Great! — said Rafael in a higher tone, while smiling. In the picture, the three men were having a relaxed chat, all wearing shades. They were meeting next to a newspaper stand. In the commercial billboard that sided the stand, the commercial promoted the movie Gattacaand it was mentioned that the premiere was due to January 2002.
— I did not see this one coming. — assumed Rafael surprised, while grabbing the metal square of his belt.
— What? — replied Renato like the one got stuck adrift in space.
— Nothing, nothing. Please print this picture for me.
— I’ll do it. And what about the other ones?
— Show me the one in which a group is performing a sort of a dancing scene in the alley.
— This one? — asked Renato waiting for confirmation.
— Yes!
Renato enhanced the image. He saw someone in the photo grabbing a business card and handing it to a second person.
— Please, enhance this area, just the part of the card.
— This one?
— Yes. — Rafael did not know what to say. One could read well the data on the business card of the individual wearing an overcoat. And in the card it was written:
Franscisco Madsen
Legal Adviser
Thinkers of the Lights, Avenue, 1s front.
1005353 CBR Beautiful City
Rafael was astonished. Finally, he got access to fine decent photos. He had a contact. And all of this thanks to Paulo Renato. Rafael thanked him, leaving a ticket to him for attending a music concert by Idoru Seithat he had received in order to write a minor review about it. Since he was not interested in attending to this concert, he offered the ticket to Renato who well deserved it.
— I do not know what to say! — Renato was surprised.
— So am I! — replied Rafael as he retrieved the photos already printed from the video-printer, smiling a lot.
On his way out, Rafael bumped against a blond platinum bright hair woman. He rushed to say he was sorry and used the opportunity to greet her by saying: — By the way, the outfit you wear is a killer outfit. You are just too much. Have a nice day! — Rafael expressed his apologies to her. While he was exiting the building, he realized that he and Renato had spent hours and hours at The Autonomous Zone, speaking and having coffee. However, the best part is that they had achieved some fine results. Rafael was thrilled with the progress. He fell asleep in the living room couch with the notebook of the Complete ones on his belly. The TV was still on running MTV video clips along with static interference, and his ashtray was so full of cigarettes butts that it seemed to be a post-modern sculpture installation. He woke up just in the middle of the afternoon with an orange light casting stripes on the sleepy face full of marks due to the sofa texture.
He rushed to the bathroom, shaved his face and took a shower. He kept a lot of time chatting with Sylvie on the phone. Although he was impatient that his mind was whirling thoughts and images like a washing machine centrifuge, even so he managed to be sweet and polite with her. He knew that if all went well with this report, he could travel with her and go on a cruise ship to the Greek islands in August. Crete was the passion of the century in his own imaginary. He received telepathic invitations about it often. During the phone call, he had with his girlfriend a photo from the leather case fell on the floor. The image was the one Paulo Renato enhanced from the frame of the business card in the hand of one of the Complete ones. Sylvie could be speaking about the end of the world that in Rafael’s mind unraveling the plot involving the operations and the cults of the Complete ones was priority number one. Nothing else seemed to occupy his mind.
Rafael turned his cellphone off without realizing what Sylvie was telling him. He agreed with lots of questions and then he said farewell with a kiss. The cellphone remained off line, but the printed image of the business card stood in his hands. He was still wet after the bath with Gaultier perfumed gel. The cellphone rang and in the 4D display, it was written “R.Wagner”. Roberta was calling him. Rafael picked up the phone:
— Hello, Roberta, how are you?
— I’m fine, and you Mr. Sterling?
— Fine, thanks. You know… I kept all night around your computers with Renato and we found some nice things. Not only did we manage to increase the definition of the images, but also we managed as well to highlight the details in one of them, one in which several individuals are close to a newsstand. I discovered the data about one of them, a Francisco Madsen of some sorts. All thanks to augmenting his business card. And it is a fact that the photos were shot in 2002, too. In other words, our boys exist, they leave traces behind and, above all, they are still probably in the active. — Rafael added, smiling.
— Awesome! And what else?? —asked Roberta with an impressive intonation.
— This means that there must be estate records or services performed by companies, at least from this Mr.Madsen. Anyway, judging from the date of the premiere of a movie that shows up on the newsstand on the photos, our boys are still working on.
— It is possible but why are you so sure? —Roberta returned the question and scratched the back of her head with a pen.
— Because they would not be just planning something only until January 2002. In my opinion, they are still on duty.
— Is that so? — Roberta asked, making a doubtful facial expression as she wrinkled her nose.
— Believe me. I have a hunch. — Rafael was brief but determined.
— Ok. — Roberta accepted it, she was happy. She also knew it was not useful to go against him on this matter. After all, he was really getting soaked in the research. Most likely, only him could disclose certain elements and consolidate arguments, regardless of what that could be.
— I just need to check this address.
— Ok, then. Please Rafael, you search for it online. I have many things to do here at the office. Later we could have a cup of coffee and make an incursion to the address you got from the photos. What do you say about it? — said the veteran journalist, with a nosy look.
— It seems fine for me.
— Well, then we could meet at 8:30 pm at the Black Label, it is a place close to the office of The Autonomous Zone.
— I will be there.
— Ciao! — replied Rafael, displaying a smile of joy, as if once in a lifetime women and success were in the same plate.
Since it was still early, Rafael turned the computer on and went online. He got in a search engine to find something more about this Francisco Madsen. He wrote it in every possible way only to find out anything special. Even though he was getting closer to the truth; there were times in which Rafael felt more accurately that things picked him up, not otherwise. To tell the truth with Roberta and Renato’s help he had turned some puzzles into something intelligible, in the meantime the Mary-go-round seemed to have a life of its own, and a distant one, by the way. However, for the time being there was something that Rafael could not reach, no matter how interesting the case was he still felt as if he was still outside the scenario
