Mystery of a shoe bomb

  

 

Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn't belong to her. She entered the store with silent footsteps. It was late at night, and the only people in the store were security guards stationed outside. Lily had entered the store from the backyard as both security guards were on the front side dealing with a psycho client who was yelling at the business for poor product quality.

She dashed towards the processing portion of the business, where donated items are accepted, verified, and refurbished. There were several cameras, wires, and other items that were kept discretely. She instantly began looking in the midst of the mayhem. She found the camera after some searching. There was some data on the camera chip that may assist Lily save her boyfriend. While the data was being collected, Lily began visualising the beginning of this narrative.

Lily had just received her first pay check as a schoolteacher. She had set up a date with her boyfriend, John. She also decided to get him a gift. They went to the mall, where she planned to buy him a pair of shoes. Both were cheerful and in a romantic mood. John was tightly holding her hand, demonstrating his love and care for her. Lily was also responding to him, demonstrating her acceptance with a small, firm movement of her palm around his. They were both madly in love with each other. However, they had no idea what situation they would be forced into that would ruin their lives.

Lily said to John as they entered the shopping mall, "Hey, sweetheart! I'd like to get you a present. Your shoes appear to be worn. Why don't I buy you a pair of shoes? What do you think?"

John looked down at his shoes and responded affirmatively, "Yup! Darling, as you wish!"

They both entered a well-known shoe brand showroom. They were greeted warmly in the showroom. The attendant began to show the shoes. John tried a bunch of shoes. But he did not like a single one. From some time, he was staring a shoe on the display. Actually he had liked it. But it was kept on the rack of premium category shoes. As Lily was paying for the shoes, he thought that it would be bit costly for her to pay. So he had controlled himself to ask for that shoe. But Lily noticed him staring that shoe. She understood that he liked it. She asked the sales person to show the shoe from that premium rack.

John Said, “Lily, I don’t need it. Its bit costly. I will choose from these shown shoes.”

 Lily said, “Sweetheart! I know you liked it. Please, let me decide it. You just check if you are comfortable in it.”

John said, “Okay”

 The sales person picked up the same shoe and asked John to try it. John found it perfect. The sales person till then brought its paired shoe. But John said, “It’s perfect. No need to try it.”

The sales person said “Sir, you have purchased a premium pair of shoes. Now you are privileged customer for us. We generally have a photo session with such customers for our magazine and advertisement. If you agree, we give 2% additional discount. “

Lily excited to know this. She immediately said “Yes, we are ready”

John put on both the shoes and they had a very beautiful photo session. They both were very happy. After the photo session, Lily asked the camera man to send her the soft copy of the images. Camera man said, “
Sorry ma’am. As per policy, we need to keep these photos secret until we release them in magazine or in advertisement. You may contact us after a month’s period of time. Till then, we would complete the release formality. Don’t worry about it. We are ready to serve you.”

Lily was upset about it. They both paid the bill and after receipt of the amount, John decided to keep the new shoes on and packed the old shoe pair in the box.

While they were moving out, the camera man also started moving out. Out of the door, Camera man came to her and said, “Don’t worry. I will give you your pictures tomorrow only. But please do not disclose about it to anyone.”

Lily said, “Okay! I agree. But may I know your name and cell number.”

He replied, “My name is Sam. Do not worry; I know your contact details. I got it from the shop. I will give you images tomorrow.”

He continued walking along side with them only on the passage of the mall. He suddenly started recording the video of the mall. John asked him, “Hey why you are recording video of the mall.”

Sam replied, “I have a habit of recording video while walking. Wherever I go, I keep my video camera on. I keep watching it later, just for time pass.”

John said, “Ohh... You are amazing”

Lily, John and Sam were walking together for a while. Suddenly Sam got disappeared. Anyways, John and Lily continued to roam around for 10min on the second floor of the mall. While they were coming down from the auto staircase, they heard the siren of security started blowing. The siren had started immediately after they crossed a security door before the staircase entry.

Suddenly security guards, came in and surrounded lily and John, as they were the only two on the staircase.

