretty could have been the one who attacked with deception and stabbed in the head with the revolver. So this time he tried to stab me with a small piece of iron pipe instead of a revolver. The piece was stuck on the floor. He quickly reached his hand towards his pocket to take out the revolver but I jumped on him.

  When I bumped into him, he hit the wall. I started punching him in the stomach but he stopped on his elbow and punched me in the cheek with the other hand. I staggered back a bit but somehow I managed to give him a slight blow to the face with my hand. There was a bone-crunching sound and when I recovered and looked at him, he was bleeding from the nose. A thick line was flowing.

His teeth were starting to peek out of his lips like a wolf.

He swung his arm to hit me with his left hand but I ducked and saved myself. My attempt was not of much use because immediately he gave me another blow on my chin with his right hand and this blow was so severe that at least I felt an explosion on my chin.

  The view of the room blurred before my eyes. When I fell to the floor, my vision seemed to be restored, but the power left my body. I saw Pretty pounce on me in a frenzy. If my senses were correct, I would have jumped and Pretty would have fallen face down on the floor instead of falling on top of me, but I didn't have the courage to roll from my place, still, I don't know how I crossed my legs so that my knees were pressed against my chest. Pretty swooped on me. It was no longer a place for me to wonder whether he would be sane or insane if his face was damaged. He made me feel bad. Now he had to learn some lessons.

  My shoes hit his face like the bumpers of a railway engine. There was a sound of crunching bones and he fell lifelessly on the floor with a shrill scream. He had lost his beauty in no time. His nose was shriveled, the skin on his cheeks was split and his bones were showing.

  I turned my neck slightly and looked at Lily. She was just sitting on the bed and was probably surprised. I got up and patted Pretty's neck first. I was sure that it must have broken but I don't know why it survived. Leaving her, I approached Lily.

  "Now open your tongue," I said. Instead of saying anything, she shook her head in the negative and kept looking at me with wide eyes.

I held her beautiful black hair in my fist.

"Answer some of my questions directly, otherwise your fate will not be different." I pointed at Pretty.

  She pressed her lower lip under her teeth and did not answer. However, one look must have looked at Pretty's face and a look of real fear was seen on her face. I knew that I could not raise my hands on her, but seeing her expression, I saw no other option than to arouse her fear.

  I brutally grabbed her arm and twisting it onto her back pushed her towards Pretty on the floor. She was resisting as much as possible.

  "I want to lay you next to Pretty and break your neck." I tried my best to show brutality in my tone.

"The bodies of both of you lying close to each other will look very good."

  I gave a little shock to her neck and her fear reached my desired level and she started speaking. It was my good fortune that I had the opportunity to learn from Lily. Otherwise, I might not have been able to get some information even from Pretty, who was Heckman's right hand. Because Heckman didn't trust anyone. However, Lily's story was slightly different because she was his lover. She told me everything she knew.

  Leokran actually learned that Heckman had issued orders for the former accountant's death. Because he got to know many secrets of the boss. So, as soon as Leokran took his place, he started keeping a detailed record of everything that came to his knowledge or to which he could have access. 

He kept a record of every move Heckman made that had to do with finances. With records of taxes that Heckman paid when he was actually required to pay more.

  Leokran began gathering all this information to guarantee his own safety so that when the boss decided to dispose of him as well, he would have a trump card in hand and try to bargain for his life.

But this initial thought changed later, and in Leokran's heart, based on this information, the idea of doing something big started. This information was stored at Leokran in the form of typed papers, figures, and documentary evidence. 

The night Leokran did not arrive home, he called Heckman and told him that he would give him the file containing the information for five hundred thousand dollars and that if Heckman did not approve the deal, he would take the file to the Tax Department and will be satisfied with the informer's fee he will get from there. 

While Heckman will not only pay several million in stolen taxes with fines, but he will also have to go to jail. After that, Leokran only said that he would call again after a week. By that time Heckman should have made up his mind, saying he had hung up.

