by UD Yasha
‘What?’ Tanya said and then fell silent. ‘There has to be a mistake.’
I pulled out one letter that Anita had written and handed it to Tanya.
‘I’m sorry for this,’ Rathod said. ‘We don’t mean to disrespect your sister in any way. But there’s a killer out there who’s abducted several women. We’ve a reason to believe that the killer’s aid had tried to get in touch with Anita a week before she died.’
Tanya looked stunned. She was staring at the words on the letters in her hand. She had an image of her sister and that was getting shattered. A lot of questions would follow. She would wonder, did she ever really know her?
In a deadpan tone, Tanya said, ‘Anita was in the ICU for two weeks before she died. I don’t think anyone could’ve spoken to her. She was unconscious and in a critical condition.’
‘I’m extremely sorry for this. I know this must be really hard for you. But do you remember this man speaking to you, your parents or the doctors at the hospital?’ Rathod said, pulling out his phone to show Tanya a picture of Ranjit Kadam.
Tanya stared at it with dead eyes and shook her head. 'No, I don't. Even if that guy came around, a lot was happening. We were all emotionally drained out. The doctors had told us that Anita had at least a year more to live. Her test results the week prior to her hospitalization were normal. She suddenly started to sink.' A tear escaped Tanya's eye as she spoke. Her hand and the letter in it started shivering. She looked up at Rathod and said, 'Please tell me this is not true. Please tell me.'
We stayed silent. There was nothing we could say that would make the situation any better. I went to the kitchen and handed Tanya a glass of water. She didn’t drink any at first but then downed the glass in three seconds.
‘What does this mean?’ Tanya said, holding up the letter. ‘Was she a killer?’
‘Oh God no,’ Rathod said.
‘At times, we do crazy things due to factors that are beyond our control. Anita was hurting. She must have been in pain because of the chemo. She would have been anxious. The letters in your hand could very well be the result of all those things,’ I said.
Tanya gulped hard and then started crying. I could make out that she was trying hard to keep the tears in but the floodwalls had been opened. This was just going to be the start. The worst would come in a few days.
‘We’ll let you be,’ Rathod said and got up. ‘I’m sorry we had to break this news to you. We didn’t have an option. There’s a killer out there who’s going to go on a rampage soon if we don’t find him.’
‘Can we call someone to be with you?’ I asked, hating to leave her in this state.
Tanya shook her head. ‘I’ll handle this better on my own,’ she managed to say.
She stayed seated but handed Rathod the letter she was holding. We closed the door behind us as we heard Tanya break down completely just before we left.
Once we got in the car, Rathod told me. ‘I got a message from Bhalerao while we were inside. They searched Kritika Das’ house. They didn’t find anything suspicious inside. She’s still nowhere to be found though.’
I cursed under my breath, feeling hopeless, wondering how we were going to stop Zakkal.
It was seven o’clock, five hours and twenty minutes before Zakkal was going to kill again.
Chapter Forty-Three
Kishore Zakkal looked in the mirror and smiled.
It had been a while since he had been so excited. He had always believed in one simple philosophy—life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.
Everything that happened was a lesson for Zakkal. He thought he was one of the most positive people in the world. Like for example, he had been disappointed when he had been arrested and lost out on many marvellous years with Naina Rajput. It was frustrating, but deep down, he believed that something better awaited him.
And how right was I?
The fruit of his patience was Siya Rajput walking into his life.
Similarly, the breach of his hideout at the water tower had initially angered him. But then he had thought logically what might have caused the breach. No one who was still breathing knew about it; or at least those who were alive and free in the world. Half the women in his basement had been there at least once. A few of his most cherished possessions had been there a few more times. Then, he had realized that his bodies at the farmhouse had been found.
The bastards would have somehow realized I had killed those women.
Looking back, the breach of his hideout seemed like the best thing that could have happened to him. He had initially planned to stretch out his quest to take Siya for at least a week. He had felt that the pent-up rage and emotion in Siya would make her more attractive.
