by Shilpa Jain
Tanvi looks confused, “How is that possible? I saw her. Did they take her back to Thane from Borivali? Or was she someone else?”
Abram comforts her, “Relax Tanvi, you said her face was covered with hair. She could have been someone else.”
“So, Pari and Soniya are dead! The girl I saw… who was she?”
DSP Pai rubs his forehead and responds, “I’ll check if any other girl has been missing from the city. You take rest.”
Tanvi winces in her bed as her headache returns after the effect of painkiller wears off.
She turns towards Abram, “This case is more complex than it appears. There seems to be more than one abductor and victim here.”
“Shhh! Don’t think too much. Just relax.”
Abram caresses her forehead and asks the nurse to give her a shot of a painkiller. Tanvi is drowsy for the rest of the day. She sees Abram sitting in front of her whenever she drifts in and out of her slumber. She smiles at him and closes her eyes.
Next day, Tanvi gets up feeling better. When Abram is not around, she forces the doctor on duty to discharge her, assuring him that she will take care of herself at home.
At home, Tanvi relaxes in her bed. She catches a wink and dreams. She is chasing a lady wearing a black burqa. The lady has committed a murder and is carrying a huge stone in her hand. The stone is tainted with blood.
Tanvi manages to grab the burqa and pull off the veil. The lady turns around with the stone, ready to attack Tanvi. Tanvi looks at the lady’s face. She is shocked to see her own face in front of her, smiling wickedly at her.
Tanvi gets up with a start. Her head is aching again. She opens a bottle of the painkiller given to her from the hospital and pops a pill. After a while, she is calm.
The door-bell rings. Tanvi opens the door. There is no one. She sees a piece of black cloth stuck in the door of the fire exit. Tanvi becomes restless. Is it a black burqa, a black robe like that of the aghori or a black fabric used to drape the girl?
Seeing too much black is clouding my senses.
After cautiously walking towards the exit, she pushes the door open. The piece of cloth falls down. It is just a random piece of cloth. She looks up and down the fire exit to see if someone is there. She turns around and is startled to see Abram standing at her main door.
“Is this what you call resting?” he asks, his hands on his hips.
“I was, until I heard the door-bell ring… but there was no one at the door.”
“Of course, there was no one. I rang the bell 12 times before going down again to confirm if you were in your house. When I came back you were chasing a ghost in the fire exit.”
“I saw this piece of black cloth and wondered if it was left here deliberately.” She throws the piece in the corridor.
“By who? You have to rest and forget the case. Harsh Hegde is handling it. From preliminary investigation, the blood and hair belong to Pari. She is dead.”
“The poor girl! But who was the girl I saw?”
“Are you sure you saw someone? There is no report of a missing girl.”
“You don’t trust me?” asks Tanvi glaring at Abram.
“I want to, but I think you were too worked up after the newspaper leak. You may have wanted Pari to be in that load on the aghori’s shoulder. Sometimes you imagine what you want to see and then start believing it. The mind blurs the line between reality and imagination.”
Tanvi ponders over what Abram says and then snaps at him, “No way! I am not letting you control my mind.”
“I am not trying to. But you need to relax and move on.”
“I guess you are right. I am hungry. Have you got something for me?”
Abram shows her a packet. “Home-cooked, your favourite.”
Tanvi takes a deep breath to smell the fragrance of her favourite food. “I can’t wait.”
Abram serves her some chicken biryani and watches her while she devours the food.
“Am I supposed to be eating spicy stuff after a head injury? And are you not going to eat?”
“After you. I have missed watching you enjoy my meal.”
She smiles and continues eating. Tanvi tries to forget about the case, but she is unable to get the image of the girl in the black drape out of her mind. She is sure that it wasn’t her imagination.
Abram pulls out a suitcase from above her wardrobe.
“What are you doing?” asks Tanvi.
“Packing your stuff. You are going to stay with me until you recover. I have reliable house helps round the clock. In fact, I have applied for leave to take care of you, but there is too much workload.”
“I appreciate your gesture, but I am not going anywhere. I promise to meet or call you every day to report.”
Abram sighs, “I knew you wouldn’t agree. You didn’t agree even last time.”
Tanvi gazes into Abram’s eyes and says, “Abram, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I broke off with you because I didn’t deserve you… or rather you deserved someone better. You were giving too much into our relationship and I couldn’t match up to that.”
“But I didn’t ask for anything in return.”
“I know, but I was unable to live with the guilt of not being able to give back as much as you did. I worship my work.”
“I know and that’s why I let you go. I couldn’t see you being so hard on yourself.”
He gently strokes her face with his hand. Tanvi holds his hand and kisses it.
After Abram leaves, Tanvi wanders into her balcony. She looks at the street below from her 8th floor apartment. It is a beautiful evening. Everyone seems busy rushing somewhere.
I have to find out about Pari. What happened to her? How did she die? Who was the other girl? What happened to Soniya?
She remembers something and grabs her phone. She opens the image gallery of her phone and looks at the image of Dushyant Tiwari, cell mate of Chamundakaal. She had clicked a picture of his photo from his file at Thane central Jail.
