Asphalt Edge Empty House

Chapter 4 Mysterious Man

Almost the afternoon when Linda said goodbye to Wira. The girl was riding on a white and pink combination scooter, driving away from the housing complex.

Linda drives her bike at moderate speed, the situation of the streets of Surabaya is very dense making it only able to ride casually.

At the red light Linda took the time to fix her bangs so as not to interfere with vision. From the rearview mirror Linda could see there was someone with a black jacket right behind, just a motorbike away.

The second red light, he looked at the man in the black jacket again. Initially Linda felt ordinary. But as she turned towards the road leading to her house, Linda still saw the man in the black jacket, following her by adjusting the distance.

Realizing he was being tailed, Linda immediately turned around, then entered into a mini market. The man didn't follow her, but Linda knew the man was waiting for her on the street.

With a tremble Linda took her phonesell, then rushed to call a taxi. Mini-market maids who were suspicious of Linda's movements approached her, but Linda immediately went to a taxi that had just parked in front of the mini market.

While settling down, he opened the taxi door. The taxi driver who saw Linda's strange behavior became suspicious.

" What's wrong, why is the road squatting like playing hide-and-seek?"

"Shhh....!"

"Go ahead sir, I'll explain!"

"But where are we going?"

"Just walk first, don't ask!"

Linda's tone of voice rose, The taxi driver had no choice but to follow the directions of his passengers. Slowly the car left the mini market.

Linda turned to the mini market where she parked the motorbike. And it was true that the man in the black jacket was indeed following him.

Linda could see the man was upset, being fooled by him. Several times the mysterious man vented his frustration by kicking Linda's scooter body.

After feeling free from threats, Linda just told what happened to the taxi driver. The driver listened carefully to Linda's story, trying to understand the situation.

"How about we go to the police station?"

"No, sir, I don't have enough evidence to make a report."

The taxi driver nodded, while Linda asked him to take a detour a little further, to make sure no one was following her anymore.

When she arrived at Linda's house, she locked the doors and windows, then contacted a friend to pick up her scooter, which was still parked in front of the mini market.

Linda's mother, who saw her son's strange behavior, immediately asked what happened. But Linda dodged into the room and answered that everything was fine, so that her mother would not worry.

Monday morning, as usual Linda left for the Surya newspaper office by taxi. As soon as he reached the office yard, he saw an unusual sight, the newspaper employees had not yet entered work and just gathered in front of the office while talking about something.

"What's wrong, everyone outside?"

"There's Lin's canned letter, it's a bomb threat from an unknown person."

Linda asked one of the employees to find out what was going on. He directly attributed today's terror to the man in the black jacket who followed him yesterday.

"Does this have anything to do with what happened yesterday?"

"But I was wrong what, I don't think I've ever had an enemy?"

Linda asked inwardly, trying to analyze the situation. He's trying to remember what he's done the last week.

Police sirens arrived, and fire engines came together. Linda did not want to waste a golden opportunity to get exclusive news, she took a photo of the Bomb disposal officer who entered the office, then walked to the police car to interview one of the officers.

"Lin.here..!"

A familiar man's voice in Linda's ears stopped her steps. Linda turned her head back, and a thin-moustached man, tightly grasped her arms, then dragged her away from the crowd.

"Sir Haris?"

"What is this, sir?"

"You come with me now, we're talking at the front coffee shop!"

Linda complied with Haris' request, they both crossed paths to a coffee shop located right across from the office of the Surya newspaper.

"Please explain what's really going on, sir, why is there a bomb threat in our office?"

"I was also followed by a mysterious person yesterday afternoon?"

"What's the matter exactly?"

"Ssssttt.. slow down when you talk!"

"Someone will hear Lin!"

"It's about your coverage at the Black Rose club!"

"What's with that coverage, it feels like I'm just doing standard coverage on a fair scale sir?"

"Some of you don't like the news about the club, they threatened me over the phone, last night."

Linda just understood the situation now, the coverage of the lifestyle of the metropolis, which raised the news of the free association of young people, by taking a picture of Club Black Rose as a cover of the news, harassed someone.

Linda finally understood, why there were people following her yesterday. Linda became curious about the owner of the Club, why the news about the usual lifestyle to the point of serious threats to the newspaper office where she worked.

"As long as you know Lin, the newspaper only appeared two days ago, and suddenly it was lost in the crowd."

"Then after that, that night someone threatened me not to bother Black Rose."

"So I beg you not to continue your research on them again Lin, fearing that our families are both in trouble."

"Why not just report to the police, sir, is this a criminal offence called?"

Linda was furious, her face was red, her hands clenched on the table, as if wanting to beat up the person who did this to them.

"You've got what evidence to report them, canned letters, and threats over the phone isn't enough to say Black Rose's owner is responsible for all this."

Linda is silent, she understands her boss's concerns, but Linda is curious, she intends to investigate Black Rose without Haris' knowledge.

"Yes sir, I will not continue coverage, after all it is your idea, so if you intend to stop the coverage, it's up to you, I can only obey."