But who am I kidding?
Zakkal knew very well that he could not possibly be more attracted to Siya. That’s why he had decided to advance the plan he had. It was time to get on a Ferrari lane and not dwindle away.
Everything always has a silver lining. Because of the hideout breach, I’m now going to get to enjoy Siya much earlier than I had anticipated.
The excitement turned his smile into a grin as he kept staring into the mirror. He had put on his best suit for the occasion. A fine double-breasted piece of marvellous Italian cloth. Everything had been set up. All he needed was for his guest of honour to arrive and he had the perfect plan for that.
Zakkal became nostalgic. He had set this goal for himself thirty months ago when he had escaped from Yerwada. He wanted to get Siya no matter what. He was close to achieving it.
Before he set the piece in motion, he looked back at how far he had come. It wouldn't have been possible without his beautiful His lover. She had been a blessing, if not more. Not that Zakkal believed in God, but he reckoned that's what ordinary folks would say about her. The biggest factor that had drawn her to him was her unwavering loyalty. He was sure even a dog wouldn't admire him as much as she did.
He knew she loved him but she didn’t know that his heart lay somewhere else. Her dedication towards him had one astounding quality—she believed everything that he said.
He closed her eyes and thought back to all the incredible moments they had shared together. There had been a time when Zakkal had wondered if what he felt for her was actually love.
Did I almost fool myself and go down the path taken by ordinary folks?
An entire night of watching Siya sleep had set his mind straight. And so, he was glad. He felt guilty, knowing that for those two days, he had questioned his love for Siya. He wanted to tell her how much he adored her, and he also wanted to apologize to her for his mistake.
Initially, he wasn’t sure what he would do to His lover once he got Siya. He was actually confused because His lover had been so nice to him. But according to Zakkal, that mistake could only be corrected one way—to end His lover’s life in front of Siya to show her His lover meant nothing to him.
It was all going to happen very soon.
Zakkal turned around from the mirror, stood still for five beats and then made the call that would change everything.
Chapter Forty-Four
I was dejected from not having found the woman who was in love with Zakkal. My energy seemed to be gradually getting sucked out. The heavy rain had caused a traffic jam on Baner Road so we could only get back to the CID office at seven forty-five. Rathod had not said a word either. We both knew we had our backs against the wall with not a single workable lead. We had a little over five hours to find a clue and then reach Zakkal.
‘I don’t know where to go from here,’ I said as we stepped out of the car.
‘Kritika Das—the one woman who might be Zakkal’s lover, is missing,’ Rathod said. ‘Let’s go inside and take a step back. We’ve a lot of information swimming around.’
But we don’t have enough time.
We headed to the CID canteen and got ourselves two cups of coffee each. I downed my first cup and took the second to the conference room. Shukla, Bhalerao and Mathew were already ins
ide, going through some papers.
Rathod said, ‘Has Dr Sonia come across anything in her analysis from the stuff we picked up from the hideout at the water cooler?’
'I just returned from the forensics department,' Bhalerao said. 'She said one of the DNA samples on the wigs belonged to Aarti Lunkad, the most recent woman that Zakkal murdered. We had found her body at the farmhouse. It was a straight match because she already had her DNA. She said it's going to take some more time to analyse the rest.'
There was a knock on the door. It was Srestha Vishwa, one of the hawaldars at the office.
‘Can I come in?’ she asked.
Shukla waved her in.
‘There’s someone here to see you,’ she said. ‘They’re at the reception. Should I take them to the waiting area or ask them to come here?’
‘Who’s it?’
‘Aarti Lunkad’s parents.’
‘Please ask them to sit in the waiting area. Someone will join them soon,’ Shukla said.
Grieving parents deserved to know the truth about what had happened to their beloved children. It was a hard time for the family. When Maa had been taken by Zakkal, our senses told us to accept that she was dead. Yet, every time someone knocked on our door or our phones rang, a part of us wanted it to be Maa.