   Heckman had to pay five hundred thousand dollars to get those papers. But he was at the forefront of this effort to find Leokran and force him to find out where the papers were and after getting them, put Leokran to death. Leokran, of course, knew very well what would happen to him if he fell into the hands of Heckman's men. That's why he was hiding.

  "But what was Pretty's purpose in attacking me then?"

  I asked Lily.

  "Heckman knows that you are in constant contact with Leokran's wife," Lily replied.

  "That's why he didn't want to take the risk that someone would be around to get in the way when Mrs. Leokran was kidnapped."

  "What should be done?"

  "Kidnapping," Lily replied with satisfaction.

  "Maybe Leokran loves his wife more than five hundred thousand dollars."

But he didn't make any arrangement with the idea that Heckman won't pay any attention to his wife. 

And especially since the boss's weakness, meaning that those papers are in his possession, no one will touch his wife, but it was his fault."

"When will those people kidnap Ann? I asked.

" might have done it by now," she replied.

  I turned and jumped over Pretty's motionless body and ran towards the door. Within seconds I was down and starting my Cadillac. At that moment I also thought that it is not appropriate to leave Pretty like this. 

He must have been unconscious but he had to come to his senses eventually and seeing his disfigured face would have driven him mad enough to kill me but now was no time to go back upstairs and arrange it. 

  There was no benefit to me in this movement and haste. When I reached Anne's house, she was gone. A wrinkled carpet and an overturned tripod indicated the struggle that had taken place. It was four o'clock at that time and it was a Thursday.

  On Friday afternoon, the situation seemed to reach a certain point. By this time I had spent twenty-three hours without sleep. At first, I was only looking for Leokran, now the problem of Anne has arisen and I have had no success in finding both.

  Now the situation was that for the last six hours, I had parked my car in front of the Statler Hotel and sat inside it from where I could keep an eye on the hotel's exit doors. Given Heckman's nature, I was sure that after finding out the documents he wanted, he would prefer to receive them with his own hands. So far, Leokran was the only person who could send him to jail based on these documents. 

  But if, after Leokran had been discovered, or had yielded to his demand, Heckman had sent one of his men to retrieve the papers, it would have been as if another man's hand reached his weakness, and if he If the man's intentions changed later, like Leokran, he could have thought of taking advantage of his weakness. Taking such risks had never been part of Heckman's nature.

I was depending on my own estimation. And I thought that if I kept an eye on Heckman, the end of the game would be in front of my eyes.

  At three o'clock I saw Pretty Wells arriving at the hotel. He parked his car in the 'no parking' zone and ran into the hotel.

If most of his face hadn't been covered in bandages, I probably wouldn't have noticed because I was so focused on seeing Heckman leave the hotel.

 Two minutes later Pretty left the hotel with Heckman and they both got into the car and drove away. I started following them cautiously. On reaching Forty-sixth Street, they stopped in front of a building that consisted of one-room apartments. Heckman remained seated and Pretty walked up. 

When he returned sometime later, Shadow, the skeletal rogue, was with him and Anne was walking between them. They sat in the car. Now, 'Shadow' started driving.

  I started chasing them in such a way that there were a couple of vehicles between our vehicles. As the journey progressed, I was more and more surprised because they were heading towards the central area of the city and my surprise did not end when I saw their car stop right in front of the city hall. Taking the risk of being seen by them, I also stopped my car a short distance behind them. I did not understand the reason for their arrival here, so I tried to see whatever happened.

  'Shadow' stayed with Anne in the car and Pretty and Heckman got out and started walking up the steps to the front door of City Hall... and then the reason for their arrival became quite clear to me. At the end of the stairs was Leokran between two stone pillars of the veranda in front of the high door. He was a tall young man. At that time, his face looked a little sad. He had a leather briefcase in one hand.

  He looked up behind Heckman and Pretty and then saw their car and his wife in it. He was probably relieved that Heckman didn't have too many associates with him. Heckman and Pretty approach him and the three begin a conversation. Soon the conversation picked up and Leokran pointed to their car.

