26. The Hooded Man

Suddenly, Hannah's face lit up as if a plan had struck her.

"I think I know where we can start," She said with a little side smile. "Do you remember you told me about that man who kept staring at you when we were coming back from the beach? " Hannah continued seeing John's confused face.

John nodded.

"Well, maybe he can tell us something? I mean you told me that he was shocked seeing the stone in your hand. Which means, he does know something. What say?"

"Where will we find him though?" John liked the idea but he was not sure as to where they can find him. They didn't even know where he lived or anything.

"Do you at least remember how he looked like?"

"Well, considering the fact that it happened way too back and that he was wearing a hood, it's hard to say that I remember his face exactly. But it's blur though."

"Cool," Hannah replied. She clearly had something in her mind. "I know this guy that can make sketches from what you can describe. "

"But I don't remember him completely."

"No problem. At least, can you give him the details like here and there?"

"Yeah. I think I will be able to recall at least something."

"Then that's all we need. He can put together the missing pieces to get the final picture."

"How do you even know this guy?" John looked at Hannah in surprise.

"Well, what can I say, I have my connections," Hannah said raising eyebrows and give him a grinning smile.

----------

"Do you think it'll work? " John whispered in Hannah's ear as they stood in the lobby waiting.

"Trust me. He's an expert at what he does." While John was doubting, Hannah was completely confident in herself that her plan won't fail and in this person who according to Hannah, knows exactly what he does.

The lobby had paintings, art pieces, and sketches. It had some artificial plants for decor - red, green, and orangish-yellow. The lobby was well lit with white wallpaper. There were various paintings of some of the famous painters - including some which neither Hannah nor John knew about but was awestruck by them. Some of the paintings included a house of stones built on the highest hill, an animal-filled farm with scarecrows and crops, a portrait of a beautiful girl, underwater scenery, to name a few. Some were drawn in watercolors, some with pastel while others with paints. Modern art paintings were also among them. The art pieces included a human statue carved with marble stone, an ancient designer pot, animals which felt so real that anytime now they could move. Some beautiful paintings and sketches also hung there which were signed by the name 'Jordan B.'.

Hannah pointed to the name and told John that that was the name of the person they were going to meet.

As they were standing in front of the sketches, admiring the work, a voice called for them from behind, "Mr. Jordan is ready to meet you."

They turned around and found a lady, with a white stripes shirt, tugged inside the black office-type skirt. She gestured them towards a room. "Follow me."

On the door, there was a nameplate on which ' Jordan B. ' was engraved in gold.

The lady, which the duo thought to be Jordan's secretary, knocked on the door - twice before a voice came from the inside telling her to let them in.

Hannah opened the door as the lady left. John was close on her heels.

" Mr. Jordan? Hello, I'm Hannah. "

The room was filled with art supplies, canvases, and other art stuff. The room was well ventilated with open glass windows from which one could see trees swaying from the winds outside bringing in the cool air. The room was huge with a sofa on one side and a table on the other side on which different sizes of paintbrushes, a palette which had shades of different colors blended together, palette knife, acrylic paints, oil paints, and other art-related stuff. In front of the two, stood a person, not older than 40, who was painting something on a canvas, wearing an artist apron with pockets which held the paintbrushes and other items.

When he heard his name being called, he put the brushes down and turned around.

" Oh, hello Hannah. So good to see you. How are you doing? " Jordan asked wiping his hands off from a cloth which was covered with paints and gesturing his guests to sit. His voice had a sweet essence.

"I'm good, Jordan, thanks. How are you? We saw some of your work while waiting in the lobby and I must admit that they all are fantastic." Hannah complimented his work while sitting on the sofa.

"Thanks," Jordan said looking down with a shy smile. " And you must be John." Jordan extended his hands towards John.

" Yeah, but how do you - "

" Your sister used to tell stories about you," Jordan replied as he shook hands with John.

" I just hope she told you good stuff too and not only the embarrassing parts. " John looked at Hannah.

