Episode 5: A Walk at Noon

Special Agent Violet was walking alongside Hugo around the park. Hugo decided to visit her on her lunch break, and the two ate lunch together.

"Are you full?" Hugo asked her and she nodded.

"The pasta was soggy, but it's fine. I was glad, I don't have to eat lunch with Eric and endure his nonstop talking about how girls like him and his sexcapades." She smiled as they walk side by side.

Hugo chuckled. Violet is complaining but Eric is her friend. He knows that the two are just friends and nothing more.

He was about to say something but they stopped when they heard a woman cried for help.

There's a commotion on the sidewalk, and one woman was crying saying she has been robbed by an unknown man while walking with her five-year-old daughter. On her purse that the man took was her phone, cash, and credit cards inside. She didn't know what to do. She can't leave her daughter alone in the park and try to run and catch the guy. She can't ask for help from the police because her phone was in her purse, and she had a panic attack. She only noticed that the man was wearing a black watch on his left wrist and a black long-sleeved shirt.

Violet looked at the surroundings while Hugo tends to the mother and child as they wait for the police.

A man whom she knows for sure is calmly walking away after he locked eyes with her. That was Robert Pratt. He is an ex-convict that was charged with theft and burglary on one of the biggest hotels in Manhattan. She knows him so well because he's the calmest, and most cooperative criminal that she had ever seen through her years in the FBI.

She walked towards Robert and he slowed his pace to let her catch up. "Agent Violet. Good afternoon," he said as he acknowledges his favorite agent. He was wearing a coat, a beanie on his head, and a gray turtle neck long sleeves with black pants.

"Afternoon. You've just got out of the prison?" she asked Robert and they stopped walking because Hugo called for her. She motioned for Hugo to come over and he jogged towards her and Robert. She did not even bother to introduce the two.

Robert looked at the two, "Where's Agent Eric?" he said, in avoidance of Violet's question. Violet sighed.

"I'm guessing you got out of the prison for more than three months. How was your shift at Joe's?" Violet looked at his appearance.

"How do you know I work at Joe's?" Robert frowns.

"I didn't know. I noticed. You are still wearing that apron with the Joe's Diner logo, Robert. You work at Joe's, a 24-hour diner nearby, and your shift was from 6 pm to 7 am. Your eyes are baggy, you lack sleep." She inches closer to him and Roberto's and Hugo's eyes widen. She breathes deeply and sniffs, then quickly stand straight, managing her posture. "Didn't I told you to stop reconnecting with your old friends?"

"What? What now?" Hugo was confused for a moment then realized it's Violet. She's going to make some deductions. He readied himself because he has the gut feeling that this kid is the suspect of the crime. He looked at the mother and daughter being attended by the police.

"N-No. I haven't contacted them." Robert looked down while kicking his legs. He's being uneasy because he knows that Violet knows him all too well.

Violet cleared her throat and speak again, "You reek of beer and methamphetamine. I can smell cigarettes on your hand and on your breath. You only had a burger since 7 am. Your coat; you had a ketchup stain on the collar of your coat, and on the sidelines of your thumbnail as if you used it to wipe away the ketchup on the side of your lip. As you were still wearing your apron, no one bothered to tell that you're still wearing it. Not that I'm criticizing you, but you, of all people, was at the scene when the robbery takes place. I do not care if you will get offended, but I have the feeling that you were somehow connected to the crime. Give me a good alibi, and I'll set you free."

Robert started to get nervous because he remembered his time in jail. He didn't want to go to prison again. "I-I was just walking with my girlfriend at the park. Here is a photo of us that we took at twelve o'clock." He showed them his phone that has a picture of him and a brunette that was smiling at the phone's camera. She tapped on the details tab of the photograph.

DETAILS:

Date: January 23, 2020 | 12:00 PM

Size: 3.79 MB | Resolution: 4032x1960

Path: /Internal storage/DCIM/Camera

Title: 20200122_152104.jpg

Location: Central Park, Manhattan, New York

Camera: Samsung SM-G955F

Aperture: F1.7 | Focal length: 4.20 mm

Flash: No flash | White balance: Auto

ISO: 40 | Exposure time: 1/3096 s

"Nevertheless, I am forced to detain you on suspicion of robbery and the use of Methamphetamine. Robert, you know the phrase. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." Violet stated as she put the handcuffs on Robert's hand.