At that moment, with just above four hours to go for Zakkal to kill again, attending to grieving parents did not seem like a good idea—as harsh as that sounded. Aarti Lunkad was an innocent woman who had died. There was nothing we could do to bring her back. But there were other women to be saved.
‘Mathew, can you please take Miss Lunkad’s parents to the morgue?’ Shukla said. ‘Please join us after that and ask either Srestha Vishwa or Neeraj Gujre to stay with them. We need the brains of all the key members to be working on finding Zakkal right now.’
‘Kritika Das is still missing,’ Bhalerao declared. ‘We’ve already put an alert on her. We would get to know if she buys anything using her card, books a ticket or her two-wheeler’s registration plate is caught by any CCTV camera.’
‘If she’s Zakkal’s lover, he’s going to make sure she’s not going to do any of those things,’ Rathod said.
‘Does Kritika Das often take sick leaves from work?’ I said. ‘I mean we don’t even know if she’s Zakkal’s lover. She could very well be on a vacation, enjoying pork momos in Nepal right now.’
‘She’s the most likely person because we’ve ruled out the other two,’ Bhalerao said.
‘I think I need some fresh air to just think clearer,’ I said. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll be back in ten minutes.’
‘Take your time. If you’re going to the canteen, please get me coffee,’ Rathod said.
‘Me too,’ Shukla and Bhalerao said in unison.
I stepped out of the conference room. I saw Mathew guiding Aarti Lunkad’s parents into the lift to take them to the morgue. I made a quick dash for the stairs. A thought crossed my mind. Aarti Lunkad had been reported missing six months ago. She didn’t stay with her parents. But could they have noticed anything different about their daughter just before she had been taken? The police had spoken to them because of the missing person's report that had been filed by Aarti's friend. Now we knew that Zakkal was involved in her kidnapping. With the new knowledge, there was a chance that they could remember something.
I reached the basement just as the lift door opened. Seeing their daughter’s body was going to be hard, and possibly hamper their cognitive judgement so I wanted to speak to them before they went into the morgue.
When Mathew saw me, I guessed he made the connection and I noticed he asked them to stop. I jogged up to them.
‘I’m incredibly sorry for your loss,’ I said. ‘I’m the detective who had caught the serial killer who is responsible for your daughter’s death. I’m aware that this is far from the right time to be asking you this, but we’re afraid the killer is going to act again.’
Aarti’s mother was completely shocked. I don’t think she registered what I had said. Her father nodded his head once as he pulled his wife closer to him.
‘Did Aarti visit you two before she went missing?’ I asked.
The father nodded. ‘She had been home for two days in the week before she was taken.’
I could make out from his voice that he was trying really hard not to break down.
‘You’re doing well, sir. Did you notice anything strange about your house when she was there? Maybe a window that was not supposed to be open was open, a door was unlocked, you noticed the food in your refrigerator go missing or anything else like that?’
‘Nothing. There was absolutely nothing that seemed wrong. We had spoken to the police. They didn’t ask us about her visit home, but if we had noticed anything to be different,’ the father said. ‘Truth be told, we knew what she did for a living and that had created a lot of baggage. When she visited us the week before she…you know…she had come home after a year.’
‘Thanks so much for your time and cooperation,’ I said, realizing that my wild card attempt had failed as I watched them head to the morgue.
Zakkal had been good in covering most of his tracks. The ones that we had seen had led us to dead ends. Just as I thought that I saw Dr Sonia come out of her lab. She saw me at the same time and cried out my name.
‘I was just going to call Rathod. Is he upstairs?’ Sonia said.
‘Yes, everyone’s here. What’s happening?’
‘I found a DNA match for the sample we found on the wigs. I think we’ve got a mole, Siya. The sample belongs to Neeraj Gujre’s wife.’
For a second, my mind blanked out. The very next second, I cried out, ‘Tell Rathod, now.’
