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Chapter 17

Later that day, Granger had asked Nick and AJ to meet him in the lobby for a brief meeting to update them on the case. After they had discovered the room where they believed Ali had been, Granger had stayed behind to collect evidences and talk to the Russian officers on what to do next. AJ and Nick had decided to stay in the area, and not go to Tura as planned. Instead, they decided to do what they had told Granger from the beginning; put up more posters of Ali. Nick thought it was a good idea, considering he now knew that she had been there, and people might have seen her walking in or out of the building. They were now waiting for Granger to find out what was going to happen next.

“Hey guys.” Granger said as he walked over to them ten minutes later.
“How’d it go?” Nick was curious to know everything, and he did not want to waist any time.
“I went good actually.” Granger sat down opposite to Nick and AJ, placing a file on the table in front of them as he continued “We sent the blood sample and a few locks of hair that we found to the lab. They worked fast, and the results came back a few hours ago.”
“And…?”
“The blood matches Ali’s DNA, as we though, but the hair sample was not hers.”
Nick felt his heart pounding faster as he realized that this could be their big break though. They were getting closer and closer to finding Ali, and he was getting more and more restless for each day that passed.
“We ran the other DNA sample that we found through the official database that covers criminals, hospitalized persons and so, and we actually got a match. His name is Andrei Orlov. He’s originally from St. Petersburg, but he moved up here ten years ago. So obviously, this is not the same person that sent the letter to you, Nick. We don’t know who he is yet, but we still have people working on getting in touch with him. Anyways, I’ve been doing some research on Andrei Orlov, and I found some strange stuff. Maybe even a motive. I actually decided to Google his name on the internet to see if something came up, and it did, in the form of an article from a local newspaper.” He stopped and took a sip of a bottle of water that he had brought. Nick and AJ exchanged looks, curious to know what Granger had found.
“One night, three years ago, Andrei’s house was caught on fire. His girlfriend got trapped in the flames, and got killed. Andrei suffered from a second degree burning and his face got deformed to the state where he was almost unrecognizable. It’s a sad story, really.”
Nick nodded and waited for Granger to continue. When he didn’t, Nick gave away a confused look. “That’s it? I expected you to say that he’s a murderer who escaped from prison or something…”
Granger nodded and leaned forward to pick up the file he had brought.
“That was what I expected to find too, but I found something even better. Or maybe not better, but something… strange, I guess you can say. Take a look at this.”
He handed Nick the file and leaned back in his seat.
Nick opened it and scanned the paper briefly. It was the article about the fire, but when he looked at it, nothing really caught his attention.
“I don’t understand…” He said even more confused.
“Take a look at the next page.”
Nick frowned and turned the page. His heart almost stopped at the sight of what was in front of his eyes. “Oh my god…” he gasped.
AJ leaned over Nick’s shoulder to get a better look, and Nick could hear him take a deep breath at the sight of what he saw.
Nick was looking down at a picture. It was of a guy he had never seen before.
And Ali…
Although it wasn’t Ali, but the girl on the picture looked so much like her that if he hadn’t known Ali as well as he did, he almost would have believed it was her. She had the same dark brown hair, the same big brown eyes, the high cheekbones and the small nose. Only one feature separated her from the actual Ali that Nick remembered.
Her smile.
It was different. Ali’s smile was sincere, with dimples that dug into her cheeks and gave her face life that reached all the way to her eyes. The girl in the picture, on the other hand, was not smiling at all, and her eyes looked dead. Even though Nick didn’t have a problem seeing the difference, it was still astonishing how much they looked alike.
“I…I… oh my god. I don’t know what to say.” He stuttered after looking at the picture for a while. “She looks so much like Ali.”
Granger nodded. “I thought it was her, until I read her name.”
Nick looked down at the picture again and read her name out loud. “Natasha Cox.” “American?” AJ asked.
“British actually.”
Nick sighed. “God… I just… how is it possible? How can two people look so much alike?” He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Do you realize what she is, Nick?” Granger asked. Nick shook his head confused.
“She’s our motive.”
“How?”
“Andrei was diagnosed as psychically and emotionally unstable ever since the accident when Natasha died. It’s obvious to anyone who looks at this picture that she looks a lot like Ali, and that is probably what Andrei thought too. Most likely, he’s using Ali as a replacement for Natasha. Now, do you have any idea where Andrei might have seen a picture of Ali? Did she ever appear in any pictures with you or anything like that?”
Nick thought for a moment. “I don’t know… She doesn’t like being in the spotlight.”
“MTV.” AJ said suddenly.
“Huh?”
“The award show.”
Nick thought for a moment. “Of course.”
“What award show?” Granger asked, bringing out his notebook to take some notes.
“Ali accompanied me to the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2004, only a month before she disappeared. She didn’t really want to go, but I talked her into it, considering it was one of our first public appearances since we’d been on a break. It was important to me. AJ and I were the only two that went. We made some headlines in a few European magazines, and I think Ali was in a couple of pictures too.”
“Ok… so that could explain how he got to know about Ali. The timing is right too. I’m gonna ask Tara to contact a few European magazines to see if we can get a hold of a few articles. She’s a girl, so she should know who to contact.”
AJ and Nick exchanged looks. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nick asked hesitantly, very well aware of his opinion on Tara.
“Well… I don’t think that we, as men, are capable of knowing which magazines to contact.”
“Considering me and AJ have been on the front page of 90 percent of them, I think we do.” Nick argued.
“Nick…” Granger sighed. “I understand that you’re doubting Tara’s working skills, but she’s here for a reason, and I think it’s better if she does this.”
“I… no! I can do it. I know who to contact, and I know where to look, and besides, Tara is in the village right now. She won’t be able to do it until tomorrow. I can do it right now.”
“He’s right Granger.” AJ interrupted. “We do know a lot about this. And we can do it right now. I’ll help him.”
Granger thought about it for a few moments. “Fine. You can do it. But I want you to write a report on it, and make a list on whom you contact and when you made the call.”
Nick looked relieved. “No problem. Thanks.”
Granger nodded in return as Nick handed the file back to him and stood up. “We’ll start right now.”
“Ok, let me know if you find anything.”
“We will.”
Nick and AJ walked away, but as they passed the reception on their way to the elevators, someone called out Nick’s name.
“Mr. Carter?”
Nick turned around. The receptionist was holding up a folded piece of paper that she obviously wanted Nick to have. Nick walked over to her.
“For me?” He asked.
She nodded and handed him the note. Nick walked over to AJ, opening the letter on his way.
He frowned when he saw the writing on it. It was only one sentence, but it was written in Russian, and he had no idea what it said.
“What is it?” AJ asked, looking at the piece of paper that Nick was holding in his hands.
“I don’t know. It’s in Russian.”
“Come on, let’s take it back to Granger.”
They walked back to where they had been sitting moments before. Granger was still sitting there, looking though some papers.
“Someone left me this in the reception.” Nick handed the note to Granger, and waited for a response. Granger took a brief look at it, and saw right away that they needed help from someone who spoke the language.
“I’ll ask one of the officers. They’re having a meeting in one of the conference rooms. I’ll be right back.”
He stood up and walked away. After a few minutes, he returned and without a word, he handed the note back to Nick. Someone had written the English translation beneath the Russian words. Nick read it slowly.

She is mine.