  Now I could clearly understand the purpose of these movements. Heckman was trying to get papers from Leokran in exchange for his wife. The bargain was not costing him a single dollar, and Leokran, who had previously trapped Heckman, was now himself trapped, but he was still smart in the bargain. For this purpose, he had chosen a place where at least he could not be shot.

 The city was where most of the administrative offices were located. From the mayor to the fire brigade staff were there. One policeman was standing at the door, another was talking to someone a few yards away, and hundreds of policemen were inside the building. The idea of killing someone in this place was impossible for the biggest rogue.

  The discussion of the three men continued for some time, then Heckman looked at the 'Shadow' sitting in the car and waved his hand. 'Shadow' and Anne got out of the car. Anne took a few steps forward as if in a dreamlike state. 

She was constantly clinging to her husband. I put my hand on the handle of the revolver in my pocket and got out of my car and walked toward them.

  For a moment, they were all gone or still in place. Although they had not seen me yet. Then I saw Heckman take the briefcase from Leokran. He opened the briefcase and examined its contents. Then closed it and held it tightly. 

He and Pretty started down the stairs. Anne was hurrying up the stairs towards her husband. 'Shadow' was going back to the car. Only Leokran was a person who stood still like an idol in his place. I felt like a silent drama was going on. Suddenly, Hackman saw me.

  At this, the bloated face turned white and she squeezed Pretty's arm and then looked at me and tried to smile artificially as if it was nothing special, but when Pretty's neck turned towards me, peeking through the bandages. Hate flared in his eyes and he reached for the inside pocket of his coat.

  I shouted and instructed him to stop taking out the revolver, but he didn't seem to hear and if he did, he didn't give any importance. I gave him a chance to draw the revolver and when I saw his umbilical cord glistening in the sun and spinning rapidly toward me, I fired. The bullet hit him in the chest and he staggered, so my second bullet missed him and hit the stone pillar. At that time he has also triggered. 

Or maybe the trigger was pressed automatically in a panic situation. But his revolver was pointed at the footpath, so the bullet hit the cement block and a few small fragments flew into the air. I fired the third, and it was the last one because the bullet went straight through his throat.

I have never seen blood rise from the throat of a human being like this. Blood spread far and wide on the footpath and Pretty fell face down in that blood. Like a broken dirty puppet.

  I suspected that a bullet had hit Heckman as well because he too was lying face down on the sidewalk and the way his body was shaking so badly it was obvious that he was in agony. It was almost as if the pile of jelly had taken the shape of an unruly human being, but later I saw that he put both his hands on his head and was actually announcing his defeat. He was terrified.

  After that, soldiers came from all sides except the sky. Those in uniform, those in plain clothes, those in the murder department, those in the forgery department, and those in the robbery department and I don't know which department. Everyone was trying to be as diligent as possible.

 Even the sirens of the squad cars started ringing. What else can you expect after shooting in front of City Hall?

  A policeman raised his revolver and pointed it at me, pressing the trigger. I yelled at him to stop but he fired. The bullet went over my shoulder. I looked back in terror and then realized that the police had actually fired at the 'shadow' behind me. He had a revolver in his hand. 

He had probably started firing at me from behind and was now falling on the pavement with the revolver.

  After that, I spent an hour in front of various officers, in statements and explanations, and finally, they gave up on me and advised me to go home and sleep immediately. To control Heckman with the briefcase, they had great pleasure. Leokran was also detained. 

As usual, I assured a tearful Anne that Leokran would not be in prison for long. Heckman had undoubtedly hurt me a lot, but now I regretted thinking about it. He had to spend a long time in prison. I was thinking that he will miss many things in prison. 

But most of all he will miss Lily. Which I was looking for at that time. Why not go? My hundred dollars used to go out to her and I was sure that she would not like to pay them in cash.

                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                 THE END