I ran back towards the morgue. Mathew was supposed to ask either Srestha Vishwa or Neeraj Gujre to be with Aarti’s parents. As I turned for the corridor that led to the morgue, Mathew walked out of it.
‘Who’s inside? Srestha or Neeraj?’ I shouted.
‘Srestha,’ Mathew said, looking a tad confused as met halfway in the corridor.
‘Where’s Neeraj?’
‘I don’t know. I tried calling him, but I couldn’t get through,’ Mathew said. ‘That’s why I asked Srestha to be here. Can you tell me what’s happening?’
‘Try again now,’ I said.
The urgency in my voice propelled him to try right away. He held the phone to his ear but shook his head. ‘It’s out of range, just like earlier.’
I told him about Neeraj’s wife’s DNA sample match. 'Zakkal kidnapping Neeraj's wife is not a coincidence. Neeraj not informing the CID about it is a huge red flag. If Zakkal has Neeraj's wife, then Neeraj is being blackmailed. Luckily, till now Neeraj wouldn't have been able to pass on any information as he's not a part of the core team. He also knows that my family is not at a designated CID safehouse. If Zakkal is threatening to kill his wife, I'm sure he would've found a way to figure out where my family is hiding.'
I held my breath when I said those words out loud and ran upstairs. Rathod was scampering for the door as well.
‘My car might have been compromised. We’re taking Shukla’s,’ Rathod said.
We ran out to Shukla’s car in the pouring rain. Rathod stomped on the accelerator and I was pushed back in the seat.
'Siya,' Rathod said, and from his tone, I knew I wasn't going to like the next words that were going to come out of his mouth.
‘Just after Dr Sonia called me, I got a call from Shubman Dhawan. It didn’t get connected. I tried calling him again but his number has no signal.’
My stomach turned to ice. I couldn’t help glancing at the dashboard clock. It was ten minutes to nine. Three and a half hours before Zakkal killed someone. I had no idea what I would do if he harmed Maa, Radha or Rahul.
Chapter Forty-Five
At forty minutes past nine, Radha and Rahul were standing on the balcony of the safehouse, looking over the main road. They had just finished having dinner. Shadow had brought his favourite toy and was nudging Radha's leg wit
h it.
But Radha's mind was elsewhere. Earlier in the morning when she had gone upstairs to Siya and Rathod tea, she had overheard them speak about Zakkal's threat—either Siya was to surrender herself to him, or he would kill someone.
She hadn’t even told Rahul about the conversation because she didn’t want to worry him. Through the afternoon, they had gone through the letters that Zakkal had gotten from his female fans. Radha was just glad that they had come in handy somewhere. She still wished she had more responsibility though.
‘You’ve no idea about the role you’re playing by being here for Maa,’ Siya had told her in the morning just before leaving. ‘Knowing you and Rahul are with her is a massive relief. Please don’t think that you aren’t doing anything.’
Radha had been concerned about Maa throughout the day. She walked to Maa's room and watched her while standing at the door. She was sitting silently on the bed, facing the other way. Radha was afraid that she was getting anxious. She had noticed Maa get quieter through the day.
‘What are you thinking about, Maa?’ Radha said.
Maa turned around with a smile on her face and then beckoned Radha to sit next to her. ‘I was just reminiscing about the old times when your father, me, you and Siya would spend time together in the evenings. Everything was so easy then.’
‘It’ll be easy soon again,’ Radha said, putting her head on Maa’s lap. ‘Siya is going to get Zakkal again and everything will be better.’
‘I know. We’ll dance together at your and Rahul’s sangeet ceremony. It will be a real celebration.’
‘Absolutely. We’ll need to have many practice sessions to be able to pull off a respectable performance though. It will be a lot of fun though,’ Radha said.
‘Let’s go down and have some tea. Not like we need the rainy weather to cherish a cup of tea, but it’ll taste just a bit better. I’ll get my fiancé to make it for us,’ Radha said and winked.