"Anyway, what brings you guys here?" Jordan took off his apron and hung it on a hook on the wall and sat in front of them.

" Well, Hannah told me that you can make sketches from what one could describe,"

Jordan nodded.

" So, that's the reason why we're here. We need your help."

" Anytime. Besides, I owe your sister a favor. She really helped me get recognition for my works. So, what can I help you guys with?"

" I want you to make a sketch of a man that John would describe and -"

" But the problem is that I don't exactly know how he looks like."

" Oh, that's alright. You'll remember with the flow. Let's begin now. Shall we? " Jordan got up and motioned for John to come with him towards his desk.

" So, how did he look like? Like just tell me the outer picture." Jordan took out his pencil, eraser, and a sheet of paper that was clipped to a hardboard.

" Ammm..let me think. " John scratched his head, trying to remember. " Well, he was wearing a hood and - "

" What was the shape of the hood?"

" Isn't it always round?" John looked at Jordan confused.

" No, I mean, was the hood exactly round or a little towards oval or flat from the top? We can get the idea of the face shape from it."

" Oh. It was kind of oblong. "

" Good, carry on." Jordan began to hover his pencil above the paper and began to draw something. " Can you tell me what his eyes looked like? "

" When he saw me, he was looking at me in shock so his eyes were wide. "

" Why was he shocked? " Jordan showed his curiosity.

" Who knows? " Hannah tried to change the topic. She didn't want to tell him about the stone. The lesser the people know about it, the better.

" They weren't baby-like eyes though. They were full."

" Amm-Hmm" Jordan continued sketching. " Tell me about his nose. Was it short, long, swelled, or kind of flattened ?"

" It was definitely a bit flattened but not too much. I cannot forget that as it was a bit odd. "

" What about his mouth? His lips?"

"As I said, he was shocked. So, his mouth was opened a little bit - like we open our mouth to eat cereal? Yeah, probably that much. His lips were somewhere in between a full and small. But yeah, he had gaps. "

" And you told me, you didn't know any details?" Hannah looked at his brother remembering how he told her earlier that he doesn't remember the man completely.

" I don't remember him completely but his mouth was opened and who could overlook a gap between the teeth?"

"You got a point, continue." Hannah began reading an art magazine in front of her on the wooden table.

"Any other details that you can remember?"

" Yeah," John said after a short pause."His hairs were hanging from his forehead. But not too long to cover his eyes or eyebrows."

"Got it. So, how tall was he?"

" Around 5'6". He was wearing a blue hoodie with skinny black ripped jeans."

" Anything else? "

John thought hard closing his eyes trying to remember that day and rubbed his temples and said, " Sorry man, that's all I can remember."

" Don't be. It's alright. You've given enough details. Just wait there and I'll be back with the sketch. "

John joined Hannah while Jordan stroked his pencil in all directions, rotating the board filling in the details.

"What's wrong Hannah? " John asked looking at Hannah's sad face staring at the magazine blankly.

"It's just that, I wish Emily would be here with us too. She would love all this describe-and-sketch thing. And then she would say that she's getting all these FBI kind of vibes when a person creates a sketch of a suspect or a murderer."

" It's alright. She'll get better in no time. I know it. And then, you guys can watch all the FBI shows together that you've missed."

Hannah gave him a weak smile.

When the sketch was completed, Jordan stared back in horror and stood there shocked. "Is this the man that you saw? " He asked John turning his board towards him.

" Yes. That's him. I must confess that I had my doubts when Hannah first told me about you, but you proved me wrong." John said after examining the sketch.

" Are you sure? Like really sure that this is the same person that you saw that day? "

" Yeah, Jordan." John was confused as he was trying to figure out what was wrong. Was it something that he did or said?

" What's wrong, Jordan?" Hannah asked looking at the disturbing expression on Jordan's face.

" How is it even possible that you saw him? "

" Why?" Hannah and John exchanged looks.

" 'cause he died 75-80 years ago."