Identity (A short Story)
Chapter 1.
Martin woke from a deep sleep, he looked across at the clock on the small bed side table, it was two thirty five in the morning, he closed his eyes but then heard a noise. It’s just the cat he thought to himself so he rounded over in bed, only to find the cat sleeping next to him. He opened his eyes again, the room was dark but not so dark that he could not see the outline of the room, he then saw a flicker of light through the door way.
Still in the dark, Martin walked towards the bed room door and into the lounge room, he reached for the light switch and turned it on. The room light up, revealing two young men, one was holding his TV set, while the other had his lap top and camera.
“What the hell,” said Martin, as something hit him on his head from behind, and he fell to the floor.
Martin heard someone say, “let’s get out of here,” as well as the sound of the young men running, and the back door slamming. It took Martin a few minutes to regain his composure and get back to his feet, he was wet and there was broken glass and flowers all around him. He had been hit with a vase of flowers he had picked from his garden.
Searching around the lounge room he could not find his phone, so he concluded that it had been taken by the intruders. He dried himself off and got dressed before driving himself to the nearby Police Station.
By the time he got to the Police Station it was just after three in the morning and at that time of the day there were only two Police Officers on duty. Martin walked into the Police Station or at least he tried to, at that time of the day the Police Station was locked. He rang the door bell and then spoke into an intercom.
“I am here to report a break in and assault,” said Martin.
The door to the Police Station made a click sound and a Police Office said over the intercom, “come in.”
Martin walked up to the counter, there was one Police Officer waiting.
“You want to report a crime, Sir,” said the Police Officer.
“Yes,” replied Martin.
The Police Officer pointed at a computer and said, “you can use that computer, or you can do it on your computer or your phone, there was no need for you to come in.”
“That would be a good trick,” replied Martin, before continuing, “they stole my computer and phone.”
“Well, use that computer,” said the Police Officer again pointing at a computer.
Martin walked over to the computer and clicked on the ‘report a crime’ icon, a long form came up, which he filled out in detail and then click, ‘finish’. He walked back to the counter, but there was no one in sight, so he pressed a button on the counter which had a sign saying, ‘press for service’.
A different Police Officer came to the counter and asked, “can I help you, Sir.”
“I’ve finished filling out the, ‘report a crime’, form,” said Martin.
“Thank you, Sir, we will send you a crime report number in due course,” replied the Police Officer.
“So, what do I do now?” asked Martin.
“Just go home, once you have the crime report number you can contact your insurance company,” replied the Police Officer.
“So you’re not coming around to look at the crime scene then?” asked Martin.
“You’ve been watching too much TV, Sir,” replied the Police Officer.
“You’re not even going to look at my head, where one of them hit me with a vase,” said Martin.
Martin bent down and pointed at his head, the Police Office had a bit of a look before saying, “nasty, you should have that looked at.”
“What about my phone, it’s got a GPS tracker in it, you could catch them right now,” said Martin.
“Detectives will contact you in due course, Sir,” replied the Police Officer.
Martin could not believe what he was hearing, he just stood at the counter for a few moments looking at the Police Officer, before saying, “I see.” He then walked out of the Police Station and headed home.
Once at home he sat on the lounge for a while, just thinking, he could not go back to bed, he was to wound up for that. After a while he went into the spare bed room and searched for an old camera, he found it in a draw but it had not been used in a long time. The battery was flat but after a bit more searching, he found the charger. It took some time to charge up the camera but once it was charged and much to Martin’s surprise, it worked.
Using the old camera he took photos of the broken vase as well as photo’s of his head wound. He left everything in place, just in case Police Detectives did show up but he held no hope that they would.
After taking the photo’s Martin used some light nylon rope to cordon of the area where he had been hit with the vase.
Martin sat on the lounge, he was feeling exhausted, it was five thirty in the morning, he thought he would just sit there for a few moments, just take stock, but he fell asleep. He woke at seven thirty and drove the short distance to the nearby shopping centre, where he purchased a new phone.
Once back at home he down loaded an app to the new phone, an app that he could use to track the location of his old phone. After a little battle with technology he got it to work and his old phone was about ten km’s away, it even gave him the address.
He stayed at home all day, thinking the Police Detectives might come to see him, but they didn’t. That night using his new phone he e-mailed the Police the old phones location.
It was a difficult night for Martin, he did not sleep very well, kept waking up at the slightest noise, at around two thirty he gave up trying to sleep and sat on the lounge. He would have turned the TV on but he did not have one any more so he listened to some music on an old boom box. He eventually fell asleep and did not wake till after eight in the morning.
Just after lunch that day there was a knock at the door, Martin answered it to find two Police Detectives, they introduced themselves as Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner and Detective Constable William Campbell.
“We are here to take your statement in relation to a robbery and assault,” said Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“Come in,” replied Martin, he then added, “go straight through.”
The two Detectives walked into the lounge room and saw that part of the room had been cordoned off.
“Is this where you were hit?” asked Detective Constable William Campbell.
“Yes,” replied Martin, he then added while picking up the old camera from the coffee table, “I’ve take lots of photos.”
“That’s one old camera, does it do time stamps?” asked Detective Constable William Campbell.
“I don’t think so,” replied Martin, as he removed the SD card from the camera.
Detective Constable William Campbell held his hand out and said, “without date stamps they will not be any use.”
“They stole my camera that did date stamps, can’t you take some photo’s?” asked Martin.
“It’s too long after the crime now,” replied Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“That head injury looks nasty, did you have a Doctor look at it?” asked Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“No, it’s not that bad,” replied Martin.
“So, no medical report,” said Detective Constable William Campbell.
“Well, no,” replied Martin.
“Pity, without a medical report, well,” said Detective Constable William Campbell.
“Well what about the phone tracker?” said Martin as he picked up his new phone and opened the app, he then continued, “my old phone is at this address.”
The two Detectives looked at the phone and smiled, “the residents of that address are known to us, we will give them a visit,” said Detective Constable William Campbell.
“Do you think you will be able to identify them?” asked Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“Two of them, the one that hit me was behind me so I didn’t see him,” said Martin.
“Pity,” said Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“I have written the full story,” said Martin as he picked up a few sheets of paper from the coffee table and handed them to Detective Constable William Campbell.
“Thanks,” said Detective Constable William Campbell, as both Detectives walked towards the front door, he then added, “we’ll be in touch.
“Will someone be back to finger print the bits of glass from the vase?” asked Martin.
“No, you can clean that up,” said Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“Why not?” asked Martin.
“You have been watching too much TV, we don’t have the budget for finger printing for small crimes like this,” replied Detective Sergeant Trevor Conner.
“I see,” said Martin.
“You should have your crime number now, so just put in a claim to your insurance company,” said Detective Constable William Campbell.
Both Detectives walked out through Martin’s front door, Detective Constable William Campbell said, “thank you Sir,” as he walked away.
A few days later, Detective Constable William Campbell knocked on Martin’s front door, he had some photo’s he wanted Martin to look at. There were ten photos of young men, Martin picked two that he recognized as the ones who were in his house on the night in question.
Detective Constable William Campbell informed Martin that his property had been recovered but they would be held until after the court case. He did not know just when the court case would be but it would be some months. This meant that the insurance company would not pay out as the goods had been recovered.
Martin did not much like the idea of not having a TV, computer or camera for the next months so he bought new ones.
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