Lily and John were still confused. Police scanned them for bomb detector. Then they asked lily to move away and asked john not to move at all and stay stand still as he is tied with live bomb. They asked him why he is wearing bomb in shoes when his own life also is in danger. Till the time bomb squad came in and they slowly removed his one shoe in which bomb was implanted.

They diffused the bomb. Cops arrested John and Lily both and brought them to the police station.

Lily and john were still unknown about what is happening with them.

Lily was set free after some enquiry. But John was sent for jail for 3 months until investigation is completed.

Even though they had explained that they have purchased the shoe pairs from the shop, john was still under scrutiny of FBI.

Even FBI had warned Lily not to leave the town until investigation is completed.

Lily was under complete trauma. She could not understand how all the things happened all of a sudden and she could not help john.

But somehow she controlled her emotions and decided to investigate the truth and get her boyfriend set free.

She began by attempting to snag the shoe store. The police had, however, already sealed it.

She made an effort to keep track of every location they went to after purchasing the pair of shoes.

Sam joined them for coffee at the kiosk, but John's shoes remained untouched.

 

Lily considered asking Sam for assistance if there was anything she needed to recall but wasn't able to.

However, she did not have Sam's mobile number.

She dialled the customer service number for the shoe store. Fortunately, they had a mobile number. She obtained the phone number. When she called the number, it sounded off.

She considered acquiring his address from the cops. She contacted the cops for assistance in providing the address from the mobile number. The cops backed her up. They provided the address. Sam was already dead when she arrived at the address. He was murdered by an unknown man who fired a shot and fled. The cops have now begun their investigation into Sam's murder. Cops and Lily both believed that Sam knew something about the bomb, which is why he was killed. Lily requested Sam's camera from his wife. She claimed that whoever killed Sam also stole the camera. Cops and Lily realized that something that was captured on camera contributed to Sam's death.

While cops were examining Sam's residence, they discovered that Sam had only purchased the camera one day before.

When Sam's wife was questioned, she stated that his old camera had been malfunctioning for some time. The previous camera was sold to a thrift shop after he bought the new one.

Lily paused for a moment before asking her for the thrift store address where Sam sold his old camera. Lily reasoned that there must be some recording on his camera from which she might glean some information.

Lily looked up the store's address. She visited the store. Lily became friendly with one of the guards. Now the guard has agreed to provide her with a duplicate key in exchange for a secret rendezvous with Lily. She was instructed by the guard to enter the backyard after dark when no one would be present.

Lily said, "There would be another guard on duty at night. He could be a problem."

An idea came to Lily right away.

She said, "My friend will come to complain about the store. You two guards will be engaged in a heated debate with him. I'll walk into the showroom by then. After that, if I enter the store safely, I'll let you know."

The guard's testosterone led him to acquiesce to what Lily requested him to do.

Lily had to take a chance in order to learn the truth since she had no other option.

Lily recalled everything that had happened to her. But she restrained herself and learned to be cautious because the guard might be waiting for her in the backyard in a few seconds. Lily was expected to leave the back yard before he was relieved of the planted acquaintance who was a psychic customer. She immediately raced out of the store while keeping the camera chip in her purse.

The guard attempted to enter but was met with a "I am Sorry" letter affixed to the door.

 Lily headed home right away. She inserted the chip into the laptop and accessed the drive. She checked all the information. She noticed that Sam had been shooting every day in the shoe store. He had recorded the shoe pair in the premium shelf almost every day.

In one of the videos, she noticed that a salesperson had only changed one shoe. The day and time of the shot were noted by her. It was just few minutes before John and Lily had entered the showroom. This served as evidence that the salesman added the bomb. She gave the police that video footage. Cops examined the video recording and detained the salesperson.

The sales person said that, “I have got a big payment just to replace this shoe from a chef named Maddy. Maddy is one of my friends who works in a hotel.”

Finally, Cops arrested Maddy and complete network of terrorists was under arrest in just one day. Police released John. John gave Lily a bear hug and said, "Thank you."