After popping a painkiller, she dresses up and walks down the street. In about half-an-hour, she is walking at Marine drive. She sits on a bench facing the sea. It’s been over six years that she hasn’t taken a vacation. And this one too was forced on her.
After about an hour, Kabeer joins her on the bench.
“How have you been Kabeer? How was your exam?”
“Good. Business too is good. I read about your case in the newspaper. What information do you want?”
Tanvi shows him Dushyant Tiwari’s photograph. “I need to know where he is. This is the address he left behind with the jail authorities.”
Kabeer looks at the picture and the address noted on a piece of paper.
“Forward his name, address and picture on my phone. I will put it up on my group of informants. You will have to pay the one who has information.”
“Of course, and I will add your commission to it. By the way, Mac is out of jail. You be careful in case he finds out you provided information on him.”
“I am not scared of him. I am worried about another kid who he is targeting now. I kept a close watch on him, but he managed to abduct and sell off this girl. It is impossible to trace the poor orphan now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I came to know yesterday. You were in the hospital. I didn’t want to trouble you. Also, there is never going to be an official FIR about this girl because she was an orphan.”
“I’ll find the girl. Give me Mac’s whereabouts.”
He smiles and gets up to go, “By the way, I know a real aghori.”
Tanvi receives a message on her phone.
Kabeer informs, “That’s his address. He has information on all aghoris around this city.”
Tanvi thanks him and sits enjoying the breeze for a little more time.
I will go to meet this aghori tomorrow morning.
When Tanvi reaches home, she is greeted by her team members who are waiting for her in the lobby of her apartme
nt building. She is delighted to see them.
“Hey Sushant, how is it going? You are the acting boss of our team now.”
“Ma’am, I am waiting for you to return,” replies Sushant.
“You are a liar,” she chuckles.
Ravi and Soma present a bouquet to Tanvi, “Get well soon ma’am. We are not used to you not being around.”
Tanvi notices that Makrand is quiet. She invites them to her apartment. They chat for a while.
“Ravi, did you get info on the phone records?”
“Yes mam. The only significant information was that Soniya and Pari had late night phone calls with each other. Some of the messages exchanged between them suggest that they met on the main road at nights. On the night before the disappearance of Soniya, Pari had asked Soniya to be prepared for a special experience.”
“Oh! What could that mean? Were they doing drugs in the deserted area?”
Ravi shrugs.
Tanvi looks at a despondent Makrand and asks, “What’s the matter with you? Had a fight with some other girlfriend?”
“No! I realised that you wouldn’t have been attacked if I had been bold and decided to accompany you to the forest. Pari would have probably been alive.”
“It wasn’t your fault Makrand. You were just following my orders. Besides, Pari was already dead. I am not sure who I saw in the forest.”
“Whoever she was would have been alive.”
“Maybe, or maybe both of us would have been dead. They were four of them. Forget what happened and work with Hegde to find Pari’s killers.”
“Ma’am the case has been transferred back to the Malabar Hill police who is handling Soniya’s missing case. The two cases are connected,” informs Soma.
“I see. Well, let’s cooperate with the local police and provide them all the info we have,” replies Tanvi.
“They said they were not interested. They’ll pursue the case their own way,” says Makrand.
“Is that so? You don’t get worked up about this and move on to the other cases we have.”
After about an hour, everyone leaves.
Tanvi is closing her apartment door when she sees the black cloth stuck again in the fire exit door. She squints her eyes and moves closer to be sure. It was on the floor the last time she had seen it. Moving towards the fire exit door, she slowly pushes it open. The black piece of cloth falls down. She moves ahead. The fire exit door slams shut behind her.
Although startled, she steps on the staircase going down to the lower floor. She peeps down. It is deserted. She hears a noise in the upper staircase. While rushing up, she feels a piercing pain in her right foot.
Her foot is bleeding. A thumbtack has pierced her sole. She pulls it out. On opening the fire exit door, she notices a lemon lying there. The lemon is pierced with a thumbtack similar to the one that injured her. She is terrified and not sure if it was there before she went down the fire exit.
She picks up the lemon and stares at it. A shiny pin head is sticking out from the middle of the lemon.
I believe this is some sort of a warning to stay away from the case. That means somebody knows I met Kabeer. Am I being watched? I have to be discreet.
She looks around. She has no neighbours and the other apartment on her floor is a refugee flat. She decides against reporting the incident, so that the culprit is not alerted. He is a viable lead. Moving ahead, she notices that her apartment door is ajar.
What if someone is waiting to attack me? I have left my glock inside.
She enters cautiously and inspects every room. After she is satisfied, she settles on the sofa in her living room. Just as she takes a breath of relief, she notices a note stuck on her TV screen. It reads I KNOW YOUR SECRET. She jumps up and does a quick inspection of her house again. Somebody sneaked into her house in the couple of minutes that she was out. That night, she sleeps with her glock by her side.
Chapter 8
Next day, Tanvi receives a message from Kabeer that Dushyant Tiwari currently resides in Kurla with his mistress. She decides to nab him immediately. To avoid attracting attention, she dresses up in a casual kurta and jeans, and carries her glock in a sling bag.