Robert turned to his back but Hugo catches him by grabbing the collar of his turtle neck shirt, revealing another black long-sleeved shirt. Violet grabbed his left hand and lifts the cuff of his coat. Robert was wearing a black wristwatch on his wrist. This confirmed her suspicions that he was the man who robbed the woman at the park.

"Ma'am." the police officer walked towards her and Hugo. "Is there a problem here?"

Hugo pushed Robert that was already handcuffed to the police. "Take him. He's the suspect in the robbery at the park. She's a federal agent from the FBI." Violet showed her badge to the police officer. She grabbed Robert's backpack and opened it. Inside the bag was the woman's purse and a jacket that reeks of beer and drugs.

She handed the purse to the lady that was still shaking from the incident. "Thank you. I can't thank you enough for this. I'm really scared, I thought he will come back and get my daughter next." The woman said as she shakes in fear.

"No need to worry, Ma'am," Violet said. When she was about to turn her back, the woman called after her.

"I do not remember having this inside my bag." The woman handed her a white card with letters written in black.

OMC UEA CIT AFC NYH

Violet frowned. What does this card mean?

"What's that?" Hugo asked her as they walk.

Violet didn't answer. She is trying to decipher what the card was trying to say. She's certain that this is a message for her and no one else. She grabbed Hugo by the hand to stop him from walking. He immediately stopped and looked at her that has still fixed her eyes on the card as she pulls him towards the bench, holding his hand.

His heart beats fast as he looked at her holding his hand. She is creasing her glabella as she thinks. "How on Earth do you know that Robbert was the suspect by looking at his photograph?" He asks.

"The date and the image title doesn't match. The date said that it was taken on 23rd of January, but the image title said 20200122. It was taken yesterday. He just edited the date and time but he forgot to change the image title. It was planned. However, the photograph itself gives us the hint." Violet explained.

"How?" Hugo asked.

"He said they took the photograph at noon. The sun is too high at noon. You cannot therefore cast such long shadows at that time. Thus the photograph was taken in the morning."

"That was... amazing." He absentmindedly said.

"You think so?" She asked.

"Yeah. You are amazing." He said smiling. She is stunning. He loves looking at her. He loves her more when she uses her intelligence. Brainy really is the new sexy. Though she also has an attractive looks but he fell in love with her intelligence.

"Some says I'm weird." She said as she removed her gaze from his face. "Now, what in the fuck is this?" Violet mumbled. He took a look at the card she was holding. He was trying to think but he don't know what that means. "No, don't think." Violet stopped him by touching his knee. He sat silently, admiring her beauty.

"Rosicrucian, Pigpen, Nustem, Dice, Spiral, Ceasar..." Violet trailed.

"Not Rosicrucian, not Nustem, not Spiral, and not even Ceasar." She went inside her memory palace. Hugo patiently waits for her.

OMC UEA CIT AFC NYH

Three letters for each row, five columns.

"Do you have a pen, Mr. Peige?" She asked Hugo.

"You don't have to call me that, you know. You can call me Hugo." He said as he gave her his ballpen. She looked at him and slightly smiled. As she was going to write on her hand, he offered his hand for her to write on.

Violet looked at him and proceeded to write the letters on his hand. She wrote the letters like this:

OMC

UEA

CIT

AFC

NYH

"I knew it!" She boasted, she was smiling from ear to ear while looking at Hugo's palm that she uses as paper.

"What? What is it?" Hugo asked her.

"It's a Transposition Cipher. It is a method of encryption by which the positions held by units of plaintext are shifted according to a regular system so that the ciphertext constitutes a permutation of the plaintext. That is, the order of the units is changed." Violet explained.

Hugo looked at his palm.

1 2 3

OMC

UEA

CIT

AFC

NYH

3 2 1

CMO

AEU

TIC

CFA

HYN

"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN" Hugo mumbled. "But who would send you a message like that?"

"I have a lot of people in my mind, actually," Violet said.

She turned the card on its back.

Деймон Иванов x

On its back were Russian letters written in gold.

Violet smirked, "I now know who. The fucker doesn't even have to be mysterious."

"Why? Who sent you that?" Hugo was confused. He doesn't have any idea who would give Violet that kind of card.

"Damon. Damon Ivanov." She said as she looked at the horizon as the sun sets.