Linda finished her coffee and got up, leaving Haris who was still sitting quietly while cupping her two hands to support her chin.

Seemed anxious on the man's face, he could understand Linda's annoyance, because this coverage was indeed on her idea.

Linda decided not to enter the office today, she chose to go to the library, to look for books or articles related to tattoos on the shoulder of the body of girl X.

In his office Wira asks Siska and Tomy to do the same with Linda. Since the morning the beautiful polwan was busy finding out the Javanese script symbol, along with its meaning on the internet.

At his desk, Tomy was also asked by Wira to clarify the image of the Javanese alphabet, so it was easier to read and translate.

"Successful..!"

"Sir.. Mr. Wira..!"

Siska's voice surprised Wira, he hurriedly ran to Siska's table to find out what made the policewoman so excited, to make a rowdy whole room.

"What's working, Sis?"

"This sir, the meaning of the letters of the ancient Javanese script, in the woman's tattoo is a perpetuity, eternal, or eternal."

"This word is actually ordinary, the meaning is also good, but this word is commonly used for those who will reach nirvana."

"What do you mean Siska, try to explain in more detail?"

"I mean Siska, the word perpetuity is usually used to say goodbye to someone who will, or has died, their soul will go to the eternal realm, where the real life will begin."

Linda arrived from the end of the room, and interrupted their conversation. The hero turned his head to Linda who was walking while carrying a book.

"Well, that's what he means sir, just like Linda said."

Siska confirmed Linda's words, giving her thumbs up, as a sign that she agreed with Linda.

"So that means permanence, or immortality?"

The hero records the word in the agenda book, thinking, whether it is a true tattoo, or something else like a stamp as a marker that they are part of a certain community.

"Linda you come with me, while Siska and tomy, you two try to check all the files on the organization, the society, or anything else that might use a star image like that tattoo."

"Each commander." Siska and tomy almost simultaneously.

Wira immediately walked out of the room following Linda in the back. They both went to the harbor, to see the location of X's body.

Along the way Linda was silent, the girl wanted to tell her about the events in her office today, but she was unwell, afraid that it would break the focus of the Hero.

"I heard your office got a bomb scare this morning Lin, how's it going?"

"Yes sir, this morning someone unknown left a black parcel with a threatening letter to our director."

"Yesterday, I was also followed by a mysterious person in a black jacket. But luckily I managed to outwit the guy, and escape by taking a taxi."

"On the same day, Mr. Haris, the editor-in-chief, also received threats by phone."

"Is there anyone you suspect?"

"According to Mr. Haris, this is all because of my coverage of promiscuity, which uses the image of Club Black Rose as a cover."

Wira feels something strange from Linda's story. Their management should be able to rebuke the Surya newspaper by sending a subpoena, if the media coverage is considered detrimental to the Black Rose club.

"What's Lin's story about, I didn't see such news yesterday, or today?"

"The newspaper has been purchased by people, so it does not have time to circulate."

"Our standard news stories only examine the lifestyle of urban young people today, who tend to be negative. Doyan hurrah, promiscuity, to the use of illegal drugs."

"Yes to be honest at the time, I did interview some Black Rose visitors but my questions were normative."

"There must be something that you accidentally did Lin, maybe something that contains a disgrace for them."

"I dare to guarantee sir, all at the limits of fairness, according to the ethics of journalists."

"You still have the article file, and Lin's picture?"

"It's still on my laptop, sir."

"Ok later we will discuss your case, now help me find additional evidence in TKP Bada X."

The hero ended their conversation, as the red sedan arrived at a location still on the police line.

They rushed down, and re-examined the CPI. The hero was busy scavenging the land to look for evidence that might be scattered at the site, while Linda took pictures while surrounding the port area.

"If the body is deliberately disposed of here there must be traces, fingerprints, or objects of the victim who fell."

The hero continued to walk far from the location of the body, he tried to imagine various possibilities, how the body of the victim could lie there.

"Kracks.."

Suddenly Wira felt her shoes stepping on something, a pendant filled with soil, attached to the base of her shoes, she immediately picked up the pendant, then cleaned it with a handkerchief.

There's a picture of a girl in the locket. The hero feels that the photo reminds him of someone, who and where he has seen it, the hero does not know for sure. He just felt the face in the photo was very familiar.

"What's up, sir?"

"Okay, are you daydreaming?"

"This is Lin, I found a Pendant on the ground. There's a picture of a girl in it and it feels like the girl's face is no stranger to me."

Linda took the Pendant wrapped in a handkerchief, she noticed the blurry photo and tried to remember if she had ever seen the person in the photo.

"Gosh, this is similar to X sir's body. True their faces were similar, only this one was thirty years younger than the body."

Wira immediately remembered the description of Dr. Ani. He once said that girl X based on laboratory tests was only twenty-five years old.

"It's not two different people who look like Lin, the person in this photo is indeed him."

"Who is he, sir?"

"She's girl X, Lin."

"Quick get in the car, we go to the hospital right now."

Wira and Linda immediately run into the car, they can't wait to make sure that the photo of the girl in the pendant is an unidentified corpse that is now in the hospital's freezer.