Just as she is about to leave her apartment, her door-bell rings. She inspects through the door peephole. Abram is at the door. After hesitating for a while, she opens the door.
“Wow! You are all set for the appointment. I thought you had forgotten.”
Tanvi is confused, but manages to hide her expression, “No, I was waiting for you.”
“Great! Get your discharge papers. The appointment is at ten.”
Tanvi had completely forgotten about her hospital appointment. They visit the hospital and the doctor gives her a new prescription. She realises that she has missed her morning dose of painkiller.
After the appointment, Abram seems relieved. “You seem to be recovering well. Your wound has healed and your concussion is better. Let’s celebrate.”
Tanvi smiles. She feels guilty at not being able to reciprocate his love and decides against telling him about last night’s incident. He seems genuinely happy and she doesn’t want him worrying about her safety.
She says, “Okay. What do you propose?”
“Nothing much, just lunch with you.”
“My pleasure.”
He takes her out to a high-end restaurant in South Mumbai.
“I wonder how you can afford this in the salary we get.”
“Well, a man of modest means can surely afford a grand lunch date once in two years.”
“Are you implying that you haven’t been on a date after we broke off?”
“Have you?”
“I asked first.”
“I tried once, but we didn’t hit off.”
“So the rumours about you dating the hot trainee detective last year were true?”
“Sort off. Are you upset?”
“No! Why would I be?”
“Umm… yeah… there is no reason.” He is disappointed.
“Absolutely.”
“Some people say that it was foolish of you to let go of me,” says Abram.
“Really? I think that you are passing on your own views as general wisdom.”
“Whatever… so… coming back to the hot trainee, you weren’t upset about me dating her?”
“No!”
“Right.”
“Well okay, I was a little upset and jealous.”
“Yes! That makes me feel better. Cheers!”
Tanvi chuckles.
While having their desert, Tanvi enquires, “Abram, did you find any clues on the pin-pierced lemons in Pari’s case?“
“No DNA, no prints. Why are you asking?”
“Just out of curiosity.”
Abram gives her an ‘I don’t believe you’ look.
“What? Seriously, I was wondering if they have any usable clues,” she explains.
“Yeah, the investigation has suddenly slowed down. Maybe they are trying to keep it low profile until media has found something new to munch on.”
“Maybe. What about the handwritten note?”
“Matched nobody’s writing in the house. Moreover, the sample was insufficient to conclude. But from what the expert could analyse, it was closest to Pari’s handwriting.”
“Pari’s? Was she blackmailing someone?”
Abram shrugs his shoulders. They finish their meal. He drops Tanvi at her apartment and proceeds to his lab.
It is 3 p.m. I can still reach in time to nab Dushyant Tiwari.
In spite of being warned against driving, Tanvi drives her Sumo to Kurla to find Dushyant Tiwari. On her way to Kurla, she calls up Makrand, “Hi! What are you doing right now? I need a favour.”
After reaching Kurla, Tanvi calls up Kabeer’s source, Madan, who has provided information on Dushyant Tiwari. Madan meets Tanvi outside Lovely Bar.
“Ma’am, Dushyant will come to the bar any moment now. I can’t wait here. It’s too dangerous for me to be seen with you.”
Tanvi pays the source and waits for Dushyant across the street. She has a sense of déjà vu while waiting near the bar.
After about 10 minutes, she sees Dushyant coming towards the bar. Tanvi signals Makrand, who is waiting near the bar.
He taps Dushyant’s shoulder from behind. “If you turn around I’ll shoot you. I have a job for you.”
He presses the muzzle of Tanvi’s glock into Dushyant’s back.
“I don’t do that kind of work anymore.”
“Yeah right, I have heard that before. Today, you are working for me. Now move your ass.”
Makrand pushes Dushyant into the Sumo’s front seat and blindfolds him.
He interrogates him. “What do you know about Chamundakaal?”
“O man! Is this about him? He died three years ago. Are you investigating an old crime?”
“Shut up and talk,” shouts Makrand pressing the muzzle of the glock to his chest.
“Okay… okay… relax… I’ll tell you what I know. The guy was crazy. He kept muttering some mantras all the time. He never spoke anything.”
“You told that to the prison authorities. I want more,“ commands Makrand.
“It was only one day when he had a visitor that he was in a good mood and opened up a bit. I don’t know where he was from, but he always spoke of a forest. He loved the forest. And yes, he was ecstatic because he was finally going to be immortal. I am telling you the guy was crazy.”
“Talk about the visitor.”
“I didn’t get to see the visitor, but the aghori said that his visitor was going to make him immortal.”
There was silence for a while.
Then Makrand asked, “Immortal?”
“Yeah… the crazy man!”
“What about the forest? Did he say anything about it?”
“I don’t remember.”
Makrand clutches Dushyant’s throat. “Think hard.”
Dushyant Tiwari chokes and struggles to relieve his neck from Makrand’s grasp. He raises his hand to give up.
“The aghori said that he grew up near this forest in a beautiful village. His mentor lived deep in the forest in a beautiful house. He grew his own vegetables and herbs. There was a lovely lake near the house. They often went fishing during his stay as a student.”
